Killing the Dragon...

I wrote the following blog about 3 weeks ago but was unsure as to whether or not I wanted to post it. Since then I’ve learnt that one of my nearest and dearest may be quite ill and it’s made me think about things a little more seriously and so I have decided to share the post. 

I had a really positive response to my last blog and for that I would like to say a big thank you. It has been a massive year. Full of ups and downs, ins and outs and for the most part, super positive. We have learnt, grown, made some fantastic new friends and had some downright rad experiences. Looking forward to 2015, I am really excited to see where our path leads us next. New adventures, different places, stronger bodies and minds and my health will be my number one focus this year. 

I have decided that 2015 will be the year I get off my meds and reverse the two autoimmune diseases. If I am going to spend my time on this earth as a dirtbag climber, and believe me I intend to, I can not be restricted by illness and medications. I know that Hashimotos can be reversed and I am just praying that I have not done too much damage to my fingers already to reverse the Raynauds also. It is going to take a lot of work and regular monitoring but I am confident I can make improvements. 

It has always worried me that during our adventures there will not always be a chemist around to fill my script nor a doctor to give it to me so I need to start getting serious about recovery. Ultimately I would love to go to Thailand and do a 28 day fast accompanied with cleansing, yoga and massage. That however would require about $5000 that I currently do not have so I would like to have a crack at getting well here at home first. Unless of course anyone has a spare $5K they want to donate ;) 

My main goal is just to get my fingers in the best condition they can be. Every climber knows and understands the importance of this. We are currently working a training program to increase finger strength which has been awesome and the results so far are insane. All of this is pointless however if I lose the feeling in my fingers mid climb and I can’t even bear down. 

These past few weeks have reaffirmed the absolute importance of staying healthy. Without our health, everything else lacks substance. You can have all the money in the world but if you don’t have the body to hold up to any of your dream adventures, what’s the point? In the same breath, people work 50, 60, 70+ hours a week to go on one great holiday or put away for their retirement fund; but if at the end of the day you don’t even have the energy to enjoy it, again, was it really worth the stress? I urge everyone to make 2015 the year of living for you. It is not selfish to put yourself first and look after number one when it ultimately means that you can then be a healthier, stronger minded, more focused and committed person. It is win win, because the more you look after yourself, the more you can offer others. Do the things you want to do, that make you happy and get you excited. Be productive and proactive. Revel in the good, learn from the bad. You get one body and one crack at this crazy thing called life so use it or lose it. It’s your choice, choose you. 

Changes

It’s funny how life takes you on a journey that you often have no control over. When it does, you have two choices. You can fight it and try to take a different path at whatever cost. Or you can choose to roll with it, see every twist and turn as a new adventure, seek the positives and accept it as an opportunity. It may not be exactly what you had planned but that’s what keeps life interesting right? We have come into this situation many times over the last 2 or so years and while some kinks in our plan have been easy to accept, there have been a few that have tested me personally both emotionally and physically. 

A couple of years ago I was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s Thryroiditis. Quasimodo what, you say? Well, Quasimodo isn’t too far from the truth. Hashimoto’s is an autoimmune disease that creates an under-active thyroid which means that I had little to no control over my hormones or metabolism. I called it the ‘Fat Dragon’ disease as I was working out like a demon, eating next to nothing and still putting on weight. In addition, I would find myself in the car on the side of the road bawling my eyes out for reasons that I didn’t even know. I was moody, cranky, would snap at nothing and cry at the drop of a pin. At the time I thought it was simply stress due to the fact that I was coming to terms with losing my business and that I would most likely have to fold. Alas, I hadn’t just become a fat mole all of a sudden, there was a much more deeply rooted problem. In fact, my cholesterol, blood pressure and cortisol levels had me one panic attack away from a full blown heart attack. At the time, I was a strict vegan who exercised daily, so things just didn’t add up. 

