Training Archive: stoneIn the 28 days ending 2007-02-28:
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| H | F | S | S | M | T | W | H | F | S | S | M | T | W | H | F | S | S | M | T | W | H | F | S | S | M | T | W | |||||||||||
Wednesday Feb 28 | ||
| Running 44:00 [3]9 km (4:53 / km) +200m 4:24 / km | |
| first km on swiss soil this year. Felt ok, didn't feel any jetlag. Going back to work tomorrow. | ||
| Running 12:00 [4]3 km (4:00 / km) +70m 3:35 / km | |
| as I felt ok, I decided to let it roll a bit on the Vita-Parcours loop in Eichmoos for the first time since middle of January. 11.57 (PB 10:00) is nothing to get excited about, but it's something to start with.
I have about 10 weeks now to get in shape for Langa Natten at Tiomila and Swiss Middle Champs in Taverne, one of my favorite terrains (very technical both for the head and the feet). | ||
| C • Jetzt bist du aber am tiefstap... 4 | ||
Monday Feb 26 | ||
| Note | |
| was supposed to home today, but I fell asleep on the airport at Atlanta and missed my flight by a few minutes... Although, it wasn't all my fault, I was at the right gate 2.5 hours before, but then they changed it on short notice and I didn't realize it... and I was at the correct gate exactly on time, and I wasn't called. Hmm, learned something more... ;-) | ||
| C • isch ja geil 3 | ||
Saturday Feb 24 | ||
| Running 1:00:00 [3]12 km (5:00 / km) +300m 4:27 / km | |
| I ran up to Cerro San Cristobal one last time on a beautiful morning. It seemed like a cycle had been closed, was almost like my first run here on the first day almost 3 months ago. Except that all the other runners and bikers seem to have gotten faster in the meantime... although, that probably depends on the point of view. But who cares anyway??
It takes a lot for me to get sentimental, but today, taking a break up on the Cerro and enjoying the view over the city on one side, the Andes on the other, with El Plomo (Santiago's Uetliberg, 5400m) standing tall, was one of those moments where I did get sentimental ;-) My stay here has come to an end, and I was thinking about all the things I have had the chance to do and learn, all the great people I've got to know, and getting to enjoy the great hospitality and simply awesome nature that Chile has to offer. And if that weren't enough, learning to speak spanish more or less fluently almost for free. It's hard to say, but of all the many countries I have been to so far, Chile is certainly one, probably even the one, that has left the strongest impression on me. I fell in love with this country (yes, I can be sentimental :-)) And this country really is on a good way, not just in terms of the things mentioned above, but also in terms of the more 'hard-facts', like economy, politics, etc. There is a lot of poverty, and wealth is very unequally distributed, but it seems that the economy is getting stronger (although maybe a bit too much based on the exploitation of natural resources), and politics is quite stable, which is a necessary condition for a country to develop in the long term. Also in terms of corruption, I think they have a pretty good standard here, which is another good sign. That the police really is honest here and shouldn't be bribed, as the traveller guides tell you, I was able to experience first-on when crossing the border to Argentina for the first time. I had forgotten some piece of paper in Santiago that you need to leave the country. After some discussion they let me go, and when I wanted to thank (thank, not bribe) the guy with some cash for a beer or two, he strongly refused. Don't think you'll find that in many other Latin-American countries, and I wonder what a swiss border cop would do in that case. I flew back from Punta Arenas yesterday in the far south, and from the plane I was able to see many of the places I had been to in the previous weeks, with all the memories coming back. Almost every day in the past 3 months has been an experience, all of them being different, and often I liked just going along and letting life lead me instead of the other way around, which resulted in many interesting and almost always pleasant encounters with locals and other people from abroad. Somehow I always felt more comfortable in the more local places than in the touristic ones. The first month in the spanish school was a great experience, I didn't think that you could get to know so many great people in such a short time. And it's a great way to start in a country where so many things are different than at home(although, before coming here I thought it would be much more different). Then there were my attempts to conquer high mountains. So far, none has been successful, but with the experiences gained and with the right people, I will succeed some day. Btw., if anyone wants to join me for something like that in the nearer future, I'd be happy to organize something here. And then finally, the 5 weeks of travelling south, through rainforests, across the sea, mountains and glaciers, getting closer and closer and