tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4512229174255075332024-03-19T02:48:31.313-06:00RIDING THE WINDAntonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11148317903654491236noreply@blogger.comBlogger348125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-451222917425507533.post-72543328742800029502014-05-05T18:08:00.002-06:002014-05-05T18:08:24.793-06:00New Website<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
This blog has moved over to my <a href="http://www.antonkrupicka.com/blog" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">NEW WEBSITE</span></a>! So, continue to follow along there.</div>
Antonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11148317903654491236noreply@blogger.com351tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-451222917425507533.post-88734952081556709922014-04-07T17:17:00.000-06:002014-04-07T21:32:27.466-06:00Mar 31 - April 6<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
3/31/2014<br />
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<b>Mon - 5th Flatiron->4th Flatiron->1st Flatiron (2:13, 4000')</b><br />
It's been a really long time since I linked up multiple flatirons, so this outing was a real treat. The Fifth Flatiron always seems to be the last one to melt out, and is the most out-of-the-way, so I have markedly fewer ascents of it (this was my 34th summit of the Fifth, compared to nearly 150 on the First), despite its outstanding quality of scrambling. The final arete to the summit is one of the more thrilling positions in the flatirons, in my opinion. I hadn't been on the Fifth since November, so my 15min ascent was far off my sub-9min PR, but it made for a sporty warm-up. The descent down its southern margin was predictably snowy, but I was spared from postholing by the early morning temps before continuing my scrambling on the Fourth Flatiron.<br />
I have even fewer summits (this was my 21st) of this piece-meal formation, but I still find satisfaction in its variety--the lower piece offers a unique water groove and airy arete, the middle chunk is defined by a low-angle, waterworks chute that opens into an idyllic garden-like space, and the final piece provides a fun offwidth with an unlikely escape on thin face holds. The descent, however, was hideous this time around. Bushwhacking, boulder-hopping and talus-bumbling are all made much more difficult when blanketed in several inches of snow and occasional glare ice.<br />
When I was finally back on trail, I decided I still had some pep in the legs, so I jogged over to the base of the First Flatiron for a quick scrunble that I now have completely dialed in. Despite officially requiring the most technical and tenuous moves (5.6) of all the Flatiron's east faces, it's also the one I do the most, so I feel very comfortable on the crux sequences. Plus, after nearly 2000' of scrambling, I was optimally warmed-up and accustomed to the slab-mongering these rocks require.</div>
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In the evening, in lieu of a partner for climbing in the gym, I decided to overcome my prejudices and try out some leisurely bouldering. The Sanitas trailhead is a 5min bike from my apartment, and another 5min of uphill hiking delivered me at the North Shelf Traverse, a technically easy 60' of rock wall that allowed me to get a nice pump before watching the sun set with some Melville<i>. </i>With summer coming, I'll hopefully be able to maintain some of my (still meager) climbing fitness I've built this winter by goofing around on boulders after morning 14er missions.</div>
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4/1/2014</div>
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<b>Tue - 4th Flatiron->Green->2nd Pinnacle (1:34, 3200') + climbing gym</b><br />
I was tired today. I guess yesterday's 2hr+ outing is still a bit beyond me fitness-wise, because it was all I had to bumble up the rock before marching to the summit of the mountain. I had enough fun on the Fourth yesterday that I was psyched for a reprisal today, but my energy stores had a different mind. On the way down the mountain, I added a little scrambling coda with a 5min ascent of the Amphitheater's Second Pinnacle, via its South Face (the rock comes within feet of the Amphi trail). It's been a while since I've been able to amass enough consistent activity to develop any long-term fatigue; it's satisfying to finally be able to achieve that.</div>
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4/2/2014</div>
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<b>Wed - Green Mt. (1:34, 3000')</b><br />
I was hoping for an emergence from the cloud layer with today's ascent, but their reach extended beyond the summit of Green. Even so, my hip was very close to 100% pain-free today.<br />
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4/3/2014<br />
<b>Thu - Green Mt. (1:56, 3000') + climbing gym</b><br />
Today's wet, heavy snow provided surprising purchase for my lugged 110s, but today's real progress came in the afternoon gym session with Joe. My climbing has definitely improved this winter, but I had yet to actually climb a 5.11 from bottom to top (as if gym grades have any bearing in the world of real rock). That changed somewhat unexpectedly today on an 11b with a lot of reachy, balance-y moves requiring opposing forces on big holds. It was surprisingly satisfying. This kind of gym climbing--especially if it's in a corner--definitely seems to be the style that I'm best at. Maybe because when I'm on a rope outside I tend to be climbing dihedrals.<br />
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4/4/2014<br />
<b>Fri - Green Mt. (1:51, 3000')</b><br />
Running up the Ranger Trail today---okay, who'm I kidding? the unconsolidated snow made for terrible footing and I hiked most of the top half of the mountain---I happened upon a set of bear tracks just past the Greenman Trail junction. At first I thought it was just a particularly large dog, especially since they were overlaying the human shoe-prints on the trail, but shortly after gaining the ridge the tracks diverged from the trail and they were very obviously of the ursine variety. It seems a little early in the spring for bears to start rustling about and emerging from hibernation, but I was surprised at how excited I was to be reminded of the presence of mega-fauna in these seemingly humble hills above town. I've seen lots (literally dozens, over the years) of bears on and around Green Mt, but something about seeing these tracks and not the animal itself--signifying the animal's elusive nature, I suppose--was particularly satisfying.<br />
I finished reading <i>Moby Dick</i> today as well, and despite it being a book about whale hunting I think it definitely portrays a kind of respect for the sperm whale, which happens to be the absolute largest of the world's mega-fauna. Certainly Melville describes the giant fish in great detail and with an admiration that goes beyond it merely being a lucrative source of lamp oil. I suppose big creatures are humbling in a compelling way, be it bears or whales.<br />
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4/5/2014<br />
<b>Sat - Green Mt. (1:38, 3000') + climbing gym</b><br />
I biked to Chautauqua today for a run up Gregory Canyon and down Bear Canyon. The fresh snow on the mountain requires an aggressive lug that I'd rather not needlessly burn up on the pavement, hence the brief two-wheeled warm-up and cool-down.<br />
Today was the 20th anniversary of Kurt Cobain's body being found in his Seattle home. The first album I ever bought was the Nirvana live album <i>On The Muddy Banks of the Wishkah</i>, on cassette tape, back when it was released in 1996. I'm not sure why I purchased this before 1991's seminal <i>Nevermind</i>, but it certainly followed quickly. Along with copies of my sister's Smashing Pumpkins classics <i>Siamese Dream </i>and <i>Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness</i>, this was the balance of my teenage music listening.<br />
It's interesting to be getting old enough now to be observing what of my generation's music is remaining relevant. On my run this morning it occurred to me that <i>Nevermind </i>(and the best Pumpkins albums) is now as old to me as much of my Dad's favorite music (CSNY, Simon & Garfunkel, etc.---all of which is the music I <i>truly</i> grew up on) was to him when I first started listening to Nirvana and SP in the early '90s. Weird.<br />
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4/6/2014<br />
<b>Sun - Green Mt. (1:39, 3000') + climbing gym</b><br />
From my apartment window it looked like The First Flatiron still had a few patches of snow and ice on it, so I stuck to the trails again today, biking up to Chautauqua and reversing yesterday's route. With my fingers crossed, I've been able to string together quite a few days of relatively substantial running the past couple of weeks, and this morning I could feel the weight of the accumulated fatigue, which may or may not have been exacerbated by a couple extra beers last night at a Geoff Roes instigated picnic-in-a-snowbank. Alaskans (even transplants) sure have a weird way of having fun. As such, I was content to just pitter-patter up and down the hill, congratulating myself for getting out early enough that the exceedingly muddy Mesa Trail was still stiff with the overnight cold.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK0RZT8v3Hb0-IRTN1uCDXbiOZaCJUndlnHrxEMshQF2TqdRrROSumZxvpPTR1DAN1iiIfa11exbsgALZygjNS6_hlbIwJ7uyhvnys4DAFOuSMlYxTBoJ6JGnOhw6QPN0suX91x_aAqX0/s1600/cloud.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK0RZT8v3Hb0-IRTN1uCDXbiOZaCJUndlnHrxEMshQF2TqdRrROSumZxvpPTR1DAN1iiIfa11exbsgALZygjNS6_hlbIwJ7uyhvnys4DAFOuSMlYxTBoJ6JGnOhw6QPN0suX91x_aAqX0/s1600/cloud.jpg" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Window-seat inspiration, mid-week.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJHZXwEZGD8j-Z8ZdOy6NVMDH5j-lVb-ZN0sIEQ5nv6SSjhQ5dLdwiUeHZ2ycVl5NsEwWDhK0E9zTdWHrR8naYjiJKHca5DpOYPjdMRxSNZxu1hnV4rlefnYM7EZIs1ME6G4hRYFk_TrY/s1600/gregory.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJHZXwEZGD8j-Z8ZdOy6NVMDH5j-lVb-ZN0sIEQ5nv6SSjhQ5dLdwiUeHZ2ycVl5NsEwWDhK0E9zTdWHrR8naYjiJKHca5DpOYPjdMRxSNZxu1hnV4rlefnYM7EZIs1ME6G4hRYFk_TrY/s1600/gregory.jpg" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Looking back down Gregory Canyon.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrPur40UcQnqFte_jLyFs06LFLeK2HAgskJ0H2808_PkpHYtZFNnjHQqdDGyNSGxiZ0wpUrvLDrDu8Nrhyphenhyphen92cwWSdcK3kcnfr3MudDc8bYNe3Ct7yb9eUF65GYzPDtYla-FL0mWTrPKcc/s1600/summit_snowy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrPur40UcQnqFte_jLyFs06LFLeK2HAgskJ0H2808_PkpHYtZFNnjHQqdDGyNSGxiZ0wpUrvLDrDu8Nrhyphenhyphen92cwWSdcK3kcnfr3MudDc8bYNe3Ct7yb9eUF65GYzPDtYla-FL0mWTrPKcc/s1600/summit_snowy.jpg" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">In a cloud. Summit #29 on the year. Gotta be one of my weakest first 100 days of the year ever, in that regard.</td></tr>
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Antonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11148317903654491236noreply@blogger.com193tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-451222917425507533.post-53273845966945071582014-03-31T19:39:00.001-06:002014-04-01T13:50:14.259-06:00March 24 - 30<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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3/24/2014<br />
<b>Mon - Climbing Gym</b><br />
Today was my ninth day climbing out of the last 10 days, seven of those with <u><a href="http://www.alpine-works.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Joe</span></a></u>, including today. As such, both of us are starting to feel a little accumulative fatigue and niggles in our shoulders, wrists, forearms. Only three of those nine days have been outdoors, but even on days I've been climbing outside I've often hit an evening session at the gym; with this morning's snow showers, Joe and I took yet another trip to Movement.<br />
Despite the flurries, the gym was surprisingly and pleasantly deserted. We suspected this might have had something to do with Spring Break, but it was a pleasure to not have to wait for any routes and to basically have the run of the place. My skills are still mediocre to most, but I've become secure in my current abilities and am pleased to continue to see a gradual improvement. I will be largely absent from Boulder for May through September, so next month is likely the last pass I'll buy until next fall, but I've finally grown to enjoy the gym as a valid way of getting out and using my body when the lower extremities are preventing any other kind of activity and conditions are preventing getting on real rock.<br />
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3/25/2014<br />
<b>Tue - Anenome Ridge (0:44, 1200') + climbing gym</b><br />
Today was the first truly 100% pain-free run I've had since the first week of January. It's amazing how momentous that feels. Most of all, it makes me realize just how debilitating chronic pain can be to both the mind and body. I cruise up Sunshine Canyon on the buttery single-track that I refer to as the "Cali Trail" because of its exceedingly smooth, buffed-out tread. I've raced enough in California (American River, Miwok, Western States) to know that trail builders in the Golden State will not tolerate neither rock nor root :-) The run back along the ridgeline is glorious---Spring is inexorably making its inroads, much to my delight, and my euphoria at being able to run without a hitch in my stride is palpable. I feel fat and out of shape, but the pure kinesthetics of running never fail to induce joy.<br />
The past two weeks I've been conducting a new set of physical therapy exercises to strengthen the musculature of my hips---specifically targeting weak glute medius muscles---and the diligence seems to finally be paying off. The exercises are tedious, awkward, and time-consuming (30min, 3x/day), but most of all, require a focus and specific attention that I hadn't been applying before. If done with a lack of focus, it is very easy for the over-developed, stronger muscles in the hips (as I understand it, in my case, these are the psoas and tensor fasciae latae (TFL)) to take over for the weaker glute medius and just perpetuate and reinforce the very cycle of imbalance that we're trying to correct.<br />
In the evening, Joe and I hit one final climbing session at the gym before he flies to Alaska tomorrow. It was a pretty weak effort on both our parts---the fingers and arms are just thrashed at this point and need a couple days off.<br />
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3/26/2014<br />
<b>Wed - Mt. Sanitas & Anenome (1:08, 2000')</b><br />
Another completely pain-free outing, but the second bump up to the Anenome Ridge just about did me in. I am unfit right now. In the afternoon, I had my third physical therapy appointment with Bob Cranny. I feel like I'm really learning stuff here about what I need to do to stay healthy long-term. I suppose, like most things, it will come down to whether or not I can exert some discipline.<br />
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3/27/2014<br />
<b>Thu - Mt. Sanitas (0:55, 1600') + climbing gym</b><br />
I get up early today to snag a lap on what is probably Boulder's most popular peak before frantically biking to Movement for an 8:30am rendezvous with Caroline. The ambiance on the mountain this morning is unexpectedly rich---low clouds are swirling even on this diminutive summit---and the early hour means not many people are out with their dogs just yet.<br />
Later in the day, I download and watch Seb's latest installment in Kilian's Summits of My Life chronicles. I think it's really good and improves on some of the things that I felt were slightly lacking in A Fine Line. I have the utmost respect for Seb as an outdoor filmmaker---if you haven't already, definitely check out his antics in <span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="http://vimeo.com/ondemand/ibelieveicanfly/31240369" target="_blank">I Believe I Can Fly (Flight of the Frenchies)</a></u> </span>and <u><a href="http://vimeo.com/ondemand/7960/68938513" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Petit Bus Rouge</span></a></u>. I like how Seb brings a playful-bordering-on-madcap sensibility to what people are doing in the mountains. Only because of his own athletic capabilities is he able to so evocatively capture some of the most cutting-edge pursuits.<br />
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3/28/2014<br />
<b>Fri - Green Mt. (1:43, 3000')</b><br />
To my surprise, a skiff of snow fell overnight, so I change my plans from scrambling to a pure running outing. The fresh flakes over the bulletproof ice on the Ranger trail offer sufficient purchase for my 110's lugs on the uphill, but the downhill proves to be a different story; the trail seems better suited for ice skates than running shoes. There's an occasional murmur of infirmity in my hip on the downhill, but it doesn't seem too serious. Nevertheless, it's a good reminder that I'm not out of the woods yet and that after almost three months the tenacity of this bullshit isn't going to vanish magically. At this point, I've probably gotta just commit to making hip exercises a part of my standard routine, even once everything seems solid.<br />
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3/29/2014<br />
<b>Sat -</b> As I jogged down the street this morning I detected a recurrence of the slight but nagging pain in my upper, lateral left leg (same old shit) from yesterday morning, so I stopped and walked back home. Earlier in the process, I probably would've continued to run through this, but I know now that that doesn't work with this particular ailment. It's a fairly glorious spring day, but some persistent clouds at least partially assuage my angst at not having an available climbing partner for getting on some rock.<br />
Earlier this week I finished DeLillo's <i>Libra</i>, a novel that fictionally embellishes on most of the known facts about Lee Harvey Oswald and the JFK assassination (Oswald's birthday was Oct 18, hence the sign in the astrological title). Despite the rather obvious themes in the book about the difficulty of making sense of the world, in the evening, in an attempt to do just that, I watch a pair of documentary programs online regarding the JFK assassination. One is a <i>Nova</i> special that examines the forensic ballistics (seems to support a single shooter), and the other is a <i>Frontline</i> biopic on Oswald (most aspects of which made it into DeLillo's work). It feels good to finally learn some things about one of the most notorious political events of the 20th Century. It all seems particularly pertinent with the 50th anniversary of the assassination a few months ago and the current kerfuffle going on over in Russia/Ukraine. <br />
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3/30/2014<br />
<b>Sun - First Flatiron+Amphitheater (1:13, 2000')</b><br />
The hip seemed to respond positively to yesterday's rest, so this morning I bike up to Chautauqua for some leisurely scrambling. I resolve to hike the whole day, but I have a hard time heading uphill without really putting some effort into it and getting a sweat going, even if I'm not running. All the ice has finally melted out of the approach, though, and I'm happy to step onto the rock with a dry pair of shoes for once. This lends itself to particularly efficient footwork and I scamper up the 1000' face in 14m45s in stellar conditions---almost calm winds and pleasant temps despite the cloud cover.<br />
After downclimbing, I decide to hike down to the Amphitheater on the descent for a quick circuit of three of the four Roach Classics there---I scramble up the South Face of the 2nd Pinnacle, downclimb into the Amphitheater itself, and then tick the 5.5 finger crack on the West Face of T-Zero before finishing with a summit of the First Pinnacle via its exposed Southeast Face. The last 30' of this one always garners my undivided attention. Even a short outing like this, with no running, does so much to improve the tenor of my day.<br />
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This is a song from my second-favorite band ever (a very close second), TV On The Radio:<br />
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TVOTR's lead singer, Tunde Adebimpe, has a side-project called Higgins Waterproof Black Magic Band. Massive Attack recently did a couple remixes of some HWBMB songs that I think I like even more than the originals:<br />
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Antonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11148317903654491236noreply@blogger.com121tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-451222917425507533.post-64620175080575450412014-03-12T15:00:00.001-06:002014-03-13T11:54:10.182-06:00March 3 - 9<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
3/3/2014<br />
<b>Mon - Green Mountain (1:33, 3000') + climbing in the gym</b><br />
Nice and warm day out on the mountain this morning, feels like spring. Today I was randomly listening to Broken Social Scene's first real album <i>You Forgot It In People</i>, which was released in late 2002, but I didn't get around to it about a year later. Anyways, it kind of took me by surprise that I'd been listening to the album for over 10 years. It's (still) really good and there was a time when I would've placed BSS as probably one of my top-3 favorite acts---they're easily still in my top-10.<br />
I saw them live twice, both in 2011, the last year they were together. The March 2011 show in the Boulder Theater is still the most expensive music ticket I've ever bought ($37) and I remember feeling quite ambivalent about paying that much, being used to paying ~$20 less for a show. It was absolutely worth it. Most indie acts I've seen are $15-20 and will predictably play for 60-75min, take a short break, and then come out and play maybe a couple more songs as an encore before calling it a night at 90min of entertainment, tops. The BSS show in Boulder was unlike anything I'd ever seen. They played non-stop for two and a half hours and with infectious enthusiasm the entire time. One of the best shows I've ever been to. Here's a performance of a classic track from them from a brief get-together of theirs last summer.<br />
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3/4/2014<br />
<b>Tue - Green Mountain (1:38, 3000')</b><br />
I have an <u><a href="http://peakperformanceacupuncture.net/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">acupuncture appointment</span></a></u> this morning, so I'm on the mountain earlier than usual, which is always a treat. I love running at sunrise. Just as I'm leaving the summit, I bump into my friends <u><a href="http://www.sbnation.com/longform/2013/6/25/4459920/chasing-cave-dog-climbing-colorado-14ers-world-record-attempt" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Homie</span></a></u> and <u><a href="http://billwright510climbing.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Bill</span></a></u>. These guys happen to be two of my biggest inspirations in the mountains. Like myself, both are simply average climbers (though Bill leads harder than anything Homie or I could), but their enthusiasm and appetite for the mountains is virtually unparalleled.<br />
Homie's attempt on the Colorado 14ers speed record from a couple years ago is legendary, and Bill has continually concocted logical and interesting climbing projects that only require moderate technical ability but heaps of endurance, planning, and resolve. Bill has <u><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Speed-Climbing-2nd-Faster-Better/dp/0762730951" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">co-authored a book about speed climbing</span></a></u>, directs the Tour de Flatirons scrambling races each fall, <u><a href="http://www.climbing.com/news/two-huge-days-in-eldorado-2/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">climbed 100 pitches in Eldo in a day</span></a></u>, and <u><a href="http://billwright510climbing.blogspot.com/2013/09/ultra-scrambling-53-flatirons-classics.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">linked up all 53 of Gerry Roach's Flatiron Classics</span></a></u> in a long weekend. When I did the Glacier Gorge Traverse in 2012, Homie and Bill's trip report was my main source of information. Both men have absolutely encyclopedic knowledge of Colorado climbing and mountaineering, and beyond being directly inspired by their actual mountain endeavors, it's the way they approach them with such enthusiasm and energy that really gets me excited. Ultimately, they're living examples of the fact that you don't have to climb 5.12 in order to have innumerable fantastic and satisfying adventures in the mountains.<br />
Bill parts with a cheery, "I see you've been going to the gym a lot, we should climb together some time! I usually go at 6am; it's great, hardly anyone's there!" Before I turn to start descending, I chuckle and sheepishly reply that I'm usually either still sleeping or just sipping coffee at 6am, so that seems pretty unlikely.<br />
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3/5/2014<br />
<b>Wed - AM: Green Mountain (1:39, 3000') + climbing in the gym</b><br />
<b> PM: First Flatiron+Green Mountain (1:42, 3500')</b><br />
Now that I'm back running, my sleep is more regular and I wake up earlier. It's a much more natural pattern to be in (rising with the sun), and today it affords me a brilliant display of alpenglow combined with a fresh layer of sparkle on the Boulder peaks and Flatirons, which I'm very fortunate to be able to view from the comfort of my apartment window, coffee in hand. The run up the mountain is slowed by the 3-4" of fresh snow and is further hindered by my breaking both of my Microspikes early in the run (they're an old pair). I descend past the First Flatiron to scope the conditions, and though it's wet in a few key spots, I'm confident that it'll be dry enough for a safe scramble this afternoon.<br />
