I've had that fortune taped to the wall beside my desk for months. It landed in my hands after having a bowl of Pho with Susan -- a good bowl of noodles with my dearest friend, it's a remedy that cures all ills. The fortune at the time seemed apropos (no Dad Susan's didn't say help I'm trapped in a fortune cookie factory) and it seems even more fitting today.

We didn't reach the summit this weekend. We had great weather Friday with views that were astounding. But shortly after snow camp started on Saturday the clouds rolled in and a fine mist covered us through training. It was a minor bother as we were wet anyway from practicing our self-arrest techniques, which basically means you are throwing yourself into a slide only to see how quickly you can stop.

At about 4pm we hopped in a snow cat and headed to the Silcox Hut. The hut is far from a hut -- it's a mini lodge that was once the ending point of the first lift at Timberline.  It has a grand room with an enormous fireplace and then downstairs there are bunk rooms that sleep four, although only one person can really stand in the room at a time.  We had dinner at 5pm and headed off to get some sleep for a few hours.  At 11pm we had breakfast while clinging to the hope that we'd be headed out the door and up the mountain.

Our hopes were dashed as our lead guide, Doug Ironside, went outside to check out the conditions and came back in looking like he'd been in a hurricane.  We knew the weather forecast didn't look good, but Doug looked worse!  He made the decision to delay our start time until 2am and we crossed our fingers that the storm would blow through.  Well 2 became 4 and 4 became 6 and the notion of reaching the summit was carried off with the winds.

At 6am those of us that were still committed to getting a bit higher on the mountain put on our gear and headed out the door with our guides, Doug, Chad & Rodney.  We worked our way across the snowfield and through gulleys that offered some shelter from the wind.  Everything was coated with a new layer of ice and getting our trekking poles to penetrate the surface was a challenge. When we moved up onto the dirt and rock rims the footing came more easily put planting poles was still tough as they wanted to blow out of our hands. See and hear it for yourself by watching this short movie that Josh took.

The group decided that we had to at least get to the top of the Palmer Snowfield, so covered in rime we continued pushing into the wind. At 8540 ft the clouds parted and we caught a glimpse of the path we would have taken to the summit. The sky was a brilliant blue and we unfurled our climb banner, prayer flags, grabbed the cameras and declared this our summit for the day. You can experience this as well, thanks to Josh. There are a couple of new photos posted here as well and I'll add more as I collect them from Josh, Eric and the other climbers.

Am I disappointed, yes a bit. But I'm not a blue as one might think. You just can't really argue with Mother Nature or a Mountain -- they'll win and you'll be lucky to limp home. Even without the summit this journey was remarkable. It challenged me phsyically, emotionally and is a reminder that Sir Edmond Hilary was a wise chap when he said "It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves."

If you're in Portland, come celebrate with us this Wednesday night at the Chesterfield, 1101 E Burnside.  All food & drink purchased from 4pm - close will benefit the Climb. (Yes the climb is over but the fundraising doesn't stop quite yet!)

Thanks for reading,

Erika

Tomorrow we're off to Timberline for a good night's rest at 5000 ft before heading to snow camp at 8am on Saturday for a day of learning rope skills and self-arrests and getting to know the rest of the team. The weather forecast looks soggy, so if you know any good weather dances, chants, songs or prayers please put them into action for us. The very notion of getting to the hogsback in a "wintery mix" makes me cringe.  When I was whining to Eric today he reminded me that the worst thing that can happen is that we'll be cold and wet and we'll turn back before reaching the summit.  That doesn't sound like fun! An adventure yes, but fun -- not so much.

Speaking of Eric, he is a fundraising machine. The latest check of his blog reveals that he has raised $5728.77.  He's not quite reached his goal, but I like the fact that there are three 7s in there. Maybe it will bring us good luck.

I think I've nearly used up my 15 minutes of fame. I spent some time in the studio at KNRK this week as a guest on Gustav's my perfect playlist in person. And Plate & Pitchfork is featured in Outside Magazine and if that weren't enough there was a nice feature in The Oregonian about the climb and I was the poster child (thanks to a nice photo from Eric.) 

It's been a big week. And I'm ready to savor a few minutes at the top of the world, but one last thing before I go...

This year's climb has definately been a group effort -- from the team training hikes and snow shoe adventures to the incredible staff at Arthur Murray Studios, Bishops Barbershops and the Green Room; from the creative and musical masterminds of Trevor Rasmussen, Nick Peets, Garrett Brennan, Michael Hermann and David Milne to each of you who have broken open your piggy banks. Because of each of you I've had more fun training and fundraising this year and more importantly, because of you we are moving closer to finding a cure.

