A Year of Races and Climbs

The past twelve months had been a whirlwind of races and climbs around the world, not by deliberate design, but certainly an experience that I would look back with fondness. Many of these races were new to me, and each a cherished opportunity. I had a pseudo-masochistic target of having a monthly race, travel or adventure. With my previous work, I often woke up in a different country each month. That changed when I switched job in Sep/ Oct 2014, and thought that it would be auspicious to symbolise a new chapter with a race. So I gamely signed up for the Vietnam Mountain Marathon, and the rest fell in place. The majority of these races took place over a weekend (eg. Fri – Sun) or a public holiday long weekend. Race travel was often a creative challenge of finding the right flights and logistics.

There were so many races, PBs, awards, newfound self-awareness and growth, that I could not blog timely about all of them. So here is a chronology of events since May 2014 (yes I know, that is more than 12 months back), and some top-line recollections about each of them.

·        Mt Rinjani climb (1 – 5 May 2014) - A corporate expedition with bosses and colleagues. Half the members had taken part in the Mt KK Challenge in 2013, and we had a good rapport going. It was my second visit to Mt Rinjani and around the crater lake. On hindsight, the experience definitely came in very handy at my subsequent Rinjani Ultra race in Aug 2015. 

·        Salomon MR Marathon (22 Jun 2014) – 4^th position; PB 4:41h 

·        Elbrus climb (26 Jul – 7 Aug 2014)

·        Vietnam Mountain Marathon (70km) (18 – 22 Sep2014) – 16:00h

·        SG TNF100 (50km) (11 Oct 2014) – 5^th position; 5:37h

 

·        Salomon LT70 (Lantau 70km) (1 Nov 2014) – 15:45h

·        HK TNF100 (100km) (12 – 14 Dec 2015) – My second time DNF. Ooops. I started too conservatively and only warmed up/ picked up pace much later in the race. I also spent an inordinate amount of time at the checkpoints, stuffing myself silly with sushi-rice dipped in salt. I paid the price subsequently by getting myself cut off at CP8 (about 80km). Haiz. 

·        Vibram HK100 (100km) (16 – 18 Jan 2015) – This was my 4^th edition of the race, and I still loved it. After learning from my un-planning errors from the recent TNF HK, I was determined to keep track of my times, especially how long I spent at each aid station. Happy to finally improve on my race timings and earn the Silver finisher trophy for coming in below 20h; 19:37h.

 

·        BKK TNF100 (50km duo) (3- Jan – 1 Feb 2015) – First time pairing up with Kee Leng, naming ourselves Chilli Padi. It was a relatively easy terrain; apart from a short scrambling early on in the race, the rest of the distance was definitely run-able. The race flag-off was 5am in cool weather. By 9am, the sun was out in full force and I was secretly glad that I was not attempting the 100km (two loops of 50km). Kee Leng was running with another friend, Hwee Hoon, who was training for her upcoming MDS desert race. I went ahead slightly, since the race was a cumulative timing of both runners. Along the way, I passed 1 – 2 other female runners but I had no way of knowing which teams they were in. I could only do mental calculations and hoped that we were not too far off. It was quite a close fight amongst the female teams, and an anxious time at the finishing line waiting for the girls to appear. We came in 2^nd position with a combined timing of 12:40h; personal time 6:00h (1^st for the duo and 4^th compared to solo timings), earning our team S$1,200 worth of BKK TNF vouchers. Woohoo!

 

·        Mt Aconcagua (6,962m) climb (7 Feb – 2 Mar 2015) – Second attempt and a lot more conditioned. Alas, still did not manage to summit this bad-weather-prone peak. We were snowed in before High Camp, and on summit day, the snow was too soft and deep for me to tackle.

 ·        TransLantau 100 (100km) (13 – 15 Mar 2015) – This was a brutal, agonising 100km, the toughest of the HK 100km series; The total elevation was about 5,200m, taking us up the major peaks on Lantau island. I was fresh off Aconcagua and well-acclimatised for climbs. Nonetheless, I was hit by the z-monster and continued my tradition of sleep-walking after 2am. Luckily I had company throughout the race, and we completed it together at 26:50h.