being more and more attracted to Antarctica. Even though I've seen a lot, there was a lot I had to leave out, originally I also wanted to see more of Argentina. So there's lots of reasons more to come back some day, if possible sooner than later. And in all the time, there weren't many things I have missed from back home. Maybe orienteering and being able to do sports in beautiful nearby and accessible mountains, but apart from that, I can't think of much. Often, it seems to me that life has just started, I feel like there are so many possibilities and there are so many things I want to do in the near and mid-term future, I think I will have to start writing them down so I don't forget ;-) Like doing an arctic expedition, cross the Southern Patagonian Ice field, finish my PhD, learn italian, improve my french, train decently again, learn salsa, etc. etc. etc. The last 3 months have definitely changed and opened my mind in many ways. Just like Jonas Trindler wrote at the end of his trip in the region here (http://www.trjo.ch/viaje), I thought I was open-minded when I came here, but now I think I can say that I have started to become so. There is sooo much more to life than work, train, eat, party, or sleep. Some day, again hopefully sooner than later, I will return to Chile, maybe not only for travelling. I'm sure they need some computer scientists and engineers here... But now, after a stop to meet Andreas Haldi in Atlanta tomorrow, it's time to go back. It will take some weeks to get adjusted to everyday life again, to small-sized and sometimes small-minded Switzerland. But I hope that I will be able to take back home with me in my mind and my heart some of the friendliness of the people here, the immensity of Patagonia, the silence and sunsets on the salt flats in the Atacama desert, and the power of the glaciers. | ||
Tuesday Feb 20 | ||
| Note | |
| still stuck here in Ushuaia, and the weather is really bad so not much to do. Will be glad to get out of here, touristic like San Pedro de Atacama, although here you're ripped off even more, often as a tourist pay 3-5 times as much as Argentinians...
Although, yesterday I visited a museum about the history of the exploration and development of Tierra del Fuego and Antarctica, which was quite interesting, especially the attempts to go to the South Pole or cross Antarctica at the beginning of the last century. One of the failed expeditions and probably the most mindboggling one was that of Shackleton, where their ship got trapped in the ice before even reaching land. Eventually they spent 20months there, including the antarctic winter with no sun at all and temperatures down to -50deg, trying to get out. In the end, Shackleton and some others rowed for 2 months from a small island to another island to get help, only a mere 1000km away, in one of the coldest and stormiest seas with waves up to 10m. Finally, the others got rescued as well, and not a single one of the 30 people died in those 20 months. I don't know how they managed not to starve, much less freeze to death, with the equipment they had in those days. Stories of heroism and real rockers... | ||
Sunday Feb 18 | ||
| Note | |
| taking a small boat from Puerto Williams (southernmost town) to Ushuaia (Argentina, southernmost city). Even though we were far from open sea, waters were pretty rough in the very small boat, giving me just a glimpse of how it must be down at Cape Horn or in the Drake Passage you have to cross to get to Antarctica. Weather absolutely horrible, around 0 deg, wind and heavy rain/snow.
And it's a different world here in Ushuaia, every 10m signs are telling you that you're at the 'fin del mundo', in the southernmost city, blabla. Very touristic, people talk to me in english even if I talk to them in spanish (which I'm sure isn't that bad). Don't think I'll stay here for long. And I definitely know that going to Isla Navarino was a great choice! heavy waters on the boat (kind of hard to get a good picture without blur...): http://www.denissteinemann.ch/archive/pictures/SA0... | ||
Saturday Feb 17 | ||
| Running (hiking) 4:00:00 [2] | |
| doing the second part of the trek in one long stretch. The weather had gotten really bad, rain and wind was pounding on my tent at night and in the morning. So it was kind of hard to get out and pack everything together, my little house had become quite cosy ;-) And the guy who sold me the tent really didn't brag about his material, this is good stuff, not a single drop of water inside the tent after days of bad weather, and standing in the wind like a rock. Same for the gasoline stove - with the goal to carry around as little weight as possible I had been a bit too optimistic about the amount of gas I would need, so eventually I was prepared to eat my pasta raw on the last evening... but the stove really is able to use up the last drop of fuel, and it's amazing with how little gasoline you can prepare a meal ;-)
