PART ThRee - Raid the NOrth eXTREMe - the reality of Mt. DOrval

the next links to the beginning and middle of this story.

PART ONE - Raid the NOrth eXTREMe - an uNFolding

PART TWo - Raid the NOrth eXTREMe - dreams, nightmares and grumpy bodies.

part III -

There's a large part of me that struggles to retell the story hOW it was. HOw it happened in me, in my mind… at 102 hours on 8:35hrs of total sleep. As 'feelings' process, i objectively look back still feeling a little angry and confused inside (the angry is the French Taurus in me), i go on and complete the retelling of this most excellent journey.

the task: we'd come to the entrance gate of the ValHallas.. and no one was truly feeling themselves. All we had to do was head almost straight up to a col, through some mountains, around some lakes and down the other side… simple.

'the black markers are US, Team 17.. the green marks are a most excellent choice route'

We had just left the alpine lodge, crossed a creek and had our 'intense' misunderstanding.. T2 says,

'Jude, here is my advice to you. Stop talking, stop questioning he knows where he's going.. just follow, You're going to make him lose it, he'll snap.!'

..i knew she was right, but i couldn't stop reacting. We were not where we should be and we needed to react as a Team towards a solution but there no communication, there's no working together. T3 refuses help with the navigation and there off… bushwhacking, traversing through once again some gNArly side-laying Alder and large talus slopes heading towards what was believed to be the col to Hird Lakes. Im freAKing out inside, my bloods boiling.. 'is this for REAL.. aRE YOu kiddin' me?!
..
…So what do you do in a situation as such? i had to stop my questioning, it was getting us nowhere. T3 was not listening, T2 adores and follows whatever is best for T3, T1 wants 'zero' conflict knowing it would most likely end up in harsh confrontations… as my actions were quickly steering us. Had to Stop, had to follow. I take the very back of the line for the greatest distance (20-30m) from 'the' leader (plus a little more 'zen' in my artificial lonesomeness)… which also takes me out of any possible decision making. Knowing this, i let go and follow.. aNGry, fuming… muttering, replaying events , respeaking them in different ways, trying to make sense of what did and isn't happening. I'm trying to figure out just how we can get through this, working with one another. Where are the loopholes, whats the answer, how will we get along and pull through this? Whats even going on… am i over-reacting, do i know for sure if we're heading the wrong way? ..I'd looked at the maps just a few quick times this past week, how well could i really remember them? i had, however, helped lay out most of the UTM coordinates and instructions the night we received the maps… i don't know?! do i know?… what do i know, what does it matter, we all have to go the same direction, we all finish together.. no matter where the finish is. So where's my part, where can i be most useful?…
.. after what seemed like a few hours more of bushwhacking across a steep sidehill, we get to a large talus slope leading up to a bowl with a col to the next mountain range.

Phew.. awesome, this steep side traverse was really sketchy, i was happy to get into some lower risk exposure. So most naturally, i decide that the safest, quickest route is up onto a steep little chunk of stable vegetation, then a gradual traverse passed the bowl and over the col. T3 had a different plan, he wanted to keep heading up the talus slide to higher elevation before traversing… baaaaah …'NO, lets get off this huge Talus field, its super unstable, there are hUGE loose boulders… this is a STUPID place to make elevation, wait 100ft, we'll be on good snow.' … but of course, he hears no reason, so i leave the team for a quick few minutes and route out a safer way up.. either way, made little difference, but it was the tension building, gave me a few moments to chill out, recollect and remind myself again to just follow.
…
.a little over 200m away is our col. We hit some good snow, yaHOOo, no more bushwhack or talus.. We just need to traverse slowly upwards. a little steep to and over and fini.

Still not quite able to shave off all the sass i call over to T3.. ' ya'mind actually kicking in a good step or edging, you're rounding your steps'… and the response i get…' look Jude, the bottom of my feet really hurt, I'M NOT kicking my feet in, you do it'.. 'WELL THEN…. fine…, take the back and round all the steps you want, I'll edge in and I'll make us all solid steps to follow'. besides my runners were the only ones with decent sized nubs for traction, i was able to make route and i had the extra energy to ensure us a safe climb. That said, the closer we were getting to the col the steeper it looked. I hadn't been able to see the maps since we'd departed from the lodge, but i certainly didn't remember our col to be this steep, but… we were here now, what could we do but continue on.

.. just under 100m the grade changed. By this time, i was holding my poles out in front of me horizontal to my route, there was only ONE direction and that was up. It wasn't super steep as i started, i was on a somewhat perfect avalanche slope, 47ish degrees, kicking in serious steps into slushy summer snow. AS my knees started to comfortably hit the snow, my poles at bent arms length and chest height, and the position of my body almost near vertical. This was steep and we were high, no matter… i focus on my impact, the set up to follow my tracks and a 2m radius of snow around me. I'm nearly stepping a ladder, a vertical WEst COast ladder, focus…, don't look around as Vertigo would certainly be a possibility and then a fast dangerous ride down 300m of talus and patchy snowfields into a freezing, glacial puddle… yUK! just keep going, just keep going..holy poop, this is steep, don't look around, just keep climbing up.

