06-25-2012
Mon-AM: 1:00, 3000' ~ 2nd Flatiron+Green Mt.
Had an early morning Ultimate Direction photo shoot, so just got out for a quick lap on the local hill afterwards. Really hot, but fun to get a non-alpine scramble back in the mix. Little did I know it would probably the last for a long time, considering the fires burning up there now.
PM: 1:59, 3700' ~ S. & N. Arapaho Peaks (13,397' & 13,502')
From the Fourth of July TH w/ Joe. Nice outing in the evening; happy to miss most of the rain from the surrounding clouds.
06-26-2012
Tue-AM: 2:44, 5000' ~ Longs Peak (14,259')
Up Kieners, down Cables. Really tired today, and I was trying out my new camera, so it was a casual outing--1:47 up and :57 down. Did my first-ever downclimb of the Cables (5.4), and while the route was still water-slick, it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. Two left feet today.
06-27-2012
Wed-AM: 1:07, 2700' ~ 2 x Mt. Sanitas
The fire in Boulder had OSMP closed from Eldo to Boulder Canyon so I was forced onto a couple laps of the small hill. Nice and mellow (but hot!), I went easy with a pair of 18:50 ascents of the South Ridge.
PM: 1:58, 4500' ~ Torreys & Grays Peaks (14,267' & 14,270')
Up the Kelso Ridge from the 1.4mi to go sign on the Stevens Gulch Road. Did the roundtrip loop from trailhead to trailhead in 1:30:57 despite the sun setting on Torreys' summit and it being pretty much dark the last 20min. Splits: big sign, 16:30; ridge, 22:35; Torreys summit, 52:33; Grays summit, 1:04:56; big sign, 1:21:45. Legs felt great and I descended hard despite the lack of light.
06-28-2012
Thu-AM: 2:17, 4500' ~ Mt. Elbert (14,433')
Up West Ridge, down NE Ridge. Pretty tired this morning after the late evening outing yesterday. Jogged over to the backside of the mountain and then grunted to the summit. :52 from the road to the top, which is 5min faster than I've done it before, despite the haggard legs. :37 descent but it felt clunky.
06-29-2012
Fri-AM: 2:00, 4500' ~ Mt. Elbert (14,433')
Up and down NE Ridge in a roundtrip 1:42:55 (1:11:58 up, 30:57 down). PRs for all three numbers, which was rewarding, especially since my legs are pretty tired right now. When Kilian was out here two years ago I'm pretty sure he went 1:08/:34 for a 1:42 roundtrip. Either way, a nice fitness check.
06-30-2012
Sat-AM: 5:50, 11,500' ~ Huron (14,003'), Missouri (14,067'), Belford (14,197'), Oxford (14,153'), Belford and Missouri again
Started from Winfield and followed the Nolan's line out to Oxford. Returned the same way, except that I climbed Missouri's chossy East Ridge (Class 4) from Elkhead Pass on the way back, and then down at Clohesy Lake I ran down to Rockdale and back to Winfield on the road instead of humping back over Huron because the skies were darkening in all directions. I'll save my lightning-avoidance karma for when I really need it, like in a race, or whilst making an attempt at Nolans. Solid energy all day, five gels.
Missouri's East Ridge is definitely worth taking when going South-North (only took me 33min from Belford to Missouri, vs. 39min from Missouri to Belford using my standard scree chute descent to 13,500' or so before traversing over to Elkhead). I don't think I'd ever risk downclimbing that rotten rock, though.
Full Splits, from Winfield:
Huron TH - 19:40
Treeline - 43:00
Headwall - 50:15
Huron - 1:15:00
Clohesy Lake outlet - 1:45/:48 (took 3min to drink and fill bottle and empty shoes of scree)
Missouri - 2:49:45
Elkhead Pass - 3:10:20
Belford - 3:28:45
Oxford - 3:48:10
Belford - 4:09:25
Elkhead - 4:17:40
Missouri - 4:42:20
Clohesy - 5:10
Clear Creek - 5:33
Winfield - 5:50
07-01-2012
Sun-AM: 2:54, 4300' ~ Quandary Peak (14,265') and Fletcher Mt (13,951')
Ugh. Sluggish morning. Stumbled up Quandary's East Ridge in 1hr flat (breaking an hour is usually a given for me on that) and then took another 45min to pick my way through the 3rd Class traverse over to Fletcher. Lots of gendarmes, talus, and some short-lived moderate exposure. I'd been hoping to traverse the entire Blue Lakes Valley Rim (Quandary to Fletcher to Wheeler to North Star) but I was w/o calories or water and on a tired pair of pegs, so bailed after climbing to the next couple high points past Fletcher and just ran back down the valley. Picked up a nice trail and opened up the legs on the road back to the trailhead. Still a great morning in the mountains, of course.