Weather had gotten much worse now, at times it even snowed (and it's summer now and the mountains aren't high). Yes, this feels like the end of the world. There used to be tribes of indigenous people living down here, hunting seals and fish in the many canals around these islands. And doing that, they were almost naked, whereas we tourist need all the high-tech stuff to survive here. Talk about adjusting well to your environment! There are lots of beavers around here, you can see their dams everywhere. I didn't know it's possible to eat these animals, but in the evening we managed to get one for dinner. Tasted ok, but I won't open up a restaurant now with that specialty... snow: http://www.denissteinemann.ch/archive/pictures/SA0... | ||
Friday Feb 16 | ||
| Running (hiking) 2:00:00 [3] | |
| again leaving my base camp going to another nearby mountain. Met some other israelis on the way (there's a lot of them down here!). They didn't really seem to have much idea of maps and compasses, and said it's their second real trek they've done... and their stuff is already wet and cold... no wonder the carabineros have to go search people if they let these kinds of people out into the wilderness... but on the other hand, I don't think the carabineros have much else to do down here ;-)
Strong and cold winds were pounding the mountain when I went up there. I ran most of it, the last part pretty fast, feeling like Rocky in Siberia when he's training to take on Ivan Drago :-) Awesome feeling! Reaching Mt. Rocky, touching the sky: http://www.denissteinemann.ch/archive/pictures/SA0... | ||
Thursday Feb 15 | ||
| Running (hiking) 2:00:00 [2] | |
| took the light backpack and went up to nearby Monte Bettinelli to get closer and a better view of Cape Horn. The weather was again kind to me, not too cold and only some wind. This was the farthest south I've been so far, at a bit more than 55deg latitude south.
The temptation to shave off some more of those 35deg left is high, this place seems to have a magic attraction on me. Some day, I will go to the real end of the world. The 'cheap' way would be to get a flight down there, but I've never been someone to take the easiest way out, so for now let's just say it's a more long-term project I have (after having crossed the Southern Patagonian Ice Field, climbed Mount McKinley in Alaska, and skied to the North Pole as preparation ;-)). | ||
Wednesday Feb 14 | ||
| Running (Hiking) 4:00:00 [2] | |
| started the Dientes de Navarino trek. It's 55km long, all through rough and totally unspoilt sub-antarctic nature. Made sure I had a lot of food with me this time, learning from my experiences in the mountains. I told the carabineros I would be back on Saturday, so the plan was to do the first half today, then stay out in the wilderness for three nights (I don't like taking down and putting up wet tents) and do some tours with the light backpack from there, and on Saturday, do the second half. The map and route description were pretty good, haven't seen much better stuff around here. Still, people get lost once in a while and then the carabineros have to go look for them. Just a week ago, a group of israelis got lost because, it snowed for two days, they didn't have enough food, one of their tents collapsed...;-) So much about bad preparation... but they did have a satellite phone with them and calling to Israel, the carabineros down in Puerto Williams eventually heard about it and went to rescue them...
No rain when I started, but soon cold winds from the ocean and heavy rains pounded down on me for a while. Still, had some nice views of the wild valleys and mountains. And, not a single person around, total solitude. At times, when the wind stopped, there wasn't a single sound to be heard! No animals, no wind, no car, plane, simply nothing. Just amazing, this silence! The course was amazingly well marked, even though with the map I had it was impossible to get lost. Someone really did this work with love! After returning, I heard that one of the guys was a swiss who is living down here Puerto Williams and has a family here. The backpack did not feel heavy today, seems like it's just a matter of getting used to it. After about half of today's course and when the rains had stopped, I crossed a pass from where I was finally able to see all the way down to Islas Wollaston, some small islands, the southernmost of which is the famous Cape Horn! Finally, I had come to the end of the world as we know it!!! (it's not finished until 90deg south, but that's a different world down there). Absolutely awesome feeling, just me and purest nature down here in the middle of nowhere! For many centuries, and still today, Cape Horn was every sailors nightmare (or dream), due to high winds, very cold waters, and really heavy sea. Hundreds of ships and thousands of sailors have died here over the centuries. Now being down here, at least in sight of it, I could also feel this region's magic. It's hard to describe, it must be felt. And for a while I think about the first europeans to explore these regions, the were real rockers, not knowing what would lie ahead, maybe