SMITH Optics... LOVE

Recently I had to select an optics sponsor, some may not realise it but everything I take onto the mountain has personal meaning for me. From the adidas three stripes that sits over my heart on my jacket to remind me "Impossible is nothing...." it is a salute to the people who love me and inspired me to chase this dream despite others labeling it impossible. My Black Diamond gear is there because it makes me feel safe like an old friend I can trust and now Smith Optics will be joining me on this journey. Aside from having what many including myself regard as the best optics to head on to the mountain with it was also a personal choice. A declaration of sorts about how I want to see what I do and the wider world around me. I've chosen Smith because they remind me of someone and because they remind me of that particular person every time I get out there and push myself against the wall just looking through their optics reminds me of why I'm out there and the things that really matter to me in the end. 


This season I'm rocking my current faves...

SMITH Chemist in Black and White stripe

SMITH Serpico Slim in gold

SMITH IOS Goggle in White Strobe

LIMIT MAG Pearl Going ARTICLE

Pearl Going: The down low on big peaks and chasing big dreams.

What's happening in the picture?

It's a self portrait taken on my Sony cybershot at the top of Mt Iron as sunrise hit in Wanaka where I train and have been in rehab for my hip/leg injury. I hadn't been able to climb anything for over a month and had Everest delayed until potentially post monsoon which was heart breaking this was my first hit out and I'm pulling the three stripes 'all in' gesture because that was literally my all in moment. After coming off injury I had more fear scaling Mt Iron that morning than I have previous high altitude peaks. I'm wearing the new Adidas Outdoor Terrex Gore Windstopper active shell jacket. There is an awesome competition that Adidas Outdoor are running globally right now, you can visit www.terrex-experience.com to get involved.

From the last time we caught up after you set the Killimanjaro speed traverse record what's been happening in the world of Pearl Going?

I had a break over Christmas after a solid 3 months all go having been in Russia, China, Africa and Thailand climbing. I've signed on board with Black Diamond as an ambassador which is exciting. I spent a month in South America & completed the first Australasian full 360 traverse of the second highest of the 7 summits Mt Aconcagua last month in under 5 days base camp to base camp, unfortunately I was hit by a pretty gnarly rock fall but I still completed my summit/traverse.

Rock fall sounds like the stuff mountain nightmares are made of, can you elaborate there?

Yeah, it wasn't the most ideal situation. It happened on my ascent of Aconcagua. I have spent the last 5 weeks in with my medical team putting myself back together. I'm getting ready for Carstensz pyramid right now because it pushed Everest back to post monsoon, Carstensz is the most risky of the 7 summits in the jungles of West Papua. The rock fall caused some serious bone contusions , deep multiple hematomas etc. I went on to reach the summit and get the record but on descent as I got some more oxygen in the system the seriousness of my injury became apparent. My right leg collapsed on me when I reached the next base camp, we had to descend in bitterly cold conditions with about 80km winds ripping very early after summit, because the weather had trashed the tents.

How much of a challenge has it been mentally coming back from injury?

It's funny you mentioned nightmares earlier. My physio Ginny Bush who also takes care of the NZ Winter Olympic team said to me on the first day in her office, you've got to get your confidence back. She had the job of telling me I couldn't go to Everest that week. I couldn't bring myself to get emotional about it because it was such a heavy hit, I came home and just collapsed. I didn't leave the lounge floor until the morning. I didn't tell anyone but my family for the first week. Everyday I'd go to physio with Ginny, she would watch me struggle and tell me it was going to get better. So that is what I would tell myself, I was still alive and as long as I was still alive, Everest was still in my heart, I could climb again. There's a quote from the Alchemist my favorite book "My heart is afraid that it will have to suffer," the boy told the alchemist one night as they looked up at the moonless sky." Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself. And that no heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of its dreams." It's great to be moving again.

Is it times like that you wonder why you're climbing mountains?