·        Wu-Lai (U-Lay) Marathon (42km) (3 – 5 April 2015) – My first trip to Taiwan, to race in an event organised by a Singaporean (Sam). Finally, a road marathon! It was refreshingly simple in logistics and mental expectations. The route took us through the scenic mountains/ valleys of U-Lay, a popular hot-spring area near Taipei. We followed the vehicular path that wound itself around the valleys like a spring. Got a surprise 4^th position (3:58h) at the race. J After the marathon, there was an optional 7km leisure distance. It was fun trotting alongside people who were walking their dogs and having a nice outing.

·        Gede Pangrango (42km) (1 – 3 May 2015) – This was my first time taking part in a race organised by Hendra Wijaya, one of Indonesia’s top ultra-endurance athlete. His races are nothing short of no-frills-back-to-basic crazy. This was the first race at the Gede mountain, comprising impossible ascents and descents of 1,000m at one go, over insane tree roots and an ultra-technical terrain. I was the second female runner but could not meet the cut-off time of 16h. In the end, there was only one female finisher, who was from Indonesia. And all our Singaporean runners DNF-ed. Good golly, lol. But it was a valuable experience that would serve me well in my future races. 

·        AU TNF100 (100km) (15 – 17 May 2015) – Absolutely enjoyed this race, and clocked a PB (18:50h) for my trail 100km! For that, I got a bronze finisher belt buckle - what I might do with a giant metal buckle is a separate story. The run around the Blue Mountains was incredibly scenic and well-organised, with a perfect weather and runnable terrain to tantalise runners. It was also the farthest trip I managed to accomplish over a Fri – Sun weekend. I would gladly do this again.

·        Mt Kota Kinabalu climb (20 – 23 May 2015) – a corporate event that I organised; it is always good to be back in the mountains. Alas, this was also two weeks before the devastating KK earthquake, a shock to many of us.

·        Philippines TNF100 (100km) (11 – 13 Jun 2015) – 7^th position womens in 27h (out of 7 female finishers and an overall race cutoff of 30h); This year’s route was Nuvali – Tagaytay – Batangas, with a total elevation 3,574m. The climbs for this race were all upfront, and there was a major checkpoint cutoff at 54km; alas the organisers had to extend that timing by an hour or many would not have cleared it (myself included). The weather was unrelenting hot, and by night time, it was a real struggle to keep awake after being baked in the sun the entire day. It was my first race where I took a 10min nap, which refreshed me tremendously. I was touched by the Filipino runners’ and local villagers’ hospitality. One guy bought a coke from a street vendor and shared it with me, as we commiserated our misery fast-tracking to clear the mid-point cutoff. This timing of 27h was also my PW. :)

 

 

·        Salomon X-Country MacRitchie Marathon (42km) (28 Jun 2015) – Four loops of MR in the usual counter-clockwise direction (which was tougher than last year). This was my playground and I really wanted to do well at this race. Unfortunately, I went out too fast initially and the hot weather caused some very serious cramps on my last loop, where I had to be supported on the walk out. Lost my lead and dropped from 5^th to 6^th position, finishing in 5h. A hard-earned experience on what major cramping was like.

·        Sundown Marathon (42km) (4 July 2015) – I had challenged myself to attempt a sub-4h when I signed up for the race. However, that bubble burst after the spectacular cramps and tight ankles from the MR marathon in the previous week. Ran an ok pace, completing in 4:08h.

 

·        SG MSIG 50 (50km) (25 July 2015) – This was a new race, organised by our local Queen of Trails, Jeri; After the MR cramping experience, I took it slowly and conservatively, finishing 6^th position with 6:50h. The hot weather and the endless Green Corridor made the race ever so mental, especially the last 10km or so out to the Tg Pagar end and back to the finishing point at Portsdown. It was forever. 