Being very anti-medication, I tried to heal myself through more holistic options like herbal medicine, nutrition, yoga and massage. This worked wonderfully for me emotionally and I generally did feel much better. Unfortunately my regular blood tests and body scans to monitor this treatment didn’t quite match my boosted spirit. Over the course of 4 months, my antibodies were still much too high as were hormone levels, and I had lost about 200g in bone density due to my slug-like metabolism. Once you have one autoimmune disease, you are unfortunately prone to developing others. Being that Rheumatoid Arthritis is one of those diseases and I was losing bone density, I decided to go on the lowest dose of medication that I could and keep up my holistic treatments in the hope that they would work with each other. A kink I had to accept and...Success! 

I was calmer, healthier, much more nice to talk to and the weight was slowly coming off. I was happy with the decision I had made about treatment and it also made me reevaluate what I wanted out of life. I decided that if we were going to make some big changes in our life, then now was the time to do it. Rich agreed. We were so sick of saying, “One day...” and just thought, “Today is that day!” The next day, we started selling up everything and made the plan to follow our dream of becoming dirtbag climbers in Europe. I paid all my suppliers with what little money I had and decided to walk away from Dynobars. That company was my baby and it was a very hard decision to make but I needed to concentrate on getting my health back and culling the stress from my life. A kink in my monetary future but definitely the right choice for my health. Within 3 months, we had booked tickets and soon were living the dream in the Fontainebleau Forest!

Being away was immensely positive for my health. I was sleeping better than I’ve ever slept, feeling ridiculously healthy both inside and out and was stupidly happy! I did have one little set back when my meds script was wrongly filled and I was taking 4 times my medication dose for 2 months but I got that sorted once we returned home thanks to the help of my amazing naturopath Amy. The only thing that did bother me was the fact that I often lost all feeling in my hands, to the point that they would burn and throb with pain, go yellow and purple and rock hard. This maybe happened a dozen or so times and so I had it checked out as soon as we got home. Another kink.... 
Along with Hashimoto’s, I now had a second autoimmune disease known as Raynaud’s Syndrome. Raynaud’s affects my circulation and causes an excessive reduction in blood flow to my extremities. It comes on quick and painful and can take up to an hour for my fingers to come back to normal feeling. Needless to say, working in the outdoor industry as a climbing and kayaking instructor has been a (painful) game of trial and error. I have more pairs of gloves than anyone would deem necessary living in Queensland, the Sunshine State, but as I have learnt it is better to be safe than sorry. 

On our first morning in the Bluies, I had a really severe attack that took me a long time to recover from. We stayed positive, went into town and waited until noon and full sunshine to go climbing. I got half way up my first climb and lost them again. I was devastated. We had planned to do as many multi-pitch climbs as we could whilst we were there and now had to make the call to not do any at all. Rich actually made that decision for me. I have a tendency to just think “She’ll be right.” As he explained, while I tried to deny anything was wrong, if we got half way up a multi-pitch and I lost my fingers, I would have no way of escaping anything as I literally lose all function in my hands. It would not be fair to either of us. So we chose our crags wisely for the rest of the week and stayed in the sun at all times and I wore gloves EVERYWHERE! 

Upon returning from the Bluies, I have done a bit more research into what I can do to help myself and have just spent another $350 on new gloves that I can wear while I sleep that help to repair the damage I have suffered in my tips. The scariest part about Raynaud’s is that if you have too many attacks (and I’ve had a lot) it can create ulcers under your skin which can go gangrene. So I have my new gloves, I have had to give up coffee (GASP!) and we have decided to concentrate more on bouldering so I can have a bit more control over keeping myself warm at all times, especially my hands and feet. 

This kink has been a super positive one. Rich and I are both super excited to throw ourselves back into bouldering as we haven’t done a lot since leaving the forest last year. We are training even harder and working to get even stronger. I’m so stoked that there is a still totally an option for me to keep climbing and more so, that Rich has been so unbelievably supportive and has embraced this change as something awesome too. My biggest problem now is the fact that I have had to switch to decaf which is heartbreaking. I almost feel less of a climber because of it. Many of you may be rolling your eyes right now thinking “Pffft, that’s not a real problem” and to that I would like to quote the late, great Wolfgang Güllich - “A man doesn't go to drink coffee after climbing, coffee is integral part of the climbing.” I rest my case....

