Okay this has absolutely nothing to do with my trip to peru, but I’d figured I would post it here anyways

On August 20th, 2009 (rain date Sept 3rd) I, Brad Friesen, will leap tall buildings. Well, actually, my plan is to repel from the 17th story Royal Bank Building in Winnipeg, Manitoba in the 2009 Easter Seals Drop Zone-Winnipeg! For me, the rush of a lifetime. For Manitobans with disabilities, support, strength and opportunity. For you, an opportunity to make it happen! An extraordinary event for an exceptional cause!

Secure donations can be made online with your credit card and an electronic tax receipt will be sent to you by email. You can make an online donation now by going to http://my.e2rm.com/personalPage.aspx?SID=2027427

All proceeds from the Drop Zone after operating expenses and overhead, go to Society for Manitobans with Disabilities Foundation / Easter Seals and are used to support services and programs for Manitobans with disabilities.

For more information about the 2009 Easter Seals Drop Zone-Winnipeg, or to join us on Aug 20, 2009 12:15 PM, please visit www.thedropzone.ca. Thank you for being a Superhero! The Society for Manitobans with Disabilities Foundation / Easter Seals Manitoba.

Since I plan on doing a lot of trekking and mountain climbing in Peru, I’m going to need to do some serious training and conditioning so that I will be as physically prepared as possible. Now that the weather is getting cold, I will be heading back indoors to the YMCA. I’m pretty excited to get back to the gym, especially since the YMCA by my place has just been renovated.

A couple weeks ago I took my little canine friend Quincy out for a hike at Birds Hill Park. He enjoyed it and he even had the opportunity to meet his first horse. Quincy also discovered that horse manure tastes good. Yuck! Needless to say we left the area where the horses are allowed and went to a different trail where horses are not allowed.

Lately I’ve been doing a lot of hiking, running, and cycling. Even though winter has officially arrived, I still plan on cycling to work. Well, at least when it’s not -40 outside. I picked up some studded bike tires last week and man is it ever fun to go ripping around on the ice and through the snow with these tires on! I’ve also been stair climbing at my apartment. I guess I could consider that a bonus to living on the top floor in a high rise building.

I’ve started a training program used for climbers who are preparing to climb Mount McKinley (a.k.a. Denali). The one thing that I really like about this program is that it is geared towards those who don’t have access to a nearby mountain. Something we are definitely lacking in the prairies. The program progresses on a month to month basis, and progressively gets harder.

With that in mind, if anyone knows of any places close to Winnipeg that have a lot of hills, please let me know. I’ve been talking to my cousin who goes dirt biking out by the Garvin pits, which is not to far from Birds Hill Park. He says that the area is quite hilly and would probably be a good place to train. This place sounds promising and I intend to check it out next weekend, as long as the weather is favourable. Time to load up the pack!

Well I just recently got the approval from my boss to take an additional three weeks off from work. Thanks Kim! So what have I got planned for my extra time in Peru? Well I’m still working out the details with a local adventure company, but all I can say is that my additional time in Peru will be spent in the Cordillera Blanca range of the Andes mountains and will involve trekking, climbing, pack mules, and more alpacas!

Well it looks like things are starting to come together. I’ve made all my travel arrangements with G.A.P. Adventures and I have booked my plane tickets. The people at G.A.P. have been very helpful and so far I am very pleased with their service.

The flight from Winnipeg to Lima will take around 13 hours, which includes a stop in Toronto. I’m really glad that I only have one layover and that it happens to be in Canada. This makes things much easier than going through the United States. I must add that I was quite surprised when I found out that Peru is in the same time zone as Winnipeg. This should help reduce jet lag.

I’ve added several interesting links under the Links category. Let me know if you come across any other related links and I’ll post them up if they’re any good.

I’ve also added a countdown timer to this blog. Only 7 months, 20 days, 20 hours, and a few odd minutes to go! Man it’s going to be a long winter!

Woo hoo! I’m going to Peru! Well I finally made the decision to travel to Peru. Now all I need to do is figure out how I’m going to get there and what I’m going to do once I arrive.