A Day in Doha...

My first full day in Doha, Qatar and I believe I maximized my immersion into this hot yet beautiful country.  A bit of a back story - I was selected by ESRI-Redlands 2 months ago to teach a 3-day class in Doha, Qatar.  As the course is now retired and the number of available staff to teach it decreasing, I thought this would be a great opportunity to explore another small part of the world.  My trip began on a beautiful Colorado Thursday afternoon from Denver to Washington DC.  A brief layover in Dulles allowed me to wolf down a buffalo burger and enjoy a fine brew from the Old Dominion Brewing Company before boarding a 777 Qatar Airways jet direct to Doha, Qatar - 12.5 hours non-stop.

My longest plane trip ever was from Los Angeles, CA to the Big Island of Hawaii many years ago.  That was only a 5 hour trip - very manageable.  This one...well...there's not a lot to do for 12.5 hours but one manages.  I met two college students in my row that were returning home to Islamabad, Pakistan after spending 6 months on a college visa to Indiana State University.  They were studying agriculture as well as touring a small part of the USA.  As the plane departed Dulles, we chatted for a while before donning our headphones to watch some movies.  I selected the latest Robin Hood (with Russell Crowe) - not a great movie but not a bad one either - the second movie I watched - Shrek IV - also feel into this category as well.  But the service on Qatar Airways is top notch - good food, free drinks, and plenty of attention to keep one comfortable on a long trip.  For 12.5 hours it was needed.

I attempted to sleep in my coach seat for a period of time but that was not exactly comfortable or successful.  One dozes more than sleeps.  I watched the computer map tracking our path across the Atlantic, over the UK, over northern Europe, over Turkey, skirting down the border of Iraq/Iran and down the Persian Gulf to Doha, Qatar.  My first impression at the 6:10 PM touchdown - a steamy 95 degrees in the face.  Mind you when I left Colorado, the temps fluctuated between 58 and 75 and low humidity.  How one forgets about humidity...ugh.

I sailed through immigration, grabbed my suitcase and found my limo driver with a sign "Welcome Robert LeClair."  We jumped into the car and it was off to the 5-star Movenpick Tower and Suites in West Bay, Doha.  The West Bay area is the newest construction in town and is a jungle of beautifully designed skyscrapers.  This part of Doha is very modern and very expensive - a lot of new found oil and natural gas wealth in the past 5 years.  After an Indian Buffet in the hotel restaurant - I crashed hard for the night.

7:30 AM on Saturday...what to do...well get a good workout in the gym first!  My body was screaming at me for sitting so long on the plane.  Then a good breakfast of waffles, hash browns, fresh fruit and coffee.  Afterwards I spoke with the concierge and arranged transportation to the Souq in old Doha and the nearby Museum of Islamic Art.  Originally I thought it would a nice day to walk the 4-5 miles along the water front to this area, but after seeing the weather report of 99 degrees and heat index of 113 - no way!  The Souq is the traditional Arabic "shopping mall" if you will where vendors sell everything for traditional Muslim garments, to trinkets, to spices/candy/dates, to birds and cats.  I wandered for 2 hours taking refuge in the air conditioned hallways before going back outside in the oppressive heat.  After a 1 hour break to check the training facility with my work contact, I returned downtown to the Museum of Islamic Art - a very modern building with Middle Eastern art back to the 5th/6th century - pretty cool stuff.

It is now middle afternoon and I'm starving!  I figured the 10-minute walk back to the Souq wouldn't be too bad - it was.  The heat/humidity is brutal!  A taxi driver pulled over - but I only had 5 minutes to go.  I poured myself into a Lebanese restaurant for chicken kabobs and a traditional Lebanese salad - incredible!  Afterwards, I followed up my meal with a traditional Turkish coffee - beats Starbucks by a mile!  Feeling refreshed I went the Corner Cafe to try a shisha - apple flavored tobacco in a Arabic traditional water pipe.  Cool experience - with plenty of people watching to do.  Westerners, Asians, Indonesians, Qatari, non-Qatari, veiled women, non-veiled woman - I'm not in Colorado for sure.  Spoke with Karen for 10 minutes on my ESRI global phone - she would enjoy this place but not the humidity.  By then, my apple tobacco is done and I'm hungry again.  It's off to an Indian restaurant for baryani chicken - the flavors oh so incredible!  By this time, I'm hot/tired/sweaty and ready for the hotel and air conditioning!  A $6 taxi ride and I'm now back looking over the West Bay of Doha from the 22nd floor updating my much neglected blog.

That's it for now.  I'm teaching classes for the next 3-days and then return to the states on Wednesday AM.  Climb On my friends!

Finishing the 14ers...

Two weeks ago, my climbing partner, Alan Arnette, completed his goal climbing all 54 14,000 peaks in Colorado.  Alan was part of a 6-person group to the Chicago Basin located in southwest Colorado between Durango and Silverton.  The 3 ranked 14ers, Mt. Eolus, Windom Peak, and Sunlight Peak are some of the most remote 14,000 peaks in Colorado that require a ride on the Durango Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad to shorten the hike into the basin.  For all, this was a trip we had talked about doing for years.

Our first full day in the basin brought abundant sunshine and Colorado blue skies - perfect conditions for climbing Mt. Eolus and it's neighbor North Eolus.  One of our team members, John Little, had befriended Alan several years ago and had dreamed of climbing his first Class 3 mountain.  I had not met John until this trip but had corresponded with him over the years.  Eolus and North Eolus proved to be both very beautiful and very interesting rocks to climb.  For Alan, this brought him closer to his end goal with 52 successful summits.

