Heidi Hill|
Jul 01
2010
|
Thanks, DavePosted by Dick Mansfield in personal reflections, hiking, Heidi Hill, Fit Family |
When author Heidi Hill was writing Fit Family, she received advice from many parent/athletes. Two of the most helpful were Dave Blumenthal and his wife, Lexi Shear. They provided stories of hiking and skiing and several photos which we used in the book. Dave is the tall fellow in the photo below.
Dave was killed in a bike/truck collision in Colorado last week. Dave was competing in the Tour Divide race which runs the length of a 2,745-mile trail that crisscrosses the Continental Divide in the Rocky Mountains. It has been described as the toughest mountain bike race in the world. Here is a writeup from our local paper.
One of the ideas we used in the book was the Young Adventurers Club which was conceived by Dave and Lexi. It's a wonderful example of how active parents can engage their kids in a variety of outdoor activities.
Dave and Lexi also shared with Heidi Hill some examples from their two-week hike in Austria when their daughter, Linnaea, was an infant. They noted that while they had to carry more because of lugging an infant, going hut-to-hut gave them many options. Let me share a few of their thoughts:
“We usually had breakfast and then Linnaea would just about jump in the pack. She’d fall asleep within ten minutes and we’d put our noses down and hike. She usually slept for about an hour and then would look around for another hour, totally content. We’d stop for an hour – some place useful for a stop. We usually hiked about seven hours a day, but it varied depending on when we arrived at a hut as we’d have to make a decision whether to stop or go on to the next one.
Linnaea is an aggressive eater and eats anything we’re interested in. This was fortunate since a lot of what was served at the huts wasn’t kid fare. In town, she was eager for fresh fruit and yogurt. We also carried the European equivalent of graham crackers. These were easy to feed her in the pack and they were handy if she was restless and we had another half hour before getting to the hut.
A challenge was that the sleep set-up was different every night. The huts varied from being like a cheap hotel room to haylofts of a barn to a rustic cabin. The best scenario was when there was a line of mattresses on the floor. We could move them into a corner and move furniture around so Linnaea didn’t flip into anything. We learned a lot about how she slept – how she flips around – which is typical for a child… We were worried about how she’d sleep in a new place every day, but it wasn’t a big deal.
Austria was a good location for hiking with kids for a couple of reasons. We didn’t need to bring extra equipment because we stayed in huts. Also, the hiking was pretty but it was never really remote. If the weather was too cold or she wasn’t into it, we could walk downhill a couple of hours and get to a bus or a train and go to a village. It was easy to bail out.”
A memorial service will be held at Green Mountain Club on July 10, 2010 at 3:30pm with a walk on the Short Trail (a one-mile loop) to follow.
problem..... Perhaps most helpful of all is Hill's positive, can-do attitude. Plan, be flexible but be sure to get out and exercise is her advice. Her book will help parents find feasible and creative ways of getting and staying healthy."
Lifting kids is a lot different from lifting weights: first of all, you’re probably not warmed up, secondly, when was the last time a Nautilus machine wiggled and said “No, daddy.” Whether you are reaching over to lift a toddler out of a car seat or hoisting a 30-pounder on your hip in a store – there’s a good chance that like me, you are a candidate for lower back aches and pains. 