The last 6 months.. Getting ready for Denali... In pictures..

I've had a fractured pelvis and smashed hip abductors to Yoga master Swenja Stellfeld has been working on my joints!

I've been taking nice big up hill hikes every week

I've been on a bootcamp 

Oh yeah... The torn ligament in my should needed some cortisone and lots of treatment from my Physio Grant Ashton

Spent a week training at Altitude on Lake Atitlan in Guatemala

Hauled 20kgs of gear around on chicken buses in Central and South America

Hiking in NZ hanging out with native birds...

Creative weight training in Southern Mexico

Running up 100 steps at Altitude in Chiapas

The kick ass training sled my big cousin Jared Going made me on the family farm in the Valley #Northland

Nothing like an adventure to the middle of Lake Wanaka in a Sea Kayak

With my 20kg weight vest on in the gym @ home in Wanaka

Diamond Lake

After training treatment...

Swenja making me burn my pain out...

Lots of travel... Thanks Air NZ

Down hill training on Mt Iron

No such thing as No training weather...

ALL ROADS LEAD TO DENALI...

I still remember the first time I saw a picture of someone climbing Denali. I was sitting on a summers day in Wanaka at the dining table right in the kitchen of Adventure Consultants. Guy (Cotter) was mixing up a brew of tea and my exact words were "Jeeez that guy looks miserable where is that taken." and Guy was like oh yeah that is on Denali.

I felt my body go cold and the instant smack of what the hell am I thinking… No way do I want to climb Denali - screw that!

You see… When your mentor is one of the most kick ass climbers in the world and he describes something as miserable you know it's gonna be really hard. I remember sitting there with tears in my eyes as Guy explained I would have to carry over half my body weight, I'm 48kg and a light load on Denali still rings in at around 30kgs… If that wasn't enough to scare me there is also the fact that the mountain is cold… Arctic cold and you have to start off at sea level so it's a freakin HUGE mountain and the altitude effect is similar to the Himalayan giants.

To say I was a little freaked is probably an understatement some people say Denali is harder than Everest but there is no doubt it will be harder for me than Everest because of what is involved in the expedition and the fact so much is against me. I've never really doubted that if given the chance and the right break in weather I would make it up Everest but Denali? Denali was my what if… 

I think there may have even been a few ridiculous conversations with Guy that went like this... "Really, if I climb the 7 summits do I gotta climb Denali?" YES "Can't we make a new 7 summits" Let's talk about this closer to the time - If someone were to ask me what the best hidden talent about Guy Cotter is I would say apart from his ability to make a glass of vino happen like poof magic, it would be his ability to be entirely diplomatic when you are being a total idiot and not hold it against you. 

This is Guy on the left making a tea party on his way to climb Lhoste this year... It's not tea in the Adventure Consultants kitchen but it's Guy with tea so it ticks some of the boxes :)

2 years on from that day I find myself packing for my Denali expedition. A few things have changed I've said good bye to 2012 and decided to go for my 7 summits speed record meaning I will aim to climb all 7 in less than 300 days.. 2012 for me was a hard year with a rock fall on Aconcagua and an Evac from Indonesia. Needless to say I'm in a different headspace about Denali, it probably helps that I will be climbing it with one of my best buddies and climbing partner Cason Crane.

This is Cason... Put some clothes on Cason! Sorry ladies he's gay... 

In the new year Case and I were talking… We had always planned a big expedition together well another big expedition after Aconcagua and so somewhere in this conversation we decided I would start my 7 summits speed bid with Denali… Because it was the What if? It's literally my EVEREST in the sense that I'm expecting it to challenge me more than anything I can imagine. So I will start with Denali and finish with Everest in 2014… Oh and also because we figured it would fun to possibly be miserable together.

But were not just doing your average Denali climb… Were doing a custom trip and we've blocked out 30days on the mountain because as the saying go's "30 days on Denali will get you a summit" Cason's idea... It's the last of his 7 summits so were stayin on that mountain until it let's us up top!

You know what that means? That means a possible 30days of our antics on a mountain… What can you expect from our Denali trip? Well you will just have to keep following to find out... 

It may or may not look something like this... Stay tuned... :)

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

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...