Trekking Season 2018 -- Tibet!

1 April ~ Atalaya #1

There are certain surefire signs a TeamBoltz trek is afoot:

• The pre-packing stacks begin to overtake our living space -- presenting an eerily hoarder-like maze of hot-weather gear, cold-weather gear, sun-gear, rain-gear, foot-gear, head-gear (and so on and so forth) to be navigated by Boltz human and canine team members alike (until the final pack).

• An ongoing series of checks and double-checks pepper nearly every conversation: "Did you read that George Will oped in the Post and how many pair of sock liners are you taking?"

• Thoughts of things not done lurk in shady mental corners to tease and taunt: Maybe we should have learned to speak Tibetan . . .

• Workouts become so routine (and recovery so fast) that by 10:00 a.m. we're trying to recall our walk/bike/hike/gym routine from earlier in the morning.

• And of course there are the pre-departure to-do lists, which once started grow like kudzu in a South Florida ditch.

And all these signs are oh-so apparent as we begin the single-digit countdown for this year's epic trek to Tibet.  Tibet is likely our final frontier in Asia.  While we never say never, it's a long trip from here to there and were it not for an irresistible opportunity to join a trek led by the guide who literally (seriously) wrote the book on Trekking in Tibet (Gary McCue), we probably wouldn't be going now.  Trip of a lifetime?  Too soon to say that.  Bucket lister?  Sounds a little terminal to us.  But for sure, this is a highlight in our trekking lives that is set to take us higher than Kilamanjaro and keep us in thinner air than much of the Snowman Trek in Bhutan.  We'll be following the final weeks' of trail trod by Austrian climbers Heinrich Harrer and Peter Aufschnaiter at the conclusion of their 20-month, cross-country escape from internment in India to Lhasa, Tibet, in 1944 where they (and apparently Brad Pitt 😉), spent the following Seven Years . . .

26.2 miles w/ USMA bf, Deb

Our training, which has been pretty intense, started in earnest on 1 January with a mid-training marathon (no kidding a "training day" included the Bataan Memorial Death March Marathon at White Sands Missile Range the third week in March (walked)).  At this point we've logged 300+ hiking miles alone (doesn't include gym and other training hours).  So, we're ready ("could-we-skip-the-last-hike-up-Atalaya-Mountain? ready") to go! 

And, as with other treks, I'll be blogging along the way.  The challenge, however, is posting.  I'm a Google blogger, and Google is one (of most) websites blocked in China.  Beyond that, we'll be remotely sited throughout -- mostly in tents without internet access.  So here's the plan: We'll maintain our blog throughout, then post it over a series of days upon our return (23 June).

'Til then, Munro and Illy will be holding down the fort here at home in Santa Fe with their pet mannies (no typo), Jean-Philippe and Narayan.

So it's one more trip up Atalaya (#8, this coming Sunday) before we're wheels up in Denver.  I'll update once before we launch, then upon return with notification that we're loading the blog.

Sending best energy . . .

20 May ~ Atalaya #7 ~ TeamBoltz