Istanbul

We just spent some time in Croatia on the Dalmation Coast a few days ago - not enough though, of course! I didn't get a chance to do any deep water soloing, but we all went for a dip in the beautiful blue water.

After Croatia, we turned inland to Bosnia, stopping at the amazing city of Mostar. It was bombed in the Bosnian War in 1993 and is now a UNESCO world heritage site. It is the site of the famous Stari Most bridge, which has since been rebuilt. We spent that night in Sarajevo and enjoyed dinner and a stroll through the city center.

The following day we had some problems and miscommunication with the border to Serbia, but made it through in about 4 hours. We spent the night in a small town in Serbia with a friend of Karina's. Today it was smooth sailing to Istanbul, where we are staying tonight.

Lots more photos to post!

The Stari Most bridge in Mostar. Gorgeous place!

Julia in Sarajevo.

Austrian Cows

Yesterday and this morning we spent time at a mountain hut near Kitzbühel, Austria. The weather was gorgeous, and we went for a hike up the mountain to a small lake. The hillsides were dotted with cows grazing. On the way to the lake, we stopped to rest at small catholic chapel. Inside there were four pews, each holding two occupants. It was very idyllic with views of rugged mountains in the distance.

We also spent some time hunting for and picking mushrooms growing on the slopes near the hut. Our friend and acting guide, Karina, told us which ones were edible and which ones to avoid. We must have picked nearly a half pound of small yellow mushrooms. Later, we cleaned them and Karina used them in a spaghetti sauce. We ate dinner at dusk while the cows came down the mountain, bells jangling.

Karina, on a layover between jobs as a psychiatric nurse, has decided to join us on our way to Istanbul. We'll be on our way in a few hours, with a stop for perhaps a few days in Croatia. There is a film festival going on there that we'd like to check out. We also would like to visit the Dalmation coast while there. Personally, I'd like to try to do some deep water soloing (rock climbing over water without gear or rope, just shoes) over the Adriatic.

Gas leaks, Traffic, and Austria

In the past few days, we've blazed through France, Belgium, Luxemburg, and Germany. Now we're in Austria. It hasn't been an easy cruise, however.

After all the engine troubles that I talked about in the last entry (radiator, cracked head, etc) had been taken care of, we thought we were set and on our way. Not without some trouble with the security system first, however. This caused us to end up staying an extra night near London with a friend of Randall's, who helped us out tremendously. Once the security system issue was sorted out, we rolled down to Dover. With school just getting out for the summer in England, the roads to the ferries were congested. We all thought that we'd end up camping near the white cliffs and losing another day, but thankfully we were able to book a ferry for the same evening.

We got off the ferry in Calais, France around 9pm on the 24th. We started booking it for Germany, and arrived at the border yesterday (25th) in the wee hours of the morning. Too tired to continue, we camped at a random wooded spot in a rural area. We awoke later that morning, packed up, and hit the trail (quite literally). We'd gone no further than 50 feet when a strong gasoline smell filled the cab. We stopped and opened the hood to find unleaded draining from the fuel line into the engine compartment at the head.

Randall and I took the line off and took stock. We found a couple of plastic spacers, one good O-ring, and one disintegrating O-ring. We fiddled with it all for a while, trying to get a good seal - until I dropped a spacer and the good O-ring into the compartment. We searched for the missing parts for a while, then resorted to combinations of duct tape and zip-ties to seal the coupling betweeen the fuel line and the nipple it seated onto. After nearly two hours, we finally found that we could use some spare rings from an MSR stove kit to seal it.

Our improvisation must've been sufficient, because Julia, Randall, and I spent the remainder of the day making our way through Germany in stop-and-go weekend vacation traffic. We arrived in Austria around 10PM. We settled into a vacant flat that a friend set us up with in a small town called Kirchbichl, near Innsbruck. A few glasses of wine and a beer or two down the old gullets, and plans to hike up to a mountain hut this morning (26th) materialized from seemingly nowhere. I'm pretty pumped for that, of course, and hope to enjoy some fresh alps air before we hop back in the Jeepo for the drive to Croatia.