Baby Come on Home

We arrived home on my step-dad’s birthday and planned to surprise both my parents by showing up on their doorstep unannounced. Little did I know that my younger brother, who lives in Florida, had decided to do the same thing! So it was surprises left, right and center. An emotional blur of hugs, kisses, tears and cheers. It was such a wonderful experience to come home to!

The very next day we went to our local gym and had a chat with the bossman about what we wanted to do and what we felt we could offer. To be honest, I only half expected Rich to get some work let alone both of us walking away with solid employment. Our first month back was a whirlwind of training, study and exams; all whilst trying to catch up with mates we hadn’t seen in a year. 

Finally working solid hours, we moved out of my dads (we said we’d only be 2 weeks... thanks dad) and into a flat of our own. It’s a total dive but the location is perfect and it allows a slight feeling of dirt baggery, lacking only the convenience of mobility. And being that we’ve had mates crashing on our floor almost more often than not, it has been a great little ‘transitional’ flat for us.

We both really wanted to concentrate on getting super strong, climb fit and healthy this year. To learn as much as we can at work and to develop and solidify a strong skills set that we can take anywhere with us. Work wise, we wanted to bring some fun and new life into the gym and I do believe we have done that. Rich wrote a training template called ClimbFit which I teach weekly. It’s awesome to be able to combine my PT skills with climbing and see rad improvements week to week in our regular climbers.

Rich has put heaps of effort into developing himself as a route setter and the results have been awesome. To see the regulars frothing over his new routes is really inspiring. He’s tried to push some boundaries and get people out of their comfort zone. Not only that but it has pushed him to think more about his own climbing, what his strengths and weaknesses are and work harder at improving. He has been a training machine and the hard work has paid off. I’d like to say that I’ve put in even half his effort but I think even that would be a stretch. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve trained hard and have seen some great improvements and made some serious gains but if I trained like my demon husband, I’d be crushing!

With that said, now that our wedding is over and I’m done with that emotional roller-coaster, I’m really aiming to spend the next few months concentrating solidly on my own climbing. Our honeymoon in the Bluies was a real slap in the face as to how much climbing really does mean to me, mean to us both as a lifestyle that we don’t just want, we need. For me climbing and the lifestyle, the energy, the freedom that comes with it allows me to breathe. I love it. We love it. The fact that we get to do it together is just the icing on the cake. A passion shared is a passion that explodes out of both your beings. It grows and becomes a part of you like a hand or a foot and you just feel lost or empty without it. I am so blessed to do what I love with the one that I love. I pretty much hit the jackpot and I’m pretty darn stoked by it too…

Our Winter Wunderland...

So, it has been over a year since our last post and man what a year it has been! Last Christmas was spent with the Salmons skiing in Galtur, Austria. It was such an amazing experience, a seriously wonderful family holiday that we both still think about often and feel so blessed to have been a part of. The hotel we stayed at, Hotel Buentali was just gorgeous, the staff were super friendly and the food.... Ridiculous! A breakfast buffet that puts the Marriott to shame and a 7 course dinner made with only fresh local produce every night. It’s a good thing we were skiing everyday or I would have busted through my pants. 

We had ski lessons with the hilarious Willy! Not the most patient of instructors which was as funny as it was frustrating. Learning everything from the ‘snow pluff’ to stopping quickly by going ‘Dooooown and to the mountain. Down Lady, DOWN and to the mountain!” I only had one major stack which was a pretty epic fail.... just skied straight off the edge of a run.  I don’t actually even know how it happened but I properly had one of those mid-air, time slows down moments of “Oh Shit.... this is going to really hurt!” But nothing a Hot Chocolate with Stroh couldn’t fix. Stroh is this crazy Austrian rum that comes in both 40% and 80%. We made the mistake of buying the 80%. I’ve never actually drunk anything that literally took me breath away like Stroh did. It is firewater, so potent it actually gave Rich a nose bleed. As terrible as it was, we managed to almost finish the bottle over the course of  10 days. We had to leave the remainder behind though as we weren’t allowed to take it on the plane, there is actually a little ‘do not take on planes’ warning symbol on the back! 