After the run I head to the gym for a couple hours of climbing with <u><a href="http://carolinetreadway.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Caroline</span></a></u>. She's just returned from a few weeks in Catalunya, taking pictures of climbers and doing a little climbing of her own. Caroline is a far better climber than me, but I always enjoy watching what it looks like to be proficient on the plastic. She's extremely precise with her feet, deftly executes energy-saving adjustments in body position, and generally floats up the wall. For some reason, I seem to climb better in the gym with her than with anyone else because I fully accept that she's on a different level and I don't waste mental energy comparing my own (woefully lacking abilities) or getting frustrated when I can't match her on the wall. It feels like a fruitful session.<br />
Spring is in the air this afternoon and I decide to test the hip a little with a second outing. My legs are heavy and unresponsive on the run up to Chautauqua, but the hip feels good, so I resolve to just soldier through it and hopefully start building some fitness. The trail leading up to the First is an alarmingly sloppy, slushy mess, so my shoes don't initially offer the best friction on the rock, but within a minute or two I find a great rhythm despite having to be attentive in a few damp spots.<br />
Back on the ground, the warm afternoon has made the snow and ice on the trails pleasantly tacky, and I enjoy good footing sans Microspikes. On the way down, I spontaneously pop into the Amphitheater at the base of Green and scramble a couple easy 100' routes on the east face of the West Bench to just further revel in the warm, calm gloaming. Maybe all the time in the gym has been worth something, as when I first tried these short lines last November I remember being a bit apprehensive; tonight I'm thoroughly warmed up and they're a nice little tag at the end of a great evening on the mountain.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY56ftXlQzEdfCk9UakbvKedynjdNHEO9kZiVaAHehI0wIAt84lL6DySYFaCJEKI4_ZqX0T8Ge330XpAHQslA-XlcoNeNMhjOkcTSFbhUelvFVfYAJ7lyHmZtJ_cV5B6dnGOH_9xSyI1A/s1600/flattieglow.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY56ftXlQzEdfCk9UakbvKedynjdNHEO9kZiVaAHehI0wIAt84lL6DySYFaCJEKI4_ZqX0T8Ge330XpAHQslA-XlcoNeNMhjOkcTSFbhUelvFVfYAJ7lyHmZtJ_cV5B6dnGOH_9xSyI1A/s1600/flattieglow.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Not a bad view for morning coffee and a book.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
3/6/2014<br />
<b>Thu - AM: First Flatiron+Green Mountain+2nd Pinnacle (1:56, 3500')</b><br />
Ugh, so tired. I was bonking pretty hard right from the beginning this morning, so it was a pretty desultory outing. The extra time and vert came in the form of tagging on a scramble of the south face of the Amphitheater's Second Pinnacle (one of the four Roach Flatiron Classics that is in the Amphitheater) as I was descending the mountain. It's a nice route with a funky chimney and an airy pull-up on a huge horn to gain the worthy summit, not your typical slab-mongering.<br />
After the run, I have yet another <u><a href="http://peakperformanceacupuncture.net/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">acupuncture appointment with Allison</span></a></u>. I feel super grateful for all the work she's put into getting my trending towards health. Not much has been working on this particular injury, but her diligent trigger-point therapy seems to be the key thing that has finally gotten me back on the trails.<br />
<br />
3/7/2014<br />
<b>Fri - AM: Green Mountain (1:37, 3000')</b> <b>+ climbing in gym</b><br />
<b> PM: Green Mountain (1:39, 3000')</b><br />
I linger over my coffee and <i>The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test</i> about 20min too long this morning, and as a result just miss the available window for scrambling the First before the incoming snowstorm. My brain is by far at its peak comprehension abilities before 10am, so every day I try to take advantage of that with 30-40min of reading before I hit the trails. Today, though, as I leave the door at 7:15am the clouds are just beginning to wisp in over the summits of Green and Bear and during my run to Gregory Canyon it starts raining. By time I reach the 6000' level or so the rain has turned to snow and on my run back down the mountain to my apartment, my 3oz jacket is just enough protection to keep me on the pleasant side of uncomfortable.<br />
After an afternoon session in the climbing gym with Joe, I'm excited to head back out into the elements again for a second lap on the hill. Something about inclement weather always stokes my motivation and due to appropriate apparel choices the evening romp is a real pleasure; I'm doubly stoked to find that my hip seemingly obliges the day's rigors as well.<br />
<br />
3/8/2014<br />
<b>Sat - Green Mountain (1:51, 3000')</b><br />
Though the snow was sticky last night, cool overnight temps have rendered the footing sugary and unconsolidated, making for a sloggy uphill. This is countered, however, by brilliant sunshine and rapidly warming temps. After the morning lap, I spend the rest of the day visiting my two sisters and two nephews down in Colorado Springs, highlighted by a stroll through the Garden of the Gods. My nephews turned one year and six months old this week, respectively, and their rapid progressions into little human beings is rather amazing. <br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkbexo23ub8L8kUDJOXbeFO40Hbzwh5f7Qq3kOj22prjW1B2E6nerJnAUQ-1OUd4MmrX-eEtE4-ArNqEXR1ELXJQhBkVScPNXUSy6CMJr93wH0RBFyY8T2quSZW1-4C0AWOLYEzoEFp50/s1600/kneesocks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkbexo23ub8L8kUDJOXbeFO40Hbzwh5f7Qq3kOj22prjW1B2E6nerJnAUQ-1OUd4MmrX-eEtE4-ArNqEXR1ELXJQhBkVScPNXUSy6CMJr93wH0RBFyY8T2quSZW1-4C0AWOLYEzoEFp50/s1600/kneesocks.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Compression for post-holing protection and a tight calf Saturday morning.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
3/9/2014<br />
Sun - <b>AM: Green Mountain (2:05, 3000')</b><br />
<b> PM: 1st Flatiron+Green Mt. (1:14, 3000') + climbing in gym</b><br />
Today is by far the nicest weather day of the year so far---temps were near or right at +70F---and I took full advantage. There was still a little lingering snow on the First Flatiron, so I instead tested my hip with a longer circuit of the mountain, descending down Bear Canyon and coming back on the Mesa Trail. The hip is in a weird place where it doesn't seem to be getting any worse, but it's not really improving either. Descending is still the most troublesome, but overall, the acupuncture seems to be keeping things in check.<br />
In the afternoon, the incredible weather begs for further enjoyment, so I bike up to Chautauqua and lace a quick lap on the hill, including a really on-point scramble of the First Flatiron. My footwork and coordination is very precise for the entire outing, and I carry this directly into an indoor climbing session with Joe as the sun is headed behind the mountains. We crank through what turns out to be probably my most productive couple of hours in the gym of the whole year. I'm able to comfortably climb routes I usually fall on, and it's a nice end to a full day and week of activity.<br />
<br /></div>
Antonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11148317903654491236noreply@blogger.com492tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-451222917425507533.post-53121274468409229962014-03-02T15:41:00.000-07:002014-03-02T15:41:05.129-07:00Feb 24 - Mar 2<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
2/24/2014<br />
<div>
<b>Mon - First Flatiron (:58, 1600')</b></div>
<div>
There was still a little lingering snow on the slab this morning, so I had to be very deliberate in many spots---a slip anywhere on the First would be highly unpleasant and easily fatal in a lot of places---and the trail back down to my bike was its usual hideous mix of snow and ice. So it was a slow lap. I should really just bring Microspikes for the trip back down the hill, but also don't want to unnecessarily dull them. Typical spring-time concerns.<br />
Despite the day quickly warming to somewhere near the +60F mark, time constraints forced me into the convenience of the gym for a couple hours of climbing with <u><a href="http://www.rainorshinedesign.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">jLu</span></a></u>. At least the pleasant weather meant no indoor crowds. Jenny was intent on leading more routes (in the gym it's really easy to just stay on top-rope and keep trying stuff beyond your ability), so we headed to the most overhanging wall and grunted our way up juggy but strenuous routes where falling typically meant dangling in the air instead of slamming into plastic. I continue to feel mostly like a fish out of water there, but every now and then I'm able to experience an extremely fleeting sense of flow and ease. Heavy emphasis on <i>fleeting</i>.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
2/25/2014</div>
<div>
<b>Tue - Climbing Gym</b><br />
Leg had some twinges in it, so I just headed back to the gym today with jLu. It sucked. I'm finding that climbing, like running---like any activity, I suppose, where a concurrent engagement of mind and body is required---follows a rhythm of inexplicable good days and bad days. Of feeling sometimes "on" and sometimes very "off". Today I was really off. Struggling on top-rope on grades that typically serve as warm-ups. So it goes.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
2/26/2014</div>
<div>
<b>Wed -</b> Pretty low ebb. Bad mood all day. An unsolicited bit of advice: don't construct your coping-with-life mechanisms around something as capricious and physically abusive as running up and down mountains. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
2/27/2014</div>
<div>
<b>Thu -</b> Took another day off, due to indecision. <u><a href="http://www.alpine-works.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Joe</span></a></u> was heading out for a run with our friend <u><a href="http://jeffvalliere.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Jeff Valliere</span></a></u>, but before that we got a cup of jav together at Trident. I've been pretty bummed lately with the now seven week hiatus from running, so it was good to sit down and solve some of the world's problems with Joe. Joe knows me well enough to tolerate my bitching but then predictably counters with the unflagging optimism and stoke that is the hallmark of his personality. My leg still hurt when I walked out of the cafe, but thanks to our conversation I felt a little more in control of my mood, capable of sprinkling in bits of positive attitude. His is a valuable friendship.<br />
Later in the morning I had another acupuncture appointment with Allison (I also submitted to the needling on Tuesday), and it was hugely beneficial. Allison was able to finally get the musculature in my hip to respond a bit and the short session induced some instantaneous improvement in the pain levels in my leg. Improvement which unexpectedly and encouragingly remained through the rest of the day.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
2/28/2014</div>
<div>
<b>Fri - 1st Flatiron+Green (1:14, 3000')</b><br />
Temps are moderate this morning, but it seems a bit breezy as I bike up to Chautauqua. This isn't an issue until I emerge from the First's east face onto its North Arete and begin the final traverse to the summit. I usually dance up this section in a veritable trot, but today near-constant gusts from the west force me into an anxious cower as I try not to get blown from the rock. Things are even worse on the downclimb (which descends a ramp and ledge system on the western and southerly aspects of the rock), but once I'm back on level ground I enjoy a comparably pleasant march to the top of the mountain.<br />
The gale on the slab's summit reminds me of a line from the DeLillo book I read this week, <u>The Body Artist</u>, <i>"There's something about the wind. It strips you of assurances, working into you, continuous, making you feel the hidden thinness of everything around you."</i> This is something I've felt innumerable times---most often above treeline---even when not on exposed, death-fall terrain. Wind is psychologically unnerving; it unfailingly makes me feel desperate and vulnerable. On the descent I'm ever mindful of my hip, but---much to my joy---it registers nary a murmur and I'm able to jog pain-free back down to my bike.<br />
In the late afternoon, I meet Joe for a couple of quick pitches on the Elephant Buttresses in Boulder Canyon. It's our first time climbing together outside in several months, and once the sun drops behind the mountain things get surprisingly cold in a hurry, a reminder that, despite the day's warmth, it's still winter.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
3/1/2014</div>
<div>
<b>Sat - Green Mountain (1:24, 3000')</b><br />
When I wake up, the cloud ceiling is low, but it hasn't started precipitating yet. However, after the hour that it takes to drink a cup of coffee and get suited up, there is already 2-3" of snow on the ground and it's dumping down more. This makes the usually trivial pedal up to Chautauqua an adventure in itself, and I flounder a few blocks before the trailhead, locking my bike on a random street corner. I enjoy fresh tracks on the mountain, though, and when I arrive at the summit I am greeted by a solitary set of footprints and the singular magic that occurs when you unexpectedly break through a ceiling of clouds. I've really missed the trails these past couple months and getting to experience the local peaks in their frosted beauty. I guess the silver lining to injury is that the mundane is injected with a freshness and renewed appreciation.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
3/2/2014</div>
<div>
<b>Sun - Green Mountain (1:34, 3000')</b><br />
The single digit temps and icy streets convince me to try running to the mountain instead of biking. The forecasted high of +40F seems unlikely until I get to 7500' or so on the mountain and it feels as if I've suddenly stepped into a warm room. The air even takes on a certain mustiness, and as I gain the ridge an opaque ocean of gray clouds spreads out below me. Winter has its treats. Running back down the hill, though, crossing the temperature threshold is like dropping into an ice box and I quickly re-don my jacket and extra gloves. Much to my delight, the hip feels like it is almost strengthening with the extra time on my feet and I finish back at my doorstep more optimistic than I've been about my running in a long, long time. Maintaining the momentum of my health in an upward trajectory will require constant vigilance, however.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7cyYyIKB1FaiS-64in7jBM3sDjQ2JnC5xCISmhgBvT47SSEeL5AxHy6zx5UUL3JiDqpUbNTNd70DID8NIt3t7j6pzWTU817hs4N1yczWi1NaRMKfFLtt_pbWQs2rHSPQJc1nuadWgDgs/s1600/long_bw.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7cyYyIKB1FaiS-64in7jBM3sDjQ2JnC5xCISmhgBvT47SSEeL5AxHy6zx5UUL3JiDqpUbNTNd70DID8NIt3t7j6pzWTU817hs4N1yczWi1NaRMKfFLtt_pbWQs2rHSPQJc1nuadWgDgs/s1600/long_bw.jpg" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Longs Peak</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi657BftPHl1xooWZn8f0eP5ReoIm2pmGSC0XndnJ9vzh6k54Nrvgz0Ae5R5rTqTzanQhcBS7X2JzNnP9-A30qdvz-x2QRR-6vKWpo8OXe5o1f8LaN24HcN1sYa_LJ6yZGEotUAk1O0o9s/s1600/summit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi657BftPHl1xooWZn8f0eP5ReoIm2pmGSC0XndnJ9vzh6k54Nrvgz0Ae5R5rTqTzanQhcBS7X2JzNnP9-A30qdvz-x2QRR-6vKWpo8OXe5o1f8LaN24HcN1sYa_LJ6yZGEotUAk1O0o9s/s1600/summit.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Haven't been up here in a while...</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmlFZpLXnBN2RLMGyYBfNJ9abt-98ANzXc3pptoAuow06-Vp37A8W6V1scS_EFGfVHVVxTfvH_aJFvZe6OrROpe60kOaynS9RDtrO1swm8KU6OYUmxc9hPbzJCMZORV0D5GfgjO87Rza4/s1600/third.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmlFZpLXnBN2RLMGyYBfNJ9abt-98ANzXc3pptoAuow06-Vp37A8W6V1scS_EFGfVHVVxTfvH_aJFvZe6OrROpe60kOaynS9RDtrO1swm8KU6OYUmxc9hPbzJCMZORV0D5GfgjO87Rza4/s1600/third.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">The Third</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
</div>
Antonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11148317903654491236noreply@blogger.com98tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-451222917425507533.post-40396371715284088262014-02-23T17:53:00.000-07:002014-02-23T17:54:47.239-07:00Feb 17 - 23<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
2/17/2014<br />
<div>
<b>Mon - Green Mountain (1:17, 3000')</b></div>
<div>
It's been a long time---six weeks, exactly---since I've done anything both weight-bearing and cardiovascular. So today's excursion up and down the front of the mountain was both unexpected and profoundly mood-altering. A solid week of freeze-thaw has turned much of the usual routes into treacherous water ice, but it also meant that I could finally get in a dry scramble on a Flatiron. After such a long time away from this (I haven't been on a flattie since early November) I just stuck to the moderate, mostly 4th Class terrain of the 2nd Flatiron before continuing on to the summit of Green. I was pleased to negotiate the downhill with basically no pain in my leg, and on my bike ride back home I was overcome with a sense of well-being that has been notably missing so far this year. I have 10 weeks until UTMF; if the past is any proof, it's enough time to be ready to race. Most importantly, though, is that even amidst my labored rasping and wheezing and unfit legs, I was just so happy---in some kind of deep, visceral way---to be back out on the mountain.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
2/18/2014</div>
<div>
<b>Tue - Green Mountain (1:24, 3000')</b><br />
I did another lap on the mountain this morning; today I was wearing a pair of the forthcoming New Balance MT110v2. The development process on this pair of shoes has been quite long and full of a few more than the usual twists and turns, but today I was really happy with the final product. Great grip with the slighter deeper lugs and new sticky rubber and really on-point lateral stability. I'm psyched to have a durable, everyday mountain shoe<br />
When I got back from my run UPS had dropped a giant box at my door, full of a variety of custom-built NB shoes. This is an (obviously) huge perk of working with NB, and the continual tweaking of my footwear is a tinkering process I really enjoy. I feel really lucky to have a company that will modify the stock model to meet my wide-ranging specific needs. Right now, I'm replenishing my stock of Winter 110s (but with a hyper-aggressive outsole) and building a racing shoe specific to the technical (sticky rubber and extra-supportive forefoot rand) and typically sloppy (fell-racing studs) demands of an upcoming Skymarathon.<br />
This time around, though, I had somehow forgotten to specify what sort of midsole heights I wanted on my Winter 110s, so the factory seemingly defaulted to the traditional 12mm drop of a generic running shoe (it's complicated to explain why, but on these particular shoes I had requested an old-school, super-simple, cut-sheet EVA midsole versus the more typical injected EVA midsole).<br />
At first I was chagrined and chastised myself for my boneheaded oversight, but then I realized it wouldn't be a difficult modification and--after a gym climbing session at Movment with <a href="http://www.alpine-works.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Joe</span></a>--biked down to McGuckin's Hardware for the necessary supplies: a pair of C-clamps, a hack-saw, and some industrial-strength bonding cement. Browsing the tools at the store, I had a few pangs of happy nostalgia for all the construction projects I completed with my Dad growing up back on the farm, but, most importantly, when I was slaving away over my shoes later that evening I was actually taking pleasure in using my hands and some ingenuity to rectify the mistake rather than just being disappointed that I'd committed it in the first place. Craft is important, and not something I so tangibly touch upon often enough.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio_p9N1I09bb-SkygqgR_2nTNhuH-ta3-d_qlPAOjI6riBNHDjoLkGsZutNMjxrY-h1GE19lZmEeZ4bl_I8678iJUaMNn1QstwY0gLKP28HNAY7bDw29VTE-fY4iq5pnat2uP5WG1EMq0/s1600/110WR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio_p9N1I09bb-SkygqgR_2nTNhuH-ta3-d_qlPAOjI6riBNHDjoLkGsZutNMjxrY-h1GE19lZmEeZ4bl_I8678iJUaMNn1QstwY0gLKP28HNAY7bDw29VTE-fY4iq5pnat2uP5WG1EMq0/s1600/110WR.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Dammit! Previous custom version on right, current version I flubbed on the left.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div>
2/19/2014</div>
<div>
<b>Wed - First Flatiron (:49, 1600')</b><br />
This morning was my first scramble on the First Flatiron in almost three months. It was awesome; an over- and mis-used word for sure, but truly, this proud rock always inspires awe in me. It was my 135th lifetime ascent of the 1000' face, and the full-body engagement of scrambling is something that never ceases to deliver a more heightened level of joy and presence than what occurs during mere bipedal movement. I was equally pleased to find that, even after three months away (mostly conditions/weather-induced), my hands and feet located the regular holds nearly as effortlessly and comfortably as always.<br />
To be clear, this was technically only a half-lap on the rock. In an effort to accommodate the messy and variable footing on the trails right now, I wore a pair of shoes with super-aggressive lugs this morning (see above pic). The reduced surface area of pointy lugs doesn't offer nearly enough security on the bottom 400 feet of the First, which requires a lot of precise friction on relatively thin holds. As such, I hopped on the slab half-way up and took the still-classic Baker's Way route to the summit. In the afternoon,<span style="color: blue;"> <u><a href="http://www.rainorshinedesign.com/" target="_blank">jLu</a></u></span> joined me for a quick lap on my favorite climb in Eldorado Canyon--the 6-pitch Rewritten on the Redgarden Wall (though I led it in three pitches)--and we had the route all to ourselves, a true gift on this uber-popular classic on such a pleasant weather day.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
2/20/2014</div>
<div>
<b>Thu - Green Mountain (1:22, 3000')</b><br />
A dusting of snow overnight was enough to hide all the ice, making the trails a terrifying mess today and precluding any scrambling. In the afternoon, I had a pair of sensory enhancement appointments--first, I learned about hearing aids and was set-up with a demo pair, then it was off to get my eyes examined in order to renew my contact lenses. It's been a little depressing over the last couple of months coming to terms with significant permanent hearing loss at only 30 years of age, and, quite frankly, my initial experience with the hearing aids was a bit underwhelming. Tinny-sounding and itchy, and still feeling like I'm not catching everything in a conversation. Plus, it's never good to be getting electronics wet…I may not be doing much running with these buggers, especially in the summer. Bottom line, preserve your hearing for as long as you can (not that I had any say in this situation). Medically speaking, we certainly haven't gotten the ear as well-sussed as the eye.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
2/21/2014</div>
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<b>Fri -</b> I took today off from physical activity. Reluctantly, and full of angst. I went so far as to get suited up and even did a test jog down the street (amidst nearly 60mph wind gusts), but ultimately decided that my upper leg hurt just a little too much. This injury has proven to be far more stubborn than I would've guessed in the beginning. Instead, I spent much of the day plowing through <i>Don Quixote</i> by Miguel Cervantes. The Nobel Institute apparently voted this the Greatest Book of All Time, and at 1000 pages it has the literal heft to go along with such a literary accolade. I, however, am unconvinced. After more than 700 pages, I feel like the narrative has acquired a certain redundancy---here is Quixote engaging in yet another farcical, absurd altercation!---that is rapidly eroding my enthusiasm. I'll finish it, of course, but like whenever I get to the end of most classics of the literary canon, I'm afraid that I won't have absorbed everything I should've. I almost always feel like I'm missing something. </div>
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2/22/2014</div>
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<b>Sat - First Flatiron (:47, 1600')</b><br />
The wind was finally more reasonable today. After more waffling over my <u><a href="http://sugarloafcoffee.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">coffee</span></a></u> this morning---how does my leg feel? will getting out do more harm than good?---I finally hop on my bike and head up to Chautauqua. I run most of the uphill to the base of the First (uphilling doesn't hurt my leg) and despite a bit of an audience on this weekend morning, begin the scramble. Even after an extended spate of warm weather, a bank of snow gathers at the base of the First, so in the winter my traditional start to the climb shifts a couple dozen feet to the north, at the top of the stairs at the base. A modest ridge here offers good holds for my right hand, and after I step onto the face I spend a long time wiping the soles of my shoes onto my socks and the rock itself, trying to rid them of moisture so that I have the best purchase possible on the sandstone. It's my first time climbing the full face since early November, so I have a little apprehension about feeling comfortable on the frictiony slab.<br />
Within a few seconds, however, any nerves fade away and I'm almost instantly in a really pleasant flow state. All of my time in the gym over the last couple months makes the 55 degree slab feel even more shallow than usual, and I move up the rock with little effort, really glad that I decided to get outside. Once I join the North Arete, I pop over a bump in the ridge and am surprised to see a helmeted climber in the corner below me, fiddling with placing a stopper. I ask him if it's fine if I just jump over him (my usual tactic on this small ramp), he obliges with a smile, and a couple minutes later I'm seated on the summit, surprised that it's only taken me 14min. This is a typical time when I'm hitting the First regularly, but I thought I would be more rusty today.<br />
After the short downclimb, I decide to just hike back down to Chautauqua instead of running. My leg still hurts on downhills and I don't want to push it. The successful scramble mostly tempers my frustration, though, and all in all the short outing leaves me in a positive mood.</div>
