5/21/2012
Mon - off. Traveling back from Spain.
5/22/2012
Tue-AM: 1:01, 3000' ~ 2nd Flatiron+Green Mt. w/ Joe
Mostly running, except for the obvious scrambling bits. So good to be back on the mountain despite the jet lag.
5/23/2012
Wed-AM: 1:43, 5000' ~ Cameron Cone
Rallied down to COS w/ Joe after a jetlag-induced early rise and ran up and down what is becoming one of my favorite in-town peaks anywhere. Taking 1:06 from Hydro Street on Ruxton, it's a pleasingly direct way to get to nearly 11,000'. Shin felt great.
5/24/2012
Thu-AM: 1:23, 3000' ~ Green Mt.
Took the 3rd access route up, but then descended Bear Canyon back to Chautauqua, with Joe. Was pretty disappointed to see the newly-rerouted trail down to Bear Canyon...if I wanted that kind of meandering, flat carpet I'd live in California...
5/25/2012
Fri-AM: 1:24, 3000' ~ 2nd Flatiron+Green Mt.
Jetlag had me up at 4:30am, so I had to wait for it to get light before heading up the mountain. Descended Ranger and Flagstaff, which is the first time I've done that in ages; running is so fun.
5/26/2012
Sat-AM: 4:15, 8500' ~ Ten Mile Traverse
Parked at the Mt. Royal TH just off of I-70 in Frisco with Joe and ran the traverse north to south, tagging every peak along the way. Really fun techy stuff from Peak 1-4 and then lots of open alpine meadow. The final 1000' bop to 13,633' Peak 10 was a giant struggle up a talus slope, but worth it for the glissade off the east face. Shin felt solid all day.
5/27/2012
Sun-AM: 2:25, 4500' ~ Mt. Elbert
Joe and I ran from our campsite on Halfmoon Creek, very near the proper Elbert TH. Started off by running the 2mi+ west to the 110J forest road turn-off, crossed the creek and headed another 2.5mi uphill until reaching the cairn at ~11,400' and striking east directly uphill, gaining Elbert's West Ridge and taking it directly to the summit. This line is ~1.5mi and 3000'. Ouch. We were both quite haggard today (predictably), but it was :26 from Halfmoon Creek to the cairn and another :58 from the cairn to get to the summit. Descended Elbert's NE ridge in :37 to finish off the morning. The first of hopefully many, many Nolan's 14 scouting outings. After doing a climb like that, though (3000' of talus and scree), the mind reels at linking 14 of those things together in one go...
----------------------------------------
It's really good to be back in the high country. The energy is different up here, for sure. The turn-around in my shin was definitely promoted by my time in La Palma and Spain, though. Salomon's team doctor was kind enough to see me a couple of times, and that, combined with the general positive energy of that trip, seems to have affected a more permanent improvement in my shin. Things are still slightly precarious, though, and I think I'll have to carefully monitor things for some time still.
Though I suspect most have already seen it, I also recently wrote a post about some of my time abroad over on the Ultimate Direction blog.
Mon - off. Traveling back from Spain.
5/22/2012
Tue-AM: 1:01, 3000' ~ 2nd Flatiron+Green Mt. w/ Joe
Mostly running, except for the obvious scrambling bits. So good to be back on the mountain despite the jet lag.
5/23/2012
Wed-AM: 1:43, 5000' ~ Cameron Cone
Rallied down to COS w/ Joe after a jetlag-induced early rise and ran up and down what is becoming one of my favorite in-town peaks anywhere. Taking 1:06 from Hydro Street on Ruxton, it's a pleasingly direct way to get to nearly 11,000'. Shin felt great.
5/24/2012
Thu-AM: 1:23, 3000' ~ Green Mt.
Took the 3rd access route up, but then descended Bear Canyon back to Chautauqua, with Joe. Was pretty disappointed to see the newly-rerouted trail down to Bear Canyon...if I wanted that kind of meandering, flat carpet I'd live in California...
5/25/2012
Fri-AM: 1:24, 3000' ~ 2nd Flatiron+Green Mt.
Jetlag had me up at 4:30am, so I had to wait for it to get light before heading up the mountain. Descended Ranger and Flagstaff, which is the first time I've done that in ages; running is so fun.
5/26/2012
Sat-AM: 4:15, 8500' ~ Ten Mile Traverse
Parked at the Mt. Royal TH just off of I-70 in Frisco with Joe and ran the traverse north to south, tagging every peak along the way. Really fun techy stuff from Peak 1-4 and then lots of open alpine meadow. The final 1000' bop to 13,633' Peak 10 was a giant struggle up a talus slope, but worth it for the glissade off the east face. Shin felt solid all day.