PM: 1:11, 2000' ~ Anenome & Mt. Sanitas
Late afternoon jog in the only hills still open. Hot.
Hours: 23hr
Vert: 45,500'
Really great week, despite Boulder joining the other raging infernos across the state. I can't believe my home peaks are burning. I was super tired on Longs early in the week, but the second half of the week was marked by a solid effort on Elbert and a long run that seemed to have no negative effect on my shin. Of course, that has/had me second-guessing my decision to not do Hardrock, but upon further reflection I think I made the right choice. I have plenty of great opportunities for racing later this year, and I'd hate to ruin my chances at those by rushing into an uber-long effort.
Mon-AM: 1:00, 3000' ~ 2nd Flatiron+Green Mt.
Had an early morning Ultimate Direction photo shoot, so just got out for a quick lap on the local hill afterwards. Really hot, but fun to get a non-alpine scramble back in the mix. Little did I know it would probably the last for a long time, considering the fires burning up there now.
PM: 1:59, 3700' ~ S. & N. Arapaho Peaks (13,397' & 13,502')
From the Fourth of July TH w/ Joe. Nice outing in the evening; happy to miss most of the rain from the surrounding clouds.
06-26-2012
Tue-AM: 2:44, 5000' ~ Longs Peak (14,259')
Up Kieners, down Cables. Really tired today, and I was trying out my new camera, so it was a casual outing--1:47 up and :57 down. Did my first-ever downclimb of the Cables (5.4), and while the route was still water-slick, it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. Two left feet today.
06-27-2012
Wed-AM: 1:07, 2700' ~ 2 x Mt. Sanitas
The fire in Boulder had OSMP closed from Eldo to Boulder Canyon so I was forced onto a couple laps of the small hill. Nice and mellow (but hot!), I went easy with a pair of 18:50 ascents of the South Ridge.
PM: 1:58, 4500' ~ Torreys & Grays Peaks (14,267' & 14,270')
Up the Kelso Ridge from the 1.4mi to go sign on the Stevens Gulch Road. Did the roundtrip loop from trailhead to trailhead in 1:30:57 despite the sun setting on Torreys' summit and it being pretty much dark the last 20min. Splits: big sign, 16:30; ridge, 22:35; Torreys summit, 52:33; Grays summit, 1:04:56; big sign, 1:21:45. Legs felt great and I descended hard despite the lack of light.
06-28-2012
Thu-AM: 2:17, 4500' ~ Mt. Elbert (14,433')
Up West Ridge, down NE Ridge. Pretty tired this morning after the late evening outing yesterday. Jogged over to the backside of the mountain and then grunted to the summit. :52 from the road to the top, which is 5min faster than I've done it before, despite the haggard legs. :37 descent but it felt clunky.
06-29-2012
Fri-AM: 2:00, 4500' ~ Mt. Elbert (14,433')
Up and down NE Ridge in a roundtrip 1:42:55 (1:11:58 up, 30:57 down). PRs for all three numbers, which was rewarding, especially since my legs are pretty tired right now. When Kilian was out here two years ago I'm pretty sure he went 1:08/:34 for a 1:42 roundtrip. Either way, a nice fitness check.
06-30-2012
Sat-AM: 5:50, 11,500' ~ Huron (14,003'), Missouri (14,067'), Belford (14,197'), Oxford (14,153'), Belford and Missouri again
Started from Winfield and followed the Nolan's line out to Oxford. Returned the same way, except that I climbed Missouri's chossy East Ridge (Class 4) from Elkhead Pass on the way back, and then down at Clohesy Lake I ran down to Rockdale and back to Winfield on the road instead of humping back over Huron because the skies were darkening in all directions. I'll save my lightning-avoidance karma for when I really need it, like in a race, or whilst making an attempt at Nolans. Solid energy all day, five gels.
Missouri's East Ridge is definitely worth taking when going South-North (only took me 33min from Belford to Missouri, vs. 39min from Missouri to Belford using my standard scree chute descent to 13,500' or so before traversing over to Elkhead). I don't think I'd ever risk downclimbing that rotten rock, though.
