Hilaree O'Neill grew up skiing at Steven’s Pass in Washington state. She didn’t begin skiing competitively, however, until moving to Europe in her early twenties. She began with a few European extreme contests and derbies scattered throughout the Alps. She found she had what it took for extreme skiing and the rigors of climbing.
Learn more about Hilaree O'Neill.
I have to admit that I have never been camping with my kids. Granted, they are still really young but considering camping is, more or less, what I do for a living as a professional mountain groveller (aka ski mountaineer) it seems kind of crazy.
So this summer I’m setting a date! The National Wildlife
Federation has an annual event called the Great American Backyard Campout. This
year it will be on June 26th, so rain or shine (or snow- you never
know in
I just ordered a good family tent called the Mountain Manor and am excited to put it to use. We don’t really have much of a yard so I think we will drive somewhere nearby and get in a little car camping- still a luxury for me but a nice, mellow entrance for the kids.
I was checking out the NWF’s website at http://online.nwf.org/site/PageNavigator/gabc_2010_home
There were some really cool ideas to motivate kids for this big campout extravaganza. My boys are still too young to appreciate some of the activities but those of you with older kids- definitely check it out.
Where do you think the best places to camp are?
We are just barely working our way out of winter in Telluride. Even yesterday, it was snowing and blowing and the thermometer barely registered above 40 degrees. It’s tough with two kids as I am so ready just to be outside without having to bundle the boys up in the down jackets, ski pants, snow boots, gloves and so on and so on. The weather has made me reflect a bit on what a great winter we had- my oldest son, Quinn (he’ll be 3 at the end of July), skied for the first time.
He also figured out how to have a really good time in the snow which made things a lot easier on me, the mom.
I just had to spend a little extra time getting him weather proofed- it’s sometimes insanely difficult to get a 2 year old dressed, especially when his little brother, Grayden, wasn’t quite sure he liked the whole outside in winter thing!
There are also times when no amount of layering can keep a kid dry. Then it’s just time to give in and head home!!
I think my biggest surprise from this winter was how much I enjoyed all the activities I could do with my kids. I admit, being a professional skier I was a little worried about losing my personal time in the mountains. No doubt it was an adjustment this last winter but I found I really loved skiing with my 2 year old- and, believe me, all the snowplowing really gets the legs in shape! We live in a small ski town so it’s hard to always come up with new and fun things to do but this winter we skied, went sledding, made snowmen, went on lots of walks; we even went to the climbing gym.
Thanks to the Chariot stroller, I was able to take my youngest skate skiing and go for runs on some of the plowed roads around town. We also spent a lot of time in the library. Wow!
There were some quality days, though, when I just got to ski either with my husband, by myself or with friends. I think those days are a necessity for me, they help rejuvenate me and make me a better mom.
How do you like to unwind after a day full of activity?
I try to get my kids outside every day, no matter what the weather. It’s definitely so they can burn off a little steam but it’s also for my sanity as well. Plus, my husband and I are just outdoor, active people- it’s just what we do and both of us want our kids to have the same love of the outdoors. There are many, many times when I feel like I am banging my head against the wall to actually get out the door, but once there, it is always worth it.
This spring has been challenging as we have had such poor
weather in the
Another good rainy day activity is just going for a walk and getting into some good puddle jumping. Grayden is still too young so he is mostly just in the stroller, but Quinn loves it. I usually don’t stray too far from home because it’s wet business no matter how you dress!
We also have a pond near our house where lots of ducks live. It’s a great activity to go feed the ducks. Even my one year old gets it and loves it and the rain doesn’t diminish the pleasure!
Our apologies to everyone who has been following our expedition dispatches. We’ve had the one two punch of computer problems (the computer with the dispatches crashed when it decided it didn’t like the high altitude) combined with a missing barrel with all of our technology inside. The latter issue took several days and a lot of grief to solve, but solved it is and we are all connected again!!!