going straight to hell, withstanding whatever Mother Nature had to throw at them. Found a nice place to put up the tent on a peninsula on a small lake. Nice thing was that I could do it without rain and no wind, making things much easier (although I had tested putting it up by myself in very high winds before and would have been prepared for that case as well). In the evening, it was absolutely windstill and I could even see the sun, very nice sunset! And again, that incredible silence all around me like I had never experienced it before (or at least not noticed it). Later at night, I watched the millions of stars in the sky. I felt like the only human being in the universe. Cape Horn in the distance (the small mountains in the back): http://www.denissteinemann.ch/archive/pictures/SA0... A nice place to camp: http://www.denissteinemann.ch/archive/pictures/SA0... sunset at the end of the world: http://www.denissteinemann.ch/archive/pictures/SA0... http://www.denissteinemann.ch/archive/pictures/SA0... http://www.denissteinemann.ch/archive/pictures/SA0... oh, and this sunset is from about a month ago, I don't think I ever posted it. It's on the salt flat in San Pedro de Atacama in the north, and the most amazing one I've ever seen. It looked even better in reality! : http://www.denissteinemann.ch/archive/pictures/SA0... http://www.denissteinemann.ch/archive/pictures/SA0... | ||
Tuesday Feb 13 | ||
| Note | |
| took a flight from Punta Arenas down to Isla Navarino, south of Tierra del Fuego, but still considered to be part of the american mainland. The usual tourist's program includes Ushuaia, which is in Argentina on the other side of the Beagle Channel, and which is considered the 'southernmost city in the world'. Well, it's not quite true, there is Puerto Williams in Chile which is a bit more south, but I guess it can only be called a town ;-) It's actually a marine base of the Chilean army, to fight off all the bad Argentinians. My travelling guides didn't say much about Puerto Williams, but I've learned that this usually means there aren't so many tourists and in these places you get to see the really nice things. And since it did mention that there are some very nice trekking possibilities down here and I like to do things other people don't do (and going to the 'southernmost town in the world' and maybe seeing Cape Horn is also tempting, I admit ;-)), I decided to come down here instead of going to the famous Torres del Paine National Park north of Punta Arenas.
The trekking guide said 'due to the stark sub-antarctic climate and the exposure to the usually bad weather around Cape Horn, you should be prepared for high winds, rain and snow even in summer'... just the way I imagine the end of the world to be! But as we know, there is no bad weather, only bad preparation and equipment. When I arrived at the airport, I was a bit shocked to see that the plane would be really that small... so I threw in another pill against motion sickness... The flight was ok, though, very nice views! Met an american in the evening who is living down here a few months per year to do research on climate change in southern Patagonia and Antarctica. It's my dream to do something like that once myself. Step 1, learning spanish, has been taken care of. Step 2, finishing my PhD without any further delays, will be next. the plane: http://www.denissteinemann.ch/archive/pictures/SA0... view from the plane: http://www.denissteinemann.ch/archive/pictures/SA0... | ||
Monday Feb 12 | ||
| Note | |
| travelling to Punta Arenas today. On the way, the bus driver suddenly stopped because he thought that somebody was smoking in the bathroom, which is not allowed. Unfortunately, the gravel on the side of the road was a bit soft... so eventually everybody had to get off and they needed some powerful machinery to get the bus on the road again ;-)
bus: http://www.denissteinemann.ch/archive/pictures/SA0... | ||
Sunday Feb 11 | ||
| Running (Hiking) 3:00:00 [2] | |
| going back from Laguna de Toro. On the way, I went up to another pass to watch and get some pics of Cerro Torre and Fitzroy, the mountains this place is famous for. I definitely know now why for climbers around the world, these are real test-pieces. Hundreds of vertical meters of rock and ice and snow and usually bad weather.
Going up to the pass (800m uphill) was quite tough with the heavy backpack... Cerro Torre (left) and Fitzroy (right): http://www.denissteinemann.ch/archive/pictures/SA0... | ||
| C • ahhh... 1 | ||
Saturday Feb 10 | ||
| Running (Hiking) 2:30:00 [2] | |
| went up to Paso del Viento ('Windy pass') to look at the ice field. On the way up, I met Ryan from California, so I had some nice company for the day. I wasn't walking slow, but he was almost keeping the speed, so I thought that he must have done some kind of training before. So eventually it turned out that he did a lot of track and cross country running some years ago, now he's more into trekking. His personal best on the mile was 4.10 when he was in high school...
