10 Degrees Latitude » perspective http://www.10degreeslatitude.com Traverse 10 Degrees of Latitude on every continent. Tue, 21 Jun 2011 23:32:12 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.1 5 Reasons to Train http://www.10degreeslatitude.com/2010/09/why-i-train/ http://www.10degreeslatitude.com/2010/09/why-i-train/#comments Fri, 17 Sep 2010 08:29:19 +0000 neal http://www.10degreeslatitude.com/?p=1294 It’s only natural that people should ask why we train. We consistantly do stuff that others avoid, and for hours every day. It is only natural that people should ask. My answer to their question breaks down into 5 reasons.

5 Reasons to Train

  1. Test of my body and mind.
  2. Feeling of tangible accomplishment.
  3. Body feels better when I do.
  4. Quality time with friends before and after.
  5. Puts hardship and ego in proper perspective.

 

 

neal_training img_5863 neal_on_everest_summit-1 handstand carrie__neal_mara__chris__damaris bridge ]]> http://www.10degreeslatitude.com/2010/09/why-i-train/feed/ 0 Training: Rowing the San Francisco Bay http://www.10degreeslatitude.com/2009/04/rowing-the-san-francisco-bay/ http://www.10degreeslatitude.com/2009/04/rowing-the-san-francisco-bay/#comments Wed, 22 Apr 2009 06:44:27 +0000 neal http://www.10degreeslatitude.com/?p=1937 More adventurous training. Last week I completed two important rows (for myself). I rowed 4-miles to Alcatraz from Ghirardelli Square and 8-miles to the Golden Gate Bridge from Ghirardelli Square. Both rows are done frequently by other members of the Dolphin Club, but they are new to me and therein lies the adventure.

Oh, how quickly I leave the protection of the city. Just a few miles off shore and I am totally cutoff. I see the sky scrapers and houses, but could not scream to them if I capsize. No one can help me out here, I am self-reliant. This feeling of self-reliance is really healthy, I think, to put life into perspective. So much of life has safety nets, it’s nice to feel the pressure of pure objective danger. And it’s nice when I dock the boat and that danger vanishes. If only life were as simple as rowing.

alcatraz_row boats boats2 golden_gate_bridge_row rowing dolphin_club_boats 2844_637725291247_609340_37350869_1297969_n 2844_637725465897_609340_37350883_2309672_n 2844_637725515797_609340_37350885_5575081_n ]]> http://www.10degreeslatitude.com/2009/04/rowing-the-san-francisco-bay/feed/ 1 Climbing the Tallest Mountain in Colorado http://www.10degreeslatitude.com/2008/12/climbing-the-tallest-mountain-in-colorado/ http://www.10degreeslatitude.com/2008/12/climbing-the-tallest-mountain-in-colorado/#comments Mon, 01 Dec 2008 07:45:21 +0000 adam http://www.10degreeslatitude.com/?p=1363

Neal and I took a break last weekend from all the current economic chaos to relax and refocus. 

What better way to recapture this perspective than to climb to the top of the second highest peak in the Continental United States?  Mt. Elbert (14,440 ft.) is 65 feet shorter than the tallest peak in the continental US, California’s Mt. Whitney (14,505 ft.).

It was an amazing weekend mountain climb.  We arrived at the trailhead at around 10 AM on Saturday morning.  Neal had planned the route on his Garmin and in our Suunto watches, so we were set to go.  The sky was total bluebird and it was unseasonably warm (45F).  We started out in base layers and packed 2 extra layers in our 30-pound packs.

We hit the tree line around noon and ran into a solo climber who had summited and was making his way back down.  He gave a very positive report of the terrain and weather as well as what turned out to be an overly optimistic estimate on our time to summit.  He guessed we were about 2 hours from the summit.  It turned out to be 4!

As someone who has climbed the 7 Summits and made a living as a climber, Neal was very patient with the skinny kid from Ohio who was making his first summit.  We reached the summit shoulder to shoulder.  It was amazing to stand at the top and absorb the 360 degrees of panoramic beauty.  That being said, there wasn’t much time to absorb it.  Wind speeds were 20-40 mph on the summit, and wind chill temps were in the single digits.

Special thanks to Suunto, Gu Nutrition, Eider Apparel, Deuter Backpacks and dear mother nature!

Here are the details:

  • Mount Elbert
  • Elevation 14,440, tallest mountain in Colorado, 2nd tallest in continental US
  • Hiking Distance From Trail head: 9.5 miles round trip
  • Elevation Gain: 4,700 feet
  • Latitude/Longitude: 39.11780 N / 106.4447 W
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…Wouldn’t you like to get away?  Some times you wanna go…

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