Thank you!

Can you believe it?  I can't.  After months of training, pondering, fundraising the climb is only 5 days away. My living room floor is covered with gear and the great packing debate has begun.  I will probably pack and re-pack my backpack at least 5 times before I even leave for the mountain. 

I take great solace in the fact that Eric always has more gear than I do and half the time it doesn't even leave the car. After hiking all year with his stove and talking of tea at the summit he did use it on our Silcox Hut hike. Somehow I don't think he'll carry it to the summit this weekend when every ounce of wait counts.

Big Thanks to the Green Room, Trevor Rasmussen, Nick Peets, Garret Brennan and Tony Furtado for putting on an amazing show on Saturday night. With their help we've come close to raising $13,000 for breast cancer research.

If you're in Portland turn your radio to 94.7 today at 5pm (and you out of towners can go to their website 947.fm)  I'll be on air with Gustav for a segment called "my perfect playlist". He'll play five songs that comprise my perfect list. I have to say creating a list of only five songs is pretty hard, but I've chosen the songs that push me up that last flight of steps or ring through my head when I'm tired and in need of distraction.  Tune in and let me know what you think, or better yet, send me your perfect playlist and I'll add it to my ipod for this weekend.

If you're new to this site, you'll want to know the basics so here they are:

On June 9 & 10th I'll be climbing Mt Hood to raise funding to fight Breast Cancer. This is my second venture to the summit and this year I am joined by my good friend Eric Sullender and his brother-in-law Josh Pandolfi. Together we hope to raise $11,249 -- that's a dollar for every foot that Mt. Hood rises above sea level. And that's where you come in, please consider making a donation today by following this link to reach the official Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center donation page:  http://getinvolved.fhcrc.org/goto/erika

And for those of you that have been here before here's the latest news:

Go Get A Haircut!  Visit any of the 5 Bishops Barbershop locations in Portland and while you're there add a dollar to the price of your cut and you'll be supporting our climb.

Come Hear Great Music!  On June 2nd my good friend Trevor Rasmussen will be performing at the Green Room (2280 NW Thurman St) with Nick Peets, Garett Brennan and Tony Furtado. $1 of the $6 cover charge will go to the climb and we'll have a raffle for great prizes.  The show starts at 9pm.

You'll also notice some new photos on the site from our most recent training hike. We went to Table Mountain which boasts a 3400 ft climb in 5 miles. Dog Mountain has nothing on this hike!  It's rocky, it's steep, it's amazing!  Sure there aren't as many wildflowers as Dog, but in terms of training this was much tougher. We were joined by Logan, Shawn, Emily, Ericka and 5 dogs. 

Eric is itching to hike Mt. Defiance, I'm thinking it's time to taper my training a bit. Between boot camp and weekend hikes I'm putting my body through quite a bit and I think it might benefit from some down time before the big day. The compromise might be hiking without my fully weighted pack.

Speaking of boot camp... I met a survivor in class today. Daniel had us running hill sprints, some forward, some back (just try running up a hill backwards, quickly!) and we were all dragging today. My tactic for surviving is always distraction so I struck up a conversation with a classmate as we walked down the hill and learned that she is a 13 year survivor!  She told me a bit about her diagnosis and treatment and wouldn't you know it my shins stopped aching, my shoulder stopped bugging me and with a survivor at my side I sprinted up that damn hill three more times.

Thanks for reading!

Erika

My teammate Eric Sullender has a thing for sevens.  In fact his personal fundraising goal for this climb is $7777, that's $1,111 dollars for every year his Mom has been breast cancer free. This is week 7 -- yup only 49 days til we head to Hood. I'm starting to think we're ready. 

This weekend the usual climbing crew was occupied so I headed to Dog Mountain with Eric & Bart. This hike can be a killer, the last time I did it was Mother's Day of 06 and the trails were dusty and crowded, the flowers were at their peak and it was pretty amazing.  This time was completely different. When we arrived there were only 4 cars in the parking lot on what was a cool and drizzly morning. 

The first .5 miles of this hike carry you up 700 feet. It's one hell of a warm up. You continue on for nearly 3 more miles until you reach the summit, which is somewhere between 2860 and 2910. (Why is it that no two trail books agree?) Bottom line -- it's steep and it feels even steeper when you've got 20lbs on your back. It took 2.5 hours to reach the top, and we opted for Ausberger trail on the way down which offers a more graceful descent.  I was pleasantly surprised at our time, and more so that neither one of us seemed to be even slightly wiped out. Yipppee.

