Training for Cheve

[Sharon Faulkner]

Training for Cheve

(excerpts from an interview with Bill Stone at tinyurl.com/28c2x)

Q: How do you train for this kind of caving mission?

A: All year round I commute by bicycle to work and back, around an 11-mile (17-kilometer) loop. I work out at the weight room five days a week for around an hour. When I'm around two to three months from an expedition departure date, I start stair climbing (either using real stairs or a stair climbing machine) and gradually work up every other day to doing 2,000 feet (600 meters) of vertical rise with a 50-pound (23-kilogram) backpack on in under an hour.

This helps prepare you for the rope work. It was not uncommon on the Cheve expedition last spring to be doing 3,300 feet (1,000 meters) of rope work a day, towing a 50-pound (20-kilogram) pack beneath you the whole way. I lost 25 pounds (11 kilograms) during the expedition, which is something we are working with dieticians to figure a way to prevent. We don't have the luxury of carrying heavy foodstuffs underground and freeze dried food is notoriously lacking in calories. We probably burn 8,000 calories a day.

(Reposted with permission from the Arkansas Underground Newsletter #7. Much appreciation to the Editor, Bryan Signorelli.)