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2/23/2014</div>
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<b>Sun - Second Flatiron</b><br />
In the morning, Boulder is cloaked in an icy inversion layer, which serves to thin the crowds up at Chautauqua. The fresh dusting of snow deters me from the First and I enjoy a spicy scamper up the Second Flatiron's Freeway route instead.<br />
This weekend, the Track and Field Indoor National Championships have been taking place down in Albuquerque, and I've been following the action on-line. I've been a hyper-geek about almost every aspect of the sport for almost 20 years now, but over the last decade--as more and more of my attention has been occupied by mountains--my interest has waned to a certain degree. Pure athletic performance inspires me, but there just seems to be less personality and compelling story-telling on the oval and the roads. I know that a certain one-dimensonality is required for success at the highest levels, but most of the sport's top athletes seem content to be portrayed as little more than generic robots.<br />
As such, I'm a bit torn when some fairly significant drama occurs during and after the women's 3000m (finally, a story with a little depth! but it all seems to just be a bunch of juicy gossip, too). Letsrun.com more than covers it---and, in my opinion---embarrasses itself a bit by continuing to position itself as the sport's leading tabloid (by being misguidedly convinced that they're merely "asking the hard questions"), but not even this can remove the fact that there does, indeed, seem to be a pretty glaring---daresay, even corrupt---double standard within USATF decisions at this track meet. Free Grunewald; she was clearly the best runner in the race yesterday.<br />
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Finally, I know I'm several years late to this bandwagon, but after owning literally only one of their songs for a few years ("Wet and Rusting"), I've really been enjoying Menomena's full catalog lately. A nice trio of tracks here:<br />
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Antonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11148317903654491236noreply@blogger.com124tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-451222917425507533.post-70405031299189266132014-01-06T08:32:00.001-07:002014-01-06T18:34:11.439-07:00Dec 30 - Jan 5<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
12/30/2013<br />
<b>Mon-AM: 2:04, 3000' ~ Green</b><br />
Up Bear Canyon and down Gregory-Ranger. Feeling pretty sluggish this morning, so I skipped Bear Peak and just jogged up the canyon instead.<br />
<br />
12/31/2013<br />
<b>Tue-AM: 2:11, 4500' ~ Bear & Green</b><br />
Did the usual loop, and it was super-warm out, probably upper-50s. Legs weren't as responsive as I would've liked, though, and the weather was hot enough to make me feel dehydrated and worked by the end.<br />
<b>PM: Climbing</b>, at Movement.<br />
<br />
1/1/2014<br />
<b>Wed-AM: 2:19, 4500' ~ Bear & Green</b><br />
Finally felt good on this run. My new apartment is a minute or two further from Chautauqua, making for the slower time, but I had a blast on this run, zipping up and down the vert instead of the usual slog.<br />
<b>PM: 0:54, 700' ~ Sunshine Canyon</b><br />
Easy out and back at dusk with Dan Kraft. Good to catch up.<br />
<br />
1/2/2014<br />
<b>Thu-AM: 2:19, 4500' ~ Bear & Green</b><br />
Up Fern and back over Green. Pretty tired today, probably need an easy day.<br />
<b>PM: Climbing</b>, at Movement.<br />
<br />
1/3/2014<br />
<b>Fri-AM: 2:25, 4500' ~ Bear & Green</b><br />
Usual loop up and over the two bumps. Trails a bit icy in spots, but mostly manageable. Gorgeous shirt-sleeves weather, but blustery on top of Bear. That should all change by tomorrow, though, with some fresh snow.<br />
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1/4/2014<br />
<b>Sat-AM: :34, 500' ~ Streets</b><br />
Sometimes you just need a rest. Suited up and ran up to Chautauqua in the on-going snowstorm, but after just a few minutes of slogging up the hill I could tell my legs had nothing. I've been tired all week; it wasn't a hard choice to take a break.<br />
<br />
1/5/2014<br />
<b>Sun-AM: 1:57, 3200' ~ Green</b><br />
Rest can do you good. After a bunch of sleep, I felt a lot better this morning; lots of fresh snow with more falling down meant it was a low-intensity day, though.<br />
<br />
<b>Hours: </b>14h40<br />
<b>Vert: </b> 25,400'<br />
<br />
This week was a good reminder that you can't skip any steps in the return to fitness. The previous week I had put in a serious bump in volume and this week I could feel myself needing to recover from that even though my mind wanted to be doing more. No worries, there's plenty of time; I just need to stay healthy and focus on doing sustainable training. This winter's schizophrenic weather continued this week. Highs close to +60F during the week gave way to single digit temps and close to a foot of fresh snow this weekend. It's all good, though; I love the variety.<br />
<br />
Seeing that 2013 is over, I suppose a little industrial tallying is expected: I spent <b>799h45min in the mountains, during which I ascended 1,257,850'</b>. Last year (2012) I had 5hr less volume but 160k' more vertical. I suspect this was because less of that vert was amassed on as technical routes as those I tackled in 2013 (both in terms of technical footing (talus, etc.) and technical climbing/scrambling (both roped and unroped on both snow and rock). I'm not going to count up exactly how many days I missed but there was at the very least a month's worth for injury (a nagging hip niggle last winter and then my UTMB-induced troubles this fall) and then more than another month's worth for general fatigue/end-of-season-rest, also this fall. Of course, in 2014, I'd love to implement more discipline and smarts to keep that time off due to only fatigue-related issues, not injury. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyNFegvhyesAOpoMlIiKCGL5Z6p7Plc_07refvN_7cplBz3hy_g5khu6ZSy9_jMpxIdy3v1FFTw7OOhCUQJxovFxI6LcY-2oU3zthzu3IFRWbk2CzgVHS9tQ9ns6GV3kwVAlutFiR4qgU/s1600/snowy_flatties.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyNFegvhyesAOpoMlIiKCGL5Z6p7Plc_07refvN_7cplBz3hy_g5khu6ZSy9_jMpxIdy3v1FFTw7OOhCUQJxovFxI6LcY-2oU3zthzu3IFRWbk2CzgVHS9tQ9ns6GV3kwVAlutFiR4qgU/s1600/snowy_flatties.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Snowy flatties.</td></tr>
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Antonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11148317903654491236noreply@blogger.com56tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-451222917425507533.post-50961807484819992014-01-01T15:32:00.000-07:002014-01-01T15:32:30.949-07:00 Dec 23 - 29<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
12/23/2013<br />
<b>Mon-AM: 2:18, 4500' ~ Bear & Green</b><br />
Easy loop over the peaks. Grunting up Fern Canyon was a little slower than normal due to a couple inches of fresh snow.<br />
<b>PM: 1:08, 2700' ~ 2nd Flatiron+Green</b><br />
Biked to Chautauqua and wasn't running until after 4:30pm, so most of this outing was in the dark. Scrambling the Freeway on the 2nd was fun, a little spicy with the dusting of snow on everything.<br />
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12/24/2013<br />
<b>Tue-AM: 1:37, 3000' ~ Green Mt.</b><br />
Up and out the door early before driving home to Nebraska for Christmas. Exceptionally windy morning, and my legs were a bit tired from yesterday's first double in a long time.<br />
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12/25/2013<br />
<b>Wed-AM: 3:35, 1800' ~ Verdigre Loop (Nebraska)</b><br />
Awesome run. At 32 miles this was the longest run I've ever done back home in Nebraska and it was a great way to spend Christmas morning. This is a 30mi loop, but when I was nearing the end I thought I might as well go a full 50K (in 3:28) and then jogged another mile as a cooldown. 10 mile splits were 69:20, 66:30, 64:50. Really fun to just get out and roll along at a steady pace for a few hours; definitely boosted my confidence a bit in my fitness. Also, I haven't done a run like this in a long time…a couple of years at least. I'm anticipating a couple races this year with lots of flattish running, so I might be doing a run like this fairly regularly here in the early season.<br />
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12/26/2013<br />
<b>Thu-AM: 2:02, 1000' ~ Nebraska</b><br />
Nice, easy recovery jog on one of my favorite 15 mile loops here in Nebraska. Felt good to get out and go easy on tight legs from yesterday.<br />
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12/27/2013<br />
<b>Fri-AM: 1:02, 600' ~ Nebraska</b><br />
Down to the river and back via the "Ethiopian Trail". Brilliant moonlight from a quarter-orb, and I even saw a shooting star. I love easy jogs like this at home.<br />
<b>PM: 2:16, 4500' ~ Bear & Green</b><br />
Back in Boulder after a long day of driving, but my legs felt fantastic as they often do in the evening after a morning run. Had to turn on my light once I entered Fern Canyon, and really enjoyed the unseasonably warm evening and having the trails all to myself. Shorts and a t-shirt.<br />
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12/28/2013<br />
<b>Sat-AM: 5:07, 5200' ~ Torreys & Grays</b><br />
Parked just off the highway with Joe and went up Kelso Ridge before making the trudge up Grays as well. Ugh. My first time above 9000' or so since August, and I could tell. Above 12k' I was struggling. Today was my first outing on my new skis, and I suppose I learned some things. We skinned up to basically the base of Kelso Ridge before ditching the skis and continuing on in our boots. Our boots are light, but it's nothing like scrambling in a pair of running shoes, haha. Skiing down the road at the end of the day was, of course, a nice pay-off.<br />
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12/29/2013<br />
<b>Sun-AM: 2:02, 3000' ~ Green Mt.</b><br />
Up Gregory-Ranger and down to Red Lion and back down the Creek Path. A few inches of fresh snow made for a nice low-intensity outing. Unexpectedly caught up to Jurker while heading down to the highway; nice to share some strides with him after not seeing much of each other the last few months.<br />
<b>AM2: Climbing</b> at Movement. Gym climbing is interesting; it's basically reducing the act of climbing to the pure kinesthetic/physical aspect, removing virtually all of the danger, uncertainty and route-finding of climbing on actual rock outside. Good for getting strong, that's for sure.<br />
<b>PM: 1:02, 200' ~ Creek Path</b><br />
Easy jog in the dark in the evening. Trying to re-boost the amount of actual running I'm doing this season.<br />
<br />
<b>Hours: </b>22h09min<br />
<b>Vert: </b>26,800'<br />
<br />
Really good week of running here. I had a pretty big boost in volume this week, and with all of the flatlander running back home in Nebraska even managed 130 miles or so. I can feel myself finally starting to build some fitness, but Saturday's outing up into the thin air was a rude reminder of the fact that I've spent most of the past month on the road at near sea-level elevations. Altitude acclimation will return quickly, though.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQyEFeLIEmL7mLbWP2wZwy7Elh53HxpW37tuEQqfH_wjHTQX03M2fkOVdIBQ2CekDxm6vMvNeMhNPp4SPNjACfDZtAXQFQX89FopPaR35Df_Ft9bT6B_aDiLAdl35VzRY5NsPWWctCVxw/s1600/farm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQyEFeLIEmL7mLbWP2wZwy7Elh53HxpW37tuEQqfH_wjHTQX03M2fkOVdIBQ2CekDxm6vMvNeMhNPp4SPNjACfDZtAXQFQX89FopPaR35Df_Ft9bT6B_aDiLAdl35VzRY5NsPWWctCVxw/s1600/farm.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Mom and Dad on the spread.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCWQb2LxfWUG10ZAYN9azA4wkldgz5yPzbZYCK4iErUoCZJHDx7wA6Z-WjKNUfU9mrIuNKK9cKKjy5VvkQ5VMorGe5xM30B1unWR0jMiAEaKOnkydgHU9A0dTY9CMJ7W6WhyphenhyphenFwZzUaStE/s1600/joe_kelso.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCWQb2LxfWUG10ZAYN9azA4wkldgz5yPzbZYCK4iErUoCZJHDx7wA6Z-WjKNUfU9mrIuNKK9cKKjy5VvkQ5VMorGe5xM30B1unWR0jMiAEaKOnkydgHU9A0dTY9CMJ7W6WhyphenhyphenFwZzUaStE/s1600/joe_kelso.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Joe cruising up Kelso Ridge on Torreys Peak on Saturday.</td></tr>
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Antonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11148317903654491236noreply@blogger.com60tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-451222917425507533.post-25668469099777334192013-12-23T12:53:00.000-07:002014-01-01T15:32:56.953-07:00Dec 16 - 22<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
12/16/2013<br />
<b>Mon-AM: 1:31, 1300' ~ Collinsville out and back</b><br />
Ran the roads from Joel's Dad's house in Connecticut. Really enjoyed this run for some reason even though it was cold and 100% on pavement. Nice climbs in and out of the Farmington River valley.<br />
<br />
12/17/2013<br />
<b>Tue-AM: 0:31, 200' ~ Avon, CT</b><br />
About +10F and snowing. Just a quick road spin in the morning before we drove down to NYC for the film screening that evening.<br />
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12/18/2013<br />
<b>Wed-PM: 1:55, 4300' ~ Bear & Green</b><br />
Had an early morning flight back from NYC, so when I got back to Boulder I immediately headed to Chautauqua with <a href="http://www.alpine-works.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Joe</span></a> to revel in the stunning +60F weather. So good to be back in the mountains, grunting up steep hills, in the evening light.<br />
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12/19/2013<br />
<b>Thu-AM: 2:15, 4500' ~ Bear & Green</b><br />
From my apartment, then the usual loop up Fern, down the West Ridge, and then up and over Green. Still nice and warm in the morning.<br />
<br />
12/20/2013<br />
<b>Fri-AM: 2:18, 4500' ~ Bear & Green</b><br />
Same exact run as yesterday except that I finished by descending Flagstaff. Also, there was an awesome inversion layer of clouds that I climbed out of at approximately the Nebelhorn in Fern Canyon and then descended back into while coming back down Flagstaff Mt. Flew to Seattle in the afternoon.<br />
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12/21/2013<br />
<b>Sat-AM: 3:07, 5600' ~ Mt. Teneriffe & Mt. Si</b><br />
With Martin. Parked at the schoolbus turnaround (I think) and ran up to the Kamikaze Waterfalls and then marched up the super-aesthetic SW ridge of Teneriffe on a fantastic goat path. Such a perfect line. The last couple thousand feet of vert had snow on it with some real postholing near the ~4800' summit. I was surprised at how sweet the summit was; big drops in all directions. Descended pretty blindly down through the snow and trees and fog trying to hit a certain logging road. Eventually found it and commenced the shin-deep snow slog over towards Si. We ended up missing a turn and descending the logging road an extra 500' of vert (and 25min or so) but eventually realized our mistake and made our way back up and over to Si, another surprisingly aesthetic summit, but not much to see in all the clouds. The descent down the super-popular Mt. Si trail back to the road was a total shred-fest, so smooth and a perfect grade for running hard. Ran the extra mile+ on the road back to our car to finish off the outing. Longest run I've done since UTMB and I came away with a much greater appreciation for the Seattle area's mountain offerings.<br />
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12/22/2013<br />
<b>Sun-AM: 2:08, 1500' ~ Seattle urban trails</b><br />
Group run from the Fleet Feet store. Went all over the city, connecting all sorts of great little pieces of trail and hitting Pioneer Park, Volunteer Park, and the Arboretum. I think. Classic foggy/misty weather. I had an extra 30min or so of running getting to and from the store from my hotel.<br />
<br />
<b>Hours:</b> 13h45min<br />
<b>Vert:</b> 21,900'<br />
<br />
Really solid week, especially considering all the traveling. I'm still just trying to find a rhythm in my training again, but it's great feeling that at least the energy is there to do it. I'll admit, I ended up being a bit surprised by Seattle. I was treated to the classic misty/foggy gloom of winter there, but I was very impressed with the mountains that are available not unreasonably far from the city center. Back when I was first inspired by ultras (the late 90s and early 2000s), Seattle was this almost mythical place in my mind where it seemed all the sport's best lived and trained. Jurker, Hal, Torrence, McCoubrey, Uli, Kochik, the whole Seattle Running Company scene, etc., etc., etc….in high school I would read about Scott doing repeats on Mt. Si or traversing the summits of Tiger in preparation for Western States and it would fuel my curiosity for the sport. What could it be like to do a 35mi/10,000' <i>training run</i>? As such, it was pretty cool to finally get out there and see some of the hills and paths myself. It seems like the Cascades themselves really deserve some attention during the summer season as well, at some point.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHck0g9xN-WxkIy6HrP0_sdCBW32FvdKFpGvH3e1SJj930TC7uE5SLikhRfjwRxNNZSWpujEYpc5lQvhZmFuG6mJtUgoVZGTmk_olGBWfzZa5sLSbIBzfiV08KfqNK810cHOnLDGFsBHA/s1600/newEngland-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHck0g9xN-WxkIy6HrP0_sdCBW32FvdKFpGvH3e1SJj930TC7uE5SLikhRfjwRxNNZSWpujEYpc5lQvhZmFuG6mJtUgoVZGTmk_olGBWfzZa5sLSbIBzfiV08KfqNK810cHOnLDGFsBHA/s1600/newEngland-1.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Heublein Tower on Talcott Mt in Connecticut from last weekend. Photo: Joel Wolpert.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSUUqUIwMf1-t-GljjS7A-HjAJFwPJk3Hfqp8MoJ9jqlOtuSR_H9Nl1mQOcD0UQK1brfNK5KRRQjfT4Loxy1qcNM0w5S2BYAvqtA-YCR7LkQvumKYt0RtBg3yFisqNFcpz_7z-Zdknl6Y/s1600/newEngland-1-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSUUqUIwMf1-t-GljjS7A-HjAJFwPJk3Hfqp8MoJ9jqlOtuSR_H9Nl1mQOcD0UQK1brfNK5KRRQjfT4Loxy1qcNM0w5S2BYAvqtA-YCR7LkQvumKYt0RtBg3yFisqNFcpz_7z-Zdknl6Y/s1600/newEngland-1-2.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Metacomet Trail on Talcott Mt in Connecticut. Photo: Joel Wolpert.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguBoT7IgQi8vKI3fzj6N9fBSdulSwq5QIIUqd7Kilt6nNZQQ8UyihDqq_lHwwczqekO7q9IiEZujCwJoEd_HO_OF7mvomCgRvXQagodbszD9_J_Q3WC-arhhjFiiiboSC13EMXskPcwus/s1600/newEngland-17.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguBoT7IgQi8vKI3fzj6N9fBSdulSwq5QIIUqd7Kilt6nNZQQ8UyihDqq_lHwwczqekO7q9IiEZujCwJoEd_HO_OF7mvomCgRvXQagodbszD9_J_Q3WC-arhhjFiiiboSC13EMXskPcwus/s1600/newEngland-17.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">NYC Subway. Photo: Joel Wolpert.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb_oXI0Bn3Wb0NnsqbLkbly4ny-yxMgaA3fwPIC19MhdM_-cZL7Q7cpQEcNzrujdk3GDFNKUHotGIxA2nRrST0pWJyZUGaSNiiYv3IlkxrSTylX-IET0SB7duZAvf0UXVwdle8_Upg0qI/s1600/posthole2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb_oXI0Bn3Wb0NnsqbLkbly4ny-yxMgaA3fwPIC19MhdM_-cZL7Q7cpQEcNzrujdk3GDFNKUHotGIxA2nRrST0pWJyZUGaSNiiYv3IlkxrSTylX-IET0SB7duZAvf0UXVwdle8_Upg0qI/s1600/posthole2.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Martin postholing just below the summit of Mt. Teneriffe.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghiz3cI6g48gMdRVlk8wmbSFH-wUAuB0oWUc1AAeMNh25Vc5js-ECNBYcZcHEY4wu0DfeB4yD8WVP072NlZj65469oHLZTwqRtSBJnbYsw5L35R3q7a6cZq2qKkNKIvWb8MzluG5VtXNk/s1600/teneriffe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghiz3cI6g48gMdRVlk8wmbSFH-wUAuB0oWUc1AAeMNh25Vc5js-ECNBYcZcHEY4wu0DfeB4yD8WVP072NlZj65469oHLZTwqRtSBJnbYsw5L35R3q7a6cZq2qKkNKIvWb8MzluG5VtXNk/s1600/teneriffe.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Martin on the summit of Teneriffe.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm1uHkk4ZgKXaO-ittefI8S-jcxya3G5Qu4gNjSmq_UT-DpMPAol0amCpjnKVRwc2Uhyphenhyphen6kRp_v0Ku1fGpU4DkxbS4zVaueEuaU5iGtTd0c1gL_sif-uzoKCE2eoMH7UuLDZiGdbB7LndY/s1600/haystack.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm1uHkk4ZgKXaO-ittefI8S-jcxya3G5Qu4gNjSmq_UT-DpMPAol0amCpjnKVRwc2Uhyphenhyphen6kRp_v0Ku1fGpU4DkxbS4zVaueEuaU5iGtTd0c1gL_sif-uzoKCE2eoMH7UuLDZiGdbB7LndY/s1600/haystack.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">The "haystack" that makes up the summit of Mt. Si.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjov4yLn-J402uhARFUFTtH0lrGkb08XAxcQ6R78LjEZrrbsgZ2XqPhCLRAdOiz4OK0n8hxFT0gSK5FBQFMbykXquHCeyIK3H7usJrEvkZ_8CUXx44mNMTSC8Ed7O1hyM8nfD7uZ_Ndu9w/s1600/trail.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjov4yLn-J402uhARFUFTtH0lrGkb08XAxcQ6R78LjEZrrbsgZ2XqPhCLRAdOiz4OK0n8hxFT0gSK5FBQFMbykXquHCeyIK3H7usJrEvkZ_8CUXx44mNMTSC8Ed7O1hyM8nfD7uZ_Ndu9w/s1600/trail.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Descending the idyllic standard Mt. Si trail.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKbjBveUBr68jZU4T7qCzOC0I07xXp7l9vgdaH7bwEd6rJjrRbXEUYM6IDuj-jz2wIOKVroI70CvgaZYmdGIHi123J-zgk6tYZlMyB7asPSuaMrrNYr0SyeJj6zK9Y3CnnID_DUr3Pi-s/s1600/bonk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKbjBveUBr68jZU4T7qCzOC0I07xXp7l9vgdaH7bwEd6rJjrRbXEUYM6IDuj-jz2wIOKVroI70CvgaZYmdGIHi123J-zgk6tYZlMyB7asPSuaMrrNYr0SyeJj6zK9Y3CnnID_DUr3Pi-s/s1600/bonk.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Martin super-psyched to be at the trailhead after suffering an epic bonk.</td></tr>
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Antonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11148317903654491236noreply@blogger.com44tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-451222917425507533.post-6877372668053072862013-12-16T14:39:00.000-07:002013-12-16T14:39:22.710-07:00Dec 9 - 15<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
12/9/2013<br />
<b>Mon-AM: 2:04, 4300' ~ Bear & Green</b><br />
Ran from Chat with Joe. Up Fern, down the West Ridge of Bear, and then up and over Green before completing the loop. Great day out in perfectly-packed snow conditions.<br />
<br />
12/10/2013<br />
<b>Tue-AM: 2:07, 4300' ~ Bear & Green</b><br />
Same exact run as yesterday with Joe again, but today the wind had blown in all the trails making for pretty miserable footing the whole way. Warm enough to be out in shorts, though, which was a treat given the past week-plus of frigid temps.<br />
<br />
12/11/2013<br />
<b>Wed - 0</b><br />
Ended up being a day off after an early flight and long day of travel. I was okay with that as my achilles has been a little tight.<br />
<br />
12/12/2013<br />
<b>Thu-AM: 1:06, 1200' ~ Trapp Family Lodge, Stowe VT</b><br />
Parked at the lodge and did an out and back on pretty deserted dirt/snow roads. +8F temps. Slippery snow was tough on the achilles and soleus.<br />
<br />
12/13/2013<br />
<b>Fri-AM: 1:16, 1000' ~ Blue Hills, Boston MA</b><br />
Met up with Mike, Seamus, Josh, Eric, and Sam for a spin around this trail system near the city. Snow, cold, and icy but lots of fun with enthusiastic tour guides.<br />
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12/14/2013<br />
<b>Sat-AM: 1:24, 1300' ~ Avon, Connecticut</b><br />
Ran some streets and snowy trails with Joel. Achilles seems to be feeling a bit better, which is nice. Cold and snowing.<br />
<br />
12/15/2013<br />
<b>Sun-AM: 1:49, 1300' ~ Talcott Mt, Connecticut</b><br />
Out and back on the Metacomet trail starting from Reservoir #6 and going past the Heublein Tower on the way to Highway 185, and back. With Joel. Plowing/postholing through ~8" of fresh, crusty snow. Fun outing.<br />
<br />
<b>Hours:</b> 9h46min<br />
<b>Vert:</b> 13,400'<br />
<br />
Decent week, considering being on the road. My body seems to be re-adjusting to being a runner again---various familiar aches and pains are working their way through---and all this time away from home has me more motivated than ever to get back and get into a fitness-building routine. I'm really really excited about 2014. Having said that, I'm almost always pleasantly surprised by the running options I'm offered when I'm on the road, and this past week I enjoyed getting a small taste of what the northeast has to offer. After this trip, my interest in the Mt. Washington Road Race and a Presidential Range Traverse in New Hampshire is certainly piqued.<br />
<br />
Before I can really get into a consistent routine, however, there are two more stops I need to make: <u><a href="http://www.symphonyspace.org/event/8230/Film/in-the-high-country--nyc-premiere-showing" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Tuesday evening at the Symphony Space in Manhattan</span></a></u>, and <u><a href="http://www.fleetfeetseattle.com/news/anton-krupicka-weekend-with-fleet-feet-and-seattle-running-club" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">next Saturday and Sunday at Fleet Feet in Seattle</span></a></u>. Should be good.<br />
<br />
Finally, I need to mention a congratulations to Dan Kraft for a break-out 4th-place run on a big stage at the TNF50 Championships last weekend. Dan is the latest promising MUT runner to come out of Colorado College (my alma mater) in the last few years, following on the heels of <u><a href="http://www.irunfar.com/2013/11/on-a-roll-with-alex-nichols.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Alex Nichols</span></a></u> and <u><a href="http://www.irunfar.com/2013/12/sky-rocket-stevie-kremer-interviewed.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Stevie Kremer</span></a></u>. Alex and Dan have both paced/crewed for me at the Leadville 100, and Stevie was the same year as me at CC. Dan had previously had impressive runs at the Imogene Pass Run (17mi) and Bridger Ridge Run (20mi) in both 2012 and 2013, so it was super cool to see him flawlessly step up to the 50mi distance. It looks like XC Coach Ted Castaneda's Monday mountain runs have had a lasting impact on more than one runner.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUAoHkAvu7qchdqBDmPrVIjPsqEqoiDEKuU2gddleP1oeiKkBn_Z-ZuARF0iOOFRhgfGdxyIZXdUrRkNTatoeBYWngQytf1kKD49KMkq1KquKiqAtP1XU-2Wh0zly-Mp-2ZVFE03NMzHQ/s1600/gnarnia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUAoHkAvu7qchdqBDmPrVIjPsqEqoiDEKuU2gddleP1oeiKkBn_Z-ZuARF0iOOFRhgfGdxyIZXdUrRkNTatoeBYWngQytf1kKD49KMkq1KquKiqAtP1XU-2Wh0zly-Mp-2ZVFE03NMzHQ/s1600/gnarnia.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Descending Green Mt on Monday with Joe. Photo: Joe Grant.</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirxjdqp5SwBuVRtt762MADyw-028gxWh8oztMZtNodkjUanv9PKdXveZCQI4lzepguUPGoTT2eusk7vBVk31_DUIXJSxKOaeMaSuELnw4Lgjr0b9OJw0K08EXRR4IdmGu2ezFGk_DZ9zs/s1600/boston1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirxjdqp5SwBuVRtt762MADyw-028gxWh8oztMZtNodkjUanv9PKdXveZCQI4lzepguUPGoTT2eusk7vBVk31_DUIXJSxKOaeMaSuELnw4Lgjr0b9OJw0K08EXRR4IdmGu2ezFGk_DZ9zs/s1600/boston1.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Boston jaunt in the Blue Hills Friday morning. Photo: Sam Jurek. </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ2ajn350LL03_ekVksU5qJDkXFZHBHrzUY42pCXnemHlBIRKuV-XQMnmqrVupZt6tMAaMKAVzjj6Tr2gBY3AbiYhkeAcEfY3fhJcQ60m0j5I02dLSuFDI6A16936baax0s_dygq4IEpU/s1600/boston_top.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ2ajn350LL03_ekVksU5qJDkXFZHBHrzUY42pCXnemHlBIRKuV-XQMnmqrVupZt6tMAaMKAVzjj6Tr2gBY3AbiYhkeAcEfY3fhJcQ60m0j5I02dLSuFDI6A16936baax0s_dygq4IEpU/s1600/boston_top.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Top of the run with the full crew: Mike, Josh, Eric, and Sam (and Seamus behind the camera).</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiixgHKruC67hoFAJvw2pqsaPpdypryM8-5zKyOBk-oBcbNw4KjpgwO1MFvPgbLO0F4hkS9NCuVDmi2N9hFOkIqU1NOIIlPQppsTEKesvniIyU1ddMuQa7q43OaSe-59udeosHdHbn30xY/s1600/boston2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiixgHKruC67hoFAJvw2pqsaPpdypryM8-5zKyOBk-oBcbNw4KjpgwO1MFvPgbLO0F4hkS9NCuVDmi2N9hFOkIqU1NOIIlPQppsTEKesvniIyU1ddMuQa7q43OaSe-59udeosHdHbn30xY/s1600/boston2.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Headed back to the car. Photo: Sam Jurek.</td></tr>
