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Preparation for New Zealand TMC 1-Jul-2009 At 4:39:55 PM Robb

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No matter how fit you are when you get to the mountains- you'll always wish you were fitter.
the bigger base knowledge and experience you have before you go on the course - the more you'll get
out of it. the more automatic and instinctual the basic skills become, the more you can concentrate
on the advanced stuff.

Valuable lesson from a recent trip to the himalayas.

- Me and a mate (both very experienced) joined a trip to an 8000m peak and just bought base camp
services which enabled us to be independent above BC and was alot cheaper.
- there were about 10 others on the trip of various degrees of experience and fitness.
- one super fit guy from england managed to summit but dropped his figure 8 descender on the
descent. the problem was that he only knew how to abseil with that device. he didnt have really any
climbing experience.
- after waiting for 2 hours for someone to help him out and show him a munter/italian hitch to descend
the fixed rope . he managed to stuff it up somehow for the next rap and slid of the end of the rope
taking a 300m fall (luckily into a massive snow bowl).
- the result was that he almost killed himself, ripped his down suit to pieces and suffered severe frost
bite - he has since had 3 toes amputated. - Not a good result.

I didnt write this to put you off but simply to encourage you to get out there and combine fitness with
as much experience and knowledge as you can. no guarantees it'll keep you alive, but it might help.
Spend as much time in the mountains after your TMC to cement and advance those skills learnt.
have fun
Rob