No, I know why I'm climbing mountains. It's not easy, it's supposed to be difficult. Nobody wants to be on a mountain freezing cold, in the dark, stuck in 80km winds but when you climb big mountains that is always a possibility. You have to go all in, you literally have to dig the deepest you possibly can to handle a situation like that. There is no magic helicopter so to speak.

Is it more challenging as a woman venturing into mountains?

Physically possibly, if you are my size and build then most definitely. Mentally I would say the challenge can be the same. I'm very blessed in the sense from day one I've had people like my coach Guy Cotter screaming Go Girl, take no prisoners. So that s how I approach a mountain I'm climbing, I just give it everything i've got, for as long as it takes, it's a take no prisoners mindset.

Do you think there is an emergence of younger female climbers coming through?

If there is an emergence it is definitely been driven by brands Black Diamond or Adidas for example, if you look at everything in their range you wont find a piece of womans gear identical to mens. With Adidas it's because they are essentially a sports brand who has already gone through that transition, they make clothes for athletes and they understand the science behind what is needed for men and woman to perform individually. They are probably leading the way in getting to the female market with kick ass girls who are putting their hands up and saying “yeah, I wear nail polish and bake but I will own you on the mountain/wall, so look out”. Their willingness to back these woman is what is going to make climbing appealing to younger generations of woman, it's like saying just because your girly doesn't mean you're not hard core. I think sport climbing has so many amazing young woman coming through and dominating, I would love to see the same happen in alpine.

You come from argurably most successful sporting dynasty in the southern hemisphere the 'Going' family. Given their status as world rugby's first family and the status of rugby in New Zealand does it make you feel more pressured as an athlete?

The upsides outweigh the downsides because generations of my family have been outstanding athletes and understand the pressure you can put yourself under. That experience is invaluable, for example my injury I've been working through now. I've had my days when I've been so frustrated, I think I cried myself to sleep for two weeks when Everest this spring was pulled. Having them tell me I was going to come back on the days I couldn't even climb up the stairs was such a blessing. My cousin Jared Going (one of NZ's most dominant World Cup, Sevens Rugby players & son of All Black legend Sid Going) recently put me on a remedy that has helped me get walking again. My cousin Karlean Going (daughter of former All Black, Ken Going) just won Silver at the world free diving champs is also injured at the same time as me, so I have someone to bounce how frustrating it is off.

In a short period of time you've become the most prominent female climber for NZ public, I don't think I've ever heard so much mainstream buzz about a female climber down here before. Do you think who your family are have played a role in that?

Absolutely, it's a combination of things. It's such a prominent last name, people automatically associate it with rugby and sport in general. Then you have these images of me charging up mountains with Adidas who make professional rugby possible down here, all over me. It's automatically familiar for the NZ public. For the media how I look also makes it an attractive story, it generates interest because mountaineering is pretty tough and I don't look that tough.

How did you come to be climbing in Adidas Outdoor?

I had heard about their jackets been the lightest in the world so I got on the ph to Greg from Outdoor in the USA and told him I wanted to be the fastest woman in the world to climb the 7 summits. Infact Adidas Outdoor over there is completely seperate to Adidas Sports he was sitting in his office in California and never even recognised the whole Going last name. He was just all for a teeney girl like myself smashing a huge record, he never said but you're small, but you're a girl.I've had amazing support from the Adidas Outdoor guys, Marc in Germany is another one that is fantastic. That's the thing about a brand like Adidas Outdoor they not only make gear second to none but they employ people second to none and as an athlete it makes all the difference knowing the team who made your jacket were thinking about you rocking out in it 7000mtrs up before it even made it to your back.

What gear from Adidas Outdoor are you loving this season?