So on with the climb!! We just returned from one night at camp ¾’ers and a second night at Camp 1. Two days ago we set out into the labyrinth of a glacier that makes up the route to Camp 1. Unfortunately, the weather didn’t exactly play out in our favor. The snow started falling and the temperature warmed up and we all expended tons of energy with route-finding and post-holing through a white out in waist deep snow. More than one of us fell in crevasses with a leg or two dangling into open space. As time wore on we realized that it was a bit silly to try to continue to push through to Camp 1. Kris made the call to make camp around 10:30 am somewhere on the upper glacier, hence Camp ¾. Apparently it was a good call because every other team ascending that day followed suite and pretty soon there was a cluster of 8 or so tents stacked together on top of a perfect little serac somewhere below the true Camp 1.
The next morning we woke to a perfect day-cold and clear. We packed up and headed to Camp 1, roughly two hours above us on a fairly clean route, especially now that we could see. Again we spent the night at about 19, 300ft, with everyone feeling great, we had plenty of time to dig out a great space and check out the route that lay ahead of us. It snowed again in the afternoon, as it has been everyday, but cleared for a beautiful evening.
We all got up pretty early so as to avoid the heat of the sun , which, even at altitude, has been overwhelmingly intense. Walking back down the route that was so difficult on the way up, felt like a different climb altogether. With all the teams ascending and descending in the last two days, the route was totally stomped in and felt like a cruiser, especially with the hard freeze from the clear nights.
It took us barely even 3 hours to make it to base camp, and as we were short on food for breakfast we were all extremely excited about Dee Dar’s cooking(we definitely scored with a great chef!) and a cup of strong coffee. The sun is shining, everyone is feeling great after a bit of food and we each took showers (except Griber, watch out!!!!)- we were all bummed that Ingrid didn’t join us on our latest excursion but it seems that she is finally healthy again and will be able to charge to Camp I in a couple days. We will be a whole team once again.
Thanks for all your patience and we promise to keep up our dispatches in the upcoming weeks,
Yesterday we tackled our last leg of flying before heading into the mountains. The flight from Islamabad to Skardu is a direct b-line over the Himalayas. It was a beautiful day and the pilots were psyched to share their views with anyone interested in coming into the cockpit- domestic flights in Pakistan are apparently a bit different than the United States!!
Ingrid, Kip and I were the first to go into the cockpit as the mountains splayed out before us in an unreal panorama, with Nanga Parbat on the right, the Indus River flowing beneath us, and countless more peaks filling out the view to the left. We went back to our seats after a few minutes to let other passengers enjoy the view. As the flight came to an end, and the flight attendants ushered everyone to their seats to buckle up, Ingrid and I were again told we could go into the cockpit for the landing. You have to love Pakistani cowboy pilots inviting the ladies into the cockpit to show off their skills; and these guys had skills. The canyon they navigated was narrow enough at one point to warrant some wing tipping, all the while the alarms are going off in the cockpit with a very loud, automated voice repeating the uncomfortable phrase “Pull up! Pull up! Pull up!”. Ingrid and I just looked at each other, wondering if we shouldn’t be sitting down with our seatbelts on… Mind you, this was no turbo prop plane but rather a 737 jet! As we finally cleared the narrow gorge we could make out the landing just beyond a bend in the Indus River. A swath of concrete in the middle of the sand, surrounded by soaring mountains. They nailed the landing. Even sitting right there I could hardly tell they had touched down. The pilot said he liked to “kiss” the runway!
Skardu is an entirely different world from Islamabad. For us, it is much more comfortable. The town is small, in the mountains and not nearly as hot- all things that as skiers and mountaineers, we can relate with a bit better. We are staying at the Concordia Motel, a nice, very clean place on the outskirts of town, all our rooms overlook the massive Indus River with big peaks further in the background.
We have a full day in Skardu and Kim and I have to spend a good portion of the day at the government offices in town getting our visas extended from one month to two months. Fortunately our base camp manager, Karim, and our LO Major Zabir, both helped us to navigate the antiquated system of stamps and signatures and hole punches as our papers were put into huge folders. A bit of haggling went on as to what day our visas should end. Some arguing amongst the officials as to which pen worked better, whose name came first alphabetically, etc. and then we got our zillion new stamps in our passports and off we went.
Since the last few days have consisted of traveling, sitting, eating and trying to get over some vicious jetlag, we are really looking forward to tomorrow and to being one step closer to the Baltoro Glacier and GII.
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