It's 7.04 am and we're pulling into the Remarkables carpark. My phone rings. "Where are you? You're late". We parked and packed up our gear as quickly as possible. "I guess these scrog munchers don't like to be late" I said as I tried to figure out how to attached two ice axes to my pack. Turns out we were in a rush to get going (at 7am, not 7.04am) because we needed to get to the good ice before the boys did. Last weekend Gabby and I participated in the annual Expedition Climbers Club Ice and Mixed festival, held at the Remarkables. The Expedition Climbers Club brings together a huge cross section of climbers from around New Zealand and the world. Courses are run for those looking to gain more experience and those with lots of experience are able to meet other like minded climbers, make friends and find new climbing partners to tackle some of the advanced routes. It's a very unique club and festival and I doubt anything similar exists elsewhere in the world. It's entirely run by volunteers, who are generally the top scroggin munchers in the country. This means the courses are really affordable and open to anyone with some basic mountaineering and snow experience. We were definitely on the beginner end of the spectrum, I have ice climbed once before, and Gabby had never tried it. Neither of us had mixed climbed before and weren't actually really that sure what mixed climbing was. We signed up for the "Chicks n Picks" clinic, an all-female ice climbing clinic run by two of New Zealand's best female ice climbers Rose Pearson and Gemma Wilson. Rose and Gemma are also the only two women on the New Zealand Alpine team. We were discussing why it is that women like to learn from women, and why we generally prefer to take courses and learn in a slightly more structured and formal way. Men we feel like generally are keen to just give things ago, accept more risk. Many of us were envious of this, wishing that we also felt comfortable just trying something out independently for the first time, and learning on the fly and just assuming that things would work out. Many of us we felt would probably not have tried ice climbing had we not been able to participate in this women's clinic. This was a similar consensus at my She Jumps Alpine Finishing school that Steph and I participated in. While ice climbing has the potential to be fun and a sport on it's own we were there with the goal of expanding our skills and confidence in icy conditions. At the beginning of the course we were asked to describe our dream ice climb. I answered by saying I wasn't interested in climbing anything that I wasn't able to ski down! This confused many of the scrog munchers. We practised climbing several different routes which were completely ice. We were on top ropes, but it was still scary and the thought of trusting 100 percent of your weight on just one ice pick took a while to get used to. Getting used to the technique versus general rock climbing technique was challenging too as you aren't really able to use any part of your foot other than your toes. We definitely used our knees a lot though and regretted not wearing knee pads! Now that we've practised climbing vertical ice climbing less that vertical ice should be a bit easier (right??).. More importantly we practise placing ice screws and using v-threads to make anchors in the ice. I've travelled around with and ice screw on my harness for many years for a "just incase" scenario but I've never actually used one. This part of the training was awesome. We made many anchors of varying strengths and tested them out with 7 people on them and they held! Great for building trust and feeling confident with the ice holding. We're not really sure exactly what conditions we'll encounter in Patagonia. Ideally everything will be easy and we won't need ropes or ice axes or ice screws but we're working hard getting prepared so that if necessary we'll be able to be safe and confident using these tools. And just to confirm we aren't turning into ice climbers, we remain skiers at heart. And scroggin munchers are cool :) . Rose and Gemma are awesome and we wish we were as cool as they are. SCROGGIN: A TERM USED IN AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND FOR TRAIL MIX
NUTS PROVIDE SUSTAINABILITY AND PROTEIN, THE DRIED FRUIT PROVIDE CARBOHYDRATES AND THE CHOCOLATE […] IS THERE […] WHEN YOU NEED THE ENERGY TO CLIMB A HILL. – URBAN DICTIONARY, 2008 “Scroggin munching” has been used by Kiwis since the beginning, and refers to various outdoor activities, usually climbing hills in tight pants and climbing helmets, and not usually with skis. “Scrog Muncher” naturally characterises the athlete involved in such activities. Scroggin is a term that has transformed trail mix—the sustenance of many endurance athletes—into a lifestyle.