If I had to narrow it down I would say, I'm looking forward to tackling Denali in the new Terrex Down Jacket in this funky green and yellow with these special wrist cuffs to keep it sealed, It is phoenomenal and starts retailing in Europe, August. I have also fallen in love with Technopile a textile they're using for the hooded fleece jackets in this insane red/aqua, I'm loving the arm pocket which is perfect for stashing a GU gel or snack and the Terrex Gore-Tex active shell with a hood in bright red with pockets further up the breast which is going to be invaluable on Carstensz Pyramid and Mandala in West Papua next month as I will be in a harness. I'm loving the colors this season they are always very fashion forward, I find other brands tend to trail a season behind. I'm also wearing a fair bit of the Stella range about to come out which is absolutely beautiful.

What inspires you when you climb?

The people I love. I think climbing has definitely made me treasure those people more, I'm a better woman for those people because of climbing. I think that happens though when you are required to turn up day in, day out and give everything you've got to something. If you're smart about it you see the results and you want those kind of results in every area of your life so you tend to give more on a personal level, when you're in, you're 'all in' so to speak.

What is next on the horizon of Pearl Going?

I'm still completely on track for the speed record. Right now my focus is returning to 100%, One of my sponsors is going to send me up to Thailand to get on some warm rock in a better climate mid April to get my body moving again for a couple of weeks. From there I will travel up to West Papua where I will spend a month with a private team to attempt been the youngest Australasian woman and only the second NZ woman to scale Carstensz. The region is highly unstable politically and rather dangerous so it is a bit of an undertaking getting in and out. Right now the goal after that is Denali in mid to late June up the west buttress so hopefully I'm fighting fit for that. I of course also have a second ascent of Elbrus in Russia planned up the South side to be one of the first woman in the world to have climbed it North and South, which I will slot in at some point before the season ends. It should be an interesting couple of months I'm looking forward to my time in NZ between peaks.

Lucire - Black Diamond

Here is two wee articles by Lucire talking about my Kilimanjaro Expedition and my recent Aconcagua expedition:

http://lucire.com/insider/20120228/pearl-going-tackles-her-seven-summits-exclusive-pics-from-the-kilimanjaro-leg/

(photos by Calypso Paoli)


http://lucire.com/insider/20120418/pearl-going-targets-the-carstensz-pyramid-next-in-her-seven-summits-quest/

I recently signed on as an ambassador for Black Diamond. I'm very excited and looking forward to brining you the latest on what gear of theirs I'm using - Stay tuned :)

BELIEVE IN SARAH, a late thank you to a treasured friend and magical woman.

There are moments that change how you view things. For me it was a crisp Wanaka morning in late January around 6:30am, I was just walking out the door heading for my morning run up Mt Iron to watch the sunrise. I never made it up Mt Iron that morning as +1 647 flashed on my ph, I knew who it was important. People who know me well tend to get me on the ph earliest as they can in the morning because as soon as the rest of the world starts thinking it is a respectable time to call I am usually tied up. What I didn't know was that in the moment I answered how I viewed what I did day in, day out would change. 

"Pearl, there is something I need to tell you before anyone else does. It's Sarah, she is gone" I don't remember the rest of the conversation. I just sat down on this seat in the middle of a walking track and couldn't stop the tears flowing. Day was breaking and the most magical sunrise started to emerge, you always imagine that when the world loses a bright light like Sarah Burke that everything, all the lights  will go out. Instead for those who were blessed enough to know her at least in my own case it became more vivid. 

The sunrise didn't feel like a sunrise, it felt like the greatest act of nature, the perfect opportunity to be truthful with my heart. Sitting on that bench I started to see everything clearer and if losing Sarah wasn't enough of a jolt my next one would come just weeks later when on a routine carry from base camp to chopper camp on Aconcagua, the 2nd highest of the 7 summits. Out of nowhere a freak rockfall would smash down the cliff and near wipe me out. As I lay there on the side of the mountain with the sound of my own screams piercing into the middle of nowhere, I realised I really don't want to die. I really love life despite those who look in on mountaineering and think it for the suicidal inclined. I don't climb for the danger, the ego of it. I climb because it's pure, climbing Everest was the very first thing as a child I wanted to do, it is a dream held in the deepest part of my heart. 

