Neel Parikh

22km or so that day… probably the longest I’ve hiked in one stretch, made even more ridiculous by the fact that I had a severely bothersome IT band in my left knee, and severely underestimating the amount of food I eat (seriously, it turns out it’s just absurd). I was ecstatic to make those last few steps to the Los Cuernos camp ground on the W-trek at Torres del Paine. Okay, wait, I’ll rephrase that: I was ecstatic to stop moving. At that time, I wasn’t thinking “maybe it would have been wiser to have a lighter, more compressible tent, and both save the weight on my knee and have more room for food”, I was thinking “this is going to be the best dinner ever, even if it tastes like crap!” I fired up the trusty Whisperlite and started cooking up a meal while Jon pitched the Limelight.

The weather was probably just about as awesome as it could possibly be, and by the time we finished dinner, it must have been 11pm, and the sun was finally almost down, revealing a pretty clear sky. The calm breeze made us feel regrettably confident in our ability to pitch a tent. So much so, that we didn’t even bother with the guy wires.

I slept like a baby… an exhausted baby… nice and comfortable on a (highly recommended) Therm-a-rest Prolite Plus (brand new for $40 from some shady guy on Craigslist). Until about 4am. That’s when we got our first truly Patagonian experience. We awoke to gale-force winds pounding the tent to the extent that if we weren’t actually in the tent, it likely would have flown away (as we later learned others had that night). Every once in a while, a gust would hit the tent hard enough to bend the pole and collapse the sidewall. I was honestly expecting a pole to snap, fly though the nylon and stab me in the face. I considered sleeping on my stomach, but the thought of a tent pole enema wasn’t much more appealing. We thought this would simply pass, but as the sun starting making an appearance an hour or two later, the wind was still happily being a pain in the ass. I decidied to man up and go outside to hammer in and bury the tent pegs and survey the damage. The, once calm, glacial lake, now had tidal waves. The wind was so strong it was actually lifting water out of the lake, and raining it back down on us. Brilliant. The contrast of weather compared to just a few hours earlier was like heaven and hell. It’s true what people say, never underestimate the weather in Patagonia… it will literally knock you off your feet if you’re not prepared.

Long story short: All things considered, I’m glad I sacrificed a bit on packing size and weight and went with the Limelight over something lighter like the Big Agnes Seedhouse SL. For places where weather is questionable, I’d rather have a roof over my head than worry about carrying an extra pound on the trail. Total damage: one slightly bent tent pole. The Limelight held up like a champ despite my dumbassery, and I’ve learned and important lesson about always setting guy wires

Pros:

• Bang for the buck – it’s cheaper than the competitors and comes with a footprint and (surprisingly handy) gear loft and pole repair sleeve.
• Well built with materials that aren’t likey to rip and keep water out
• The windows provide enough breeze to kill condensation, but still keep you warm on a chilly night
• Sets up fast thanks to well designed pole and fly clips

Cons:

• Weight and stuffed size – it’s definitely a bit bulkier than some ultra light competitors, and doesn’t stuff quite as nicely. I also found the poles were a tad longer than i expected.
• Windows obstruct views

Quick update from Cusco! Firstly Machu Picchu… rain or shine, it’s absolutely amazing. Secondly, I’ve rekindled my love for mountain biking. I had honestly forgot how much fun it is. It was probably my first time doing any sort of real biking in almost 10 years, and i was surprised to find that I wasn’t in as bad shape as I thought I was. The altitude in region varied anywhere from 3000 to 3700m, which definitely added to the pain of it all. But happily, apart from gasping for air on the uphills, I haven’t really felt the symptoms yet. We’ll be heading down to Arequipa, Chivay, and the Colca Canyon in the next few days, and apparently will pass around 4800m or so along the way, I’m pretty excited to see how that goes Not sure how much I’ll be posting in the next little while, but I’ll try to check in.

Oh, quick plug for Yamanya Backpacker’s Hostel and Amazonas Explorer. I’d highly recommend both.

Just a quick update: landed in Peru yesterday evening, a little exhausted from a sleepless flight. Got to the hotel and pretty much crashed. Spent the day today taking in the local sights in Lima, then off to Cusco tomorrow, where the real fun will begin. Still haven’t had a pisco sour, but would definitely recommend the churros! They’re basically the South American equivalent of a boston cream donut. Delicious.

After much deliberation, I finally took the plunge and picked up a new tent to replace the one that I stole from my sister many years ago. I looked at quite a few models from North Face, Mountain Hardwear, MSR, Big Agnes, MEC and REI, and finally settled on what I figure is likely the best bang for the buck for midrange 3-season backpacking tents: the Marmot Limelight 3. Firstly, lets get this out of the way, it’s not the lightest tent out there, but from the look and feel of it, it seems a lot more durable than other lighter offerings which are primarly made of mesh. The reason I ended up choosing this, despite being almost a pound heavier than competitors is that it felt much more durable, and came in at a price about $100 cheaper, which also included a gear loft and footprint.