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Antonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11148317903654491236noreply@blogger.com34tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-451222917425507533.post-72345531701998585722013-12-09T08:58:00.006-07:002013-12-09T15:47:26.652-07:00Dec 2 - 8<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
12/2/2013<br />
<b>Mon-AM: 0:32, 500' ~ Sunshine Canyon</b><br />
Out and back on the basically flat trail that goes up the Canyon. Still clearing some congestion out of my sinuses and still mostly deaf (ear infection that caused blisters on my ear drums), but I could tell that the run wasn't doing any harm.<br />
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12/3/2013<br />
<b>Tue-AM: 0:44, 1200' ~ Sunshine-Red Rocks</b><br />
Just a loop up the canyon and back up over the hill. First foray into some vert felt good. I love running.<br />
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12/4/2013<br />
<b>Wed-AM: 1:34, 1800' ~ Sanitas</b><br />
Took the back way up Sanitas in the -5F temps and fresh snow and then finished up with a big loop on the streets to extend the time. I forgot how much I love running in winter.<br />
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12/5/2013<br />
<b>Thu-AM: 1:31, 3000' ~ Green</b><br />
Ran to Chat and then up and down the mountain. More cold weather and snow, tons of fun.<br />
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12/6/2013<br />
<b>Fri-AM: 1:34, 3000' ~ Green</b><br />
Another lap on Green, pretty much exactly the same as yesterday except the route was a little more packed.<br />
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12/7/2013<br />
<b>Sat-AM: 1:58, 3200' ~ Green</b><br />
Up the mountain and then down Bear Canyon and back to Chat before running home. But these inversion layers make it super cold after descending the mountain.<br />
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12/8/2013<br />
<b>Sun-AM: 1:58, 3200' ~ Green</b><br />
Exact same run as yesterday but it was noticeably warmer than the last few days at +12F. Funny how 15 degrees can make things feel so much more comfortable.<br />
<br />
<b>Hours:</b> 9h51min<br />
<b>Vert: </b>15,900'<br />
<br />
Such a relief to start back running this week and finally feel that my legs are back under me for the first time since UTMB. Running is so much fun.<br />
<br />
The Hardrock lottery on Saturday was, of course, a disappointment for me---I'd be so psyched to join that field at the front---but so it goes. As such, my 2014 plans have solidified a little more. I'm planning on heading out to Moab in February for the early season classic Red Hot 55K as a tune-up before the 125K Transgrancanaria on March 1st. I haven't decided about April yet, but I very much expect to race Transvulcania in May, maybe Zegama, and then probably another crack at Nolans 14 in June before Speedgoat and UTMB in July and August. TGC, Nolans, and UTMB will be the focus efforts for the year.<br />
<br />
This next week, I'm heading out to the northeast with <u><a href="http://www.thewolpertinger.com/" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Joel Wolpert</span></a></u> for a trio of "In The High Country" film screenings in:<br />
<u><a href="http://www.eventbrite.com/e/in-the-high-country-screening-and-qa-tickets-tickets-9505181253" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Burlington, VT (11th)</span></a></u><br />
<u><a href="https://www.eventbrite.com/e/in-the-high-country-screening-and-qa-tickets-9344889817" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Boston (13th)</span></a></u><br />
<u><a href="http://www.symphonyspace.org/event/8230/Film/in-the-high-country--nyc-premiere-showing" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">New York City (17th)</span></a></u><br />
Click the links for ticket information.<br />
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Antonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11148317903654491236noreply@blogger.com98tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-451222917425507533.post-66039537543880889952013-09-30T19:23:00.000-06:002013-09-30T19:23:21.448-06:00Looking Back, Looking Ahead<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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What a weird summer. After <a href="http://blog.ultimatedirection.com/utmb-2013/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">spending the last month of summer in Europe</span></a>, the night I returned was the beginning of the torrential rains here in Boulder and the next night I was evacuated from my apartment. Honestly, other than losing electricity in my apartment for over a week, I was personally essentially unaffected by the deluge that tore apart the northern Front Range of Colorado. Many people's lives were---if not completely torn apart---at least massively disrupted. I feel fortunate, especially considering the location of my home on the west side of town at the mouth of Boulder Canyon only a few dozen yards from the creek.</div>
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In the wake of the destruction and subsequent closure of all of Boulder's iconic open space, I escaped north last week to visit my sister in Wyoming. She and her husband (and my three week old nephew!) live only a 1hr20 drive from the Lupine Meadows Trailhead, so any time I'm up there it feels like a crime if I don't drive over for some fun in Teton National Park.</div>
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As I drove into the valley I was treated to a spectacular display of alpenglow on the high peaks, but they were also shrouded in thick clouds and a fresh coat of snow reaching all the way down to 8500' or so. Scrambling the perpetually iced-up chimneys of the Grand Teton's Owen-Spalding route is tenuous enough in splitter conditions, so I quickly changed my plans to instead run maybe the most classic trail loop in the park---a link-up of Cascade Canyon and Paintbrush Canyon via the Paintbrush Divide. From my parking spot at Lupine Meadows, this ~25mi outing on buffed trails would hopefully test my compromised achilles and hamstring but not hurt them.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU8wYQ1Llspa8RoTkm7NvWCxy2nC78TWiUdBY5UT8tCzpFsHUypfmNjkHptKK_lUW3i255iH9ZFTsqBEcKHFR9wJZhMvY173yljCjLwNEJ9-Dq-L4BYBihtTyYiSTpnMEdUaCb_-bDKUA/s1600/cascade.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU8wYQ1Llspa8RoTkm7NvWCxy2nC78TWiUdBY5UT8tCzpFsHUypfmNjkHptKK_lUW3i255iH9ZFTsqBEcKHFR9wJZhMvY173yljCjLwNEJ9-Dq-L4BYBihtTyYiSTpnMEdUaCb_-bDKUA/s640/cascade.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Fall colors in Cascade Canyon.</td></tr>
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The first time I ran this loop was seven years ago, July 2006. I had yet to run an ultra of any kind, but I was in the midst of a six-week gap between the end of college classes and the beginning of a new job so had lots of time to run in the mountains. A friend was driving to Montana to visit family, so I tagged along, sharing the driving and having her drop me in the park for a few days of running and camping, to be picked up again on her return to Colorado.</div>
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I'd visited the Tetons with my family 10 or 12 years earlier, but this was my first time as a runner. On my first foray up Paintbrush Canyon, I was surprised and a bit dismayed to encounter significant snowfields still covering the trail high up in the canyon. Back home in Colorado, I'd been running to 14,000' without snow for almost a month, what was this? Despite this, I completed the loop the next day as well, in the opposite direction, and came away from the week with a couple conclusions: 1) I really enjoyed really long runs in the mountains (these outings were only the third or fourth times I'd run for more than 4hr), and 2) the Tetons were not your typical Colorado talus heaps. They held snow a lot longer and featured an abundance of dramatic granite faces, spires and ridges. It would be a puzzling six years before I made it back to the Tetons, but in that time I had made good on my resolution to try out this whole mountain ultra running thing. It's funny how much things can change in a relatively short amount of time.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihBuOI9xQJh14hARyeZ_2MCMOGdyy2ZNhVOBIubnKGSiGBcZnnvjRS47v3XxrN7A0bYTpjbyHNiJEBrAZHA6iPpeZ9tdDtpHUQqO_GpSe9ahgh-l0Niq40sc7_Y4x1eAN3HZM-6C_PwRk/s1600/divide.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihBuOI9xQJh14hARyeZ_2MCMOGdyy2ZNhVOBIubnKGSiGBcZnnvjRS47v3XxrN7A0bYTpjbyHNiJEBrAZHA6iPpeZ9tdDtpHUQqO_GpSe9ahgh-l0Niq40sc7_Y4x1eAN3HZM-6C_PwRk/s640/divide.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">A ray of sunlight breaks through the low clouds in the North Fork of Cascade Canyon.</td></tr>
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As it would turn out, last week's run of Cascade and Paintbrush Canyons in the Tetons was a nice trip down memory lane, but it wasn't very good on the physical side of things. I had no energy on the long, gradual uphill into the clouds and snow on the Paintbrush Divide, and once I headed downhill, it became obvious that my hamstring was nowhere near being able to comfortably handle an outing of this length, with that much continuous running. And the next morning, my achilles was frustratingly tight, clearly upset with the longer effort. The injuries that caused my drop at UTMB were still lingering and my energy levels had also seemed to descend into the end-of-summer malaise that I predictably experience every September/October. The only sensible thing to do was to take more time off, so I did.</div>
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Despite not being ready to race at UROC this past weekend, it was still a lot of fun chasing the leaders from aid station to aid station and watching the action unfold. I found the men's podium performances to be particularly inspiring and I can't wait to get back out there. While the mountains will always be my primary motivation, racing is an aspect of running that I really enjoy---I simply love competing, laying it all out there, and going as hard as I can, and you never get as much out of yourself as you do when you're amongst it, being pushed by your fellow competitors. This summer has left me quite unsatisfied on the competitive front, so I'm pretty motivated to pursue that next year.</div>
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Today marked one full month since UTMB, and in that month I only ran 10 times, taking two weeks completely off after the race. An hour jog this morning revealed some exciting pep in my legs, though, and with the First Flatiron finally being re-opened over the weekend (oddly, all trails and climbing was closed due to flood damage), I couldn't resist summiting this afternoon in the magnificent fall weather.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ6yUaPTbZ9-uXMJqf-75r9KLeXojyHvx6Sn6CC3Bo95CvTD0iTkeFKRfMUvIoMPyZEeX0qrFMEaDxuXpxH40CGbVTupr64kHIIDGCFK_D5fcNs44cM9RkM-V9JfSqtgWUQy6AdgT1Gx8/s1600/first_downclimb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ6yUaPTbZ9-uXMJqf-75r9KLeXojyHvx6Sn6CC3Bo95CvTD0iTkeFKRfMUvIoMPyZEeX0qrFMEaDxuXpxH40CGbVTupr64kHIIDGCFK_D5fcNs44cM9RkM-V9JfSqtgWUQy6AdgT1Gx8/s1600/first_downclimb.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Downclimb on the backside of the First Flatiron. Photo: Joe Grant.</td></tr>
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Before I begin training in earnest, however, later this week I'll be hitting the road for <u><a href="http://thewolpertinger.wordpress.com/ithc/" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">a spate of screenings of </span></a></u><i><u><a href="http://thewolpertinger.wordpress.com/ithc/" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">In The High Country</span></a></u>. </i>I'll jog my way through that, but when I return it will have been six weeks since UTMB and I know I'll be super excited to begin ramping the training back up in earnest and hopefully start re-building some fitness. </div>
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Antonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11148317903654491236noreply@blogger.com59tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-451222917425507533.post-86732447182953156562013-08-27T10:23:00.004-06:002013-08-27T14:01:39.210-06:00Aug 12 - 25<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
8/12/2013<br />
<b>Mon - 1:52, 3000' ~ First Flatiron+Green Mt.</b><br />
Got up early enough that I had to wait about 5min at the base of the First for it to get light enough to climb it. Pretty slow ascent, then, but good to get it in before getting on a plane to France. Descended over Flagstaff back to my apartment.<br />
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8/13/2013<br />
<b>Tue - off.</b><br />
Wanted to go for a jog in Les Houches in the afternoon/evening to shake off the jet-lag, but I was suffering temporary semi-blindness from unknowingly putting hydrogen peroxide in my eyes. Don't do that.<br />
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8/14/2013<br />
<b>Wed - 2:07, 5000' ~ Brevent, Chamonix</b><br />
Cruised up and down the local hill with <a href="http://www.alpine-works.com/" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Joe</span></a>. The last 1000' or so were in a cloud, so it was quite chilly and the big views across the valley to the Mt. Blanc massif were obscured. Thankfully, my eyes seem to have recovered despite waking with them crusted shut.<br />
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8/15/2013<br />
<b>Thu-AM: 8:25, 14,000' ~ Les Houches to Courmayeur, UTMB course</b><br />
The BUFF house is just outside of Les Houches, 2mi from the base of the Voza climb on the UTMB course, so Joe and I started our tour around the mountain from there. Overall, the day went really well---there were a few navigational errors on the descent into St. Gervais, but otherwise it was just a great day in the mountains, ~45mi or so. I was more than a little surprised at the smooth, gradual nature of almost the entire track, however. This is definitely a running race.<br />
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8/16/2013<br />
<b>Fri - 5:00, 9000' ~ Courmayeur to Champex-Lac, UTMB course</b><br />
Met Seb Chaigneau, Timmy and Krista outside the bus station in Courmayeur for our 29mi run over to Champex. Seb and I ran together all day, enjoying epic views of the backside of the Mt. Blanc massif much of the way. Got another room in a hostel in Champex that night. Pretty cush way to do a multi-day outing.<br />
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8/17/2013<br />
<b>Sat - 4:29, 6000' ~ Champex-Lac to Chamonix, UTMB course</b><br />
I woke up today with a gimpy hamstring, so just jogged easily back to Chamonix. Ended up taking the wrong climb out of Trient (went up to La Balme instead of Catogne), which meant I missed the final climb up to Flegere as well. Interestingly, I found this final 29mi of the course to be the most to my liking out of the whole loop. More steep, direct climbs and descents with less gradual terrain in between than earlier in the course.<br />
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8/18/2013<br />
<b>Sun - off. </b><br />
Left achilles and right hamstring were pretty dinged up, so decided to just take a day and make sure I recover.<br />
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<b>Hours:</b> 37,000'<br />
<b>Vert:</b> 21h53min<br />
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8/19/2013<br />
<b>Mon - off.</b><br />
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8/20/2013<br />
<b>Tue - :31, 250' ~ Les Houches</b><br />
Just jogged into Les Houches to test out my legs. Things are loosening up.<br />
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8/21/2013<br />
<b>Wed - 2:16, 5100' ~ Brevent</b><br />
Up and down this 8300' peak on the north side of the Chamonix valley. Took it easy just testing out my legs and dabbled in a little via feratta on the way up, nothing too interesting, though. It was a gorgeous day, however, and I was granted spectacular views over to the Mont Blanc massif that were obscured when Joe and I ran up here last week.<br />
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8/22/203<br />
<b>Thu - 6:08, 13,000' ~ Mont Blanc</b><br />
Up and down the Gouter route, starting at the bottom of the Glacier du Bionassy/Bellivue Telepherique in Les Houches at 3300'. With a 15,781' summit and a few rollers along the way, it was a big vert day. The route involves very nice trail all the way up to the Grand Couloir at ~10,000' where the route crosses a gully prone to rockfall before ascending the 3rd Class ridge on it's climber's righthand side. After scrambling nearly 1000m of vert up this one gets to the Gouter hut at 12,600', whence begins the long trudge up flat to 35 degree snow slopes and ridges. I put on my Kahtoola KTS Steel crampons at about 13,500' as the snow was still fairly frozen at 10am, and trudged my way to the summit happy for the extra security these offered. After reaching the top in 3:54 from Les Houches I spent nearly a full hour on top enjoying the view and pristine weather. I was eventually joined by Seb Chaigneau and Joe and we soon descended. After a few hundred feet of descent along the bootpack track I could tell the snow was much softer than during the climb, so took off the crampons and enjoyed an unencumbered descent back down the mountain, dropping the nearly 13k' of vert in 2h14. Really rewarding summit.<br />
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8/23/2013<br />
<b>Fri - 2:24, 5400' ~ La Jonction</b><br />
This is a run from the valley floor up a spectacular ridge of forest and rock that splits two impressive glaciers--Bosson on the left and Taconnaz on the right. The summit of the ridge (8600') is where the two glaciers meet, thus the name. It is also the route of the first ascent of Mont Blanc, way back in 1786. Near the top of the ridge there is a plaque on a giant boulder under which the pioneering duo of Balmat and Paccard bivied during their first ascent. I love this kind of history. The run up was on fantastic trail and the views of the glaciers were breathtaking. We just don't have stuff like this in Colorado. Not to mention the vertical mile of climbing with thousands of feet of relief still above you.<br />
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8/24/2013<br />
<b>Sat - 2:44, 5500' ~ Gornergrat</b><br />
Last night Joe and I drove to Switzerland and hopped the mandatory train to Zermatt to spectate at the Matterhorn Ultraks 46K Skyrace, a first-year event. The course looked to be quite spectacular, so I opted to run to its highest point, the Gornergrat Observatory at 3100m (10,400'), getting in the standard vertical mile of relief. The course took a less-than-direct route to the summit, and the same with the descent back to town, but the views of Monte Rosa, the Matterhorn, Dent Blanche, and the Weisshorn were all stunning.<br />
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8/25/2013<br />
<b>Sun - 2:03, 3500' ~ Vallorcine to Chamonix</b><br />
Joe dropped me off in Vallorcine (~ mile 92 of the 104mi loop) and I ran the UTMB course back to Cham via Col des Montets, La Flegere, and La Floria. Steep climb with somewhat techy footing at times and the same on the descent to Flegere. Should be fun after nearly 20hrs on the legs. It was a misty, foggy, drizzly morning, as the last few days have been. After two weeks of bluebird days, the Chamonix valley is taking its usual late-August turn toward gloomy weather for race week.<br />
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<b>Hours:</b> 16h06min<br />
<b>Vert:</b> 32,750'<br />
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It's been a great couple of weeks, but I'm ready to just race this thing already. Resting before a big race always feels that way, though. I've had the usual little niggle here and there, but nothing really worth mentioning. I'm primed and ready to go, feeling like I've prepared pretty much the absolute best that I can. I'm really excited to race 100 miles against such a deep, international field on what I think is a very fair course. The track is overwhelmingly smooth and fast and not at high altitude, but the ~32k' of climbing should allow me to be competitive. In the past there has always been a lot of talk about how "the Alps are not like North American mountains". That is patently true. The vertical relief and the miles of glaciers and granite spires here is like nothing in the US. But the UTMB course never engages any of that. At all. It tends to roll through grassy hills instead. The Hardrock course is magnitudes more rugged and remote than anything the TMB covers. Nevertheless, I'm really looking forward to the extra energy that the runners are sure to receive any time we pass through the many villages on the route.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3APigHiI0D-OIhwIetfJhDw3NNPrnRoKGvQIySb8sR29DyDGUP6CX9j808iSZFgUvaMgawtmwDDTIkjspZ-7kBmGh_Snu1y8Misl0nzyr37W92R75r-YEeZWQjJMM25QrgZFtSQjdUjU/s1600/1174584_10153078269685316_1898545479_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3APigHiI0D-OIhwIetfJhDw3NNPrnRoKGvQIySb8sR29DyDGUP6CX9j808iSZFgUvaMgawtmwDDTIkjspZ-7kBmGh_Snu1y8Misl0nzyr37W92R75r-YEeZWQjJMM25QrgZFtSQjdUjU/s1600/1174584_10153078269685316_1898545479_n.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">My first run in Chamonix--descending from Le Brevent. Photo: Joe Grant.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifZG86W-duOA7SciQE58zOGLOq6c0fkTq5U-ltHEnnRn_p0zST6uEphp67EwXu86tDXElk_fCaTqsJ6l0Y_ljrJxltXQUGnGgng3eA2vkJxL14j2SRwdqrq346_0TYdL_SpmRUmS2q8Ug/s1600/col_ferret.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifZG86W-duOA7SciQE58zOGLOq6c0fkTq5U-ltHEnnRn_p0zST6uEphp67EwXu86tDXElk_fCaTqsJ6l0Y_ljrJxltXQUGnGgng3eA2vkJxL14j2SRwdqrq346_0TYdL_SpmRUmS2q8Ug/s1600/col_ferret.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Panorama of the Mt. Blanc massif from Grand Col Ferret (99km) before crossing from Italy into Switzerland..<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6N3DB7w3QYil5Ywv6Fn7dIG3yM1wh7p43IWAueDcvZSO1D78tiCmPNx70_KjwTyoU_NxVGe7ygqD65oHmT1em6SUPRYwn4SKMZQYX5PT0DRQWJ3njzu7tU754H4RuEatOrtvJmqLy3Hg/s1600/dru.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6N3DB7w3QYil5Ywv6Fn7dIG3yM1wh7p43IWAueDcvZSO1D78tiCmPNx70_KjwTyoU_NxVGe7ygqD65oHmT1em6SUPRYwn4SKMZQYX5PT0DRQWJ3njzu7tU754H4RuEatOrtvJmqLy3Hg/s1600/dru.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Aiguille Verte (behind) and the Dru, just up-valley from Chamonix.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuZtRghJxPRtGQKEj39iGr3i1sBIo9fFUM-2T3OAROpnGtlhBtFKdy395BUCrNC4QtoSajn9blpxQz3U-hpOdaJBqPwM1kWx2G5RmKEjf43eoDv_XutJIlWbqXMFjMWUAv8hHeFdUO0fk/s1600/seb_summit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuZtRghJxPRtGQKEj39iGr3i1sBIo9fFUM-2T3OAROpnGtlhBtFKdy395BUCrNC4QtoSajn9blpxQz3U-hpOdaJBqPwM1kWx2G5RmKEjf43eoDv_XutJIlWbqXMFjMWUAv8hHeFdUO0fk/s1600/seb_summit.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Businessman Seb on the summit of Mont Blanc.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVr-k4wPGZfaZh4yJ-KOi3wp1HOQ989UNiYeQoGV2AsMKvCOrPmOuapTudmtHzGuMJ4vbQiTHbwuFBs_YpqZt_ynanepZnZXmNGJn3Aeu0o73eYbRNwNt3Kz2f1bIn7EaiQl35lTIC4AY/s1600/gorner1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVr-k4wPGZfaZh4yJ-KOi3wp1HOQ989UNiYeQoGV2AsMKvCOrPmOuapTudmtHzGuMJ4vbQiTHbwuFBs_YpqZt_ynanepZnZXmNGJn3Aeu0o73eYbRNwNt3Kz2f1bIn7EaiQl35lTIC4AY/s1600/gorner1.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Nearly to the top of the Gornergrat, high above Zermatt with the Weisshorn behind. Photo: Laurent Court.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihmVeYm0Pt5iuwSFl6d5csOqmp_ef2JFBatI0TNADAmBQprDJ2xfbsShduLhGzf4avrp2wnp_5lfxrSUwLP9g478u0MM2MGSHqe9nhlBVP73A6GyQ_Xjkls6nJHso9GfkAuTmSHeo5w6k/s1600/999851_622904141083553_1530259536_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihmVeYm0Pt5iuwSFl6d5csOqmp_ef2JFBatI0TNADAmBQprDJ2xfbsShduLhGzf4avrp2wnp_5lfxrSUwLP9g478u0MM2MGSHqe9nhlBVP73A6GyQ_Xjkls6nJHso9GfkAuTmSHeo5w6k/s1600/999851_622904141083553_1530259536_n.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">At the Casa de BUFF outside of Les Houches. Photo: Jordi Saragossa.</td></tr>
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Antonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11148317903654491236noreply@blogger.com246tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-451222917425507533.post-71045924714706909222013-08-11T23:21:00.003-06:002014-01-06T18:43:03.867-07:00Aug 5 - 11<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
8/5/2013<br />
<b>Mon-AM: 2:36, 5000' ~ Mt. Almagre (12,400')</b><br />