Full Splits, from Winfield:
Huron TH - 19:40
Treeline - 43:00
Headwall - 50:15
Huron - 1:15:00
Clohesy Lake outlet - 1:45/:48 (took 3min to drink and fill bottle and empty shoes of scree)
Missouri - 2:49:45
Elkhead Pass - 3:10:20
Belford - 3:28:45
Oxford - 3:48:10
Belford - 4:09:25
Elkhead - 4:17:40
Missouri - 4:42:20
Clohesy - 5:10
Clear Creek - 5:33
Winfield - 5:50
07-01-2012
Sun-AM: 2:54, 4300' ~ Quandary Peak (14,265') and Fletcher Mt (13,951')
Ugh. Sluggish morning. Stumbled up Quandary's East Ridge in 1hr flat (breaking an hour is usually a given for me on that) and then took another 45min to pick my way through the 3rd Class traverse over to Fletcher. Lots of gendarmes, talus, and some short-lived moderate exposure. I'd been hoping to traverse the entire Blue Lakes Valley Rim (Quandary to Fletcher to Wheeler to North Star) but I was w/o calories or water and on a tired pair of pegs, so bailed after climbing to the next couple high points past Fletcher and just ran back down the valley. Picked up a nice trail and opened up the legs on the road back to the trailhead. Still a great morning in the mountains, of course.
PM: 1:11, 2000' ~ Anenome & Mt. Sanitas
Late afternoon jog in the only hills still open. Hot.
Hours: 23hr
Vert: 45,500'
Really great week, despite Boulder joining the other raging infernos across the state. I can't believe my home peaks are burning. I was super tired on Longs early in the week, but the second half of the week was marked by a solid effort on Elbert and a long run that seemed to have no negative effect on my shin. Of course, that has/had me second-guessing my decision to not do Hardrock, but upon further reflection I think I made the right choice. I have plenty of great opportunities for racing later this year, and I'd hate to ruin my chances at those by rushing into an uber-long effort.
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| Broadway on Longs' East Face. |
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| Crossing the Boulder Field after descending the North Face of Longs Peak, Tuesday. |
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| Looking back up the North Face (Cables) slabs downclimb. |
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| Alpenglow on McClellan Ridge Wednesday evening. |
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| Wildfire-induced color from the summit of Torreys Peak Wednesday evening. |
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| PRs on Mt. Elbert this week (photo from the day before). |
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| This morning's two summits: Quandary (right) and Fletcher (left). |
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| Always an inspiration. |
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| The nightmarish Fletcher-Atlantic ridge, from the west. |
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| Still so much more rock to go before I'd reach Wheeler (far left). |
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| Retreating down Blue Lakes Valley. Fletcher Mt on the right-center horizon. |
18 comments:
Its going to be interesting to return to Green & Bear as soon as they let us to run through it and see the aftermath.
Yeah man, but it probably won't be until NEXT summer...
Awesome week, awesome pics. You're gonna crush Speedgoat.
Yikes! I have no experience there with closures. Guess I might have an excuse to work on my track skills over the winter. Pb later in the week...
Hi Tony,
Great stories and pix!
I was wondering, what shoes have you been wearing for the techier stuff like Longs/Ellingwood?
-Chris
Great week Anton! Do you use an Axio Max?? how do you do it for the splits if it doesn have laps?? just memory?
They have already hinted that several of the fires are going to be smoldering through the fall. I would expect that Bear and SoBo are going to be closed down through at least then. How far they go with closures (Green? Mesa? For how long?) is really up in the air. Expect the worst and hope for the best.
have you thought about returning to the 100 mile distance at Bear or Run Rabbit Run (both in September)? might give you more time to gradually bring up mileage than Leadville and still provide solid Rocky Mountain terrain . . .
Great pictures! What camera did you end up going for?
Though I hate wildfires, they do make the most amazing sunrise and sunsets!
Looks like you had a great week, thanks for sharing!
Those pictures look great. What camera did you get?
Those goats are incredible.
Have you lost a little weight since you were on crutches?
So awesome!
Excited to see how you do at Speedgoat!!
Your talent is world class.
Your passion falls beyond the scope of words.
Thank you for up-lifting us all.
Astroyam - Lately, on the techier terrain I've been using a mish-mash, custom pair of NBs whose outsole features both hyper-aggressive lugs for the off-trail stuff I like to do and sticky rubber for the scrambling and talus-hopping. It's topped off with a 110 upper. I know, I'm a lucky guy :)
Max - I do use a Highgear Axio Max watch/altimeter. I like its clean simplicity and just remember my splits. My Dad used to think I had a semi-photographic memory; remembering my splits usually isn't very difficult.
G/Jason - I bought a Sony Cybershot. The update to my 7yr old Sony Cybershot. Its 16 megapixels is a bit of an improvement from my old one's 5mp.
Barry - I'm definitely skinnier than when I was injured, but haven't stepped on a scale in at least 2 years. I pretty much just let the mountain determine what weight is the most efficient. I'm sure I'll be fatter again this winter.
Thanks for the post! Loved the pics and I'm excited to see how you do at Speedgoat!!
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