  

·        Mt Rinjani Ultra (52km) (6 – 9 Aug 2015) – In my mind, this was the penultimate race before I left SGP. One must not be tricked by the race distance of 52km over a seemingly generous course cutoff of 22h. The total elevation for this race was about 5,200m (in comparison, that was a similar elevation for TransLantau 100k). This race had a very low finisher rate of less than 20%. It was a similar traverse route to the summit and down that trekkers typically take 3 days to complete. The climbs were brutal, averaging 800m - 1000m in a single ascent from one checkpoint to another. The descents were equally punishing, sometimes 1500m - 2000m straight down. I was extremely apprehensive and anxious, being alone at this race and not sure whether I could finish it. The timing was very tight, it was literally "chiong sua" (dash up mountain). I made a race plan, plotted the checkpoints and assigned tentative time estimates, with about an hour buffer for delays, but as runners would know, races seldom play out as planned.

      It rained fairly heavily just before the race, but stopped once we set off. The good weather held throughout the race, and thankfully it was not rainy or windy on the way up the summit. Although Mt Rinjani was the second highest in SE Asia (after Mt Kinabalu), it was known to be more difficult due to its scree terrain at the summit area; it was very easy to keep sliding backwards and moving forward took double the effort. I loved the climbs, but was typically much slower coming down. The race was so so so very brutal; but for once, I did not experience any stomach upsets (probably thanks to the Tailwind endurance fuel/ drink mix that I was using). The race food was typical Indonesian sweet kuehs; it looked like steamed corn/ tapioca, filled with gula Melaka – it was delicious and energising for me! The trail running scene in Indonesia was in its infancy, largely due to the effort of race director, Hendra, and many local runners still retained that ‘kampung’ spirit on the race. One guy offered to take over my trekking poles as we scrambled down a particular tricky section, and then, as innocuously as he had offered, he returned them to me with a simple “You will need these now”. And at my last 5km, another runner generously paced and encouraged me in the trails, ending his selfless deed with a “Go on, you can run all the way now (knowing that he was not able to catch my pace on the flats).” I was extremely touched. I barely scrapped past the cutoff (22h) with a finishing time of 21:52h, nail-biting to the very end. All in, extremely proud and happy to be the first SGP female finisher at this race. I even brought a little SGP flag for the summit shot, in celebration of SG50. 

  

Elbrus, the Climb (26 Jul - 7 Aug 2014)

It was an expedition that went fortuitously well. I had awesome weather where the rain missed us on a daily basis; an experienced guide, Gennady, who set a steady deliberate pace; and wonderful team-mates who were as gregarious as they were generous.


Elbrus, the Climb

A chance encounter with the team
To climb Elbrus on a whim
The stairwells our permanent playground
Up and up, step by step, round and round

Off we trooped with big duffels
A motley crew of seven
Laughter aplenty, no ruffles
Blessed with weather from heaven

Lovely Terskol we did our drills
Hikes through valleys and the hills
Ski-lift whisked to Barrels Hut
A quaint base camp to calm our hearts

Above the clouds and powdery snow
Majestic Caucasus and starry nights
Climb high, sleep low
The West Peak always in sight

“No porridge, no summit”
Declared Maria our matronly cook
“Keep my pace, wear your mitts!”
Barked our guide Gennady with a commanding look

Six-and-a-half hours we plodded on
Mental devils we fought to con
Up the traverse, down the saddle
At last, beaming in the summit cradle


~ PS, 7 Aug 2014
(summit 2 Aug 2014)

Mt Aconcagua Climb

Pictures:
Album 1 - Start to Base Camp
Album 2 - High Camp 1 to Summit Day
Album 3 - Post-Summit


It is not possible to record all the events in the past 20 climbing days in a single blog entry. Should I note down the factual bits, when we did what, numbers and how? Should I focus on the summit day in particular, or a theme perhaps like food? It was a long climb. Tiring. I had lines and ideas flowing through my mind on the many long treks, but now that I am comfortable in my Hyatt room, where do I even start?