Parked at the lot above Helen Hunt Falls again (7500') and ran up 7 Bridges to the N. Cheyenne Creek trail, which becomes a proper goat path after you leave Pipeline and stay next to the creek. Made it to the dam at 12k' in 1:23 and then continued on to the north summit, reaching it at 1:37. Kind of a cool hint in the air that felt ever-so-slightly like fall is on the way. Descended the exact same way I came up.<br />
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8/6/2013<br />
<b>Tue-AM: 7:35, 13,000' ~ Pikes Peak-Intemann-Sect. 16-666-Buckhorn-High Drive-Sect. 16-Intemman</b><br />
Decided to take advantage of the smooth, runnable Springs trails to get in a proper running long run in preparation for UTMB (most of my longer efforts the last couple of years have included large chunks of hiking and/or scrambling that don't provide quite the same sustained training effect of running every step, in my opinion). Parked at Memorial Park in Manitou Springs and started off the day with a Pikes Peak Marathon in 4:09, 2:34 ascent and 1:35 descent. Running up Ruxton, I bumped into Peter Maksimow and we ran to Barr Camp together in 1:19 from the starting line (68min from Hydro), chatting all the way. I appreciated the early company on what was otherwise going to be a long, solo outing. The upper half of the mountain wasn't as casual as I would've liked---I always seem to struggle on this mountain---and I was only able to manage a desultory 43min split for the last 3mi. I would've thought my deep acclimation would've allowed me to go 40min or so. Ah well. I didn't even stop to go inside the tourist-mobbed summit house because I didn't have a shirt with me, and just turned at the marathon turnaround and started the descent, knowing I had a long day ahead of me still. Took it casual on the way down, keeping a steady groove, but never pushing. After hitting the finish at the bottom of Ruxton I continued back over to my truck at Memorial for a re-stock on gels (I'd eaten 3 on Pikes) to fuel the second half of the run. From the Roost, I ran up Crystal Park Road to catch the rolling Intemann Trail over to the Section 16 climb. From Manitou to the top of the Section 16 loop is approximately a 2k' climb, and it went really well despite the 90F heat and the 8k' of vert already in my legs. No problem running the whole way; I suppose the extra oxygen helps. From the top of Sect 16 it's a super cruisy 1k' descent to High Drive and then another 2k' climb in ~3mi up the 666 trail. I felt strong on this, but by time I got to the top I was super dehydrated---enough so that I drank from Bear Creek at the top; probably not a great idea. The water helped a ton, though, and the rest of the run I felt quite strong---down High Drive, and then another 1000' climb back up around Section 16 before finishing the run back to Manitou on the Intemann Trail. Great run.<br />
<br />
8/7/2013<br />
<b>Wed-AM: 2:14, 5300' ~ 1st-3rd-5th Flatirons+Green+1st Flatiron</b><br />
Biked to Chat. Awesome morning on the flatties...nice and cool and overcast, so scrambling was a real pleasure. After various creaks and crinks had loosened up my body and energy was actually really good considering yesterday's big outing and I just generally had a blast. Got me really excited about the fall scrambling/climbing season post-UROC.<br />
<br />
8/8/2013<br />
<b>Thu-AM: 2:38, 5200' ~ Longs Peak</b><br />
Up Loft/Skyline Traverse, down Cables. With Joe. Easy effort on tired legs, but a morning on Longs is always a blast. Showed Joe the downclimb into the Notch, which is fun, and then took the Stepladder to the summit. Cool, foggy, cloudy weather lower down on the Front Range, but a really nice day up high.<br />
<br />
8/9/2013<br />
<b>Fri-AM: 2:29, 5000' ~ Longs Peak</b><br />
Up <u><a href="http://www.mountainproject.com/v/northwest-gully/105760698" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">NW Gully</span></a></u>, down Cables. Great run, energy is back after Tuesday's long effort. After passing through the Keyhole I left the crowds and scrambled up the NW Gully, which is mostly 4th Class but has maybe 50' of easy, but wet, 5th Class. After the crux, it mellows to Class 3 and joins the spectacular finish to the Keyhole Ridge. 1h35 to the summit, and then I took it pretty easy on the way down, scouting different options below treeline.<br />
<br />
8/10/2013<br />
<b>Sat-AM: 2:05, 5000' ~ Longs Peak</b><br />
Up and down the Cables. Decided it was time to really take a shot at going fast on Longs, establish a legit PR for myself. Ended up tagging the summit in 1:21:29 and descending in 44:24 for a roundtrip of 2:05:53. A little surprisingly, there were bits of fresh snow on the north face and the usual wet spots were all ice. This wasn't really an issue on the way up, but it probably slowed my descent by a minute or so as I had to be careful in the shady spots, and of course on the Cables downclimb itself. All in all, pretty happy with the effort. Chris Reveley ran 2:04:27 way back in 1979 (a couple weeks after <u><a href="http://www.skyrunner.com/search/find.asp?Last=REVELEY&First=CHRIS&Mi=G" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">he ran 3:39 to win the Pikes Peak Marathon</span></a></u>), and Andy Anderson went 2:02:54 in 2011 and 1:56:46 almost exactly a year ago to establish, what is, to me, a pretty notable FKT (consider that he then went and set the Grand Teton FKT a couple weeks later, besting Kilian's effort--obviously he was in fantastic form after a summer of rangering on Longs Peak). I'm not the best pure hill climber so I knew I'd never approach his 1:14 ascent, but I was hoping to sneak under 1:20. Alas, running fast uphill at altitude is hard work.<br />
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8/11/2013<br />
<b>Sun-AM: 2:39, 5000' ~ Longs Peak</b><br />
Up Kieners, down Cables. Woke up an hour late, which meant that I ended up running into a bit of weather that could've otherwise been avoided. As I was working my way up the Glacier Rib (scrambling next to Lambs Slide) a pretty dark-looking cloud was building just off to the north despite it only being 9:30am or so, but there were enough gaps in the sky to keep me confident. Once I entered Broadway, though, I started getting pretty nervous. Even though I hadn't heard any thunder or seen any lightning, the east face of Longs is just a very exposed-feeling place, so I suppose that was affecting my confidence. As such, I scampered up to the summit (1:44) as quick as I could and barely paused before heading down the north face over rock that was slick from the night's rain. There were plenty of other people standing around nonchalantly on the summit, but I don't like lightning, or even the prospect of it. As it would turn out, I didn't hear any thunder until I was literally 2min from the car, and then it started raining quite hard.<br />
<br />
<b>Hours:</b> 22h16min<br />
<b>Vert:</b> 43,500'<br />
<br />
Really good week of running before heading over to Europe tomorrow for the next month.. Quality long effort on Tuesday, and a good, hard sustained bit of up-tempo running yesterday, so I feel like I have all my bases covered. This morning was my 25th Longs Peak summit this year, and 40th lifetime. Part of me doubts that I'll see the 50 summits I was initially hoping for this year, but so far I've definitely gotten to know a lot of different routes on the mountain.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8DBEL-1oIm5z1C9lQeHS5YVxkFOZEDdLtAnLFLoHudHfZPvbuMud5kxy3mGY2l_TJPMHKahA_vMC6S2225bMO0EKL23Gb_d8waJXaAL_12esbjmO6cD9R1fT2Jo6NzCKxiAA3zo1sCmY/s1600/gorrell.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8DBEL-1oIm5z1C9lQeHS5YVxkFOZEDdLtAnLFLoHudHfZPvbuMud5kxy3mGY2l_TJPMHKahA_vMC6S2225bMO0EKL23Gb_d8waJXaAL_12esbjmO6cD9R1fT2Jo6NzCKxiAA3zo1sCmY/s1600/gorrell.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Downclimbing into the Notch on Longs Peak on Thursday. Photo: Joe Grant.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdA5v-X2eCTt4k8L3DHwZQYV1wdLL7zKD2pmmp7Gk8zUoiswLRl3H24rGuQDXS_f4q9BiVbpMDGYtd3N-UftwxSkIrDLUdEuJqWYb-TfJ6EU6ZBcQgcykUa48bANApX_hvJ1JyK9RvZfs/s1600/stepladder.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdA5v-X2eCTt4k8L3DHwZQYV1wdLL7zKD2pmmp7Gk8zUoiswLRl3H24rGuQDXS_f4q9BiVbpMDGYtd3N-UftwxSkIrDLUdEuJqWYb-TfJ6EU6ZBcQgcykUa48bANApX_hvJ1JyK9RvZfs/s1600/stepladder.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Stepladder: the pitch of 5.5 leading to the skyline and summit of Longs Peak after exiting the Notch.</td></tr>
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More Montreal action.<br />
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Antonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11148317903654491236noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-451222917425507533.post-50595796758987371292013-08-09T14:26:00.000-06:002013-08-09T14:28:36.275-06:00July 29 - Aug 4<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
7/29/2013<br />
<b>Mon-AM: 3:44, 7100' ~ Grand Teton</b><br />
Up and down via Owen-Spalding. Still pretty tired from Speedgoat, duh. Lazy 2:16 up, 1:28 down. Nasty weather was lingering to the west all the way up, so I spent very little time on the summit, fearing electricity in the clouds. Just as I got past the Belly Crawl and back to the Upper Saddle it started snowing quite hard, which was interesting, and then it was raining on me the last 20min before the parking lot. Always good to get up this mountain, though.<br />
<br />
7/30/2013<br />
<b>Tue-AM: 3:50, 5600' ~ Teewinot</b><br />
Jodee wanted to go up a mountain, and I needed an easy day, so we decided on Teewinot. Strong hiking on the climber's trail (only a few minutes slower than when I'd done it on Sunday) but then the last 1500' of mostly 4th Class terrain (understandably) slowed Jodee down. Tagged the summit in 2:15 and then took our time getting back down through the techy stuff before jogging back down to the cars. Weather didn't move in as quickly today, which was fortunate.<br />
<br />
7/31/2013<br />
<b>Wed-AM: 3:27, 7100' ~ Grand Teton</b><br />
Up and down the O-S again. I had to be back in SLC in the evening, so decided I needed another lap on the Grand before the drive. Yesterday's easy outing definitely helped and I felt quite a bit better today, going up in 2:07 and descending in 1:20. I lost a bunch of time on the descent, though, as it took me several tries to find the correct chimneys to complete the O-S downclimb. Legs felt much better on the descent than they did two days ago, though.<br />
<br />
8/1/2013<br />
<b>Thu-AM: 2:51, 6000' ~ Twin Peaks, SLC</b><br />
Up Stairs Gulch and down Broad Forks with <u><a href="http://www.thewolpertinger.com/" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Joel</span></a></u>. I didn't pull into SLC until late last night, so I was pretty groggy this morning. Stairs Gulch is a pretty great line, ascending a vertical mile in ~3mi to the 11,300' Twin Peaks. Lots of Class 2 and 3 terrain marching up low-angled slabs of slate and schist with a few moves of Class 4 thrown in. We opted to make it a loop and descend the trail, where I nearly stepped on a groggy rattlesnake. Finished with a fast mile+ running the road back down to the car. Always fun getting out for a scrunble with Joel.<br />
<br />
8/2/2013<br />
<b>Fri-AM: 2:20, 5300' ~ Twin Peaks, SLC</b><br />
I was really indecisive about what I was going to do this morning, so ended up just tagging Twin Peaks again, this time just running up and down the Broad Forks trail. 1:26 to the summit of the East Twin. Ran into two moose on the trail in the upper basin, above the lake.<br />
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8/3/2013<br />
<b>Sat-AM: 2:20, 5000' ~ N+S Olympus via West Slabs, SLC</b><br />
Parked at the junior high school at Oakview Dr just off Wasatch Blvd and ran the streets up to the West Slabs TH. Scramble up the Slabs was a ton of fun, and then lots of scrambling up the ridge to reach Olympus' North summit. The downclimb from there into the saddle below the South summit is definitely the crux of this whole run. Tagged the South summit, and ran the trail easy back down to Wasatch Blvd where I then took the contouring use trail until having to run the road the final mile or so back to the school. Great loop.<br />
<br />
8/4/2013<br />
<b>Sun-AM: 2:15, 4500' ~ Mt. Rosa (11,500')</b><br />
Down in Colorado Springs. Parked at the upper Gold Camp lot (above Helen Hunt Falls), and ran up 7 Bridges to Pipeline to Frosty's Park to the summit of Rosa. Descended Buffalo Canyon to St. Mary's Falls and back to the car. Awesome loop. The trails in the COS are so smooth and runnable, it's really a lot of fun after spending all summer on off-trail, techy terrain. Tagged the summit of Rosa in 1:27 before enjoying one of the funnest, most flowy 4000' descents that I know. Really great trails back there with no one on them.<br />
<br />
<b>Hours:</b> 20h47min<br />
<b>Vert:</b> 40,500'<br />
<br />
Really fun, varied week of running. Ended up being too tired in the Tetons---and the weather ended up being too uncooperative---to really get in any long days and do any scouting of the Traverse. No worries, though, those mountains are so incredible it's really hard to go wrong.<br />
<br />
Also, finally got my <u><a href="http://blog.ultimatedirection.com/speedgoat-50k-2013/" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Speedgoat 50K race report</span></a></u> posted. The 10 days post-Speedgoat were pretty busy for me (Tetons. Outdoor Retailer, visiting family), so I apologize for it probably feeling like old news.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfnGK_wd_ff56Q871T1x22NNz4cWq8yR-chvLkbZaM7o2uC0HERfKMx4O9c73DL8NChWAYgMo2DUOPjmUCJZ6vVknVOQ3_Kh_6RpYO5bdK36y6_BSgHrDeSJQzyja0rzZeawzqqoXYq7A/s1600/traverse.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfnGK_wd_ff56Q871T1x22NNz4cWq8yR-chvLkbZaM7o2uC0HERfKMx4O9c73DL8NChWAYgMo2DUOPjmUCJZ6vVknVOQ3_Kh_6RpYO5bdK36y6_BSgHrDeSJQzyja0rzZeawzqqoXYq7A/s1600/traverse.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">The complicated terrain between Teewinot (in pic) and the Grand Teton (standing on it). Mt. Owen isn't even visible.</td></tr>
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A tip from a comment on last week's post turned me on to these guys. Good ol' Montreal, getting things done in the music scene.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" mozallowfullscreen="" src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/13095817" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="640"></iframe> </div>
<a href="http://vimeo.com/13095817">Parlovr - 3 songs in a tunnel - A Take Away Show</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/blogotheque">La Blogotheque</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com/">Vimeo</a>.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" mozallowfullscreen="" src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/13093772" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="640"></iframe> </div>
<a href="http://vimeo.com/13093772">Parlovr - Hell Heaven - A Take Away Show</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/blogotheque">La Blogotheque</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com/">Vimeo</a>.<br />
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Antonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11148317903654491236noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-451222917425507533.post-64271920111487272472013-07-28T22:41:00.000-06:002013-07-28T22:41:37.425-06:00July 22 - 28<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
7/22/2013<br />
<b>Mon-AM: 2:33, 5200' ~ Longs Peak</b><br />
Up the Loft/Beaver/Notch/Stepladder, down Cables. After yesterday's scoping of the downclimb into the Notch with Joel I decided to do the full <u><a href="http://www.mountainproject.com/v/the-beaver/106487344" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Skyline Traverse</span></a></u> from the Loft and give it a shot. Headed up the ridge from the Loft to the summit of the Beaver is just simple Class 2+ to Class 3 boulder scrambling, but then you get to the summit and the Notch's abrupt and breathtaking abyss. From there, I headed down to the left searching out the descent chimney--it was easy and obvious. After a relatively low-angle 4th Class-ish chimney, the descent eventually cliffs out and there seem to be many options for getting down into the base of the couloir. However, the best looking to me was a traverse to descender's right across a steep, exposed face, but with really solid holds. I think this is the so-called "Gorrell's Traverse". It went fine, and then it was just the Stepladder to summit ridge. Really fun route.<br />
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7/23/2013<br />
<b>Tue-AM: 2:38, 5000' ~ Longs Peak</b><br />
Up Kieners, down Cables. Took it easy today but was still moving well on the mountain. Made the summit at 1:46 (traversing around the top of the Lambs Slide ice to get to Broadway takes an extra 10min more than if I could just kick across the couloir) and then after downclimbing the Cables just cruised easily back down the hill.<br />
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7/24/2013<br />
<b>Wed-AM: 2:43, 5000' ~ Longs Peak</b><br />
Up the Notch Couloir, down Cables. Yesterday I considered climbing the Notch Couloir instead of Kieners, just for a change of scenery, so today I did. While this is typically a snow climb (and would be better as such), it was a fun scramble, too, if a bit loose/gravelly in spots. Once I got to the actual Notch I just took the usual Stepladder finish to the summit. I was a on a hot base to the base of the Notch on Broadway, but then going up the couloir took longer than Kieners normally would. 21st summit of Longs for the year.<br />
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7/25/2013<br />
<b>Thu-AM: 1:10, 3000' ~ First Flatiron+Green Mt.</b><br />
Biked to Chat, cruised a mellow 12:45 scramble on the way to the summit, and ran back down via the front. Cool, humid/drizzly morning, but the rock was dry.<br />
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7/26/2013<br />
<b>Fri-AM: 1:02, 1000' ~ Skyline Drive Manti-La Sal Nat'l Forest</b><br />
Drove to within 90min or so of Salt Lake City yesterday, and then slept in a surprisingly nice spot next to a stream just off the highway. This was an easy out-n-back shake-out jog up a dirt road with a gradual climb on the way out.<br />
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7/27/2013<br />
<b>Sat-AM: 5:09, 11,000' ~ Speedgoat 50K</b><br />
Solid day overall, 2nd place. Didn't quite have enough race course left at the end to catch up to Sage, but was generally happy with my race-day execution and effort. No real low patches (a little bit from mile 15-21), and I thought I closed the last 10mi pretty strongly.<br />
<br />
7/28/2013<br />
<b>Sun-AM: 2:41, 5800' ~ Teewinot</b><br />
Up and down the east face, from Lupine Meadows. Teewinot is the furthest north peak in the Grand Teton massif and the climber's access route provides a very direct grunt to the summit, capped with over 1500' of 4th Class scrambling at the end. I went mellow today, mostly to just get out and get the legs moving. A few hundred feet below the summit I was trending way too far left, but didn't realize my mistake until I ran out of mountain. Ended up having to downclimb ~300' or so to get back on track, but all in all an awesome outing to a super proud summit.<br />
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<b>Hours:</b> 18h06min<br />
<b>Vert:</b> 36,000'<br />
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Quality week. Lots of fun on Longs Peak earlier in the week, a solid race, and a new Teton summit for me. I should have a report on Speedgoat later in the week.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHSC3xuqB_ugPU0ZesxnnkOSd30AZxX6FZNqRLu58AGW4cs2mRmAfz0Ua-HfkujTNNn-kR1hVSE0oko8lq7g9b285QWVpj9SsTHK94eTP9Qku2tkxGTMUkcH_HyolOni8OlDByYeUvTUQ/s1600/teewinot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHSC3xuqB_ugPU0ZesxnnkOSd30AZxX6FZNqRLu58AGW4cs2mRmAfz0Ua-HfkujTNNn-kR1hVSE0oko8lq7g9b285QWVpj9SsTHK94eTP9Qku2tkxGTMUkcH_HyolOni8OlDByYeUvTUQ/s1600/teewinot.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">East face of Teewinot. An inspiring, in-your-face route from the parking lot.</td></tr>
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Electric guitar, epic horns, and doo-wopping lady-hipsters. Hard to beat.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/-hQ3QsGd3BU" width="640"></iframe></div>
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Antonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11148317903654491236noreply@blogger.com25tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-451222917425507533.post-2166419409703820342013-07-22T16:56:00.001-06:002013-07-23T13:15:14.302-06:00July 15 - 21<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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7/15/2013</div>
<b>Mon-AM: 7:58, 12,000' ~ Chicago Basin 14ers (Eolus, N. Eolus, Sunlight, Windom)</b><br />
Started from the Purgatory TH. Animas River bridge - :37; Needle Creek bridge - 1:26; New York Creek bridge - 1:47; turn to Twin Lakes - 2:36:30; Eolus summit - 3:45:30; N. Eolus summit - 3:55:30; Twin Lakes - 4:12; Sunlight summit - 4:45; Windom summit - 5:11; turn back on to Needle Creek trail - 5:46; New York Creek bridge - 6:15:30; Needle Creek bridge - 6:28:30; Animas River bridge - 7:14:30; back at trailhead - 7:58:34 <br />
It'd been a really stormy few days in the San Juans, but I fortunately awoke to clear skies. After waiting for it to get light enough to run sans headlamp, I took off down the Purgatory trail toward the Animas. This trail descends ~1000' down to the river, but rolls up and down along the way, so it takes a minute. The next 50min of running were flat and quick along perfect, groomed path until I crossed Needle Creek and started heading up that drainage into the Chicago Basin. It was surprisingly wet back in there--moss dripping off of trees, humidity in the air--and the creek itself was exceptionally scenic with lots of water flowing over slabs and down drops. Finally turned on to the trail up to Twin Lakes and decided that I would take the southeast ridge up to the summit of Eolus to make a cleaner loop of the 14ers. Roach calls the south ridge "Discovery Ridge", and it is good fun with lots of 4th Class scrambling, maybe a few 5th-Class moves if you don't take the time for judicious route-finding, and a couple of significant notches that were a little tricky. Tagged the summit under sunny skies (but with clouds building) and scurried down and over the famed Catwalk to the summit of N. Eolus. I took a direct descent off this down into a steep scree couloir that deposited me right at Twin Lakes and then it was lots of slab scrambling to get up to the summit of Sunlight. Dark clouds were building and moving in at that point, so I didn't linger long there before heading over to Windom. I took the most direct line possible up Windom's jumbly northwest face and was slightly relieved when I'd hit the summit and begun descending back to treeline. The clouds never rumbled or really threatened, but after the long run back down to the Animas the skies eventually started rumbling and the final 20min or so of slogging back up to the Purgatory TH I enjoyed a welcome, cooling drizzle. I pushed this last climb hard to sneak in under 8hr, so I was happy it wasn't any hotter than it was. Apparently this whole outing is ~42mi and about 30-32 of that are 100% trail running, so it was nice to get that kind of effort in the legs.<br />
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7/16/2013<br />
<b>Tue-AM: 2:05, 3700' ~ Mt. Sneffels</b><br />
Started from the Imogene Pass Rd turn-off on Camp Bird to make it a little longer run. Up the SW ridge and down the south slopes. It was a really foggy/cloudy/cool morning, so there were no views from the summit and the rocks on the 3rd Class ridge were quite slick. On the descent I was taking a narrow/steep side-couloir to access the standard descent couloir when a microwave-sized block came tumbling down from above. The gully was quite narrow, so I had nowhere to go and just hugged the wall as closely as I could with my hands covering my head. Luckily, it exploded on a small ledge just above me and my neck/shoulder was hit by only a softball-sized rock along with a bunch of smaller stuff. Afterward (and days later) my shoulder was super sore, but the whole thing could've been a lot worse.<br />
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7/17/2013<br />
<b>Wed-AM: 4:44, 7500' ~ Little Bear-Blanca-Ellingwood Pt Traverse</b><br />
Parked the Roost at ~8000' on the Lake Como Rd (~2mi in from the paved road) and ran from there. The run up the 4wd road was pleasant and I reached the east end of Lake Como (where the stream comes in) at 1:14. Continued on up the road and decided on-the-fly that the NW Face of Little Bear looked more appealing/direct than the standard Hourglass route. Crossed the stream higher up at 1:22 and reached the "black hand" at the base of the NW Face route in 1:35. The crux of the whole thing was definitely surmounting the headwall right at the base. The line I picked was probably no more than 4th Class but it was very exposed---there would certainly be a lot more of that later on! After the initial bits of 4th Class the route moved back left into the broad/shallow gully and eased to 3rd Class before kicking back up to 4th Class before gaining the ridge and hitting the summit of Little Bear (2:06). Now for the mile-long low-5th Class traverse over to Blanca. This ridge is super aesthetic and classic and I was excited to get to it. Some 4th Class slabs led down to what I felt was essentially the crux of the route--traversing around Capt Bivwacko tower. I knew to go on the left side of it but was a little shocked at just how narrow, steep, and exposed the ledge was. It made Broadway on Longs look like the comfy superhighway it is. Hands were mandatory on this traverse and I was uncharacteristically gripped. Somewhat surprisingly, the whole first half of the traverse pretty much lived up to the hype with innumerable knife edges (all way more airy than Capitol's much-vaunted Knife Edge) and a couple more hyper-exposed north/west side traverses. It all required way more focus and attention than I had expected. I didn't feel like I was moving very quickly or smoothly, and definitely wasn't getting into the nice flow that I usually enjoy about scrambling. Eventually, though, the large gendarmes on the second half of the ridge showed up and I reached the short talus/scree traverse at 2:46. After this, things seemed considerably more moderate (or at least less exposed) and I moved a lot more efficiently, soon reaching the summit of Blanca at 3:03. Some wispy, swirly clouds had moved in and with the abundant and brilliant sunshine the whole scene was pretty magical. The rest of the day was much less gripping with a fun traverse over to Ellingwood Pt (3:23) and then a descent of its SW ridge (more Class 3) before dropping down a talus chute to the extremely well-maintained trail down in the lake basin. I reached the end of the 4wd road at 3:53, was back at the east end of Lake Como at 3:59, and then it was just a casual run down Como Rd back to the Roost. Awesome morning.<br />