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We’re getting really excited about our upcoming multisport adventure! We’re also getting a little worried about being strong and fit enough to carry it out. Our approximate plan is to sea kayak for about four days (about 100km and we’re estimating we might be able to do about 25km/day). Then spend about three days climbing up to a high spot on the glacier carrying some outrageously heavy packs, possibly shuttling gear up and down a lot. Then we’ll be skiing for maybe up to two weeks before kayaking four days back again. We need to be fit and strong for kayaking so that we can move efficiently without getting injured and so that we can manage some challenging conditions. We’ll be going against the wind to start and everyone we’ve talked to has said it’s going to be very difficult paddling. We need to be strong so we can carry heavy backpacks, carry heavy kayaks and ascend steep terrain. We need to be fit so we can spend long days touring, make the most of our time skiing and not get injured. So how do you train for a multisport adventure like this? I’m no expert but I am a physiotherapist and therefore have amore knowledge than most about strength training and injury prevention. But I also have minimal kayaking knowledge and so I’ve been doing a lot of research on that. Over the next three months we’ll be training for kayaking, carrying packs and for skiing. Skiing though we’ll be able to train for fairly easily, Gabby and I are in Wanaka currently and will be off on weekend hut trips and ski touring trips. Rosie and Steph are still in the the northern hemisphere but have been training with a lot of vertical days hiking. Our legs are naturally going to be working out. Kayaking is a lot more challenging as we don’t own kayaks ourselves. We won’t be able to actually do much kayaking before trying to paddle 100kms in head winds. So the program I’ve made focuses mostly on kayaking strength. It’s approximately 60% kayaking, 20% carrying and 20% skiing For kayaking I’ve mainly focused on rotational exercises and back strengthening exercises. The more we can rotate through our spine the more efficient we’ll be able to paddle and the more we’ll use our core and back muscles and the less we’ll use our smaller shoulder muscles. The stronger our back muscles are the more we’ll be able to sit up straight with a good neutral spine position and manage the external forces coming from the water. Some example exercises:
For carrying I’ve mainly focused on walking exercises and global strength exercises with weight in different positions. All of these exercises involve heavy weights and the use of many muscles groups. Some example exercises:
For skiing the exercises I’ve chosen focus mostly on knee stability. We’re going to be really isolated and the chances of getting any help if anyone gets injured are extremely minimal. We never want to get hurt but we especially don’t want to get hurt on a glacier in the Darwin range. Also being a physio I have a bias towards stability exercises. If you don’t have good knee control and awareness it doesn’t matter how strong you are. Some example exercises:
I’ve made two six-week programs that we’ll follow until we leave mid-September. We’re exited about our multisport adventure and we’re excited about getting strong for it! (Well at least I am 😊 ) If anyone is interested in reading our full program we're happy to share. Likewise if anyone has any suggestions we'd love to hear them. Balancing training with work and other activities will also be a challenge. Currently we're on a 6 week program with 4 sessions per week, which each take about 1 hour 15. Hopefully this will be a manageable about to fit in with our other commitments. Maz doing some single leg dead lifts Gabby with some lateral lunges onto a bosu ball
Do you remember that local spot where you used to hang out when you were a kid? The local forest where you built dens in the woods, where the birds were always singing and you could try to catch little fish with your homemade net? Do you remember the last time you went there – that there weren’t so many birds? That you only pulled up some weed when you used the net? Or even more shocking: that the forest wasn’t there anymore? Now talk to someone a bit older than you and ask them what this local spot was like when they were young. They might tell you that they caught enough fish for dinner in the stream, or that you could hardly hear yourself think due to the chatter of the birds. What you thought was the best thing may actually be a seriously degraded environment. There’s a name for this phenomenon – it’s called the “shifting baseline theory”. It was introduced by an oceanographer named Pauly. It goes under the premise that we measure a change to a reference point, but that original point may be significantly altered from an earlier state in the system. This photo was taken in August 2016 on the Ecrins in Chamonix – imagine the state of these glaciers 50 years ago, would they have still spilled down to the Montenvers Glacier? Last year I attended a lecture about the monitoring and modelling of Antarctic Ice Caps, trying to estimate the potential sea level rise as a result of glacial retreat. I remember being shocked to find that CO2 levels were now at 410.1PPM; I looked again on April 9th 2019 and it is at 412.53PP; and now two months later on June 8th 2019 it has risen again to 414.2PPM. During my time at University, which still only feels like a couple of years back, we were using 385PPM and that seemed like a shocking amount. In the past decade CO2 levels have increased by 6%, a huge shift from my baseline, but I hate to imagine what will the baseline be for the next generation! We can think about baselines in terms of the science behind the global climate crisis, but what might be more useful is to examine baselines in our daily lives. For example in our diet choices. It is now normal to have oranges and satsuma in our lunchboxes or as snacks, they’re so convenient. Yet when our parents were young a satsuma was a special treat so much so that they would receive them in the bottom of their stockings at Christmas. Bell peppers (or capsicums) are now found in many evening meals, from pasta sauces to stir-frys. However even thirty years ago these were fairly exotic in many countries since they originate in Mexico, now they are the second biggest producer after China. All of these ‘normal’ diet choices have an effect upon our society: they may be economically beneficial for world trade, but ecologically costly as a result of transport and storing in special conditions to extend their shelf life. Roadside fruit and veggie stalls or local markets are great to keep your food local, and often pretty cheap if it’s in season. So perhaps its time to shift our baseline back to when we had to eat locally and seasonally. We no longer need advertisements for cellophane, it's now commonplace in the kitchen but this is a change that has happened in the last 60 years. Packaging is another place where we have had a huge shift in our baselines. Shelf-life of meat and some vegetables has been extended by using polythene: for example the cucumber is very susceptible to damage in transport and without plastic packaging there would be a greater cost in emissions due to increased food waste. However, plastic is only 60 years old and in this time we have produced 8.3billion metric tons. Our great grandparents remember visiting the local grocery stores where things were wrapped in greaseproof paper. Plastic can be appropriate in some uses and an increasing number of companies are recognizing the importance of sourcing environmentally sensitive packaging: Foodtuffs.nz (owner of PakNSave, New World and FourSquare) has recently committed to using 100% reusable, recyclable or compostable packaging by 2025 or earlier. It’s a great step forward, and hopefully others are following suit. So, how does all this relate to us on a personal level? Well, it’s something to remember when we make choices everyday: ask why am I doing it this way? Ask was it always like this? Ask what are the alternatives? We can create a better baseline for our future generations by acting responsibly. We as a team have made it a baseline to offset our carbon emissions for travel, we created a baseline to donate 1% of our earnings to the planet, and we shifted our baseline to use bikes to commute wherever and whenever possible. Beyond this, we all can show the next generation that their baseline is not the fixed start line; it is a mid-point on a timeline of change that can be influenced for the future.
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AuthorMarian Krogh Archives
August 2019
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