Thanks for the game!

[Gruck]

Well, I know I'm very late to the party, but I just received my free copy of Al Emmo from your give away contest.  I was out of the country, I was moving, and I spent 2 weeks in Tanzania climbing Mount Kilamanjaro with my father.  There isn't a heck of a lot of air up there and I brilliantly decided to climb without drugs, but I did get a nifty picture from the summit.  

This game is a lot of fun.  The narration is wonderful, the graphics are beautiful, the story is a lot of fun.  This is one of the best adventure games I've played.   Thank you for all the hard work and I hope you have financial success with this and all your future games.

See you on Everest (as soon as I can raise $100,000)!

Unfortunately now I'm poor again and I'm going to have to climb lousy mountains for the next couple of years

[GameDevBrit]

Thanks for the positive feedback, Gruck.  Glad to see you did receive the game and that you enjoyed it

[GameDevChris]

Yeah, thanks for the feedback.

On Kilimanjaro, did you, by chance, have a drill instructor for a guide called Theophil? Or did your guide lavish you with foot massages and chocolate bars every step of the way?

[GameDevBrit]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Ah, Kili, those were the days...

[Gruck]

I have a few pictures, but most of them got destroyed by the ultra-high radiation X-ray machines.  Most of my film is horribly bleached out.  I did get one decent picture of my digital camera but I have no where to post it online.

My guide's names were Everest and August.  Everest wasn't in the greatest of shape in the world and my father and I actully beat him to the top on summit day.  August was great though, he set a good solid pace that got us from base camp to the summit in a good five and a half hours.  I think he really liked passing people, because we started late and passed about fifty people on the way up.

My father got brutal altitude sickness and I had to scavange drugs from other campers to help him to the top.  I'm originally from Atlantic Canada and there just aren't any big mountains out there.  This was our first of the seven summits and I definately see myself trying more (money permitting).  All my other moutain experience has been in Japan (I've climbed everything over 3000m there, but that isn't all that high).  

My father is great though, he's done the entire Appalachian trail (Atlanta to Canada) and he competed in the Hawaiian Ironman 3 or 4 years ago (11.5 hours) a pretty respectable showing for a 60 year old.  We plan on travelling to the Rockies this summer and climbing Mount Hood and a few others.

While I was in Tanzania we spent 3 or 4 days in Arusha.  That was a wonderful experience wondering around the city and getting lost up in the slums. We had a great time doing that, it's interesting to see how the other half of the world lives. Gives you a new perspective on life.  We also took our guides out to dinner at a local restaurant.  15 dollars US for a meal so big 4 guys couldn't eat it all.  All the other tourists we met said they were too scared to wander around the city.  We wanted to take the bus to Lake Victoria but we simply didn't have the time.  Maybe in my next life.

[GameDevBrit]

Everest and August are some very cool names for guides--I wonder if they were real names, or something more akin to an American Gladiators Pseudonym!

Wow, that's impressive that your dad has accomplished all those athletic feats--it seems altitude sickness doesn't care about strength, and can target even the most accomplished of athletes.

That's a really fast pace that you guys kept going to the summit!  No wonder Everest was having a hard time keeping up.  We actually had a friend who climbed Kili, and had to rescue his guide.

That's unfortunate with losing your pictures--but, I guess what's important, is that you keep the memory alive in your own mind.  Although it's nice having proof that you really DID summit the highest freestanding mountain in the world when everyone thinks you're making it up!

So, did you climb Mount Fuji then in Japan? How did you like that compared to Kili?

I'm glad to hear you got to explore Tanzania a bit.  That's sad that the other tourists didn't actually take the opportunity to get to know Tanzania on a more intimate level!  We actually rode our bikes through the country, and didn't run into any problems with the people (other than nearly being beheaded).  The Tanzanians were really friendly, and I think we got a lot more out of the experience by seeing what daily life was really like for the people who live there.  

So, we've been told, if you go to Africa twice, you will be back long term at some point.  So if you go back to visit Lake Victoria, plan on a big life change;)

By the way, Chris, I had a dream last night that Theophil was truly a woman! It was the first time EVER I woke up from a dream laughing hysterically!

[Gruck]

I climbed Mount Fuji, but it wasn't a particularily memorable experience.  Fuji-san is remarkably easy, you can drive up to 2000 metres.  It only took me 3 and a half hours to run up from 2000 metres to 3776 metres.  Then it was only another 2 hours back down to the parking lot.  Plus, Fuji-san is low enough that altitude really isn't a problem at all.  At least nothing like Kilamanjaro.

I also had the misfortune to climb up in the middle of the pouring rain in  June, so my visibility at the top of the mountain was maximum 100 metres.  The mountain doesn't officially open until July but even in June there was about 300 people climbing (and a fair bit of snow to trek through).  In mid-August when the weather is nice and you have good visibility that number would be more like 30,000.  

Fuji-san has flat easy trails.  You couldn't get lost if you tried.  You don't need to use your arms the whole time.  Just like Kilimanjaro.

If you want to see some good mountains in Japan you have to head about 80 kilometres to the north into what is described as the North Alps in Japan.  The mountains like Tateyama, Tsurugidake, Ontakesan, Hakusan, and even kiso-koma-ga-take are wonderful.  Tsurugidake has a wonderful point near the summit where it's about 100 vertical metres with only metal pitons jammed into the rocks to climb by.  

If you're looking for tropical areas try Yakushima.  It's the only place in Japan where you can go swimming in the ocean and climb up into ice on the same day in January.  Plus thay have a pantload of monkeys.

For hiking in Japan I'd hghly recommend "Hiking in Japan" by Lonely Planet.  The book has great routes and great public transport information.  It's invaluable for a foreigner climbing in Japan.  I had the advantage that I had hordes of bored housewives for students and I got them to do all my planning for me though.

[Gruck]

Oh, and if you ever have any questions about mountain climbing in Japan just send them my way.  I have loads of advice and I know loads of people who know loads more than me.

Since I'm registered I guess you guys know my email.

[GameDevBrit]

Thanks a bunch for the info, Gruck! It sounds like hiking in Japan is going to have to go down on the "to do" list   We'll be sure to write if we have anymore questions!