Our second day in the basin brought consistent low cloud cover, rain, drizzle, and groppel - not exactly perfect conditions for climbing Windom Peak and Sunlight Peak.  We delayed our start time from camp about 1-2 hours to determine whether climbing was in the cards.  Seeing a window, we set out for Windom Peak.  Windom Peak is the easiest of the two mountains we were to attempt that day and through drizzle, groppel and some wind we summited the mountain surrounded by pea soup...53 successful summits for Alan.  We then made a hasty retreat down the mountain to avoid freezing conditions.  Successfully off of Windom, Alan and I attempted Sunlight Peak in marginal conditions.  I got 200' from the top and Alan about 50' from the top before we made the call to turn around.  Wet rock, exposed terrain, and icy conditions dictated that Sunlight, an unforgiving mountain, was not to be that day...stuck at 53 successful summits.

Our third day in the basin brought an overnight abundance of rain and hail but a dawn of abundant sunshine and Colorado blue skies.  I had to hike out of the basin that morning to catch my train while Alan awoke at 4:30 AM to summit Sunlight Peak.  Although he soloed Sunlight Peak, thoughts of his mother (who passed away from complications of Alzheimer's1 year and 1 day on his completion of the 14ers), his climbing accomplishments, and his memories of all 54 summits hopefully kept him company.  A hearty congratulations in completing the goal of climbing all 54 14,000 peaks in Colorado - a task undertaken by many but accomplished by few.

As our team returned to our respective homes, all of us have had time to think about this trip and what it meant for each individual.  For Alan, a completion of a goal and the beginning of a new goal - to raise awareness of and $1 million for Alzheimer's Research with his Memories are Everything:  The 7 Summits for Alzheimer's.  The project begins Q4 2010 and will conclude in 2011/2012.  You can follow Alan's progress with this project on the link above.  Please consider donating to this cause by giving 1 penny for each vertical foot Alan climbs - it can be for all 7 summits or just 1 - $13 to $196 depending on the summit.

Climb On my friends!

Third times a charm...

Kit Carson Peak (14,165') has been an elusive 14er to climb for me.  In 2009...on 2 respective trips...Kit Carson Peak thwarted my best efforts to gain the summit.  The June 2009 attempt brought 6 hikers together with varied climbing skills.  The snows from winter 2008-09 were still on the mountain - areas that required crampons and an ice axe.  Half of our team only made neighboring Challenger Point (14,081') but an iced over ledge system called "The Avenue" stopped us.  The September 2009 attempt brought 5 hikers together again but hours and hours of rain, groppel and hail throughout the night only iced the rock up.  It was not meant to be...

Fast forward to early August 2010 and the snows are a distant memory - winter 2010 is only months away though...  Ben Kubczak and I were the only folks able to give Kit Carson/Challenger Point a go this past weekend.  The plan, as suggested by Ben, was to make this a day hike versus an overnight backpacking trip.  The 14 miles round trip and 6250' gain/loss would have been easier broken into two days, but the advantage of 1 day was the ability to travel light.  And heck, it would be a challenge - I'm always up for a challenge.

I drove to the Willow Lake trail head Friday night and slept in the 4Runner for the first time.  Another perk of this "new to me" vehicle, I can lay down easily enough complete with pad and sleeping bag - couldn't do that with the CRV.  Ben met me at the 4x4 turn-off at 3:30 AM Saturday and we were on trail by 4 AM.   Walking through he woods by headlamp with only a sliver of moon was great.  The air was still and the forest not quite awake.  Ben noted that someone had seen a mountain lion here recently...ggggreeeeaaaatttttt....

We made Willow Lake in 2 hours 45 minutes and pumped water to refill our bottles.  From there, we began the climb up towards Challenger Point.  The standard trail is nothing more than a scree slope with some boulder hoping  thrown in for good measure.  Ben made it about halfway before calling his summit bid due to changing weather.  I decided to continue to get a fuller weather picture on Challenger Point.  I gained the summit and after evaluating the weather, decided Kit Carson was a go.  I met up with 3 other folks who had the same plan and from Challenger, we began the trip over to Kit Carson.

Kit Carson is a complex mountain with 3 summits - Kat Carson, Kit Carson, and Challenger Point (although some give it the nickname of Johnny Carson!)  The easiest way to summit Kit Carson is to use the ledge system (The Avenue) around the back side of the mountain to an easy Class 3 scramble to the summit.  From Challenger summit to Kit Carson summit was 45 minutes.  #47 in the books!  I enjoyed the scenery for 20-30 minutes, took some pictures, texted Karen, and then began the long hike down to the 4Runner...7 miles away and 6250' down.

I met Ben back at Willow Lake and we hiked down the mountain to clean clothes, sandals and the thought of pizza/beer in Salida.  After a hearty dinner, we departed to separate cities - me (Denver) and Ben (Colorado Springs).  The ride home was tough - I was very, very tired and drank coffee to keep awake.  Fortunately, the trip went well and I parked the car at home, left all my gear in the car, and promptly walked into my apartment and crashed for 10 hours.  I feel much better now...

Next weekend is the Eolus group trip north of Durango with my regular climbing partners, Alan Arnette and Patrick Vall as well as some new additions - John Little and Anne/Kevin Martin.  Looking forward to it!

Climb On my friends!