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7/18/2013<br />
<b>Thu-AM: 3:21, 6000' ~ Harvard & Columbia (Rabbit Ridge traverse)</b><br />
Started from the N. Cottonwood TH and had a lot of fun on the long running approach up the Horn Fork Basin. Unlike last summer, I feel like I've been able to get in some longer runs with a lot of true running this year, which is nice. Hit the summit of Harvard at 1:34 and noticed that there were actually already a few clouds building, in the east, oddly enough. I felt on-point for the ridge and it felt like it went quite quickly. I did some investigating around the short 5.7 downclimb notch, but I think the beta I gathered the first time is still the best and it actually goes quite easily. On the second half of the ridge I started bonking really hard, so the hump up to Columbia was a bit of a slog, but I made the traverse in :58, hitting the summit at 2:32. The summit was crazy crowded and clouds were moving in quick so I hustled down Columbia's south ridge, taking the most direct line I could. I spent some time frustratingly 'shwhacking around through young aspens in an avy gulch, but still made the Cottonwood Creek bridge in :37 from Columbia's summit and then just cruised the trail back out to the cars, under increasingly dark/thunderous skies. Glad I was off the peaks/ridge when I was.<br />
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7/19/2013<br />
<b>Fri-AM: 2:17, 4000' ~ Flatiron Quartet (1-2-4-5)</b><br />
Ran from Chat w/ <u><a href="http://www.thewolpertinger.com/" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Joel</span></a></u>, going 1st, 2nd, 5th, 4th before descending back to Chautauqua. I would've liked to have scurried to the summit of Green, too, but didn't have the time. Super hot morning on the slabs, but, thankfully, some clouds and a cool breeze rolled in toward the end making things tolerable.<br />
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7/20/2013<br />
<b>Sat-AM: 2:33, 5200' ~ Longs Peak</b><br />
Up Kieners, down Cables. Within about a minute or two of the trailhead, my legs felt great and I charged up to Chasm Lake having one of those lovely days where the footing is spot on and nearly any grade seems runnable. However, once I started scrambling up the Glacier Rib, it became obvious that all the hot weather in the past month had shrunk Lambs Slide to a chunk of hard, blue ice and I had definitely missed the "tent peg" window on Kieners for the year. Ah, so it goes. I still got to the Broadway level on PR pace for me, but had to spend an extra 10min climbing up a couple hundred extra feet, traversing across the couloir, and then downclimbing back to Broadway before I could continue on my usual path. Broadway itself was in exceptional shape--dry with only a couple convenient rivulets of water and absolutely bursting with wildflowers. What a place. The scrambling up Kieners went smoothly and was only occasionally damp. I emerged onto the summit to find a veritable mob up there enjoying the perfect day, so only lingered long enough to tally my 17th signature in the summit log before scampering down to the Cables. They turned out to be wet but not icy, so the downclimb was simple, and then it was a fun run back down to the trailhead. I decided to dial in the descending skills heading through Jim's Grove and had a blast plummeting through the forest to finish off the day feeling great and with a descent just under 48min. These are the days I live for.<br />
<b>PM: 1:08, 3000' ~ 1st Flatiron+Green Mt.</b><br />
Did the customary evening lap. There was a whole bunch of people on the summit of the First, so I didn't even pause and just moved right into the downclimb before heading to the top of the hill. Hot and humid (compared to the high country).<br />
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7/21/2013<br />
<b>Sun-AM: 2:53, 5000' ~ Longs Peak</b><br />
Up Loft/Clark's Arrow/Notch/Stepladder, down Cables. Ran easy with Joel. Clark's Arrow is always a little frustrating because you drop a couple hundred feet from the Loft to get into Keplinger's Couloir, but I think we scoped out Gorrell's Traverse (the downclimb into the Notch from the summit of the Beaver), so I'll try that tomorrow and get the full Skyline Traverse. The Stepladder was a really fun pitch up to the skyline finish leading to the summit; wish it was longer. On the way down, the Cables downclimb seemed to be even more dry than yesterday, and then we just cruised mellow back down to the trailhead.<br />
<br />
<b>Hours:</b> 27h04min<br />
<b>Vert:</b> 46,400'<br />
<br />
Really fun week. Ticked a couple significant summer objectives, especially the Chicago Basin 14ers and the Little Bear-Blanca Traverse.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTADBQzYvznWdvjEophPv4D59Q5m7QhkRb2RaX4DP7LmEh7qM5OS7TsiptrlLaJuX-Z9GiR4ckbWsm9dth40AUMpVjOov7S9oCmBZvSgufQXgmwiXACqTmYaprraZ7xqDB5m7MQMcboUg/s1600/south_eolus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTADBQzYvznWdvjEophPv4D59Q5m7QhkRb2RaX4DP7LmEh7qM5OS7TsiptrlLaJuX-Z9GiR4ckbWsm9dth40AUMpVjOov7S9oCmBZvSgufQXgmwiXACqTmYaprraZ7xqDB5m7MQMcboUg/s1600/south_eolus.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Heading up to the summit of Eolus via the south ridge. The Catwalk leads to N. Eolus in the distance.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTs-i3edQ2LVNhwCU21PXTOR5M0y2dM32JtYgaRnWt2AgYrDtWfbqNhVw_rDzKpKURDhWVJdqyjuY57S9PCcYuQftc1ehC374yq7hl5QuFQVR76LMNlb_n3wxSG7Lw1CAXpQt4d7Bj_ug/s1600/bw_eolus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTs-i3edQ2LVNhwCU21PXTOR5M0y2dM32JtYgaRnWt2AgYrDtWfbqNhVw_rDzKpKURDhWVJdqyjuY57S9PCcYuQftc1ehC374yq7hl5QuFQVR76LMNlb_n3wxSG7Lw1CAXpQt4d7Bj_ug/s1600/bw_eolus.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Summit of Eolus.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQzd_2xd_dsnMFLFOWqsIujqk9GKa-ePWpbyqU536W6DWsebEEm4-wk5EfjJWu1HWFX6bTrUX-iCIuVeTNGCSk-oTw3I8AeVNBI_QjI8gU-j45EV27OCdac31eYsVr4rmzzRqvvjX0jic/s1600/twin_lakes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQzd_2xd_dsnMFLFOWqsIujqk9GKa-ePWpbyqU536W6DWsebEEm4-wk5EfjJWu1HWFX6bTrUX-iCIuVeTNGCSk-oTw3I8AeVNBI_QjI8gU-j45EV27OCdac31eYsVr4rmzzRqvvjX0jic/s1600/twin_lakes.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Looking back to my orange descent couloir (and N. Eolus) from Twin Lakes.<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi85swT8xgsGd2HYKyp0C2hAPCwB79aLiVK5cNjkkOOcUE_JMSm2rupNXT8MTi02uEHDmFWyVHU-lm-fu3zONaSTBBE5Y_sBkvLK7-ZVEokGtKwjP1m_tCMISOVssVXOp1nyhbnFPNx6Q8/s1600/sunlight_windom.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi85swT8xgsGd2HYKyp0C2hAPCwB79aLiVK5cNjkkOOcUE_JMSm2rupNXT8MTi02uEHDmFWyVHU-lm-fu3zONaSTBBE5Y_sBkvLK7-ZVEokGtKwjP1m_tCMISOVssVXOp1nyhbnFPNx6Q8/s1600/sunlight_windom.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Sunglight, Sunlight Spire, and Windom as seen from Eolus.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6dIayBMkidkY7t2TgGlRPvskL5E3iCyCZhmJKV2YKlNJrb43bzRx7K8Y5AR_wOf_GG3vFobYIpXgEvU23UaOKg-HsY5IuA-3ZHvwkmAJ08oruxJ0q5JMnpK52Jt8ZXunBz8ngqmxzW_Q/s1600/jagged.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6dIayBMkidkY7t2TgGlRPvskL5E3iCyCZhmJKV2YKlNJrb43bzRx7K8Y5AR_wOf_GG3vFobYIpXgEvU23UaOKg-HsY5IuA-3ZHvwkmAJ08oruxJ0q5JMnpK52Jt8ZXunBz8ngqmxzW_Q/s1600/jagged.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Jagged Mt and the Grenadiers from the summit of Sunlight.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhW_qm9cS84vBbqb-N0C5XMr7d3Vgua0QaHJ9fHfgECvb1bY4mcBS8r2bHUeLwMuJFe4LhJT-DmPq9lBXFLjOLY1ag2W4Nm_nP4B-bUxPDfG45n6w_8yRg6XX7qPKG3Ix-NZzJS4WZEufg/s1600/eolus_neolus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhW_qm9cS84vBbqb-N0C5XMr7d3Vgua0QaHJ9fHfgECvb1bY4mcBS8r2bHUeLwMuJFe4LhJT-DmPq9lBXFLjOLY1ag2W4Nm_nP4B-bUxPDfG45n6w_8yRg6XX7qPKG3Ix-NZzJS4WZEufg/s1600/eolus_neolus.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Eolus and N. Eolus (and Pigeon and Turret) as seen from Sunlight.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifOT_4kW5Az8kRWG2JOtPGt86O276CU0d3Z0qI2pHvPCVnqkIMmF_tPG0q787GyPP3-Xvb3hCOfOvoNGVUmxHmEsd1aMdO3Zms82xfKJSkTC9KKN3hMKvN6vphOJNhJ1NSLEEUyI7ZYFo/s1600/black_hand.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifOT_4kW5Az8kRWG2JOtPGt86O276CU0d3Z0qI2pHvPCVnqkIMmF_tPG0q787GyPP3-Xvb3hCOfOvoNGVUmxHmEsd1aMdO3Zms82xfKJSkTC9KKN3hMKvN6vphOJNhJ1NSLEEUyI7ZYFo/s1600/black_hand.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Base of Little Bear's NW Face. The route goes up the talus slope and engages the rock just right of the "black hand".<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAQ4fS-E6GrZWI_lTjJNmPzBl6dC2Vg5JhW1CKGqeQScV2Wjn6TWvlT3Y-XBrBiK8fsAkt9NFDpUBg-2TesFaTjzZwHmFO51D0wB4O575wgXpXBIHBjxpMacKLHh7eG2LhQnkbNpjL0cI/s1600/LB_blanca_ridge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAQ4fS-E6GrZWI_lTjJNmPzBl6dC2Vg5JhW1CKGqeQScV2Wjn6TWvlT3Y-XBrBiK8fsAkt9NFDpUBg-2TesFaTjzZwHmFO51D0wB4O575wgXpXBIHBjxpMacKLHh7eG2LhQnkbNpjL0cI/s1600/LB_blanca_ridge.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Summit of Little Bear with the mile-long connecting ridge leading to Blanca behind me.<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjenXNUjl436x-Pw2tbIJ9744VTrbDdk6WS_h2jutpIAzXURsJfFUNgyloL8Um1e9coG560l9tjm1ZX5qRpRr6KTxtiwvRCPOulG_yUGdbSS47J1VApwgngmY584ZEGZlnnihB8ZHqp_s8/s1600/summit_blanca.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjenXNUjl436x-Pw2tbIJ9744VTrbDdk6WS_h2jutpIAzXURsJfFUNgyloL8Um1e9coG560l9tjm1ZX5qRpRr6KTxtiwvRCPOulG_yUGdbSS47J1VApwgngmY584ZEGZlnnihB8ZHqp_s8/s1600/summit_blanca.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Looking back to Little Bear from the summit of Blanca.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVzirCMijpc4KqqhfShV_uP_KHAMmCdwtMybxJc1OSOlBsFlmnX3ZMe6lD45EFqSMSUdijEjpFjJTHGJfWhgV7FoB4K1uoH8X0ftvWMEb964dwLgjuWNNNc-E5L0ghQvCbSlDmt_7oYJA/s1600/ellingwood.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVzirCMijpc4KqqhfShV_uP_KHAMmCdwtMybxJc1OSOlBsFlmnX3ZMe6lD45EFqSMSUdijEjpFjJTHGJfWhgV7FoB4K1uoH8X0ftvWMEb964dwLgjuWNNNc-E5L0ghQvCbSlDmt_7oYJA/s1600/ellingwood.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">The traverse to Ellingwood Pt as seen from Blanca.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNfnSQgU7zvwDO8tEdCUL2RBIJyMWClGJSGN6o83QXM646ov9xXZuRTfGKu33xaaXJVFOlHbpujKG0RFfT-QYG-aoywsDXsBccz93hAnkU8ranUE2TZ-fA8AY3mqHmRuIcHIEKTzPcyi0/s1600/blanca_LB.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNfnSQgU7zvwDO8tEdCUL2RBIJyMWClGJSGN6o83QXM646ov9xXZuRTfGKu33xaaXJVFOlHbpujKG0RFfT-QYG-aoywsDXsBccz93hAnkU8ranUE2TZ-fA8AY3mqHmRuIcHIEKTzPcyi0/s1600/blanca_LB.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Blanca and Little Bear from Ellingwood Pt.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1tsvYD6s2fc2sRHYWIN5cZMcEQLLZkageyZeFjXj5z3Qcfa45ejSBloywqAOwcOP4pv37X5NLkDPbFGn6jUf3NyfUStF5_uSJVhy6Aq5r75hg1RQuuYkPuCJVWK8QCzv6Z_Ypjn5CRS4/s1600/rabbit_ridge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1tsvYD6s2fc2sRHYWIN5cZMcEQLLZkageyZeFjXj5z3Qcfa45ejSBloywqAOwcOP4pv37X5NLkDPbFGn6jUf3NyfUStF5_uSJVhy6Aq5r75hg1RQuuYkPuCJVWK8QCzv6Z_Ypjn5CRS4/s1600/rabbit_ridge.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Rabbit Ridge---the connecting traverse from Mt. Harvard to Columbia.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPYxdbN3fkcgNDnv5k3Odpg5RDaN1fy0ZPQryBxIx8dzHfJhwlHyofTaMEI0fma0YMhOQPxDovi2xIUwcHNoOhgdeBYWVuJdyF-PmdK0Ko9jtkUAaf3ckv4bbqugTolQyIihvvuPRetNI/s1600/rabbit_crux.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPYxdbN3fkcgNDnv5k3Odpg5RDaN1fy0ZPQryBxIx8dzHfJhwlHyofTaMEI0fma0YMhOQPxDovi2xIUwcHNoOhgdeBYWVuJdyF-PmdK0Ko9jtkUAaf3ckv4bbqugTolQyIihvvuPRetNI/s1600/rabbit_crux.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Looking back at the crux downclimb crack halfway across Rabbit Ridge.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQhXEkvfUXNJCzqu5Flgc0BH0C-Wc2FJusmuGge3eseMNxKxXvGIjlDWJ5DwIGZHN7yZm1sM-IehDmH7q8d4NvsapX3HYdrQPBeD8caviBsBJMYGLFjbRc1Y7JwfK8-PHEYEH3ji-aeqg/s1600/wildflowers_broadway.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQhXEkvfUXNJCzqu5Flgc0BH0C-Wc2FJusmuGge3eseMNxKxXvGIjlDWJ5DwIGZHN7yZm1sM-IehDmH7q8d4NvsapX3HYdrQPBeD8caviBsBJMYGLFjbRc1Y7JwfK8-PHEYEH3ji-aeqg/s1600/wildflowers_broadway.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Wildflowers on Broadway.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiirkOofec37m3YtbYRlu7DmVl39XWfzl_kkRN1hI-tnoEeAtFOlsAmcVC4o_LrjJygOc4yzufX2gWe0-3WwfDDT-e_sKvlUcofbqAbT0xmVwperxTZwFERsuC7KpLf7Jh_8kyWb5-9qSo/s1600/loft_headwall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiirkOofec37m3YtbYRlu7DmVl39XWfzl_kkRN1hI-tnoEeAtFOlsAmcVC4o_LrjJygOc4yzufX2gWe0-3WwfDDT-e_sKvlUcofbqAbT0xmVwperxTZwFERsuC7KpLf7Jh_8kyWb5-9qSo/s1600/loft_headwall.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">The direct line through the Loft headwall. Photo: George Barnes.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwboxo-UadIjdV22gLKzbuqHRO_nCr6Q3Omi4yZ5hshfrEGMswaSm5C7w89ZbFZFJSKgTeTRmD0nfsJ3WaVJ_b1nRqrpNbOa_scaCwhQbme1Fq1N2F701qIchxuj_UbLbDKWOe5k1u9QI/s1600/joel_cables.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwboxo-UadIjdV22gLKzbuqHRO_nCr6Q3Omi4yZ5hshfrEGMswaSm5C7w89ZbFZFJSKgTeTRmD0nfsJ3WaVJ_b1nRqrpNbOa_scaCwhQbme1Fq1N2F701qIchxuj_UbLbDKWOe5k1u9QI/s1600/joel_cables.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Joel downclimbing the Cables on Longs' North Face.</td></tr>
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Antonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11148317903654491236noreply@blogger.com145tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-451222917425507533.post-87101409469720742152013-07-16T14:00:00.001-06:002013-07-16T14:49:35.460-06:00July 8 - 14<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
7/8/2013<br />
<b>Mon-AM: 1:48, 3500' ~ Mt. Sneffels</b><br />
Up the SW ridge and down the standard south slopes route, from a little bit below the Governor Basin aid station location on Camp Bird road.<br />
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7/9/2013<br />
<b>Tue-AM: 7:38, 12,000' ~ Hardrock Course - Grouse Gulch to Silverton clockwise</b><br />
Handies summit - 1:16; Burrows - 1:51:30; Sherman - 2:21:30; Pole Creek - 3:53; Maggies - 4:44:30; Stony Pass - 5:18; Cunningham - 5:55; Little Giant summit - 6:43.<br />
Started at Grouse Gulch (mile 58) and ran the 42mi back to Silverton. Kept a steady pace all day and was able to feel really strong and push quite hard on the final 2700' climb up Little Giant. The course is surprisingly rolling/runnable from the top of Cataract Gulch (out of Sherman) through Pole Creek and over to Maggies. The final mining road descent down Arastra Gulch was a bit of a bummer, though, and seemed to drag on forever.<br />
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7/10/2013<br />
<b>Wed-AM: 2:44, 5000' ~ Vermilion Peak (13,894') & Golden Horn (13,780')</b><br />
I knew I wanted to run up and scramble something in the Ice Lakes Basin, but I didn't decide on these two striking peaks until I got up there. The ridge descending from Vermilion to the north seemed to cliff out so I ended up going down a nasty scree chute before climbing Golden Horn. Really fun run even if my legs were tired. Wished I had the energy to do the full ridge scramble over to Grant-Swamp Pass.<br />
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7/11/2013<br />
<b>Thu-AM: 4:19, 8500' ~ Ice Lakes Basin Traverse - US Grant Peak (13,767'), V4 (13,502'), Pilot Knob (13,738'), Golden Horn (13,780'), Vermilion Peak (13,894'), Fuller Peak (13,761')</b><br />
From the South Mineral Creek TH. Grant-Swamp Pass, 0:54; US Grant Peak, 1:13:30; V4, 1:33; Pilot Knob, 2:27; Golden Horn, 2:52; Vermillion Peak, 3:15:30; Fuller Peak, 3:27; Ice Lake, 3:51.<br />
Really fun morning in the mountains. After yesterday's run I was thinking it would be nice to do the full traverse of these high-13ers, but I wasn't planning on that this morning. However, once I got up in the high basin it was pretty tough to not be inspired, so I just went for it. Grant wasn't too bad--maybe one short section of 4th Class--but then there was some delicate 5th Class choss negotiation going on to get to the summit of V4. Definitely the most technical bit of the whole traverse and not something that I would've enjoyed downclimbing. From there it was a long traverse on heinous scree/talus slopes to get to the climb up to Pilot Knob. Again, some mellow 4th Class stuff to tag that one and then a pretty straightforward ascent up Golden Horn. From Golden Horn I wanted to take the ridge up to Vermilion instead of the nasty scree chute I descended yesterday and it actually worked out quite well. I was able to find a reasonable enough weakness in the cliff band that turned me around yesterday and I was soon on top. From Vermilion it's easy talus over to Fuller and then some pretty crazy scree/talus surfing to get back down into the basin. Awesome day, but a gel and a little water would've made the second half a little more enjoyable.<br />
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7/12/2013<br />
<b>Fri- off</b>, crewing for Joe at the Hardrock 100. Unfortunately, we didn't get to do the planned long march through the night.<br />
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7/13/2013<br />
<b>Sat-AM: 1:55, 4500' ~ Handies Peak</b><br />
After sleeping in, went up and down the mountain from Grouse Gulch. Pushed the uphill pretty hard to tag a 1:06 ascent and then jogged the downhill. Lots of monsoony swirling clouds and sprinkles.<br />
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7/14/2013<br />
<b>Sun-AM: 2:18, 4500' ~ US Grant Peak & V4</b><br />
From South Mineral Creek TH. One last run up in one of the most beautiful basins in the state. After running up to Grant-Swamp Pass I scrambled over the two mountains and then took the Kamm Traverse for a little longer descent back to the car.<br />
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<b>Hours:</b> 21h04min<br />
<b>Vert:</b> 38,000'<br />
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A great week down in the San Juans. There is a ton of super high quality stuff down here, but a lot of it requires long running approaches, which is fine. I've gotten to do a lot---notably the Grenadier traverse, the Chicago Basin 14ers, and the Ice Lakes Basin traverse---but I'm excited to head back north and get out of this perpetually rainy/damp monsoon weather cycle.<br />
<br />
This Friday and Saturday are the Boulder premieres of Joel Wolpert's new film In The High Country, at the Dairy Center. Friday night is sold out, but there are still tickets available for the Saturday screening, <u><a href="http://www.thedairy.org/event/700-in-the-high-country-world-premiere-film/2013-07-20/" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">which you can purchase here</span></a></u>. I, of course, will be at both screenings along with Joel himself.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4QZC1qneT-CF5Rs0lOMXemcH8e0Nwzf04qKzFw4sZrCiDfEsnQrWcihszSNhz_W9RJ-NAuoiLjYjZ_dsBobQx589wQUtejuH_szMuM3oANJLp7E13YVrgf3Fg08_Uiwd4BZUbzZT2ecg/s1600/High-Country-PREMIERE-tickets.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4QZC1qneT-CF5Rs0lOMXemcH8e0Nwzf04qKzFw4sZrCiDfEsnQrWcihszSNhz_W9RJ-NAuoiLjYjZ_dsBobQx589wQUtejuH_szMuM3oANJLp7E13YVrgf3Fg08_Uiwd4BZUbzZT2ecg/s1600/High-Country-PREMIERE-tickets.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1lqgq-WUwVYZxWXESlZ0sW-R0rzN3e0OklBPfZU-L9lZ-qdBtTt_wy9GQyXZsYNFiVZPPoyGK2nKcOp-JBOfqGASbhK4P2GxQk2BDqH1eUA98Dzzlz1P20VUbqAiEVRiTtDM_xkJ-LEs/s1600/golden_horn.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1lqgq-WUwVYZxWXESlZ0sW-R0rzN3e0OklBPfZU-L9lZ-qdBtTt_wy9GQyXZsYNFiVZPPoyGK2nKcOp-JBOfqGASbhK4P2GxQk2BDqH1eUA98Dzzlz1P20VUbqAiEVRiTtDM_xkJ-LEs/s1600/golden_horn.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Golden Horn.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEY9hCdYL9aECm97fndAhnWOZNenW26xCYDO4KLmbr2ZXOrDVp-74sNHZsuos6axpkpdhv8ySHIVCjq1kjQD_5tMhppT3-5JlXyPu1EuAw3ZeTLH6rx2xMcdrBlE0kmoQXTLvUNVHzHhw/s1600/fuller_pilot_pano.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEY9hCdYL9aECm97fndAhnWOZNenW26xCYDO4KLmbr2ZXOrDVp-74sNHZsuos6axpkpdhv8ySHIVCjq1kjQD_5tMhppT3-5JlXyPu1EuAw3ZeTLH6rx2xMcdrBlE0kmoQXTLvUNVHzHhw/s1600/fuller_pilot_pano.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Left to right: Fuller Peak, Vermilion Peak, and Golden Horn.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVnfv5z5IiiUgqnQaU2aijbsfUXETgN8UONneFfGVME7GcZKG8l4_meW8dag5BeKYteN09POX8jvBixOmr0Z-spmiIz2wGgbiBjDEVGnZ-GHoqLKisPJoySZM_Hhr6N2WQsSxq2BavtJQ/s1600/grant-swamp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVnfv5z5IiiUgqnQaU2aijbsfUXETgN8UONneFfGVME7GcZKG8l4_meW8dag5BeKYteN09POX8jvBixOmr0Z-spmiIz2wGgbiBjDEVGnZ-GHoqLKisPJoySZM_Hhr6N2WQsSxq2BavtJQ/s1600/grant-swamp.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">The trail leading up to Grant-Swamp Pass and US Grant Peak.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQAhqAf050N7j-5WefO-OR4DKT_yfeGap4rLIOvcHGpB3zIcPFoJumvTRNbrmfTUuMeOKG7qRLylP_v_GuxJybO9vIEaUcsNcXPzklvQh3h5xYNFWK8nx5ikWV2UnONYAmvmWsXLFUYWQ/s1600/island.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQAhqAf050N7j-5WefO-OR4DKT_yfeGap4rLIOvcHGpB3zIcPFoJumvTRNbrmfTUuMeOKG7qRLylP_v_GuxJybO9vIEaUcsNcXPzklvQh3h5xYNFWK8nx5ikWV2UnONYAmvmWsXLFUYWQ/s1600/island.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Island Lake with Fuller Peak, Vermilion Peak, and Golden Horn in the distance.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiImcC29bYzcbeKtDWtxbNHFAnguBmQDxKaJGEjrDsAfdRwgMjtuBqIKSqtHhDbdmO1NAdcQu6kqoKUYF4QEKEM-fafZAK4wxXv-i_C7WfuX1Fw6dnNpjF1qR345pi14uF-PGLP98T7Cw/s1600/summit_v4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiImcC29bYzcbeKtDWtxbNHFAnguBmQDxKaJGEjrDsAfdRwgMjtuBqIKSqtHhDbdmO1NAdcQu6kqoKUYF4QEKEM-fafZAK4wxXv-i_C7WfuX1Fw6dnNpjF1qR345pi14uF-PGLP98T7Cw/s1600/summit_v4.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Standing on the summit of V4, there's still a lot of ridge to go.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSoU2cKW1Rkckoq8fBQozTnXQJ_M2bgJm993uJVoEgGrOubj4rd77wuDmbBeelthyK0nSG9FS2tsOaxUjxXhAjT3VOVnArA1QZe530rY3zvpNHoOB1OSbI0ZoHjibVVhBbALCEt6B8xtw/s1600/summit_pk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSoU2cKW1Rkckoq8fBQozTnXQJ_M2bgJm993uJVoEgGrOubj4rd77wuDmbBeelthyK0nSG9FS2tsOaxUjxXhAjT3VOVnArA1QZe530rY3zvpNHoOB1OSbI0ZoHjibVVhBbALCEt6B8xtw/s1600/summit_pk.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Summit of Pilot Knob with Golden Horn, Vermilion and Fuller coming up.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFTDYvKhwiWHJ2qBHTayN1TVbmOTV2061cmQmSoiO34zEJUbFV8h9C2KwOn_KcLfzJQ-A2jXQvK8IHzli_9FK5vujhVRL3zJO6t9zajzWf0Pe1exgvIW9rybdnB92ZT2VzqH20vrQkPW4/s1600/summit_pk_back.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFTDYvKhwiWHJ2qBHTayN1TVbmOTV2061cmQmSoiO34zEJUbFV8h9C2KwOn_KcLfzJQ-A2jXQvK8IHzli_9FK5vujhVRL3zJO6t9zajzWf0Pe1exgvIW9rybdnB92ZT2VzqH20vrQkPW4/s1600/summit_pk_back.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">From the summit of Pilot Knob, looking back to V4 and US Grant.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguYWTE4Ef0WErdOHnl8Jm2B0SUmIYlWUcNMvDwD60R3yds3Ycd4o9aZxBmYf998sq3xT7GvAG4-zabkcSglauji_RvcWU9ltaUK-dmkLL6-HsKgix8LPethAaH7IWJKTGDHPb-KIcxQw0/s1600/verm_fuller.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguYWTE4Ef0WErdOHnl8Jm2B0SUmIYlWUcNMvDwD60R3yds3Ycd4o9aZxBmYf998sq3xT7GvAG4-zabkcSglauji_RvcWU9ltaUK-dmkLL6-HsKgix8LPethAaH7IWJKTGDHPb-KIcxQw0/s1600/verm_fuller.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Vermilion and Fuller from the summit of Golden Horn...almost done.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1o5bvK6QF9v91Synn7EDLMphlthCOTZ17EHBqVD3TmrX6V9xlIcMbRxfI-Hxjt_YOjzYFcWtrKUf-F1GDng9zTMElLI5FVViWeGxYXpczZZ2HtnLxZEyEkSOerKScMLlh35wP_q7UslA/s1600/full_pano.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1o5bvK6QF9v91Synn7EDLMphlthCOTZ17EHBqVD3TmrX6V9xlIcMbRxfI-Hxjt_YOjzYFcWtrKUf-F1GDng9zTMElLI5FVViWeGxYXpczZZ2HtnLxZEyEkSOerKScMLlh35wP_q7UslA/s1600/full_pano.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Looking back at the full ridge: Vermilion, Golden Horn, Pilot Knob, V4, US Grant and Grant-Swamp Pass on the extreme right.</td></tr>
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Antonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11148317903654491236noreply@blogger.com97tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-451222917425507533.post-495714204965047632013-07-08T16:52:00.002-06:002013-07-08T19:58:49.633-06:00July 1 - 7<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
7/1/2013<br />
<b>Mon-AM: 3:15, 5300' ~ Maroon Bells Traverse</b><br />
From Maroon Lake, up South Maroon and down North Maroon, 3:15:37 car-to-car. Splits: Crater Lake, 17:10; S. Maroon turn-off, 36:10; ridge, 1:22:55; S. Maroon, 1:51; Saddle, 1:57:30; N. Maroon, 2:16:50; Crater Lake, 3:02. I did this once before last September, but Joel was filming on that run so there was a lot of stop-and-go and I wanted to get a true, no-stops time on the route. The descent off of North Maroon and back to the parking lot could go a lot quicker if your tolerance for kicking rocks down the mountain and elbowing past tourists after Crater Lake is a lot higher than mine. Wasn't in the mood to be an asshole, so just took it pretty casual.<br />
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7/2/2013<br />
<b>Tue-AM: 2:42, 4700' ~ Pyramid</b><br />
From Maroon Lake, up the West Face/NW ridge and down the NE ridge (standard route). 1:47 to the summit, :55 descent. Wanted to scout this ascent for a link-up of the Bells with Pyramid, and it was classic Elk choss. After crossing West Maroon Creek the talus field and grassy rib ascent went well but then I erroneously chose a 5th Class chute instead of staying further left on the bits of grass. After emerging from that it was lots of route-finding and choss-management to finally make the summit.<br />