Chronological Events -

16-Dec: We had 3 guides and 11 clients. We got our permits and drove 4-5h from Mendoza (800m) to Penitentes (2400m). We stayed at a nice ski hotel with hot shower. We organized and weighed our duffel bags for the mules, and had a good steak dinner. I had my last ice-cream for the year 2010!

17-Dec: We did a slow and easy trek from 11am to 5pm (with hourly breaks), going from 2400m to 2800m. The route followed along the river. We carried only our jackets and food. The approach was very windy but hot and dry. We reached Pampa de Lanas campsite and pitched our own tents. We were expected to do so at each campsite. We had a traditional Argentinian meat BBQ dinner, cooked by the mule drivers. It was my best steak ever, succulent, juicy with crispy skin. Ooooh...

18-Dec: Breakfast was scrambled egg. Then we broke tents and set off at 1030am. There was a short bridge crossing along the way. It was very windy along the way and anything that was not secured got blown away. We arrived at the next campsite at 5pm, 3200m. We had some tea and snacks. The guides made us avocado & salad with bread. Then dinner, which was typically some pasta or carbs of sorts.

19-Dec: Basecamp: River-crossing day! Not exactly because it was a dry season and the "river" had shrunk by two-thirds. What was left was a few metres of cold water about calf deep. We chose not to bother with changing and carrying wet shoes, and got a mule driver to ferry us across, one-by-one. We started at 915am and stopped at 2pm for a picnic lunch. I totally over-ate. The subsequent trek to our Basecamp (BC) Plaza Argentina was an absolute chore. We arrived at 330pm, 4200m. The BC was a luxury. We had a big dining tent with tables, chairs and laid out cutlery. Juice, nuts and snacks were prepared for us. There was a huge tent by Daniel Lopez that offered B&B service, internet, phone and so on. A hot shower cost USD20! We had shepard's pie for dinner and cake for dessert. Bliss.

20-Dec: It was a rest day at BC. Food was amazingly good, we were very well taken care of by two young Spanish ladies who manned the kitchen tent. It was fully equipped with a giant oven and all sorts of culinary contraceptions. After an idle breakfast, we went to the medical tent to be checked by the BC doctor. Everyone had to be measured and 'approved' by him. Readings: O2=84, pulse=90, BP=110/80. Lunch was a sumptuous grilled chicken thigh and vegetables. I cleaned off the meat to bare bones. Then our guides handed out snack packs and briefed us on the ferrying routine for the next days and what to pack.

21-Dec: It was our first ferry/ carry attempt. Above BC, we started wearing our plastic boots all the way. The idea was to bring some personal gear up for storage at HighCamp 1. Some of our climbers chose to engage personal porters. I prepared my pack, it was 17kg. My new Osprey Ariel 75 was put to good use, it dwarfed me. We left at 1030am and arrived at HC1 at 340pm, 4900m. It was a tough terrain, with lots of loose scree along the way. We deposited our gear and headed back to BC. The descent took about 3h. It was a long day, and some of our climbers felt sick from the altitude. Oxymeter reading: 80 (O2)/ 95 (pulse).

22-Dec: Another rest day at BC, much appreciated. One of our climbers, Martin, decided to stop the climb. But before he left, he kindly shared his satellite phone minutes with everyone, as an early xmas present. Awww.... I managed a call back to Singapore. And also rewarded myself with a hot shower. My hair was feeling yucky and starting to itch by that point and it was irritating to sleep on them. The shower was a great investment, I felt so clean and refreshed after that! It was grooming time, helped by the very hot day at BC today. Everything was pulled out of the tent to be aired in the sun. We had lasagne for lunch, and an awesome steak for dinner. Oxy-reading: 85/90.

23-Dec: HighCamp 1: Today we move from BC to HC1, leaving behind the comfort and fine dining. My pack was 14kg. We left at 1030am and arrived at 330pm to super-duper heavy winds. It was a challenge setting up our tents. Everything was flapping and rattling away. We could not do much but lied in our tents and waited out the weather. Underneath the shelter, we could hear our tent poles rattling viciously in the wind. I went outside to pee and nearly got blown off balance by the sudden gusts of wind. One of our climbers was diagnosed with HAPE by a doctor who was at the campsite. He ordered her to descend immediately and a guide went with her. It was a sad moment for the expedition.