We had to cross a river (which is REALLY cold and had some water in the evening) and walked along a glacier along the way. Up on the pass, the sight and weather were simply fantastic!!!! I've heard there are not many days like this one here. We looked down on the Viedma Glacier, it's 1000km2 big (compare it to Aletschgletscher, the biggest in the Alps I think and about 200km2), just one huge mass of ice. And in the distance, more ice. As mentioned before, it forms a small part of the Southern Patagonian Ice Field, which I've heard is possible to cross, that would be about 7 days on 100km of glacier, cold and strong west winds, and an awesome experience. So this is also one of my (many) future mid-term projects ;-) Awesome day, absolutely amazed by the masses of ice I saw and crossed today. This is where I belong, not in an office staring at a screen. View on the Southern Patagonian Ice Field; the mountain in the back is about 30km away, and more ice follows behind it: http://www.denissteinemann.ch/archive/pictures/SA0... A small glacier we had to cross at the bottom on our way up (mom, don't worry, it wasn't dangerous ;-)): http://www.denissteinemann.ch/archive/pictures/SA0... Painful river crossing in 0 degree water: http://www.denissteinemann.ch/archive/pictures/SA0... | ||
Friday Feb 9 | ||
| Running (Hiking) 3:00:00 [2]+700m | |
| travelled to El Chalten yesterday evening to spend some days in the Fitz Roy National Park. Originally, I didn't plan to go here for reasons of time, but when then I found some good maps of this park in El Calafate and saw that there are some possibilites here to do some longer treks where a) probably not many people go and b) it's possible to go to the edge of the Southern Patagonian Ice Field, smth which is not possible on the usual tourist programs.
Due to previous experiences with maps here in South America and although this map here at least looked pretty good, I decided that I would ask the park rangers for more details about what I was planning to do. I needed a permit ;-), which I don't really understand why, as it was (mostly) just following a trail, and they told me that I'd have to cross some rivers. So, having learned from the last tours to mnts and knowing that poles can be a big help to keep the balance, I rented two of them (I wouldn't have done this back home, as real men don't need them ;-), but I must admit now that they can come in quite handy once in a while ;-)). With 20kg on my back I hiked up to Laguna de Toro, a place to camp. What a pleasure, only a few people around and not the masses of tourists. Was really tired after the 4hr hike, the lack of training and the weight on my back took their toll. | ||
Thursday Feb 8 | ||
| Note | |
| went to the Perito Moreno glacier, one of the most impressive glaciers in the world that are still left. It ends in a lake, and all the time, huge chunks of ice break off at the front. The glacier is 5km wide at the front and about 60m (!) high, a vertical wall. Extremely impressive, never seen anything like it! And the amazing thing is that this glacier and all the other ones around here (there are much larger ones, but they're not that impressive because they don't have such a high wall of ice at their front and aren't easily accessible) really just form small fingers running down from the Southern Patagonian Ice Field, which covers an area of 600x100 km2 and is many hundreds of meters thick.
Perito Moreno: http://www.denissteinemann.ch/archive/pictures/SA0... | ||
Wednesday Feb 7 | ||
| Note | |
| in El Calafate now after a lot of travelling through the Argentinian pampa. Will see the famous Perito Moreno glaciar tomorrow, looking forward to it.
I also booked a flight to Puerto Williams next week, the real southernmost 'city' in the world (usually Ushuaia in Argentina is called like that, but it's not true). It's quite close to Cape Horn and there are supposed to be excellent trekking possibilities for several days. The new tent will certainly be tested there by the harsh weather conditions. But 'you can go to Mount Everest with this tent', the dutch guy in the store in Santiago said... | ||
| C • tent 3 | ||
Sunday Feb 4 | ||
| Note | |
| I'm in Coihaique now, the only real city (= 40000 people) within 1000km to each sides. Time to buy some stuff, spend some hours in the internet cafe (where nothing seems to work...;-)), etc. Going to Argentina tomorrow, continuing on south. | ||
Friday Feb 2 | ||
| Running (Hiking) 1:00:00 [2] | |
| up to a lake. Absolutely awesome, with all the mountains and forest surrounding it. Great weather too (which is unusual, as it's supposed to rain here usually). | ||
Thursday Feb 1 | ||
| Running (Hiking) 1:00:00 [2] | |
| met two swiss guys on the way and I'm travelling with them further down south on the carretera. The landscape is getting more and more impressive all the time. This place is magic. And HUGE.
Went up to a hanging glacier today. | ||
