Trip in review

January 30, 2025 

Since coming home, our friends and family have asked us about the overall experience and how the trip went. I posted during the trip, summarizing our experiences about once every month to two months, but I wanted to create a more cohesive recap of the overall experience. 

The most frequently asked questions were: 

1. What were the highs and lows of the experience? (asked in various ways) 
2. Why are you not continuing for the full year and a half? I thought you would move into the truck and camper after being abroad. 

• • • 

Well, it was an experience of a lifetime and a huge privilege to travel for this long and step away from day-to-day responsibilities and work. It wasn't a revolutionary climbing performance trip, but we still saw a lot of success (and failures). Spending so much time outside in beautiful places and climbing was a success. 

Some Highlights: 

• Time & Rest 
  • I embraced slow rest days and enjoyed the downtime spent blogging, reading, taking short walks, and stretching. Living abroad temporarily removed me from my daily routines and to-do lists. It was a slower lifestyle, and I could not overschedule my days with get-togethers with friends, family, or chores. It was very refreshing. 
• Exploring new areas 
  • One of the best parts of climbing trips is seeing new areas and trying new rock climbs. South Africa and Switzerland were both stunning in their own ways. I especially loved the jungle-feeling environment paired with the desert sandstone of South Africa, while Zane feels at home in the mountainous environments of Switzerland. 
• A lot of days were spent outside 
  • There was a lot of hiking involved in Rocklands, especially, so I felt fit after this part of the trip. We weren't hiking as much in Switzerland to boulders, but we did a few hikes on rest days. South Africa also offered days spent outside by the beach, local waterfalls, and pools of water through the sandstone canyons. 
• High-quality boulders
• I finished some boulders that I am not sure I would have otherwise succeeded on in a three-week trip. Minki and Panic Room were two enjoyable, classic climbs I finished, but each boulder took me 7-8 sessions. 

Rest, reading, gaming, time outside, & good food and coffee

Some Lows

Why are you not continuing to travel & climb for a whole year to a year and a half?:

• Struggles of maintaining peak climbing fitness and learning trip pacing for a long trip (a novel experience) 
• During my three-year doctorate program, we focused on structured training blocks and saw physical gains. We went on climbing trips during my school breaks for two to three week increments and felt more prepared than ever for optimal outdoor performance. Right before leaving for Rocklands, we felt like we were in the best climbing shape of our lives.
• Leading up to our arrival in South Africa, we spent countless hours moving heavy furniture and boxes, and then traveled for 40 hours. We were jet lagged and physically destroyed at the beginning of the trip, often sleeping in until about 10 am or 11am during the first few weeks. It felt like it took a whole month to recover. As a result, we took it easier at the beginning of the trip and inadvertently lost some fitness right from the start. We were partially intentionally trying to pace ourselves since the trip was so long, but we were learning and making mistakes.
• Most people would anticipate that we would climb more and be in better shape on a climbing trip. We found the opposite to be true. Many additional factors are at play, like skin and weather. It was very hot in June, and then there was almost a 3-week rainy stretch during July in Rocklands, and then in October in Switzerland, which impacted our ability to climb enough. Zane and I also climbed at different ability levels and split up our climbing days, which can affect how much we were climbing. In addition, we needed to rest at times when we got sick & tweaked a muscle or felt nearly injured. 
• When I focused on increasing climbing volume and climbing to completion, I could return to a project and send it the following week. This experience made me feel confident that we were not climbing enough to maintain our fitness. We were also no longer doing weighted exercises, which impacted our strength and maximal ability level. 
• Aligning skin, weather windows, and feeling physically fit is challenging during outdoor climbing trips. It is rare for all factors to come together. 
• Feeling like a shadow of your former self in climbing strength and ability can be frustrating, mainly when you invest so much time and money into the sport. 

• Uncertainties of life
• By the end of the three-month trip to Rockland, we were second-guessing the long-term sustainability of the climbing trip. We initially changed our flights to shorten our stay in Switzerland since we felt the negative physical ramifications of a more extended trip. In August, I saw some nurse practitioner (NP) jobs come and go that I would have otherwise been interested in.
• In Switzerland, we discussed our plans more seriously upon arriving stateside. As a result, we realized it would not be comfortable or worth living out of a camper (not quite as comfortable as a Sprinter van) to continue exclusively climbing outside. We wanted to feel fit when climbing outside and realized how much work was ahead of us to reach our prior fitness goals. I began applying for NP jobs in October, anticipating settling back into my home, and explored travel nursing jobs. We also found a month-to-month rental thanks to an old college friend. 
• We ultimately stayed in Switzerland for two months in total. While this was not the best for our climbing training and fitness, it was a great place to live. 
• Weather blues
• The long stretches of rainy weather were mentally exhausting and challenging to deal with at times. We felt cooped up and unable to climb, leading to everything I had previously discussed. Verbier in October felt especially socked in, with clouds covering the mountain views and fewer sunny days. 

With all this being said, these experiences were exclusively our own. I am increasingly impressed by full-time roadtrippers who have found ways to stay in shape while just climbing outside year-round. Training while on the climbing trip is a key element, as well as climbing more on outdoor days. This trip was once-in-a-lifetime, but I hope we can eventually go on a 4-6 week trip again. The 4-6 week block of time is our ideal timeframe for balancing optimal climbing performance and time to accomplish projects during a trip.