North Col of Mount Septimus
Once a year I climb a mountain with the old man. This year Bob and I wrestled with an old acquaintance. Mount Septimus, which is the most impressive feature in the south part of Strathcona Park on Vancouver Island, shut me down when I was a teenager trying to climb it solo. This time around, climbing with Bob, I had better luck. We scurried up the North Col (AI 2, 5th class, 3000 ft) and rapped the west face just before a storm hit. Victoria to Victoria our time was 4 days.
Image: Bob in front of the west butress of Mount Septimus.
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I’m still wrapped up in the Strathcona film project and won’t be blogging for a little bit, but I didn’t want to have the last post be a cloudy image from LAX.
Image: This is a speed boat zipping through Tofino Harbour, Vancouver Island BC.
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back in Canada eh!
So in an interesting turn of events I’m in Canada. I was literally in the Sydney Airport about to jump on a plane when I got a call from BC parks to shoot a documentary in Strathcona Park. I was on a flight to LA 3 hours later and the next day up to Vancouver. However, all is not rosy; the little cold that I was fighting in NZ decided to get vicious and I have been bed ridden since arriving in Canada. I have decided to take a couple month break from blogging while working on this documentary. Look forward to catching up with blogging duties afterward. Thank you everyone who has followed thus far.
Kindest Regards,
Aaron
Image: A cloudy day at LAX on route to Vancouver.
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Earlier today I was trying to convince myself that if I need to be sick, that now is a good time because all I have to do is travel for the next couple days but I’m not buying it. I don’t think there is every a good time to be sick and it’s annoying packing my bags while I feel weak and noxious. I am on a flight to Sydney tomorrow and then head up to the Goldcoast for a few days. I have talked about my surfboard bag set up before but I wanted to go into more detail about my complete bag set up. I have four bags in my system. A Destination Surf Expedition Travel Series surfboard bag that I carry a couple boards in and some soft items like a wetsuit, mosquito net and clothing. My second bag is the Metolius Crag Station, which I like because of its versatility and central zipper system, that I use to carry all my heavy and hard items that would potentially damage my surfboards such as fins and tripod plus any climbing gear. My third bag is the Crumpler Sinking Barge Deluxe loaded with camera gear and laptop. The forth bag is a lightweight day pack that I store empty in my surfboard bag which I use during my day-to-day when not in transit. While in transit, I wear the Crumpler backpack and carry the surfboards in one hand or over the shoulder and carry the Metolius bag in the other hand.
Image: My last surf in New Zealand.
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Eating Well on the Road
So much of my state of mind depends on what I eat. Everything seems bearable when I have a full belly of healthy food. The reverse is also true, if I’m hungry all it takes is the smallest obstacle and it feels like the world is crumbling down around me. Of course, if on a rock-climbing or surfing trip eating well is also critical to performance.
When traveling the basic human needs such as food and shelter require greater effort. The more specific the needs the greater the effort. When I first started traveling and climbing throughout the continental USA over 10 years ago I was a fast food fanatic. I had all the fast food specials wired: on monday I knew it was $1 chicken burgers at McDonalds, on tuesday the whopper was on special, wednesday was the double bacon cheese burger at Wendy’s etc. This lasted for a year and a half until I arrived in Bishop California and started hanging out with climber Todd Bradlee. Todd was climbing much harder than me so I watched closely his methods. The most obvious difference was Todd’s stringent attention to diet. I imitated his methods and the more healthy food I ate the more I enjoyed it. I even started to like salad!
Depending on the type of trip and the country you are in, eating strategies vary widely. Inevitably you make compromises due to the limitations of your travel set up. Most commonly I find myself without refrigeration forcing me to cover eating needs as simply as possible. If I am on the road without a fridge I like to visit a grocery store daily (if it is in proximity) so I can eat perishables that would otherwise not store. I enjoy cereal most mornings so powdered milk has been a god send when without a fridge. A daily dose of greens is good for sore muscles and good for anyone with an acidic stomach. If without a fridge and away from a grocery store or traveling in a country where it is difficult to get salad I bring along “greens plus” powdered drink. If I stumble upon a really good whole food restaurant, such as the Space of Love Cafe here in New Brighton, I will eat there daily.