When I'm in the mountains I can focus on the things that really matter to me, there isn't a step I take up there that I'm not thinking about the people I love. Thanking them for supporting my dream and believing in me. It's dangerous stuff, it's no place for egos or small talk. It is the single most confronting thing you can do with your head space and the reward is one of the most pure life experiences known to man. I've spoken with a woman who has become my very dear friend Suze Kelly about this at length. Her partner is my coach Guy Cotter, Suze is one of my favorite people to let into my head space because after years of loving Guy and been loved by a person who goes to the end of the world she gets it. There is a poem by EE Cummings 'I carry your heart', it talks about never been without those you truly love. Cummings goes on to describe such love as the wonder that keeps the stars apart and when you are at the edge of life, when you are on the mountain the furtherest you could possibly be from those people only then you have nothing to distract you from the things that matter most in your heart. 

Suze has this amazing way of cutting through the crap, "do you love it?" she will say because she knows that in the end when you are at your limit in places even angels have feared to tread, the ego, the pride, all that additional garbage that you pin yourself to in righteous belief that we must box our love with our own stringent rules to protect our hearts from the fear of hurt. It's not going to matter, you're not going to think about it, because in that moment you're only thinking about what really matters, you're thinking about what you love and you're thinking about it in the most pure of ways free from all the additives organic so to speak. 

The last time I spoke with Sarah it was via Skype, I had some things on my mind and she put them to rest by reminding me of the above. If anything her death should serve as a reminder to always do what you love and to treat the people you love like you really do love them. 

This is how I see it. Love is faith, it is the highest declaration of faith. Everything lies beneath it, if you are someone reading this who struggles with a loved one who's passion leads them to tread where angels fear, if you are someone who has lost someone remember that in your act of loving them despite how they chase their dreams you are declaring that there is no place they can go without your love. Your faith in them to the point of loving them and risking losing on a grand scale is the very thing that when the chips are down and they can't possibly imagine how they will make it home, it is that faith that keeps them putting one foot in front of the other. For me, I know what I'm risking because I've been there on the frontline of it and at the same time not letting the people I love down, getting home to them is the single most important thing. It's the only thing that matters in the end and I pray that there's never a day that I have to be responsible for letting those people down.

The question must be asked "Why go at all, you know the risk, why go there?", There are many answers but the one that springs to mind right now is because it makes me a better person for the people I love. We could go on with the questions but that is the crux of it, following my dreams and treating life as an all in scenario, abandoning the back up plan so to speak makes me a better person for the people I love and if love is all that matters how could I not want to give those people along with myself that gift.

I know Sarah got that, she was the shining light that she was because she understood what really matters in the end and she not only excelled at chasing her dream but in turn she excelled at becoming the best possible person she could be for the people she loved and it is for that reason she will always be in those peoples hearts. She will remain part of the wonder that holds the stars apart.

Thank you Sarah.

MAKING HISTORY :)

4 days...

So in November I went and climbed Kilimanjaro. Traversed it. 4 days later I was off the mountain eating a pepper steak with chips... All photos by Calypso Paoli my expedition photographer who became the first New Caledonian woman to traverse the mountain. We set the world female traverse speed record...

Don't STOP, Never GIVE UP...

There I was, one step away and as Mike Roberts put his 

hand out to help me step that last little step I could no 

longer stop the tears. I was 5642 mtrs in the air, I was at 

the roof top of Europe and as I looked out at the earths 

curvature  I could not think of a moment in my life when I 

had felt more of a victor. 

I had done it, I had risked everything, I had put myself in 

the position where failure was more probable than success 

and I had made it. You see, i've wanted to stand on 

mountain tops since I was a little girl but somewhere 

along the way I had let the dream go, until one day when 

I woke up and decided I was going to go for it. So there I 

was just standing on the roof top of Europe with an 

Everest legend Mike Roberts and Guy Munnoch the head 

of Zurich group. 