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7/3/2013<br />
<b><u><a href="http://blog.ultimatedirection.com/capitol-snowmass-link-up/" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Wed-AM: 6:58, 8500 ~ Capitol-Snowmass Link-up</span></a></u></b><br />
From the Snowmass Ranch TH, ran up West Snowmass Creek, bushwhacked up to Moon Lake, summited Capitol, traversed back over the Knife Edge to drop into Pierre Lakes Basin, cross the Snowmass-Capitol connecting ridge and finally ascend Snowmass' west ridge before dropping down to Snowmass Lake and running the trail back to the trailhead. Really fun day with hours of talus hopping and some good bits of scrambling.<br />
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7/4/2013<br />
<b>Thu-AM: 2:44, 4800' ~ Castle & Conundrum</b><br />
Up Castle's NE ridge from the Ashcroft road, over to Conundrum, and back down. Tired legs from yesterday, but the mellow 4WD road was a nice change after all of yesterday's scrambling. This finished off the Elk 14ers then.<br />
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7/5/2013<br />
<b>Fri-AM: 2:23, 4400' ~ Oscars Pass</b><br />
Up and down Bear Creek/Wasatch Saddle from the Telluride Town Park, with <u><a href="http://www.alpine-works.com/" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Joe</span></a></u>. Since the Hardrock course is going back to its original routing this year, Joe wanted to check out the trail. It's awesome. This is the best course in the world.<br />
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7/6/2013<br />
<b>Sat-AM: 7:16, 10,800' ~ Grenadier Traverse (well, Arrow, Wham, & Three Trinities)</b><br />
From the Molas Lake TH I enchained Arrow Peak, Vestal Peak, and the three Trinities before running back. Splits:<br />
Animas River, :27<br />
Elk Creek Trail beaver pond, 1:05<br />
Vestal Creek crossing, 1:46<br />
base of Arrow, 2:03<br />
summit Arrow, 2:33/34<br />
base of Wham Ridge, 3:04<br />
summit Vestal, 3:39/40<br />
Vestal/W. Trinity Saddle, 4:00<br />
summit W. Trinity, 4:17/18<br />
summit Middle Trinity, 4:44<br />
Middle/E. Trinity Saddle, 4:49<br />
summit E. Trinity, 4:58<br />
Elk Creek crossing, 6:00<br />
Elk Creek Trail (beaver pond), 6:03<br />
Animas River, 6:34:30<br />
Trailhead, <b>7:16:45</b><br />
The run in on the Colorado Trail/Elk Creek Trail was on very good tread and the climbers/use trail heading up Vestal Creek was easy to find. It was a bit choppy at first negotiating a fair bit of deadfall but not too bad. The ramp up the northeast face of Arrow is super obvious and most of the way is just marching up a giant slab, turning into some minor 4th-ish class stuff at the top. About half-way up I ran into Timmy Parr, who was climbing with a partner, but I didn't chat long knowing I had a lot of vert/scrambling ahead of me. My only major mistake of the day came in my descent off Arrow. For some reason I thought the gully down its south face would be quicker than retracing my route down the ascent ramp. Oy, bad choice. The top was full of loose debris and then about 2/3rds of the way down, the gully narrowed and cliffed out. I'd already dropped about 6-700', so I was reluctant to head back up over the summit and instead decided to try out the steep, definitely 5th Class downclimb. It's hard to grade something you're on-sight downclimbing, but with the water-slick rock and in running shoes it felt like 5.5-6 for me. Definitely stressful and cruxy. With that behind me, I was good and warmed up for Wham. I suppose if I had only been interested in traversing the peaks I could've just gone up Vestal's SW ridge/face, but Wham Ridge is one of the most classic alpine routes in the state so I was psyched to drop all the way to 12,200' or so to climb its full extent. The bottom half is super mellow, fairly low-angle slab marching, but eventually the grade kicks up a bit and the terrain becomes 4th Class on solid rock. The crux was a maybe 30' crack unavoidably out on the face and massively exposed, but 5.4 sounds about right---holds were there whenever you needed them. Above that was more 4th Class with the odd easy-5th move and soon enough I was on the summit. West Trinity was the least interesting/engaging peak of the day being mostly 3rd Class but then Middle Trinity probably served up the most complexity of the day for me. I stayed right on the ridge crest for too long and eventually dropped to the south and negotiated a Broadway-like ledge that required one spicy bit of downclimbing before lots of 4th Class led to the summit. Fairly certain I did not find the easiest way up this peak. Mercifully, East Trinity was the most straightforward route-finding of the day--straight up a 3rd Class gully with a little 4th Class at the top--and only required an extra 500' or so of vert. The run back out to the car went well enough, but the nearly 2000' climb back up to the car from the Animas River was a kick to the nuts in the hot mid-day sun as I stubbornly refused to pop one final gel. Good practice to run up a climb like that late in an outing, though. Overall, one of the more satisfying runs I've had in the mountains. I suppose some day it would be worthwhile to come back and tack on Silex, Storm King, and The Guardian, but I really enjoyed the aesthetic of this outing.<br />
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7/7/2013<br />
<b>Sun-AM: 2:03, 4500' ~ Handies</b><br />
Up and down from Grouse Gulch. Nice mellow outing on tired legs. The 500' drop into American Basin is always a little less fun (as a climb) on the way back down.<br />
<br />
<b>Hours:</b> 27h21min<br />
<b>Vert:</b> 43,000'<br />
<br />
A fun week exploring the Elk Range that was punctuated with the particularly satisfying traverse of the Grenadiers, something I've been wanting to do for a long time. This week I'll be pacing Joe at the Hardrock 100 on Friday, with hopefully a couple other San Juan adventures thrown in.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMajHeMNqUQ3geywcDtDnvU9vdQXR6hHxNPzAgkRrbAgRt2bf9nG0fO4LAg_0ilnYIRLtTAgIs6_7uY22zFQjvoY8JCtzxPTrhtMNUoXDr6npWJeLEavOnUOkADUlcRGgrzRmiDiQ8eLw/s1600/maroon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMajHeMNqUQ3geywcDtDnvU9vdQXR6hHxNPzAgkRrbAgRt2bf9nG0fO4LAg_0ilnYIRLtTAgIs6_7uY22zFQjvoY8JCtzxPTrhtMNUoXDr6npWJeLEavOnUOkADUlcRGgrzRmiDiQ8eLw/s1600/maroon.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Looking at the traverse over to North Maroon Peak, Monday morning.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfkuUCdbP_XZqqsLAW8HiWofNq2LyxTeUs5FWn3p2T7VQysMHZi_B3wZa1yneU1tg3eScwDxc_JCdLwHwQceTnuSmh_OxpRFxyTu5ewrvtQqKqtZcqQnzvLWNPFP068F3gffU-JTcblME/s1600/pyramid_goat.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfkuUCdbP_XZqqsLAW8HiWofNq2LyxTeUs5FWn3p2T7VQysMHZi_B3wZa1yneU1tg3eScwDxc_JCdLwHwQceTnuSmh_OxpRFxyTu5ewrvtQqKqtZcqQnzvLWNPFP068F3gffU-JTcblME/s1600/pyramid_goat.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Goat on the summit of Pyramid Tue morning with the next day's objectives on the horizon--Snowmass & Capitol.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv8iMJBPQ16Ne1CKPIJSpeb3rIaohUu8kEDSchrZyvFVPI5Jt0ZD51huoFeGLJGmtD9Q8sXU8aSyW8NIvFf5ctNgVx57z0PwXssSEE6wY0xYbtch7F3A4tRVxHA4szx_3s7vC-e9LjFRM/s1600/arrow-vestal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv8iMJBPQ16Ne1CKPIJSpeb3rIaohUu8kEDSchrZyvFVPI5Jt0ZD51huoFeGLJGmtD9Q8sXU8aSyW8NIvFf5ctNgVx57z0PwXssSEE6wY0xYbtch7F3A4tRVxHA4szx_3s7vC-e9LjFRM/s1600/arrow-vestal.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Vestal and Arrow Peaks as seen from the approach up the Elk Creek drainage Saturday morning.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil7dJwrR9JyrK2RLPWWD7YiRR8Q-_QyOFrpMnYvqD0z6urovQ21TyCYnNFOWBxkq-F2QKuX1FpbQ-omGj5HZ_OPnLpIME-pJkc8ZOUWWkO0WQR8EJoROuAN1gUDR-2R-ABj0etQO4aI5o/s1600/arrow.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil7dJwrR9JyrK2RLPWWD7YiRR8Q-_QyOFrpMnYvqD0z6urovQ21TyCYnNFOWBxkq-F2QKuX1FpbQ-omGj5HZ_OPnLpIME-pJkc8ZOUWWkO0WQR8EJoROuAN1gUDR-2R-ABj0etQO4aI5o/s1600/arrow.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Arrow Peak's NE face, the morning's first objective.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_pUpbusEZ0n9h34I6ANteUjWLDrpsqd1BBNiFmuE9h0PPiHrnMiBtcxj9LLhknW6pq7NUHZb6C9Sis4jeppms6mGYOwcm44Zw9nKIMTvzaB4_ARjOUiRFdVS-Vx8hWqB8YGvj9J2XtfU/s1600/vestal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_pUpbusEZ0n9h34I6ANteUjWLDrpsqd1BBNiFmuE9h0PPiHrnMiBtcxj9LLhknW6pq7NUHZb6C9Sis4jeppms6mGYOwcm44Zw9nKIMTvzaB4_ARjOUiRFdVS-Vx8hWqB8YGvj9J2XtfU/s1600/vestal.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Vestal Peak's famed Wham Ridge (north face). Can't believe this one came out blurry. Dammit.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcx_klwjXz2m-Ab4Shn_Fep6gvZdx8VZgLV5vLbgOXJzqpxf8WOtflHfmIKTncLm2IoIB-RsOBvaklXhqqUhWkrVZCQfCMb9yDA8KbtPWGcbMnq55uBwXKBeNhufEeEXWjgDWHgrkd2QU/s1600/wham.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcx_klwjXz2m-Ab4Shn_Fep6gvZdx8VZgLV5vLbgOXJzqpxf8WOtflHfmIKTncLm2IoIB-RsOBvaklXhqqUhWkrVZCQfCMb9yDA8KbtPWGcbMnq55uBwXKBeNhufEeEXWjgDWHgrkd2QU/s1600/wham.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Starting up the iconic face.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz67jRWabwDE9WQSQNIasa9lmVUk-P6yG6tIlzt3qjqnVdhdAaxX-jZgYIDqKTt6Ho0jIy9kGQ3aS1wc4CMJHLpGM5Haj14qU5T-DEwthiW6uLAiH9VvpKJIRv198P2lBOtZyRND8qVy0/s1600/wham_higher.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz67jRWabwDE9WQSQNIasa9lmVUk-P6yG6tIlzt3qjqnVdhdAaxX-jZgYIDqKTt6Ho0jIy9kGQ3aS1wc4CMJHLpGM5Haj14qU5T-DEwthiW6uLAiH9VvpKJIRv198P2lBOtZyRND8qVy0/s1600/wham_higher.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Approaching the crux on the ridge.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ2tDu73QxHavvkLDUUWHHv0kYheLEK8cncRHcPsROHck2L6qRwblqXKZXRDhCzXUKniNzZFgWiNW0Tfa0ZNlEcZb6kNYMGf3FOLL-Og1II8wpTnNdkhz3Q8sEYrSFwiQThLYpAxkS9Uc/s1600/summit_vestal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ2tDu73QxHavvkLDUUWHHv0kYheLEK8cncRHcPsROHck2L6qRwblqXKZXRDhCzXUKniNzZFgWiNW0Tfa0ZNlEcZb6kNYMGf3FOLL-Og1II8wpTnNdkhz3Q8sEYrSFwiQThLYpAxkS9Uc/s1600/summit_vestal.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Summit of Vestal, with Arrow behind.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhk1YBzC4xK3S2AUluO50G7-z8gucTmpvG3vrWUJviV2ihsdbYwJDp4IpTvv5n2m3DtvAuuk_a3NsoiOZ_091pJxrIqqwj5TYIJjXO9mMxb1eBIzSfjwlFjupAuWg4H_XjopiEfBdEkvb0/s1600/west_trinity.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhk1YBzC4xK3S2AUluO50G7-z8gucTmpvG3vrWUJviV2ihsdbYwJDp4IpTvv5n2m3DtvAuuk_a3NsoiOZ_091pJxrIqqwj5TYIJjXO9mMxb1eBIzSfjwlFjupAuWg4H_XjopiEfBdEkvb0/s1600/west_trinity.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Next up, West Trinity.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi54oHBx6ynuSb3BTCf67L7ogGqTF6Hq9SSOz7KOnFnQsJThL-U96L9LSF7Df36u505ftALkBQZ2gVGMhcLGB-8NUhIVPpSwl8fwGD_bRsST4s5uKuQhDutWVWUKJcx2my0DqSwGN0wxZ0/s1600/lineup.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi54oHBx6ynuSb3BTCf67L7ogGqTF6Hq9SSOz7KOnFnQsJThL-U96L9LSF7Df36u505ftALkBQZ2gVGMhcLGB-8NUhIVPpSwl8fwGD_bRsST4s5uKuQhDutWVWUKJcx2my0DqSwGN0wxZ0/s1600/lineup.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Looking back west along the line-up of five peaks, after having summited and mostly descended East Trinity.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig4mt-b7JEyIjJSsvreCE4imoRduUlL0Agvp31LFGv6gN8rngfNNUeHpo8v1KgCgwn86UCH5BYlSPKXzn87K8wgBtNewF2OWY-w5Y4L6uXYkE0BCdoGxm4J-CxnBXKHVULJpbjuhqZ28Y/s1600/vestal-arrow.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig4mt-b7JEyIjJSsvreCE4imoRduUlL0Agvp31LFGv6gN8rngfNNUeHpo8v1KgCgwn86UCH5BYlSPKXzn87K8wgBtNewF2OWY-w5Y4L6uXYkE0BCdoGxm4J-CxnBXKHVULJpbjuhqZ28Y/s1600/vestal-arrow.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Vestal and Arrow Peaks, from the northeast.</td></tr>
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Antonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11148317903654491236noreply@blogger.com24tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-451222917425507533.post-76398484687953549492013-06-17T16:27:00.002-06:002013-06-17T17:28:52.458-06:00June 10 - 16<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
6/10/2013<br />
<b>Mon-AM: 2:33, 4300' ~ Huron</b><br />
From Rockdale, ran the road up to Winfield and then over to the west side of Huron before heading to its summit. Climb was pretty standard, but the real fun came on the descent. Usually the drop down to Clohesy Lake (east side of the peak) is a fairly nasty scree/cobbles/talus/boulder chute, but today it was still all snow and was in perfect condition for a long, steep, run-out glissade that dropped over 1000' of vert. Awesome. Found the goat path down to the lake and ran the 4wd road back down to Rockdale to complete the loop. Proper mountain run. Legs were a little tired from yesterday's long outing, but not bad at all.<br />
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6/11/2013<br />
<b>Tue-AM: 2:22, 5300' ~ Princeton</b><br />
Up and down Grouse Canyon. This is quickly becoming one of my favorite runs in the Sawatch. Proper goat path up the canyon, perfect footing for the march to the ridge at 13k' and then an engaging scramble/talus hop to the summit. Doesn't get much better. Seemed to be a bunch of smoke/haze in the air today, though. Legs had a bunch of energy despite waking up feeling groggy.<br />
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6/12/2013<br />
<b>Wed-AM: 3:14, 6000' ~ Princeton</b><br />
Parked at the S. Cottonwood TH on the CT (8900'--this is the low point of the entire Nolan's route) and took the CT 4.5mi over to Maxwell Gulch to head up the mountain. Came back the same way. Definitely an out-of-character run for me since it started with 46min of flattish running (only 1000' of elevation gain total, more with the rollers), but once you get over to Maxwell Gulch things get interesting. Had no trouble finding the old trail on the northern side of the basin and took that up to ~10,500' where I broke left to bushwhack through the aspens in the avalanche gulley. After only about 4min of 'swhacking, though, I was on fairly open tundra/talus and marching uphill unimpeded to Princeton's NE ridge. From there it's just an extended talus scramble to the summit. CT to the summit was 1h16 (for 4300' vert), so it's actually a very comparable climb to any other 14er in the Sawatch, but just starts with the 1hr+/7mi contour on the CT from Yale's Avalanche Gulch TH. Definitely the longest sustained running on the whole route. Took 40min to descend from the summit back to the CT; feeling really good about doing this route in the dark now, think I have it dialed.<br />
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6/13/2013<br />
<b>Thu-AM: 2:11, 5000' ~ Yale</b><br />
Up and down NE Ridge/North Face from N. Cottonwood Creek TH. After what felt like a fiasco last Sunday afternoon, I knew I had to get back here to find the best line up this side of the mountain. Took exactly 15min to jog from the TH to where a bridge crosses back over to the north side of Cottonwood Creek. An avalanche gulley empties directly onto the trail right here, but I felt like I wanted to be in the next gulley to the west. Traversing/'swhacking over to that gulley through the forest proved to be surprisingly easy and within 10min I even found a (very steep) elk path heading up the left margin of the avy gulley. I crossed over to the righthand side when things looked good and then it was just a simple march up very good tundra and talus (and past airplane wreckage) to the ridge saddle at ~12,600' or so. Took 42min to get from the bridge to the ridge. From there I contoured below the ridge (and Pt 13105 that I'd actually summited on Sunday) on the left into the basin below Yale's north face and ascended directly up the center of this face to the summit. The last couple hundred feet of vert was kicking steps in steep snow, but it'd only taken 1h12 to get from the creek to the summit, so I was feeling really good about my newly scouted line. The descent was even more fun, glissading directly off the summit and contouring over to drop into the very steep avy gulley that deposited me right back at the bridge/trail 33min after leaving the summit. Really glad I went back to take another look at this side of the mountain.<br />
<b>PM: 0:58, 3000' ~ First Flatiron+Green Mt.</b><br />
From Chat; really good run. A PR for ascending Green via scrambling the First (39:35 at Green summit; 10:55 to base of First, 11:15 scramble, 2:05 downclimb), and then I think maybe a PR for descending Greenman-SR-Amphi in dry (non-snow) conditions (15:55 from summit to Baseline trail junction) before realizing that I had a shot at breaking an hour for the Chat-to-Chat roundtrip, so I picked it up on the run back across the meadow for a 58:54. Funny thing was I didn't even start picking it up on the descent until about half-way down Greenman (wasn't planning on going all-out on the descent), but maybe sometimes you just need to wait for the flow to come to you. Was feeling a little extra motivation in the first place because I was trying to squeeze the run in before an appointment, thus no pause on the summit.<br />
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6/14/2013<br />
<b>Fri-AM: 2:58, 5000' ~ Longs Peak</b><br />
Up Kieners, down Cables. 1:55 to the summit, which was only a couple minutes slower than when I went up the Cables last week. It always surprises me how quick a route Kieners can be in the right conditions. I was feeling great on the run up to Chasm Lake despite carrying crampons and an axe on my back. The scramble up Glacier Rib (left of Lambs Slide) was a little bit more methodical than usual because there were patches of snow to dodge, but when I got the axe out to cross Lambs Slide the snow was surprisingly kickable, even in the shade. The first crux on Broadway was still snow, so I was careful on this small downclimb/traverse, and then there was a little more snow to cross at the top of the Yellow Bowl/Alexanders. From there, it was essentially dry to the base of Kieners. The chimneys were all wet but there was only snow/ice at the top of the Bombay Chimney. On the 4th Class section up to the Staircase I stayed a lot farther right (toward the edge) than usual so as to skip the snow, but soon enough I was on the summit. The North Face proved to be, by far, the crux of the outing. I stubbornly didn't put on my crampons on the summit, so I lost a lot of time pussyfooting down the kicked steps in the snow above the Cables dihedral. When I got there it became very obvious that I wasn't going to downclimb the upper part without some metal on my feet, so I finally stopped and put on my crampons and then carefully downclimbed over the snow/ice/rock. If I'd had a rope I probably would've just rappelled the upper part and never messed with the crampons.The snow below the Cables was in terrible condition--crusty, and punching through to my knee with basically every step, super frustrating. Finally made it down to dry rock for the always enjoyable cruise back down to the trailhead.<br />
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6/15/2013<br />
<b>Sat-AM: 2:31, 5000' ~ Longs Peak</b><br />
Up and down the Cables for 2013 ascent #15. Woke up groggy and unmotivated---almost decided to just head up to Chautauqua to scramble some flatties---but that would have meant running right away, whereas running Longs would give me a 45min drive to wake up, drink some coffee, and feel like a human. By time I got to the trailhead, of course, I was in olympic form, ready to take on the day. Back at the hut, not feeling very brave, I had packed my vest with a 6mm rap cord and a harness (along with crampons, axe, and gloves), planning to rappel the top half of the Cables on the descent but in the parking lot, brimming with confidence, I thought better of that and took them out. Ah, the games we play. Legs were surprisingly poppy heading up the hill for the second day in a row, and by time I got to treeline I was undecided as to whether I would head back up Kieners or take the Cables. Eventually, I decided to just do the Cables. It's funny; in my head, in the current conditions, I feel like the Cables are actually technically a little more difficult than anything I encountered on Kieners yesterday, but the amount of time that one is in a precarious position (just a couple of minutes on the Cables) is SO MUCH less than on Kieners (things are at least moderately technical for almost an hour). The climb up the Cables went really well, but I'm ready for that chunk of alpine ice on the top half of the dihedral to fall/melt out already. The descent of the north face--while soft in the hot sun--went way better than yesterday wearing crampons this time, and the downclimb was, of course, no problem. Happy I didn't bring the rope. And then it was just the usual run back down to the trailhead. Quick and efficient.<br />
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6/16/2013<br />
<b>Sun-AM: 7:19, 14,500' ~ Princeton, Antero, Tabeguache, Shavano</b><br />
Started from the Avalanche Gulch TH on the Colorado Trail at the base of Yale, with Joe. Finished at the Blank Cabin TH on the east slopes of Shavano where Joe's wife, Deanne, graciously picked us up. Joe and I did some actual running today---1:04 to go the ~7mi on the Colorado Trail from the Avy Gulch TH to Maxwell Gulch on Princeton. Once there, the marching commenced and I hit the summit at 2:24 into the day. I was surprisingly quick down Princeton's talusy SW ridge to Grouse Canyon, but just wasn't really in a groove yet...feeling drowsy and unmotivated. Once I hit Rd 292 at the bottom and started running over to Alpine, though, that all changed and I had tons of energy, running every step of the Baldwin Gulch Road on Antero to 11k' (shortly after the creek crossing) where I tried out a new, super-direct line that goes up the ridge straight to the summit. Not sure why other Nolan's folks have never mentioned this as it by far makes the most sense and has solid footing the entire way. Summited at 5:03 and didn't even pause as it was time to get off the high ridges with weather moving in quickly from the west/north. It only took me 29min to get from the summit of Antero down to Brown's Creek at 11,200' where I took a 30min break waiting out the storm that was passing through. I had a bit of a picnic here---drank four bottles of water, ate 3 gels in a row, dumped rocks out of my shoes, hunkered down in my jacket under a fir tree staying out of the rain---and when things seemed to be clearing I headed up the gulch to the Tab/Shav saddle. Another fast-moving storm cell was coming in as I made my way up, but this one turned out to be snow and a lot of it. By time I hit the saddle at 13,500' I had broken into blue skies and was surprised how close the summit of Tabeguache was, only taking 51min from the creek---I was mentally prepared for a much longer climb. Did the short bop over to Shavano and ran the trail all the way down to the Blank Cabin TH, this being my first time ever on the mountain, managing a 56min descent from the summit of Tabeguache. The trail seems like it takes a direct-enough line from the summit of Shavano to the TH. Finished with the legs still feeling really good, plenty of run left in them. 10 gels.<br />
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<b>Hours:</b> 24h11min<br />
<b>Vert:</b> 48,100'<br />
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After this week, I'm feeling really ready for Nolan's and am targeting an attempt for the 24th or 25th, depending on weather, starting at 2am from the Leadville Fish Hatchery. Right now, it looks like it will be the 24th, which coincides nicely with a full moon. It's been a blast learning everything I can about the Sawatch, but post-Nolan's I'm also definitely looking forward to spending the rest of my summer pursuing objectives in other mountain ranges. The Sangres, Elks, Tetons, San Juans, and Indian Peaks in particular. I'm feeling about as fit as I ever have right now, so am mostly just curious to see if I have the discipline and stubbornness and luck to fulfill my potential on the Sawatch 14ers next week.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp4GGEW0GmFDc0QuOLoD72c4lkUWPPcbNfeoc8252ex5hfBotdOzwfuT2HeD8TvAgLNvzwxZoEs7fXRwRnzMDX72gv1m0IYupjNP-1jjud2x2FMNTS2Z4VM2mMBZO0UhTZfXgqke1LDKU/s1600/yale_bw.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp4GGEW0GmFDc0QuOLoD72c4lkUWPPcbNfeoc8252ex5hfBotdOzwfuT2HeD8TvAgLNvzwxZoEs7fXRwRnzMDX72gv1m0IYupjNP-1jjud2x2FMNTS2Z4VM2mMBZO0UhTZfXgqke1LDKU/s1600/yale_bw.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Marmot's-eye view of the march to the summit of yet another Sawatch 14er.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBo5ldeJnEPs46QEkcnVDQoO1jtAa05TEfON-K0RCJymUHbkL_aEfLYc8y2k-p7eKqbooDbO_5s7r_DTXlCMdpAg0fmzpxIGnqr_nT3rT60_ecWZ3B5D5kO_QfEshYkNskRysZ7WRI99g/s1600/yale_summit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBo5ldeJnEPs46QEkcnVDQoO1jtAa05TEfON-K0RCJymUHbkL_aEfLYc8y2k-p7eKqbooDbO_5s7r_DTXlCMdpAg0fmzpxIGnqr_nT3rT60_ecWZ3B5D5kO_QfEshYkNskRysZ7WRI99g/s1600/yale_summit.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">What Nolan's mostly consists of--scrambling up talus slopes. Summit of Yale w/ Columbia and Harvard behind.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf2tFrY9RW00g5dMlCG81V5nWpvJtnoYLKNq_aI4-R2a_21qMLSBw2yPRTIEpA7DymLmCcjX4SlsclpuMOyjMgzXuSnG-3vlnRYBWhuqJEJULyF-rwyhgReSgbzO0j7b9-4MSJnTy81bc/s1600/yellowbowl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf2tFrY9RW00g5dMlCG81V5nWpvJtnoYLKNq_aI4-R2a_21qMLSBw2yPRTIEpA7DymLmCcjX4SlsclpuMOyjMgzXuSnG-3vlnRYBWhuqJEJULyF-rwyhgReSgbzO0j7b9-4MSJnTy81bc/s1600/yellowbowl.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Looking back across to a duo on the entry crux to Broadway on Friday morning.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Broadway.</td></tr>
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Seriously good.<br />
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Antonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11148317903654491236noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-451222917425507533.post-92043986108225880462013-06-10T17:14:00.000-06:002013-06-11T17:53:07.219-06:00June 3 - 9<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
6/3/2013<br />
<b>Mon-AM: 2:37, 6000' ~ Belford & Oxford</b><br />