Austria stole our hearts. Hiking in the woods through knee deep snow, exploring and getting lost in its beauty. We can not wait to go back and have more adventures in the spring, summer and autumn when the snow melts away and the boulders are exposed just begging to be climbed! Austria really has the mountain lifestyle that we crave. World class bouldering, epic sport climbing, trail running, skiing, beautiful people, amazing food. We would love to do a couple of seasons to really explore this beautiful country.

Heading back to Wales after Christmas, we had to really sit down and re-assess what our goals were, where we wanted to go and where we were actually heading. We decided that it might be worth looking into what work within the climbing/outdoor industry we could get back home. I emailed our local gym (there is only one on the GC) and asked about the possibility of training up and getting work. We received an email back saying that if we were to return home, to come in and we could definitely talk about some options. So with a glimmer of hope, we put the Van up for sale and planned to be home as soon as it sold. 

Within a week, we had a buyer. Unfortunately we took a massive loss on the sale but it wasn’t a good time to be selling so we simply had to cut our losses and roll with it. The guy who bought it wanted it for commercial purposes so we had to gut it before he came to pick it up. Tearing our life out of that van was one of the hardest things I’ve had to do. Even losing my business and shutting the doors on that was less gut-wrenching. I cried, sobbed even, as we took apart our bed and pulled out the cupboards. To anyone walking past, I must have looked like a 4 year old that had been told to clean up their toys as punishment for being naughty. Tears streaming down my face, shallow sobs and whimpers as I made trip after trip in and out, carting amazing memories with every step. That Van was our first “Home”. It wasn’t much but it was ours and it was awesome. 

We booked our flights and a couple of days later, we were home.

My First Snowman!

The view from our Hotel room

The Lake at the bottom of one of the ski runs.

Good Times, Bad Times

Ok, so it has been a while since our last post and for that I apologise as a LOT has happened since Verdon. First of all, we realised I had misunderstood my rights in Europe and I had to be out in a month or risk deportation. So we promptly headed back to Font to tick some ‘unfinished business’. On the way we got got robbed. The single most violating experience of my life. Luckily, Rich happens to be a ninja mastermind and he managed to scare the living heck out of the guy and leave him with a very sore head and all he scored out of it was an iPod shuffle. Lesson here was no matter how full the truck stop is and how brightly lit, you can still become a target. Consequently, we now have a van that is rigged up like Fort Knox... No one is getting and no one is getting out. (Thus no more bedtime tea for me...ha ha) We were just very lucky he didn’t find our wallets or phones before Rich found him. 

We met some great new mates back in Font. Our last couple of weeks were spent ticking problems, slacklining, talking until midnight, chasing wild boars, sipping on wine and just having a generally rad time. We headed to Germany. We drove to a picturesque little winery town. We showered for the first time in weeks. We got engaged. Happiest day of my life. Headed to Amsterdam and got nailed by seriously bad weather. Such a shame as all I wanted to do was ride my bike everywhere in this famously flat country. We hung out for 3 days then decided to head to Belgium. Arrived in Brugge and the weather was not too different to Holland. Had a great day walking the small town, hindered only by the masses of British footballers who thought it imperative to chant in chorus everywhere they went. Funny for all of 2 seconds then just down right annoying. We shared mussels “Brugge Style” and then had possibly the most amazing desserts of all time. We walked past a random patisserie school that sold their daily masterpieces very cheap so decided to try something each. I don’t even know what Rich had and to be honest I didn’t even care, as I was in a sugar trance from my own delectable treat. A chocolate and pear torte that surpassed any dessert I have ever had, flavours that will stay with me forever. I know I sound like the biggest fatty right now but I don’t even care. This thing was ridiculous, nothing will compare and I no longer need to try any other dessert. Ha, until I walk past my next patisserie! 

We headed for the border and got stopped in Calais as it is apparently unbelievable that two people could have travelled without working for 4 months. Confused yet happy to finally have my stamp we dove onto the ferry and headed back to Wales. It was so nice to come back to a lovely clean house and have long hot shower that I didn’t have to wear thongs in for fear of some mad bacterial infection. We popped a bottle of Verve with La and Carl to officially celebrate our engagement. Now it is time to try and get some work and extra qualifications to better prepare ourselves for our next european stint. Oh, and I have a wedding to plan...... :) 

Font Castle

Getting my Crush On!