When I get a chance, I'll tell you about our Jeep a bit. It runs on petrol and propane. Until then, auf wiedersehen!





We found some woods down a backroad in Germany and caught some Z's before continuing to Austria.


This is where we had the gas leak. Good to go now, thanks to an MSR Whisperlite camp stove repair kit.

Beyond the Pond

Julia and I made it to the UK today. We flew into Heathrow International and checked into our hotel shortly after. Because Randall is up north taking care of some last minute issues with the Jeep, we'll meet up with him tomorrow. In the meanwhile, we are trying to beat the jet lag and stay active with some sightseeing.

This afternoon we took the "tube," or underground rail, to Central London. We popped up from a rail station right in front of Big Ben. It was a great introduction to the city. We also saw the House of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, Trafalgar Square, and the National Gallery. After our self-guided walking tour, we had dinner beneath St. Martin-in-the-Field church at the Crypt Cafe. It was a good way to start the trip, to be sure.The House of Parliament and the Westminster Bridge.Julia in front of Westminster Abbey.Chris and Julia in front of the National Gallery.Julia enjoying a bite at the Crypt Cafe.

Garden

I've had a wonderful time tending to the garden this summer. The plants have taken off and are growing at an incredible rate. The vegetables are just about ready to start producing. We'll miss most of the harvest, though, as Julia and I are off to the land beyond the big pond on the morrow. The next time you hear from us, we may be drinking Earl Grey on a damp London afternoon - perhaps eating scrumpets with Her Majesty, the Queen.

Cucumbers to the left of me, tomatoes to the right. Here I am. Stuck in the middle with you.


Lamb's ear and chicks'n hens. If there were such a thing as goat rocks, we'd have ourselves a regular barnyard themed party in the garden.

Earlier this summer we had some very nice iris blooms that came from my aunt Charlene's garden last summer.

Annual Camping Trip 2009

Another terrific year on the shores of Gitchi Gumee! We were missing a few, but most of the crew was there. Golfing, biking, relaxing on the beach, and even a little climbing were enjoyed. Dan was on point with Morgan's Meal Plan, and we all ate like kings on a weight-gain program.


















Gooch conquering Carlton Peak.














Mike, Dan, Phil, and Loren (L to R) at sunset.


















Mike takes it up a notch and wins the tree-climbing game this year. How could this possibly be a bad idea?

The Mongol Charity Rally

It’s nearly upon us. Next week Randall and I will be starting in London and driving 10,000 miles across Europe and Asia to Ulaan Baatar, Mongolia. Julia will also be joining us for the first week of the journey. After some sightseeing in Istanbul, we say goodbye to her as she hops a plane back to England. She will visit a friend there while Randy and I continue on. In all, we will visit 12 countries, navigating large cities, traversing mountain ranges, and crossing vast plains.

The end goal of this crazy adventure is to raise some money for some good causes. With the help of some generous givers, we’ve already raised over $1600 for Save the Children (www.firstgiving.com/tate-ziebell). In addition, the 1999 Jeep Grand Cherokee we’ll be driving will be donated to Go Help/Charity Rallies in Ulaan Baatar. Our vehicle, along with other participating teams’ vehicles, will be auctioned and the proceeds will go to local charities. To date, the 2009 Mongol Charity Rally has raised over 46,000 UK pounds ($75,000 US)!

I know most of you already have these web addresses, but for those that don’t, you can track our progress, read blog entries, and view posted pictures:
www.charityrallies.org/thelostcrusade (Our team page on the official Charity Rallies website)
www.randalltate.com/rally (Our site, created by Randall the Great. Also, drop the “/rally” to check out some spectacular photos)
chrisziebell.blogspot.com (This site, silly.)

Julia Finishes Grandma’s Marathon in Record Heat

Heck yes! Congratulations to Julia for a job well done in Grandma’s Marathon!