'looking vertically down over the melted cornice at the top, you cant see our tracks as its much too steep, about 90 m down you start to see the route'

..i top the half melted cornice… wOW…and my heartrate sKYROckets…. 'Shhhhh… wait for the team juDE, don't freak', i say aloud. I walk not but 10ft from where i topped to the other edge of the cOL. /.hehe haa ..yikes… its a STEEP 250ish meters down a scree field drop to a LArge lake inside a deep bowl… 'aaHhh, I'm not sure what to think, i understand the risk we are currently faced with much too well. I'm scared, this sucks, i have no roCK gear (no crampons, no axe, no rope) there is no safe way down.

'the view on the other side'

The team all make it up.. we're safe .i can't even remember their reactions.. all i remember was T2 saying, 'i think i see a trail there, yah over there, we can take this down.' and shouting back in response, 'i wont do it, you have no idea the risk, i wont go down that way, no race is that important… I HAVE A BOY Who needs a MOmmy. Knowing well by this time this was the complete wrong col, we were up on a knife edge .. forward is a super steep (not quite vertical) 250m slide to a HUge Alpine lake and behind us a 90m drop to another 200m into a rocky puddled bowl. The safest direction is back, but that means climbing back down the 90 or so meters i just vertically climbed, again..no crampons, axe or rope.. sounds stupid. We argued over our next moved, i argued we were near Mt Dorval, but egos are reluctant to confirm.

On the up and up… we had the most incredible views, a total 360 panorama of countless mountains :) and i was surprisingly warmer then the previous few nights. WE then decided to put on all our warm layers and figure something out. My runners, the LaSportiva Crossover GTX, an excellent choice, however pretty wet and somewhat cold from hours of snow kicking and days trekking but luckily i had over packed and also brought my NB Minimus with me :) great call as i slipped my little feet into a dry, light, run slipper, dry socks (big THanks to T2).. wool toque, threw on all my insulated layers, my down, hardshell, emergency blanket wrapped around my core, inside the e-bivy and wrapped in a silnylon scout tarp… the team did the same.

..We'd pushed our 'help' button on our spot tracker, I'd ripped through the duct tape of our emergency radio… that was it.. the end to our official race. No one was happy, and luckily i felt zero need to point fingers as conversation would of been nothing but destructive. I remained silent and mostly to myself, i focused on the radio, spot and solution. ..the radio was not working.. hmmmm.. no good. Does anyone know we're here? Has our spot sent out a signal? Is our radio sending and just not receiving? I had followed the instructions given to me in the 'emergency situation' brief. Push the 'help' on spot, open radio, find channel, send out message, wait max 30mins. …T2 was anxious and NOT as patient, 'hand me the radio', quite worried about having to spend the night at nearly 8000ft with nothing but handfuls of emergency blankets. She was right to be concerned so she decided that T3, being the only one with somewhat crampons (Kahtoola spikes), should carefully backtrack to the lodge and alert the crew of our location. Fine by me… i said nothing.

'Tm (im taking the photo), T1 and T2 all snuggled up, preparing for a cold night at nearly 8000 ft'

'T3 on the other side of the col, somewhat boycotted, mostly due to a stomach virus'

Uncomfortably, but safe the three of us slept. We'd heard nothing from T3, as he'd left hours ago, no contact with the radio and we had no way of knowing if our spot tracker was working. No matter, i was calm, by morning we'd for sure have a solution. Someone would know we were up here.

...i opened my eyes, the sUN was golden, just starting to rise when all of a sudden a handsome face appears in my view, 'gOOD MOrning LAdies'. Good looking Help had arrived with snow anchors, ropes and gear. They proceeded to make us hot tea and lend us extra layers to fully warm up. One of them was off scouting a route and decided we could traverse the ridge out and around to the proper col, a much better idea then a costly helicopter rescue. We would then wait for T3, who had slept the night at the lodge, to meet us on the right route to continue on our way out of here in hopes we may still have time to at least ride the 7summits to the finish line... Didn't happen but at least we were all somewhat tolerating each other more and more as the day went by.

my final reACtions to this Adventure, in somewhat disbelief, turned out to be way different then i had ever imagined. The physical was easy, i was well prepared, even my riding skills were good. The uphill was easy, i could ride it, although we seemed to have walked a lot of it, my downhill was alright, i kept up, although we never did much downhill riding. My feet stayed in great condition... thank you lube and leuko tape. Nothing broke on my bike... Where things did go wrong was with our team. We werent working together and it reflected huge on our performance or lack there of. No one had roles, except 'the' navigator, which was just plain silly and irritating. We all had very different fitness levels, which was fine, we went as fast as our slowest, unfortunately our slowest was NOT making cutoffs. I wish i could say i had a great time, a fun time but i didn't. I was hoping for a silly, have fun when the going gets tough kinda team... but no, there was no funny business on our team, only annoyed characters who disliked fluffy bunny singing... oh well.

.This was my first expedition race and that part of it rocKEd, the course was stellar, tough and super challenging as far as terrain went. The adventure was wild, the other racers inspiring and the race Crew... aWESOme, HUGE Thanks to Chris, MA, Brad & Geoff... you guys were there every step of the way, cheering us on and keeping us safe...

..

For now, I'm soOO ready to let this go. Ive yet to fully process the entire race but i wish to give it no more time. Tomorrow morning i race 5PEaks Whistler, I'm very excited to be on my own two feet again, racing only with myself :) I hope to perhaps one day find a fun-loving Adventure team to race with however i think i have a few more years of strictly Ultra to run.

biG THanks to my Team, Mandatory Equipment... take the good with the bad. This team was made up of good people, with big hearts and each their strengths. I think the weakness came in conflicting personalities but from what i've been told, it could have been worst :) ...i could have sang musicals. :)