24-Dec: We did a carry/ ferry to HC2 at 5300m. It took us 4h from 11am to 3pm. We had to cross a col, and did a short section on ice using crampons. I took some group gear and my pack was 15kg. It was not as tough a carry compared to BC-HC1. We left our gear and returned to HC1 by 5pm. I used the infamous 'grey shit bag' for the first time. Climbers in Aconcagua were expected to carry all litter out, including poo. So each of us were issued bags to collect them. It was 'challenging', I squatted over the bag until I almost cramped. It was Xmas eve and we had pasta with choc chip xmas bread. The guides gave us an Aconcagua collar pin each as present. One climber, Christina, had some xmas songs on her iTouch. Everyone was in a festive mood. Another group of climbers had xmas tinsels and bells on their tents.

25-Dec: It was a rest day for us at HC1. It was also Xmas Day. We woke up to find 2 gold chocolate coins outside our tents. I think one of our climbers left them there because the coins had Fort Knox and US Quarter imprints. It was a nice gesture. It was a hot day, no more winds. But it was hard to kill time because we had left all our books in BC. There was absolutely nothing to do but sit around. There was a limit to how often one can trim those nails, clean one's face and do more grooming. Oxy-reading: 79/94.

26-Dec: HighCamp 2: We moved from HC1 to HC2 at 5300m today. It took us 5h from 10am to 2pm, longer than the previous carry. I had 18kg on me today - whew! my heaviest ever. It was more than one-third my body weight. I had half my tent, and my tent-mate, Brett, took the other half. It was indeed energy sapping, I felt like a porter. Each porter in Aconcagua is limited to 20kg of carry. Oxy-reading: 79/84.

27-Dec: We continued our carry to HC3 in the morning. I had a light pack, perhaps 12kg. But it was cold and snowy. I felt the cuts of the snow and wind across my face, and visibility was low. Everything was shrouded in white. It was a tough trek because of the weather. We took 3h from 11am to 2pm to reach 5800m, and just 1h to return to HC2. Oxy-reading: 72/89.

28-Dec: Rest day at HC2, another day of doing nothing and trying to stay sane. Some of the girls played game using soil and stones. The weather was ok so we had lunch outside in the open. Oxy-reading: 71/97.

29-Dec: HighCamp 3: We move to HC3 today. Yes!! No more waiting around. I was excited because that meant summit attempt would be the next day. HC3 was too high to be 'staying and resting' there unnecessarily. We took slightly less than 4h from 11am to 2:50pm. There was snow but not cold. We set up our tents at 5800m and got organized for summit attempt. Dinner was instant mashed potato with canned tuna. Delicious really at that altitude. We were each given 2L of boiled water for the summit push.

30-Dec: Summit Attempt: I had a restless night and kept looking at my watch. We finally heard the shouts of "Hot Water!" from the guides at about 5am. We reluctantly got up and readied ourselves. There was some wind but not strong. We had to put on all our warm clothings and crampons. I wore a thermal, micro-fleece, down jacket and shell. I put on two pairs of socks and inserted hand-warmers in between them, on the arches of my feet. Then I wrapped on my gaiters and strapped on the crampons. I did not have time for breakfast and took a cereal bar instead. It was cold outside, the warmers did not feel like they worked. I skipped the ones for my hands (a BIG mistake) and put on my glove liners and down mitts. We were told to put 1x nalgene bottle in our down jackets, and another bottle in the backpack. All our food was within access in our shell jackets. By the time we started, it was almost bright and there was no need for headlamps. We set off at 630am.