Despite incredible and unseasonable heat, Julia managed to cross the finish line. The heat, lack of shade on the course, and virtually no wind made for a grueling 26.2 miles. The medical tents were very busy, and rumor has it that the event was nearly called off due to the conditions. Julia fought through it and crossed the finish line like a champion!

Good job, Julia!

The Great One

More commonly known as Mount McKinley , the highest point on the North American continent was first called Denali, or “The Great One,” by the native Athabaskans.

Randall, Peter, and I decided sometime last winter, or perhaps even before, that we were going to have a go at it this summer. Randy and Peter had attempted Denali some four years earlier, which culminated in three nights spent at high camp (17,000) in weather that did not permit a summit attempt. We all had hopes that this time would be different.

After months of planning and equipment collection, we were ready when May came around. Well, mentally prepared, anyway. While training for the climb, Peter rolled his ankle a few times. He decided to lay off and let it heal, putting a damper on his regimen. Randall, developed a hernia whilst trekking through South America. It required surgery no less than three weeks prior to our start date. Finally, studying for finals consumed most of my time during April, and my training also took a hit. With the 15+ mile long West Buttress route requiring a minimum a week and a half to reach the summit, there would be time to train on the mountain. Right?

We arrived in Talkeetna on the 23rd of May. We made final gear adjustments and preparations, and took an air taxi to Kahiltna Base Camp (7,200 ft) on the morning of the 25th. We unloaded our equipment from the De Havilland Otter ski plane, picked up sleds and fuel, and began the long slog to our first camp. Things went well for the first few days, and we moved up the mountain in terrific weather. On the third day, we awoke to blowing snow and white-out conditions.

After being tent-bound for a few days, we decided to go for the camp at 11,000 ft, despite the white-out. We traveled by spotting bamboo wands that marked the route.We made it to 11k camp and spent a few days acclimatizing and caching food higher before making the move to 14,000 ft camp. The travel between 11k and 14k was more interesting than further down the mountain, with an ascent of “Motorcycle Hill” and a traverse of “Windy Corner.” Windy Corner lived up to its name both on the cache day and on the day we moved to 14k camp.

At 14k camp we again spent some time acclimatizing. The views of Mounts Hunter and Foraker were amazing. We spent days making water, reading, listening to iPods, and trying to keep motivated. The weather at 14k wasn’t bad, but we could see that higher up it was very windy. However, the forecast predicted that a high pressure front would begin to move over the mountain in a few days and stabilize the weather briefly. That would be our weather-window.

We moved to High Camp at 17,000 ft on a cold and windy day, but made it without any problems. At about 16k ft and above, the effects of the altitude and lack of available oxygen became noticeable. We took our time traversing “16 Ridge,” which starts at the top of “The Headwall,” a 2000 vertical foot steep face, and ends-up at High Camp. Even though it was a chilly day, there were almost no clouds in the sky, making the journey seem a little easier.

We spent only one night at 17k feet before taking a shot at the summit. The high pressure system indeed moved over the mountain. The was clear and relatively warm (nearly 0 degrees F) when we left camp to ascend the 3100 vertical feet to the top. The going was very slow, and the lack of oxygen made it tough to warm up cold fingers and toes. Despite the full sun and clear sky, the temps were below zero Fahrenheit all day.

The view coming across the final ridge to the summit was incredible even with a hypoxic brain and hazy thoughts. We spent about 15 or 20 minutes standing on the top, taking some pictures and trying to soak in the view before heading down.

The cruise back to 17,000 ft, where our camp was still set, took far less than the grind to the top. When we arrived back at the tent, we all crashed for the night.

The following day, we pushed hard to make it from 17k all the way back down to Base Camp at 7,000 feet. We hobbled in at around 11pm, ate some chili, and slept like rocks. Randall woke up early the next morning and got us on the flight manifest. By 9AM we were on our way back to Talkeetna, where we spent the day cleaning, drying, and repacking gear. That even we celebrated with a pub crawl that lasted until 2AM for me (4AM for the rest), taking advantage of the Alaskan summer sun.