Finding a balance between food that gives eating enjoyment and food that feels good inside your body can be a challenge. One of the easiest ways to give eating enjoyment is variety. A meal of 4 or 5 small items is generally more enjoyable than a meal of a large serving of a single item.
I have gone through phases of using vitamin supplements and never seen or felt improvements in well being or performance. I am not a nutritional expert but I have heard that vitamins in multivitamins pass through your system without being absorbed. The body seems to be better at absorbing vitamins from real foods.
Additionally, I am a bonker. I know some athletes that can go all day on a power bar but for me if I don’t get enough calories during an endurance day I crash hard. I have seen noticeable improvement with endurance performance from drinking electrolyte drinks like the emergen-c pouches added to water.
I see a lot of athletes who focus hard on the work-out but don’t put energy into a recovery routine. The first step to a good recovery is getting a good hit of protein sooner then 20 minutes after a workout. The other important recovery agents are rest and stretching.
Some of my all time favorite food items from a restaurant:
- whole grain crust pizza
- burrito with all the fixings
- healthy burger
Some of my all time favorite items from a grocery story:
- veggie dogs
- cheddar cheese
- dark chocolate
- hummus
- single serving salad
- go lean cereal
- protein powder
- cliff bars
- greens plus
- emergen-c
- assorted fruits
- good coffee
- whole grain bread
- dried whole bananas
- powdered milk
- tuna
- canned vegetables
- canned fruits
Image: I’m still in New Zealand but this is an image I made in Java, Indonesia, of a stall selling tasty deep fried food.
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Epic Conditions
The surf in New Brighton has been epic all week.
Image: Dale whacking it!
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Indecision
I have less then a couple weeks to go here in New Zealand. The plan is to wrap up a couple shoots I have in mind, enjoy the great surf we have been having and train at the Roxx. My next destination is not yet determined. I need to buckle down with my research.
Image: Driving to Mt. Cook on the way back from Dunedin.
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Photo tips on the way to Dunedin
“Wow, a L series lens, that’s nice”, muttered the man behind me. It was Dale, this man and myself on the empty beach. Dale and I had gotten up for sunrise to photograph the Moeraki Boulders. The man, who was over 60, was walking around with a camera on a tripod. He had followed me around all morning inspecting how I was photographing. I set up for a long lens, side lit image, and the man blurted out, “that angle won’t work”. The morning light at the Moeraki Boulders, which is a world site that everyone is supposed to see in their lifetime, was gorgeous. The unrequested critique caught me off guard but who knows…maybe the man was a true master! The angle the man didn’t like is below. After the morning shoot Dale and I continued down the coast to Dunedin. We scored good waves at St.Clair Beach. Dunedin is a beautiful city and I could easily see myself living there.
Image: The Moeraki Boulders.
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Bigger Waves and Colder Water
In a couple hours Dale and I are headed south to Dunedin to look for waves. From what I hear if you are surfer in NZ you either live in New Plymouth, Gisborne or Dunedin. On a side note; the other day I was in the 7th wave wetsuit factory here in Christchurch and am excited with their product. They make some of the best wetsuits in the world and my next suit will be a 7th wave.
Images: Harbour Pier in Akaroa.
www.aaronblack.com
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Weather Switcheroo
It was a bad call. Sitting on soft red sofa beside an inferno blazing in the fire place I gazed out the large main window of our hostel. The rain was falling sideways as gail force winds pounded the small fishing town of Greymouth. The west coast of New Zealand is notorious for harsh weather. We had mis-read the charts failing to see how much wind was associated with the swell that we had chased. The drive over Arthur’s Pass was stunning; narrow roads thread an intricate network of mountains that are huge piles of shale. For three days we roamed the coastline from Hokitak to Westport looking for a bay sheltered from the wind while still receiving swell, but all we found was messy uninviting beachies and waves breaking a kilometer out to sea. I’m sure places like Greymouth are super ripable on their day but it wasn’t in the cards for us.
Images: Unsurfable waves pound the beaches near Greymouth and during a brief break in the rain the boys hunt for waves on the westcoast.
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