5/27/2012
Sun-AM: 2:25, 4500' ~ Mt. Elbert
Joe and I ran from our campsite on Halfmoon Creek, very near the proper Elbert TH. Started off by running the 2mi+ west to the 110J forest road turn-off, crossed the creek and headed another 2.5mi uphill until reaching the cairn at ~11,400' and striking east directly uphill, gaining Elbert's West Ridge and taking it directly to the summit. This line is ~1.5mi and 3000'. Ouch. We were both quite haggard today (predictably), but it was :26 from Halfmoon Creek to the cairn and another :58 from the cairn to get to the summit. Descended Elbert's NE ridge in :37 to finish off the morning. The first of hopefully many, many Nolan's 14 scouting outings. After doing a climb like that, though (3000' of talus and scree), the mind reels at linking 14 of those things together in one go...
----------------------------------------
It's really good to be back in the high country. The energy is different up here, for sure. The turn-around in my shin was definitely promoted by my time in La Palma and Spain, though. Salomon's team doctor was kind enough to see me a couple of times, and that, combined with the general positive energy of that trip, seems to have affected a more permanent improvement in my shin. Things are still slightly precarious, though, and I think I'll have to carefully monitor things for some time still.
Though I suspect most have already seen it, I also recently wrote a post about some of my time abroad over on the Ultimate Direction blog.
 |
| Volcanic scree on La Palma. The Frenchies know how to have fun. Photo: Jean-michel Faure-vincent. |
 |
| Descending from Pico de Bejenado on La Palma. Photo: Joe Grant. |
 |
| Proper steep in the National Park on La Palma. Photo: Joe Grant. |
 |
| Mt. Royal and the rigs in Frisco. |
 |
| Summit of Peak 1 with the rest of the line stretching out behind me. |
 |
| Proper tech between Peaks 2 and 3. Photo: Joe Grant. |
 |
| Summit of Elbert this morning. |
 |
| Joe on the final pitch of the West Ridge of Elbert. |
 |
| The Nolan's line descends over Bull Hill (right center) before ascending La Plata (high point on horizon). Intimidating. |
16 comments:
Crazy week for you and Joe for sure. Great to see you having some pain-free-ish time in the high country. Some of the snaps from the peaks were epic stuff!
I'm planning on heading up to Pb for a double Hope training run next weekend, do you know how much snow is left up high?
@Anton We were right up on Mt Massive across the way from ya this morning!
http://nick.treadhub.com/2012/may/27/mt-massive/
I think I saw you at City on a Hill this afternoon hackin away on your comp.
@Ultrajen Massive had some fairly large snow fields up high. A bit slippery with flats on :/ the bad news is we got a pretty heavy snow just now. And massive is looking a lot more white now than it was. Though it won't last long I can't imagine.
Did Yale this morning, it was ridiculously windy. Glad to know there were some other folks out here suffering similarly.
What's with the all the heavy gear? I was on Elbert this morning (7:45) comfortable in a T - barely a sniff of wind.
All that time in Europe must be making you soft.
glad to see you running again! good luck with the summer season . . .
Are those the 102's or something new that you're wearing?
I'd love to to hear you elaborate on your Cameron Cone route. I spent a lot of time on all of the Manitou Springs trails this time of year, but haven't attacked CC, yet. From my understanding, it's more of a hike/scramble rather than a trail run.
Is the new Green/Bear trail officially open now? I ran it once last year after a friend discovered it under construction. I've been dreading the day it officially opens. I totally agree with your assessment: sucks.
UltraJen - Sorry, haven't been up Hope Pass yet to see conditions. I bet the south side is completely open with probably a few not very significant snow banks left on the north side.
Ken - Just an old pair of 101s.
Bruce - The Cameron Cone line is really runnable and quite nice tread except for the last 1200' or so, but it never encounters anything that I would call scrambling except for about 20' when you're working your way past the Gog rock formation.
Are the 101's helping with your shin? For me the non-flat sole of the 110 caused excessive pronation and shin pain on longer runs. I now trim the lugs and trim back the midsole. I've also altered my biomechanics slightly to engage the opposing muscles more, I believe my leg was not quite landing right.
I hope your shin pain stays away! It's great to see you running again.
Hi Anton! La Palma is missing you already! We really hop to have you running our volcanoes next year!
Here's the link for the official Transvulcania race video:
http://youtu.be/rlJXR5dTqEc
Hope you like it as much as we enjoyed being next to you guys!
Cheers!
Great photo of you running downhill.
Is that a smile?
Take care.
Awesome to see you guys doing 10 Mile and then Elbert. I was doing that back in '91-'92 (my god, 20 years ago) and just loving it. Love that part of the world, though loving Alaska now, too. We may not have the abundance of 14'ers, but the wifey and I do some 8-9k a week pretty easily in Chugach and Talkeetna ranges. Still, if I had to choose between there and here, man, I don't know. Good luck with Nolan's, have fun.
hi anton, great to see you starting to get back out and at it. Loved your article on sky running. You should come to the Uk and Ireland when you get the chance. Our terrain is often just as, if not more technical than the stuff in the Alps and Pyrenees.
regards
your Irish friend
Post a Comment