It's a beautiful feeling to achieve a dream. It makes you 

hungry for more because nothing tastes so good as doing 

what somebody said you couldn't do. Standing up and 

telling yourself I will not let the opportunity of failure 

stop me from doing something that I truly absolutely 

dream of doing. So when I decide to traverse the highest 

peak in Africa in just four days and people say it's 

impossible given my size, I won't have the endurance. 

What do I do these days? I take a photographer along for 

the ride. That is what this journey is about. That's why I'm 

willing to take aim at one of the greatest sporting feats in 

the world, put my hand up and say that I want to be the 

fastest woman to do it. I want to be the youngest New 

Zealand woman to stand on top of Everest. I want to be 

the first woman of Maori descendant to take the roof top 

of the world. This journey is not only for me and every 

person I love. This journey is for every single person who 

has had a dream and surrendered it to the voice of doubt. 

Take your dream back, chase it down, dare to be 

extraordinary. Dare to live your dreams, there is nothing 

more magical and there is no greater gift you can give to 

the world.

Remarks Training (with AC) Easter 2011

Some snaps from my first technical summit about 10 months ago Single and Double cone the Remarkables in Queenstown, with Tim one of the many seriously good folks at Adventure Consultants... First time in a real harness and pack carrying...

February 5th 2011

On this day 1 year ago on GPS one of my families boats in Tutukaka, Northland with one of my best friends Annabel Anderson and another good friend Cam Farrell we were talking about goals for the year and things we always wanted to do. I bought up Everest and said I would like to make a special trip to base camp as I probably wouldn't ever have time to climb it. Less than 3 weeks later I quit work and started my mountain journey...

Something Cam had said weighed on my mind, we had been talking about what mattered in life. You have to do what you love, you have to push yourself, you have to be brave enough to live your dreams. No excuses, you want it... GO GET IT! In the middle of our talk we got a Blue Marlin strike, it was a biggie and we hauled it up to the boa where it got off the hook... I have learnt over the past year that Cam was correct "If you can haul a Blue Marlin 4 times your size up to a boat, there aint much you can't do girly."

Belles one of my dearest friends has been a huge support on this journey both she and Cam are two people unafraid to chase down their dreams. Belles is the current world No.2 and European No.1 for Stand Up Paddle Boarding and Cam is one of the most hardcore big wave, big adventure people around... Some of the stuff he drops into makes Everest look like a walk in the park.

Elbrus Gear... TOP 5

My 5 favorite pieces of gear on Elbrus:

1) My PINK Adidas 3 in Terrex Jacket Gore Tex. Probably the light of its kind with a primaloft jacket insert o it's like a two for 1. The gore tex is so light it's super breathable and the primaloft insert has become one of my favorite layers on the mountain (more on that later). The hood features a stiff brim and zips right up over the nose which was perfect for the snow storm we got caught in n the way to the summt.

2) My pink SONY cybershot. Absolute god send shock proof, water proof and most importantly freeze proof!! If you;re going to the limit this is the pocket rocket to come along for the ride. Super light, easy to use with gloves on, battery life that just keeps going and going... Oh and did I mention it shoots in 3D? (I'm holding it in the photo at the summit with Guy Munnoch).

3) Black Diamond poles. Black Diamond make seriously the most sturdy poles you can find, they wont let you down. I've recently been invited to be a Black Diamond ambassador so I look forward to bringing you lots of gear reviews! The poles I used on Elbrus were the Trail Trekking Pole 2011

4) Marmot Col Membrain sleeping bag! There is nothing else I want to sleep in on a mountain and I'm not just saying that because I'm an ambassador for this bag.

5) GU Chomps. I'm an addict and I had to seriously contain myself on Elbrus to save some for Summit day. YUMMY and so much better than the yucky gels. GU is leading the way and they taste seriously good!