The Limelight 3 is marketed as a 3 person tent, but anyone who’s ever been camping would quickly come to the conclusion that you should always go with the n-1 formula for sizing tents. A 3 person tent is basically 2 people + gear. If you wanted to get 3 people into this thing, plan on leaving your gear in the vestibules, and sleeping head-to-toe.

I had the opportunity to take the Limelight for a test run in Kentucky during the ever enjoyable Rocktoberfest at RRG (got to climb some crazy fun routes too!). The daytime temperature was a nice 28 degrees C, but nighttime temperature dropped to about 5-6 degrees. I’m happy to say that the Limelight is a pretty good “3-season” performer. In the day, it was never too hot, thank to generous mesh windows. At night, the fly did still allow a cool breeze to flow through. It would get a bit chilly if I wasn’t bundled up in a sleeping bag, but the plus side to it is that in the morning, despite fog everwhere, there was zero condensation inside the tent. I was lucky enough to not have to test drive it in the rain, but i’m sure it would hold up just fine!

My only real complaint would be that the poles are a tad long, at least compared to the Mountain Hardwear that I used to use. While the tent itself packs down and compresses pretty small, the poles are still relatively long which would become an annoyance if using a short backpack. Either way, I’d still put this on my “highly recommended” list!

So as a lot of you (all 3 of you who read this site) might know, in a few months I’m taking off to South America for some backpacking goodness! Totally stoked about that… Seriously, you wouldn’t believe how badly I want to get away from here and out into the unknown again. I’m hoping to pick up a bit of Spanish beforehand (something more than “una cerveza por favor”), and I’m also hoping to take some video footage of the trip and put together a sort of compilation/demo reel as well. I’ve been learning to make use of the video features of the 7D on and off for a few months and I have to say that it’s pretty amazing to see the results of even the worst (but aspiring) videographers. There’s so much potential in the DSLR platform as a video tool. I’m sure things will just get more impressive as the technology matures.

Another thing I’m hoping to do is be able to post some pics and trip updates while I’m away. With the WordPress iPhone app and a little Geotagging plugin, you should be able to see exactly (within some margin of error) where I’m posting from by clicking the little Geotag pin icon at the bottom of any geotagged posts.

Here is an avocado.

Wake up at 3am… load up the car with plenty of warm clothes, charged camera batteries and a fresh memory card. Drive. Miss an exit. Take a U-Turn. Back on the right track. Drive some more. Miss another exit. Take another U-Turn. Back on the right track again. Drive some more. Get frustrated that a truck in front of you is driving too slow for you to enjoy the twists and turns of the ascent. Realize that you’re driving a rented Cobalt and that you’d probably break it if pushed it (but don’t worry, you’ll probably break it later in the trip anyway… more on that another time). Pass through a cloud layer. Arrive at the summit of Haleakala – 3055M (10,023 ft).

What’s unique about Maui’s Haleakala is that it’s one of the few places in the world that you can drive from sea level to over 3,000M without leaving the comfort of an exceptionally well paved road (and an exceptionally “meh” Chevy Cobalt). By the time we got to the summit it was about 5:15 AM. Plenty of time to enjoy a quick snack, bundle up, and stake out a good spot to watch an absolutely spectacular sunrise. A thick hoody and my trusty softshell were all I had… I mean, it’s Maui, how cold could it get? Well, apparently temperatures at the summit often dip below freezing, not to mention wind strong enough to make a tripod somewhat useless on my very non-aerodynamic camera.

For anyone looking to make the trip (which I highly recommend), there are two very easily accessible places to see the sunrise, the summit, and the vistor’s centre. The summit is a very short drive or a 15 minute(?) hike up from the vistor’s centre and has a glass walled hut that you can take shelter from the cold in. There are parking lots at both locations, although space up at the summit is limited.

The best weather to watch the sunrise at Haleakala is often when it’s crappy at sea level. The glow of the cloud layer turns a rather uninteresting rising ball of light into a pretty incredible sight. We were also lucky enough to catch the moon low on the horizon shorly before the sunrise, which put a big smile on my face!

What’s rather unfortunate (or fortunate, depending on how you want to interpret it), is that after sunrise, most visitors drive back down the volcano, have an IHOP breakfast, and sit on a beach working on their melanoma the rest of the day. An easy 4km hike down the aptly named Sliding Sands Trail into the crater (and a frustrating 4km hike back up), is definitely worth it. The crater’s landscape is littered with sand, boulders, and giant cinder cones which make you feel like you’re on a completely different planet. I think in total we only descended maybe 500M vertical, but the loose sand and scree made the hike back up daunting despite the relatively low grade. I guess I’m just out of shape! I’ve said it so many times before, but I really need to start doing some cardio – I’ll put that on my NY’s Resolutions list.

