Thursday, May 31, 2007
The flip-flop folly
I've done many stupid things in my life. Wearing flip-flop slippers and trekking from the main road to the three-pitch abseil section of the ARWC course rates as one of the stupidest of these.
Yes, for four hours, i walked with two other photographers along a 4WD track, then cut off into a boggy, slug-infested track that wound its way around the back side of the mountain where teams were abseiling off. I climbed up to the final pitch and stood there waiting as the wind and rain picked up and the temperature and visibility plummeted. The windchill factor was right up there, and soon my gloveless fingers were hurting from the cold. As for my toes and the soles of my feet... well, i could not feel them.
In near-whiteout conditions we photographed some of the teams coming off the ridgeline above. I stood around in my slippers while the rope crew and photographers ribbed me for being 'a bloody mad idiot' for coming along in my 'magic walking boots'.
Even more stupidly, i had forgotten to put on my Gore-tex pants, so my nylon pants and thernmals were saturated by the time we finished the trek and returned to the car.
Yes, for four hours, i walked with two other photographers along a 4WD track, then cut off into a boggy, slug-infested track that wound its way around the back side of the mountain where teams were abseiling off. I climbed up to the final pitch and stood there waiting as the wind and rain picked up and the temperature and visibility plummeted. The windchill factor was right up there, and soon my gloveless fingers were hurting from the cold. As for my toes and the soles of my feet... well, i could not feel them.
In near-whiteout conditions we photographed some of the teams coming off the ridgeline above. I stood around in my slippers while the rope crew and photographers ribbed me for being 'a bloody mad idiot' for coming along in my 'magic walking boots'.
Even more stupidly, i had forgotten to put on my Gore-tex pants, so my nylon pants and thernmals were saturated by the time we finished the trek and returned to the car.