Barely an hour into the attempt, all except 4 climbers (out of 9) had turned back to the campsite. So it left 4 of us and 3 guides, trudging on. I made good progress in the first 1-2h. But the lack of breakfast soon caught up with me, and I could feel my energy sapping out. I reached for a Clif Bar, but it had frozen in the cold and was impossible to bite off. I sucked on a sweet, but it was insufficient. It was also almost impossible to unwrap the tiny candy in my clumsy mitts. Like a battery draining, by the 4th hour I was quite flat. I managed to get an Quaker cereal bar, and endured. Meanwhile, one of our guides, Maria, had problems with the altitude and chose to descend. She asked if I wanted to go with her, but the thoughts of summit were too tempting. I pressed on with 3 other climbers and 2 guides, but not for long. I was moving extremely slowly and would not have lasted another 8h. There was still another 4h up to cover that last 400+m, and 4h down to HC3.

I turned around with one guide at about 6500m. Sadly. I actually felt quite strong and confident for this climb. According to our guides, it was a tough summit day - it was not as cold nor windy, but there was too much snow which made the trek up very tiring. At many points, the snow was more than calf deep. It took me another 2h to descend to HC3, very slowly. I discovered that 3 fingers on my left hand felt numb and looked discoloured. I think they were mildly frost-bitten. *gasp*! It was my first time encountering frost-bite! Maria gave me some hot noodle soup, which I took in Dawn's & Olya's tent. It was always warm and cosy in there. I was so exhausted that I just lied there and had my first nap of the expedition. In the meanwhile, we waited anxiously for radio updates from the rest of the climbers. They met with some winds and bad incoming weather, and finally turned around at close to 6900m. They were so close to the summit, about 45min - 1h away, but everyone was very drained as well. They took another few hours to descend, totaling a 12h summit attempt. I skipped dinner that night and slept all the way.

31-Dec: Those of us who attempted the summit were still tired. We were supposed to break camp and pack up to go down to Plaza de Mulas (the basecamp of the normal route). I was very slow and unfocused in the morning. The descent took about 4h, and the first hour was through thick snow that was very tiring. I woke up late and did not get breakfast again. That, coupled with the no-dinner last night, meant that I was moving along uninspired and at a subsistence pace. Plaza de Mulas was a HUGE campsite at 4200m, totally commercialized because there were so many groups there, each with their own set of dining support, camping grounds, shower/ toilets and other support facilities. We used the facilities offered by Grajales. It was NY's eve and apparently there would be some bonfire and celebrations around the campsite. But I was too tired. Dawn and I were given two free bunk beds in one of the B&B tents, we promptly fell asleep. The rest of our team was snuggled together in the big dining tent.

1-Jan-2010: The first day of the year!! But we were to spend 8h walking on a dried river bed and trekking through an endless valley to get to Penitentes. It was utterly boring because after 2h, the surrounding sights seemed the same. Just a long never-ending walk with no end in sight. We stopped a few times for very quick drinks and plodded on. Everyone was stretched (mentally) by the trek out. It was not tough, given that we were dropping altitude. It was just too long. We finally got to the Park entrance and waited for our van, and arrived at Penitentes close to 8pm. Whew! That marked the end of our Aconcagua expedition - the physically demanding segment was over, almost too soon. We all headed for a well-deserved hot shower.

Start of Expedition

Pictures

Today we set off and leave Mendoza to go to Penitentes. In the morning, we went to the permit and tourist offices to get our climbing permits. This being the high season, it was an astonishing AR3000 = USD757 = SGD1000!! *breathless* We got the "Ascent/ Climbing Permit" as opposed to the rest of the short/ long trekking permits. Those who needed last minute gear rental etc went off to settle our last errands. We have a doctor on board this expedition, so that was good. I hope he stays with us throughout the climb.

We would be setting off on the 3.5h drive to Penitentes, where we would stay a night, organize our duffels for the mules, and start our approach trek towards Base Camp tomorrow. The approach to Base Camp at Plaza Argentina (4200m) would take approximately 3 days. Our tentative climbing itinerary is dynamic and would change depending on the weather and climbers' conditions. Our guides will also be sending dispatches to the expedition coordinator in the city, who will upload it on the company's website.

May we get good weather and a safe climb. :)

Til I am back next year.
Merry Xmas and Happy New Year!!

To track us:
Climb itinerary
Progress dispatches
(15 Dec season)