Back from Red River Gorge, which, although tonnes of fun, was a bit of a bust personally. We only got 3 days of basically “warmup” climbing in before the rain took over, and by the 2nd day, my right ring finger was a swollen red throbbing mess. A few days of ice, a few bottles of advil later, and the decision was made that there’ll be no more climbing for me for a while, at least nothing steep or crimpy. That does however lead to a pleasant part of RRG – I got to get on some easy trad pitches including my first lead on gear. While it was easy enough to solo, building up confidence in gear is a pretty gradual progression. I dropped about 4 grades from my sport redpointing max for my first lead, and threw on my trusty helmet. I guess these things come with practice, but there’s something unnerving about looking down at your harness to find the piece of gear you want to place, then noticing how far you’ve run out on nothing more than a red C3. A million things went through my head “i suck at hand jams”, “i wonder if i’m going to blow this foot placement”, “do i need a purple C4 or a green?”, “when is the Arrested Development moving coming out?” … oh Tobias, i <3 you. There's a whole new world of opportunity open now, and I'm excited to get on as many trad routes as I can. It's like learning how to climb all over again!

Rocktoberfest itself was a blast as usual, and I can't say enough good things about it. This year's Reel Rock Tour screening was BigUp’s Progression, which has set new standards for ANY climbing movie. Incredible cinematography, awesome soundtrack, and, of course, phenomenal climbing sequences from Sharma, Caldwell, Usobiaga, and the wonderchild Ondra. If you haven’t seen this, why are you sitting around reading this… go watch Progression!

. . . and what kind of people would we be if we bailed early from RRG due to bad weather without an impromptu detour to Chicago for some of Gino’s East’s famous deep dish pizza. terrible people, terrible people. that’s right. i said it.

So I’m back from Denmark and London and catching up on some work (yes I do work from time to time) and relaxing a little before hitting up Red River Gorge in Kentucky for Rocktoberfest! I’ve been itching to head back to the Red since last Rocktoberfest ’08, which was so much fun it should be illegal. Unfortunately last month my left ring finger decided I needed a break from climbing, as evidenced by a tendon and/or ligament that won’t let me crimp anymore. I took about 3 weeks off climbing, and then yesterday, thinking that everything was better, I did a single open handed pull-up on my hangboard. Much to my dismay, it appears that I still have some healing to do. It’s a good thing there’s so may jug hauls at the Red to keep me occupied. I suppose I should still take a bottle of Advil, just in case!


I also splurged a bit at a fantastic little store in Waterloo called Adventure Guide. The result was a set of BD Cams, Nuts, Hexes, and a new Bluewater 9.7mm rope. Hopefully I’ll make some good use of them on some easy trad climbs down in the Red.

I’m currently in Denmark for a few days for some business and thought i’d share a couple pictures I snapped outside my hotel in Skanderborg yesterday morning. Enjoy!

It’s been a pretty miserable summer here in Toronto, and pretty much everywhere else on the east coast. It’s either raining or hot and humid, not really ideal conditions for doing anything but sitting at home with a cold drink watching videos of Dani Andrada doing pinky pullups, or completely owning Picacho (9b+?).. i swear, the man should just change his name to The Hulk.

Whenever the weather lets up a bit, I’ve been heading down to The Glen for some bouldering, where I’ve been working on a neat little cave problem with my buddy Daren. I’m not really much of a boulderer, but the Glen is nice and shady, so on those hot humid days, it’s so much better than a sun baked crag. That being said, I still haven’t made it up to Lion’s Head this summer, what a shame. I am on the other hand absolutely frikin’ stoked about Rocktoberfest down in Red River Gorge. It was an absolute blast last year, and I will kick you in the left nut if you try to stop me from going this year. Day 1 last year went something like this:

Friday, 9am: Wake up. Decide to skip work to get a bit of rest for the long drive ahead…. try going back to sleep… fail. Get up, pack up stuff.

12pm: Have some food… harass John and Justin to get off work early so we can hit the road. They both agree, and we decide to head out at 3pm.

3pm: Get to John’s place, tip toe through hairballs and other indistinguishable floor ornaments (for lack of better word). Pack up car, call Justin. Find out that Justin’s stuck at work. Try to sleep… fail… again.

8pm: Meet Justin at Bar Burrito. Declare that they should be ranked somewhere above taco bell, but somewhere below “recommended eating”. (see notes on Transitive Properties of Inequalities“)

12:30am: Cross the US border at Detroit, drive through some shady neighbourhoods while trying to link back onto I-75. Realize that going for burritos immediately prior to sitting in a car with Justin is an olfactory nightmare.

4:30am: Hand off driving to Justin. Try to sleep… fail… again.

6:30am: Pull into Miguel’s Pizza. Try to sleep… fail… sigh.

7am: Breakfast

8am: Hiking up Roadside Attraction.

9am: At the top of my first route ready to clean anchors. Look at my harness, no draws, no atc.

9:03am: Guy on the route next to me tosses me an ATC and a sling. Thanks, random guy on route next to me… Game on!

9:06am: On the ground again. time for another 5 hour energy drink

The rest of the weekend just got better and better with a great party, bouldering comp, free schwag, clinics, a screening of the Sharp End, and a whole bunch of money going toward the RRG Climbers Coalition. Be there, or be somewhere else. But be warned, if you’re somewhere else, you’re missing out.