Rich pulling on.... tiny.

Paul getting his slab on

Heel hook

Getting too cold for the 'Aire Shower"

Crushing... monkey style!

little bit of slacklining

My favourite jeweller....

At a local winery in Bernkastel 

Yay to us!

I look slightly 'special' here but you get the picture....

Pretty flower, gorgeous ring :)

Mussels 'Brugge Style'

The only way to celebrate....

Sanctuary

Ceuse. Two words. HOLY CRAP! Quite possibly the most intimidating place I’ve ever been. The walk in is a complete mission. One hour of straight up, mostly on shale. No breaks in the rise, no rest stops to catch your breath, just straight up a massive hill to the sensational crag above. Upon catching your breath at the top it is instantly taken away from you again by the sheer awesomeness of the crag and then again by the view below as you turn around. It was a truly surreal moment. 

The level of climbing there is beyond anything we have experienced at home. Random dudes everywhere just jumping on 8b’s and 8c’s like they are nothing. Young and old, men and women; all projecting things that look impossible. We found some of the world’s hardest and most famous climbs and were left in awe of their lines. As it was already almost dark, we headed back down the mountain, excited to get an early start the next morning. 

Happy Birthday to me! Birthday in Ceuse - Yewwww! We started with the hike in again, it didn’t get any easier but I figured I was earning my wine later that afternoon. We had breakfast and coffee at the crag, again, just an epic view. Excited, I jumped on a 5 as a warm up. HA. Warm UP!!! I couldn’t get past the third bolt and that was after falling off the first about 7 times. It was so polished it was crazy. When you climb at world class crags you have to expect there has been a super amount of traffic and this was very evident here. I was in tears and scared to death. Rich knocked a 6a+ just to get a feel for the rock but I had already pulled birthday rank and we headed down to the base so I could start my birthday picnic by the lake. 

Officially my best birthday ever. We spent the afternoon swimming in the lake with Ceuse as our backdrop. We had decided that today was going to be our ‘When in Rome’ (or France) day and have fondue for dinner. I had googled the recipe and we bought some fondue forks and had home made gas stove fondue by the lake and a beautiful bottle of white wine. It was epic. Two hours later however it was not so epic. Perhaps we should have weened ourselves onto the cheese before going the whole hog. It had been 3 years since I’d eaten cheese and I can happily say I’ll wait another 3 to try it again but regardless, it was an awesome evening and watching the sun go down behind the mountain was breath taking. 

We headed to Orpierre so I could get a better grasp on some of the less intimidating climbs. Did some awesome climbs and felt like I got my groove back but after a few days of sun stroke (you get beaten by the sun there) and sleepless nights due to the world’s loudest church bell that goes off not only on the hour but every half, we had only one thing on our minds.... Gorge Du Verdon! 

As a self confessed water child, I was so excited to see the green water created by the limestone cliffs. As a climber, the grandeur of those cliffs is mind blowing. It was a visual explosion of epicness and I felt as if we were driving into a painting. The colours so bright and vivid I felt it couldn’t actually be real. We had bought bikes in Orpierre and decided to get a lay of the land. 11km’s up hill (everything seems to be up hill). It was a great view from the top and a very fun ride back down. We hired kayaks and took the scenic route up the Gorge. There was a million other people on the river but we didn’t even care as the sights are just spectacular. We found the cave where we had seen a bunch of youtube videos posted about the climbs, we swam through the little rapids and I got to dance in a waterfall.  The water that flows through the waterfall comes from the mountain and is much cooler than the river. It was amazing. 

Our first climb was epic. A steady first pitch followed by the scariest traverse we’ve ever done. I don’t think I’ve ever breathed so heavily in my life but again, the view made it all worthwhile. All you can see and hear for miles is the river running through the Gorge and the cliffs that surround it. I was devastated to have forgotten my camera but it is an image that will never leave me. Unfortunately, we had to bail off the route due to an incoming storm. An impromptu wrap of a tree but we weren’t quick enough. We hiked out in the rain, our gear sopping but our spirits high. This is what we live for. We had to have a rest day as all the gear needed time to dry so did the famous Belvedere Drive and the tunnel walk we had also seen in many a video. This was an amazing day. We jumped off the track, hiked down as far as you can then scurried along the edge of the gorge until we found a nice private little nook to go for a nudie swim. The water was freezing. Like snatch your breath away, instantly cold to your bones freezing! Luckily the sun was beating down so we layed on the rocks like lizards trying to get some feeling back. Clearly though, we didn’t scurry far enough off track as not long after a canyoning guide came around the corner with his client and we had to make a quick exit.