Table Mountain and Defiance are looming in our future... stay tuned.

When I was younger the time between big things seemed to drag on forever. I could never get to the next fun thing fast enough.  Now I look up and a week has vanished. I'm not really sure how it happens, but I'm pretty sure this is something my Mom or Grandma warned me would happen.

So here we are ten weeks away from the Climb. Eric, Libby & I have been diligently training and fundraising. Between the three of us we've raised approximately $5000 -- which means we've got a long way to go, so if you haven't, please consider making a donation by visiting this page -- http://getinvolved.fhcrc.org/site/TR?px=1002119&pg=personal&fr_id=1040

You'll see a large blue donation button on the upper left side of the page. Click that and you'll be prompted to enter your personal information.  Although the actual donation page doesn't have my name on it, you will be contributing to my effort and your emailed receipt will serve as a confirmation.  If every person reading this note contributed $10 we'd be well on our way to reaching our goal.

This weekend's hike is Hamilton Mountain, and next the dreaded Dog Mountain. Check back for photos!

Remember that song from your childhood.  I do. Quite vividly.  And I've modified it to be head, shoulders knees and shins.  Those are the body parts I've really been focused on for the last four weeks at boot camp.  Head -- keeping it in the game and not getting myself into the trap of beating myself up so much. Shoulders -- those need to stay out of my ears and back where they belong, not rolling forward which upsets the ole neck. Knees -- have to convince them running is okay, same things applies to the shins.

So today after four weeks of interesting and entertaining work outs with Daniel Iverson and nearly two dozen women we took our "final exam".  We ran the perimeter of Laurelhurst Park (in the rain, of course) and did push-ups till there was no more push.

The improvement class wide was impressive. I managed to shave a minute off my mile, I really wanted to cut it down 2, but I'm really pleased with my improvement in push ups. The girl with finicky shoulders went from doing 32 girly push ups (the one's on your knees) to 20 from toes and 16 from knees. And hours later, my neck is still fine. Looks like I may have figured out how to use the right muscles at long last. Yipppeee.

I met some great people in this class and although I won't be joining them for the next round I'll be channeling their energy as I head to Mt. Tabor on my own every Wednesday.  (Need a florist for an upcoming event, I met these folks in class and think their work looks fabulous, plus they are charming and lovely... Flowers 4 U and Quince)

Want to run or hike up hills with me? I'd love the company! Send me a note and we'll go put those knees to the test!

Did you know that while most mosquitos have a life cycle of only 10-14 days some can actually live through winter?  I had no idea until we put on snowshoes and headed to the June Lake trail at Mt. St. Helens.  Not only did we find a lovely waterfall at the end of the hike we found mosquitos! It turns out that some female mosquitos live through winter and lay eggs in the spring.  I can only imagine how buggy the lava field at June Lake will be this spring... ick!

Our day was far from icky... we did have a bit of a detour that took us to an impassable creek. In fact the tree that had the trail marker was in pieces across the creek rather than telling us which direction to travel. So after an hour long detour we landed at the trail head for June Lake and headed up hill.  It's not huge hike, but after 5 hours of snowshoeing we were all pretty wiped out.  Even Ollie and Bart.

Stay tuned for this weekend's adventure! 

Some people sit around and talk about things they'd like to do someday. They wax poetic but never really get around to doing anything. Well not my friends...

A casual conversation over sliders and pulled pork sandwiches produced this year's Climb to Fight Breast Cancer team and perhaps even more impressive is the small army of people that are committed to getting us up the mountain and keeping us company on training hikes even in less-than-ideal conditions.

To start the year off on an active note, Eric, Logan and I enrolled in a Nordic Ski Class with the Mazamas.  For four Sundays in a row we woke before sunrise and headed to the snowy Cascades.  Along with five other beginners we waltzed and limboed our way to proper ski technique.  We had a couple of beautiful days as you'll see from the pictures from Teacup Lake.

And then there are training hikes, our little group of three grows to include a larger cast of characters including Logan, Matt, Emily and Shawn. Oh, and how could I forget the dog party -- Audrey, Violet, Bart, Bubba and Sammy provide endless amusement.  So far we've tackled Dry Creek Falls and Angel's Rest. There's talk of turning this week's hike into a snowshoe since there's new snow as low as 1000 ft. and well hiking in a down pour is only amusing for so long.

Want to join us on a training hike? Send an email, we'd be happy to have you join us!