December 2005, Issue 185

Browser-Based Telemetry System

CLIMB DAY

My climbing crew is made up of film riggers and guides—people with schedules that aren’t easy to work around. Our fixed-in-stone climb date ended up changing several times. At one point, it looked like the climb wouldn’t happen at all. But, to make a long story short, everything miraculously came together at the last minute.

I climbed the route in 14 h without the TStik, modem, camera, or batteries. Batteries are extremely heavy, and we had little time to try different types during overnight tests. During the days prior to the climb, I took everything off the rig I didn’t need, including extra drinking water! Making it to the top was the priority, rather than getting the telemetry feed. So, I didn’t get any data during the climb, but watch out for the documentary. This was the most serious climb I’ve ever been on, even before my injury. After the first 1,000¢ or so, I was glad I had opted to lighten the load.  

The best way to measure fitness is in a laboratory environment, not in the middle of a full-on adventure. This seemed obvious to me after the fact. More recently, though, I’ve been logging data during exercise runs on the sea wall. The altimeter is sensitive enough to collect useful data on the modest hills I travel during my regular workouts. The graphs have been as expected: my performance is hit or miss. I’m either feeling strong and going for it, or I’m barely able to get through the run. It will be interesting to look at larger sets of data over longer periods of time to see if I make any improvements.