We spent the next couple of days doing hectic walks ins and climbing. One track (albeit the wrong one we soon discovered) had us tumbling down a dry river bed and carving our way through the forest trees. A super fun adventure as we had just read about the vipers and adders in the region at the time it was also quite a cautious one! Wrecked, it as time to move on but Verdon is definitely a place we will be returning to next year and I can not wait! 

Misty Mountain Hop

So we up and bailed to Chamonix a few weeks back in search of work. An absolutely beautiful drive that was only slightly tainted by the 100 Euro’s in tolls it cost us to get there. (The tolls in France are ludicrous however one may question if it is worthwhile taking the non toll roads to save some cash as you generally end up losing a good few hours in time. I’ll come back to that later.) Once we hit the Alps though, we found ourselves driving in complete silence, jaws dropped open, eyes wide and just grinning in astonishment. We drove through a series of tunnels and as we exited each one, the views just got better and better. Our silence was momentarily broken by random shouts of cursive disbelief and the smiles just got bigger and bigger.

We had been told by some British guys we met that Lac des Galliands had a pretty nice view, was safe to crash a night or two and was close to the main sport crag; so that is where we were heading. Pulling up next to the lake and stepping out to the site of Mont Blanc standing proudly before us is a moment I will not soon forget. We just sat and stared at it for an hour or so until it got dark then went to bed, still smiling. 

Next day we hit the town in search of gear and guide books and to talk to some of the locals about work. The gear stores are insane. Every manufacturer you could think of in one street plus a couple of giant superstores. I wanted everything! Surprisingly, it wasn’t too expensive either. Due to the fact that ‘End of Season’ was in 3 weeks, there was sales in every store. I could have spent a fortune but definitely would have been worth it. End of Season however, also means end of work. Add to that the fact that we haven’t been skiing since before we could walk, nor are we perfectly fluent in French yet and our search for work came to an abrupt halt. It’s a shame as we had heard so many good things about the work there but alas it is just not our time. 

So we decided to at least climb whilst we were there. One of the main sport crags was right across from the lake which was awesome for accessibility but also meant that it was super crowded. I’ve never had to ‘line up’ before to climb outdoors. We did a couple of climbs at the quieter walls but were super keen for an epic multi. Excited we scoured the guide book only to discover that every big multi had to be accessed by cable car plus an approach. And the cable cars are not cheap, especially for two people and we’d most likely pay almost double as chances are we couldn’t fit the in climb in one day and would have to bivvy it and finish the following day. We looked at hiking out which would have been epic but my ankle was still too swollen and tender from my 2 rolling incidents to attempt it. We did a mini hike to see how I’d go on the terrain. We hit about 2000mtrs elevation and the views were awesome, totally rad experience but man was I hobbling on the return. I was devastated and feeling a little deflated so we decided to continue our adventure further south. 

Back to the tolls. We decided to try and skip the 100 Euro’s to get us back out and put ‘no tolls’ into the GPS. The first bit of the drive was great. We went through a bunch of the smaller more boutique ski towns which were just beautiful and the wooden houses that dot the rolling hills were just like out of the movies. It was so pretty. Then we had to haul the van over 3 km’s uphill. Winding and winding and winding on a tiny narrow little road. I honestly didn’t think we would make it. We hit the top with a sigh of relief and drove for about a km when we read a sign saying the next 9 km were downhill. ARE YOU KIDDING ME, we just got up here? So down and down and down we went again on a super windy road, so constantly having to brake and you could feel the air getting colder and colder and colder. It was actually a very cool drive and the valley was beautiful, just a shame it was so taxing on the car. For that reason, we now pay the just pay the tolls instead.