From the Missouri Gulch TH, out and back to Oxford, via Belford. Felt like I was still carrying some heaviness in the legs from Saturday's big run, so just cruised up and down the hills. Feeling weak above 13k' again on Belford, so I almost didn't make the run over to Oxford, but was really glad I did as I felt surprisingly strong on the pair of 700' climbs before the descent off Belford back down to the trailhead.<br />
<br />
6/4/2013<br />
<b>Tue-AM: 2:24, 5300' ~ Mt. Princeton</b><br />
Up and down Grouse Canyon. More Nolan's 14 scouting, this will be the descent I take off Princeton in the middle of the night, which is kinda too bad because it's a simply awesome line. Parked just off of FS Rd 292 and marched up the canyon, surprised to find an obvious use trail all the way to treeline. Gained Princeton's southwest ridge right around 13k' (right where it changes from a fairly mellow, grassy shoulder to a proper technical ridge) and enjoyed another 30min of jogging/scrambling to the summit of Princeton. Discovered that there is no skipping unranked Pt 13971 on the east side--it's a fairly dramatic drop-off there--ah well, it's only an extra 100' or so of elevation gain. After reaching the summit in 1:35, the descent was one of the more fun lines I've experienced in the Sawatch, starting with the 24min of rock-hopping back along the ridge and then plummeting back down through Grouse Canyon; the footing just feels really good from the ridge all the way back down to the road. I think I dropped the 1500' from the ridge to treeline in only 6min, sans snow. Hopefully <u><a href="http://www.alpine-works.com/" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Joe's</span></a></u> <u><a href="http://www.ferei.com/en/" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Ferei</span></a></u> light will make this section feel like daylight during the attempt. I was also very pleased to see that I felt fully recovered from Saturday's long run. Lots of energy, even above 13k', way more than the last couple days.<br />
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6/5/2013<br />
<b>Wed-AM: 2:27, 5000' ~ Mt. Antero</b><br />
Up and down from Baldwin Gulch. Ran the road up to the gulley at 12,000' or so, which, with its current snowpack, made for an extremely expedient path up through all the road switchbacks on that shoulder. Not sure how well this gulley will go once the snow melts out, though. After ~1k' of vert I left the snow and headed straight up the talus, shooting for the saddle/ridge just south of Antero's summit. Didn't pick a great line (should've been further left) so I had to cross some unpleasant ball-bearing-scree-on-hardpack slopes before taking the ridge to the summit (1:36). It still seems to me that a better line up this mountain would be to gain the rib at ~10,900' (just after crossing Baldwin Creek) that goes directly to Antero's summit. Will have to check this out, but it might just be a bunch of loose scree, which would make it terrible. On the summit, I was very disappointed that I'd decided not to bring the camera today as there was an epic inversion layer of clouds off to the east. Descended via the road so that I could get a gander at the traverse over into the Browns Creek Basin (which separates Antero and Tab/Shav)...looks to be a suitable, slightly grassy rib to ascend between the Tab/Shav saddle and the summit of Tabeguache. We shall see. Once I got to the snow-gulley at 13k' I just flew back down that to the road.<br />
<b>PM: 1:34, 4000' ~ Decalibron</b><br />
Parked maybe a half mile below Kite Lake at 11,500' or so, still a couple of snow drifts remaining that would take 4wd to bust through. Jogged a few minutes up to the usual parking lot and started my watch at the trailhead kiosk, thinking I'd give the circuit a solid effort despite this morning's outing and the fact that 4pm snow conditions were predictably horrible, i.e. lots of plunging in and tons of mud and running water. Took me a minute for my legs to get going (and by a minute, I mean, like, 30min), but once I got on the solid talus I was climbing pretty well and tagged the summit of Democrat at exactly 38min flat. This can definitely go a few minutes faster sans snow. The snow descent back to the saddle (43:40) was non-ideal, lots of knee-deep plunging, and then a ridiculously strong wind threw me around on the grunt up to Bross (1:01:05); I almost gave up trying to go hard right then because of the wind and because snow was preventing me from taking the best lines on the ridge. Ran hard over to Lincoln (1:07:05), though, which is really hard to do above 14k', and then tried to keep up the intensity over to Bross, too, but snow stymied a lot of my effort, and I was beginning to fade energy-wise, too. Tagged the summit of Bross at 1:21:55 and then threw myself down the 2k' of vert back to the trailhead, dropping the first 1000' on nice scree in only 5min and then taking another 7+ to descend the last 1k' and posthole/plunge back across the stream just before the trailhead for a total time of <b>1:34:43</b>. I guess it's at least a standard for other people to chase now if so inclined, but in dry conditions (or firmer snow) I think I could definitely take it under 1h30. Especially with fresher legs.<br />
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6/6/2013<br />
<b>Thu-AM: 2:27, 4500' ~ Torreys & Grays</b><br />
Parked at the 1.4mi/private property sign, like usual. Took the Dead Dog couloir up Torreys and felt like I was kinda pushing my luck with snow conditions, leaving the truck at ~6:15am, getting to the base a little after 7am and summiting at ~7:45am (1:16 from the trailhead). About a third of the way up a single fist-sized rock came whizzing by really close, but that was it for the whole route. That made me really glad to be wearing a helmet, though. Super warm on the climb, that chute is like a reflective solar oven with the rising sun. Legs were definitely slow and tired from yesterday's efforts. Left my <u><a href="http://www.kahtoola.com/kts_crampons_details.php" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Kahtoola crampons</span></a></u> on for the quick drop and climb over to Grays (snow the whole way), but after that things had softened up just enough to make running shoes sufficient for the descent back to the car. Total time trailhead-to-trailhead was 1:58. Way more snow on these peaks than in the Sawatch.<br />
<b>PM: 1:07, 3000' ~ First Flatiron+Green Mt.</b><br />
Typical afternoon outing: biked to Chat, scrambled the rock on the way to the summit of Green, descended the front. Notably, I had one of my faster efforts to the base of the rock (low-11min) without really trying---I could really feel the extra oxygen compared to what I've been breathing for most of the past two weeks. It also felt (comparatively) humid; I was sweating buckets.<br />
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6/7/2013<br />
<b>Fri-AM: 4:16, 4500' ~ Keyhole Ridge (Longs Peak)</b><br />
This wasn't really four hours of running. More like 2h30. Planned on summiting Longs via the 5.6 Keyhole Ridge and descending the Cables, but Joe and I were chased off the ridge about half-way up. Ran at a casual pace to the Keyhole with a 7.7x37m rope in my pack and some stoppers and four cams in Joe's pack. Got there in less than 90min where we opted just kick steps in our running shoes across the snowfield leading to the 3rd Class ramp that goes to the False Keyhole. This ended up being a bit spicier than I anticipated as the snow as very soft and only a small margin of moss/loose rock was bare right on the extremely exposed edge of the ledge. We scrambled this carefully before roping up for a very easy pitch of climbing up to the escape saddle just before the first tower. Conditions were still brilliant, so we were quite jolly pitching out the easy rock that leads up the tower. There was still some snow on a lot of things, though, so we were happy to be roped up for the on-sight. Less than a pitch from the top of the tower, though, it was clear the weather was going to get nasty very quickly and we heard several rolls of thunder, which was more than a little unnerving. I refuse to mess with lightning, and we were in an extremely exposed position on a knife ridge near 13,700'. So, I quickly lowered Joe then rappelled/downclimbed off a pair of stoppers before scrambling back over to the escape saddle by which time the wind was raging and it was snowing hard. Another bank of clouds was moving in fast from the west so we scrambled west back down to the Keyhole and called it a day, running back down to the trailhead through drizzle.<br />
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6/8/2013<br />
<b>Sat-AM: 2:52, 5000' ~ Longs Peak</b><br />
Up and down the North Face. After yesterday's failure to summit, and anticipating tomorrow's long outing, I opted to just cruise up and down the shortest line on the peak. There were crazy winds in the parking lot, but above treeline it turned out to be just a standard breezy day. Didn't even put crampons on until I was half-way up the Cables dihedral, and then on the way down I didn't even get out my rap cord or harness. Still a ton of snow above the Cables, but way less than last week. Great run, can't wait to start hitting this mountain in just shoes and shorts again; it's getting there.<br />
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6/9/2013<br />
<b>Sun-AM: <u><a href="http://blog.ultimatedirection.com/nolans-14-scouting/" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">8:21, 17,000' ~ Missouri, Belford, Oxford, Harvard, Columbia, Yale</span></a></u></b><br />
Pretty epic run. Started with Joe from Rockdale, ran the 4wd road up to Clohesy Lake and started the Nolan's 14 line. Misouri, Belford, and Oxford are all cruises, but then the drop into the Pine Creek drainage marks the beginning of basically all off-trail running for the rest of the day. Nailed the descent to Pine Creek and the march up Harvard and then was psyched to complete the traverse to Columbia via Rabbit Ridge instead of doing the usual drop to 12,800' on the east side. Staying on the ridge necessitates a fair bit of 4th Class and low-5th Class scrambling with a short, maybe 20ft crux downclimb that allegedly goes at 5.7. It was a vertical crack, but it felt easier than that to me, considering I was on-sight, solo, in running shoes, at ~13k' after almost 5hr of running. The descent south off of Columbia marked the beginning of new territory for me and it went pretty well as I found a pretty good line in the trees, aiming for the base of a giant avalanche chute on the south side of N. Cottonwood Creek that would take me up to Yale's northeast ridge. This felt like bumbling wreckage through heinous bushwhacking on extremely steep terrain and even a few cliffy outcroppings, but eventually--after much swearing and cursing--I found myself postholing near treeline and then it was just the endless ridge leading to Yale's summit. Once on the summit I didn't think I could stomach anymore bushwhacking, so I started out planning on just taking the east ridge down to the Colorado Trail, but a couple of perfectly glissade-able snow slopes lured me into the Avalanche Gulch basin between Yale and Mascot Peak and even though there was some more bushwhacking around 10,800' or so through many many downed trees I kinda hit the line perfectly and was down at the Avalanche Gulch trailhead only 49min after leaving Yale's summit and with legs that still felt like they had a ton of run left in them. 10 gels. Joe had a few navigational issues (as is wont to happen when traveling all day off-trail) and came in four hours later, thankfully before a headlamp was needed.<br />
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<b>Hours:</b> 28h25min<br />
<b>Vert:</b> 54,300'<br />
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Obviously, a great week up high. Yesterday's run has me seriously reconsidering my Nolan's plan. Given how hideous the route-finding is in the North Cottonwood Creek drainage between Columbia and Yale, I think I want to do my best to hit this in the daylight, so will probably end up starting from the Fish Hatchery at 2 or 3am instead of my initially-planned 5am/first light start. A start in the dark will also help ensure that I take it easy for the first couple peaks. Other than that, Sunday's run was great. Depending on what the sky is doing at the time, I'm pretty sure I'll take the more technical Rabbit Ridge between Harvard and Columbia, purely for aesthetic reasons as I was only a minute or two slower on it Sunday than when I dropped to the east when linking them up last summer. Also, energy-wise I felt very solid yesterday and finished the run remarkably fresh, which is, of course, a boost to the confidence.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4q3FUYSicPv1vINOHLP0Mta3_RHWqyREMwKAEY9iZzAuqlJVvKkswy8KSw6wTGrC2GlKpMnMFvSIAk2YkY1RvvIi5o_gsiDm84Lr8iGq5UhrLJlaP6HLGXlyBS9svETO8DxtC1gFCmNM/s1600/ridge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4q3FUYSicPv1vINOHLP0Mta3_RHWqyREMwKAEY9iZzAuqlJVvKkswy8KSw6wTGrC2GlKpMnMFvSIAk2YkY1RvvIi5o_gsiDm84Lr8iGq5UhrLJlaP6HLGXlyBS9svETO8DxtC1gFCmNM/s1600/ridge.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">The final ridge leading to Princeton's summit from the SW. Taken just below Pt 13971.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Dropping down Princeton's SW ridge, the nearly vertical mile climb to Antero looms straight ahead.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq2cLqI-iEuZsDFImx2VK5F8cuXZlFmxF93_yjNEon5VVcX0m52Chr27cgDv9RIO8xJ9k3LgokY6SkkOTblMsiJi7wwUXwR7j7b3PHpWFpiUxqvduOtqpxbn4uYxyQMg7zw1c3v3JmM2Q/s1600/dd_bw.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq2cLqI-iEuZsDFImx2VK5F8cuXZlFmxF93_yjNEon5VVcX0m52Chr27cgDv9RIO8xJ9k3LgokY6SkkOTblMsiJi7wwUXwR7j7b3PHpWFpiUxqvduOtqpxbn4uYxyQMg7zw1c3v3JmM2Q/s1600/dd_bw.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Dead Dog Couloir (center-right) offers 1500' of 45-50 degree snow climbing to the summit of Torreys (14,267').</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAD_paR0xv5iC8d0dKyP-VaczOT7fLziWIRDVNDcPS9AXYevrH9W6g40wjBRAMkoSORwWEi7hzoJtJ6T7pypEXRNY2G_w0InX4DPj8OvOK56LU4bydm87iKUvgPogI82cS5mRHDS4Jj8c/s1600/top_dd.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAD_paR0xv5iC8d0dKyP-VaczOT7fLziWIRDVNDcPS9AXYevrH9W6g40wjBRAMkoSORwWEi7hzoJtJ6T7pypEXRNY2G_w0InX4DPj8OvOK56LU4bydm87iKUvgPogI82cS5mRHDS4Jj8c/s1600/top_dd.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Nearly to the top of Dead Dog.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5LqhWp4gIaZoTUsGm9Qp2n6EFXo-cTbZP8yN2i_tyoLBQQ5unU5Sr1cP6gFcKLJENsaakBzsv_klWgIiTs4nXkhlGz7-PrCoSWQv2Z0wxXwhwfax9E0tS4E4_V8xJ34bvCdXfoJJVLuk/s1600/grays2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5LqhWp4gIaZoTUsGm9Qp2n6EFXo-cTbZP8yN2i_tyoLBQQ5unU5Sr1cP6gFcKLJENsaakBzsv_klWgIiTs4nXkhlGz7-PrCoSWQv2Z0wxXwhwfax9E0tS4E4_V8xJ34bvCdXfoJJVLuk/s1600/grays2.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">No summit of Torreys is complete without standing atop Grays (14,270') as well.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4iuo2pmdHgtedizRw43qFn-XBuBCAo0QY_mH7QqIfg993huY-ipD6O9p4YAxq3pJS25RQJiWpaE_kygiFiR039WnRuVrQsekUgYhkQwczc-qRBKMVtLPr_m6sjHQTV-yAf_TeYroWQHo/s1600/longs13_summit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4iuo2pmdHgtedizRw43qFn-XBuBCAo0QY_mH7QqIfg993huY-ipD6O9p4YAxq3pJS25RQJiWpaE_kygiFiR039WnRuVrQsekUgYhkQwczc-qRBKMVtLPr_m6sjHQTV-yAf_TeYroWQHo/s1600/longs13_summit.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Longs Peak summit #13 for the year on Saturday.</td></tr>
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Antonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11148317903654491236noreply@blogger.com32tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-451222917425507533.post-8860023015426427372013-06-02T19:35:00.000-06:002013-06-02T19:35:46.156-06:00May 27 - June 2<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
5/27/2013<br />
<b>Mon-AM: 2:03, 5000' ~ Mt. Elbert</b><br />
Up and down the NE ridge. Did the roundtrip from TH to summit and back in a few minutes under 2hr, but got in some extra time/vert on the corniced southwest ridge as <u><a href="http://www.thewolpertinger.com/" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Joel</span></a></u> was waiting for me up there so he could do some filming. Brilliant morning on the hill.<br />
<b>PM: 1:06, 3000' ~ First Flatiron+Green Mt.</b><br />
Ran from Chat with Joel, who joined me to the top of the First. With Joel initially nipping at my heels I tagged a snappy 12:30 scramble on the slab before downclimbing and heading to the top of the mountain alone. So awesome to see the transformation of Boulder from spring to summer in the past week I've been away.<br />
<br />
5/28/2013<br />
<b>Tue-AM: 3:53, 5000' ~ Longs Peak</b><br />
Up via Lambs Slide and Clarks Arrow, down the North Face. Got a 5am start from the trailhead, giving Joel a 45min head-start. There wasn't much snow until Chasm Lake, but all of the snow was in excellent condition, consolidated and frozen, accepting Khatoola crampons quite well. Lambs Slide and Keplinger's Couloir/The Homestretch were classic snow marches in perfect conditions, nary a breath of breeze all day. The descent of the North Face down to the top of the Cables was by far the spiciest terrain of the day. Descending such steep snow facing in was tedious and required focus. Rapped the top half of the Cables and downclimbed the bottom half before running down the apron of snow below there, removing crampons, and enjoying a smooth run back down to the cars. Back below Mt. Lady Washington, the now slightly softer snow conditions were ideal for descending fast. Really good to be back on the mountain after not being up there since early April. #12 of the year.<br />
<b>PM: 1:06, 3000' ~ First Flatiron+Green Mt.</b><br />
Biked to Chat, 12:25 scramble, then to the top of the mountain and descent of the front. Had a bunch of energy in my legs, which was nice.<br />
<br />
5/29/2013<br />
<b>Wed-AM: 2:01, 3000' ~ Green Mt.</b><br />
Ugh, one of those rough days. The string of early mornings and big days of vert caught up to me, plus motivation was severely affected by the cold rain falling. Eventually stumbled out the door, though, and jogged up and down the mountain at the easiest effort possible. Up Gregory-Greenman, down Ranger-Red Lion-Creek Path. The rain eventually stopped and I was treated with a lot of magical clouds sweeping around the summits.<br />
<br />
5/30/2013<br />
<b>Thu-AM: 2:17, 5700' ~ Flatiron Quinfecta+Green Mt.</b><br />
Got a late start because Joel and I drove up toward Ned, headed for the high country before realizing that, yes indeed, the weather forecast wasn't lying and the Divide held truly apocalypse conditions (snowing, hurricane winds). So we headed to Chat for some flatties, instead. After some stop-and-go, leap-frogging each other on the First, we ran into <u><a href="http://thatdakotajones.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Dakota</span></a></u> on the summit and had a long, casual conversation in the sun. From there, though, I continued on alone and clocked some of my best splits ever in linking some Flatirons together; legs felt really strong. Yesterday's easy day did a lot of good.<br />
<b>PM: 1:05, 3000' ~ First Flatiron+Green Mt.</b><br />
Really good pep in the legs tonight, and I made it to the summit of Green from Chat in 42min, which has to be a PR or close to it for ascending via the First Flatiron. Good downhill, too.<br />
<br />
5/31/2013<br />
<b>Fri-AM: 0:58, 1800' ~ First Flatiron</b><br />
Got up really early for some filming in good light on the First with Joel. Really windy on the arete and downclimb, though. Ran back down to the hut after we were finished. Had planned a peak in the high country in the evening, but the hurricane winds persisted up there so I decided to just save the energy for tomorrow's outing.<br />
<br />
6/1/2013<br />
<b>Sat-AM: 7:41, 13,500' ~ Massive, Elbert, La Plata</b><br />
First three peaks of <u><a href="http://mattmahoney.net/nolans14/" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Nolan's 14</span></a></u>. I started from Halfmoon for logistical reasons and to hopefully save some postholing below treeline (if I'd started from Fish Hatchery), but because of the extensive snowfield on Massive's upper face I ended up reaching the summit in a similar time that it usually takes me to summit from Fish Hatchery (1:46). Immediately turned and started descending Massive's SW slopes, which started dodgy but then turned into an incredible 2500' drop completely on perfect, steep snow that took something like 12min. It was awesome. Too early in the morning for glissading, but running was probably even faster, if harder on the ol' quads. Somewhere in this plummet, however, I lost my 8oz Hydrapak flask, which had been my only water-carrying device for the day. Bummer. I spent a lot of time drinking at streams before the monster climb up Elbert's west ridge, but apparently it wasn't enough as I was really fading toward the top and had even mostly resolved to bail at the summit (3:55) and just descend back to Halfmoon. Luckily, Joel was up there for a couple minutes of film and was in a particularly cheery mood after PRing up the NE ridge; his mood was infectious, and, even more importantly, he gave me a bottle to complete the rest of the run with. The descent off Elbert past the Golden Fleece mine and down Echo Canyon was particularly fast with snow every step of the way until the mine, and by time I started up La Plata (trailhead at 5:04) my energy seemed to be at an all-day high. Things were really good on the LP climb until I got above 12k' or so...where the altitude proceeded to smack me hard. The final 1500' to the summit was a total, staggering horror show on an endless, baking hot reflective snowfield. I had plenty of gels and water, so that, along with the splitting headache I had seemed to indicate that it was just all the time above treeline finally catching up with me. It's still early in the acclimation process for me. Fortunately, there was another perfect snow descent off of La Plata, too---this with some of the best glissading of my life---and despite what felt like days of thrashing around in the hip-deep snow/willows/water just above treeline I was down in Winfield less than an hour after leaving LP's summit. Awesome day, but my fitness---both mental and physical, specifically my altitude acclimation---still has a ways to come before I attempt Nolan's later in the month.<br />
<br />
6/2/2013<br />
<b>Sun-AM: 2:07, 4500' ~ Mt. Elbert</b><br />
Up and down the NE ridge. Jogged about a mile on the road to wake up the legs before starting up the hill. Gorgeous day, perfect conditions, the snow is shrinking quick. Legs were tired, but not terrible.<br />
<b>PM: 1:01, 600' ~ East Leadville</b><br />
Easy shake-out jog in the evening.<br />
<br />
<b>Hours:</b> 25h18min<br />
<b>Vert:</b> 48,100'<br />
<br />
This felt like the first week of proper summer running. A few 14ers, some flatties, all of it really enjoyable. As expected, the first real foray onto a chunk of the Nolan's line was sobering in its difficulty. What a monster route. I spent a lot of Saturday relearning techniques of not looking too far into the future, remaining in the moment, staying concerned only with the task at hand. Something like Nolan's is impossible to complete if you get too far ahead of yourself mentally.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgupYubh_pWjJyy3wraKKmrLP28ukvUTlCQg_F93vcZ9OZlMAnFN0S6soMuMhjy8eBfTjGHC7Dty8G6gB_xP3a2Zn6qaZhMC6zZpK_l3xussIMWu_iyjv4rxX3Mk95yRD-qcPJePQpKg1s/s1600/sunrise.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgupYubh_pWjJyy3wraKKmrLP28ukvUTlCQg_F93vcZ9OZlMAnFN0S6soMuMhjy8eBfTjGHC7Dty8G6gB_xP3a2Zn6qaZhMC6zZpK_l3xussIMWu_iyjv4rxX3Mk95yRD-qcPJePQpKg1s/s1600/sunrise.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Sunrise over Twin Sisters Tuesday morning.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMtRS78773TijVdJYewvI-MoV65pg9Ra4CnofTVi8jXHeV3VTsiYp62rYc6gqZH1Jb9BQHuvJ87AJuKwYhi_aRogmi2nzMFMZKsuVWU6Y9Nfe6vvhfK0iyhXD5c3_XJOQeFD0p3rSxcio/s1600/diamond1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMtRS78773TijVdJYewvI-MoV65pg9Ra4CnofTVi8jXHeV3VTsiYp62rYc6gqZH1Jb9BQHuvJ87AJuKwYhi_aRogmi2nzMFMZKsuVWU6Y9Nfe6vvhfK0iyhXD5c3_XJOQeFD0p3rSxcio/s1600/diamond1.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Snow beta shot on the condition of the East Face. Flying Dutchman and the Notch both look good still.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhNlmEMsCcD3iKtEVB1E91VYXcVbtsTISpSacmAkUdxGbKHLF1FD8aGjG9XKf4k-7FjIM_U3tIxItVVJ5pUXlWI-B8efVVlJRer6AQI2VnYiQatvS9M5v7NNt9P20RmkgmfRqFmjtjjPY/s1600/after_chasm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhNlmEMsCcD3iKtEVB1E91VYXcVbtsTISpSacmAkUdxGbKHLF1FD8aGjG9XKf4k-7FjIM_U3tIxItVVJ5pUXlWI-B8efVVlJRer6AQI2VnYiQatvS9M5v7NNt9P20RmkgmfRqFmjtjjPY/s1600/after_chasm.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Joel marching up toward the base of Lambs Slide.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizUFFNRw6SZchpwNbnelycXDODCIlpXZunKgBt4AVAOCl5pemSpatgDPwSsZ4pzXVG80d5AYyDGLxgD5i2IE0qa5H7FRHXPKQkiYpHPz4ul1Jb-q-oz7Co5SHxL2NLoxMBBFdZ6P71AQo/s1600/top_lambs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizUFFNRw6SZchpwNbnelycXDODCIlpXZunKgBt4AVAOCl5pemSpatgDPwSsZ4pzXVG80d5AYyDGLxgD5i2IE0qa5H7FRHXPKQkiYpHPz4ul1Jb-q-oz7Co5SHxL2NLoxMBBFdZ6P71AQo/s1600/top_lambs.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Joel on upper Lambs Slide, well above Broadway.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv4GgX8tl9Hplj2-uM3TnA-uz3XTwRPp8OtM5o4Fqgt7BUiB-eUy1zS2HHMWIhYKhJtW3j8Vi2SJq7tlMy8il4tIYwkqsHhs0WnL3NVcYv7YCe3qU1AOqY0Ma-9V-2r8uSsCUEICdNGKg/s1600/saddle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv4GgX8tl9Hplj2-uM3TnA-uz3XTwRPp8OtM5o4Fqgt7BUiB-eUy1zS2HHMWIhYKhJtW3j8Vi2SJq7tlMy8il4tIYwkqsHhs0WnL3NVcYv7YCe3qU1AOqY0Ma-9V-2r8uSsCUEICdNGKg/s1600/saddle.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Joel crossing the saddle between the Lambs Slide and Flying Dutchman couloirs.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-w-02BhpiG-qwGdB3IaBaIY9s7CeqhWSJBhzgp_fL9LRG6CBqFGXMZW9EvP4cAWwQhj26rLV5iJu7XuiaUDXYU-bCpuhRpgULPy6R7V9xhu4pA6briF1l9r-abdVMAf51dTCmjo8wGfw/s1600/homestretch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-w-02BhpiG-qwGdB3IaBaIY9s7CeqhWSJBhzgp_fL9LRG6CBqFGXMZW9EvP4cAWwQhj26rLV5iJu7XuiaUDXYU-bCpuhRpgULPy6R7V9xhu4pA6briF1l9r-abdVMAf51dTCmjo8wGfw/s1600/homestretch.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Joel slogging up the Homestretch. Three 14ers in four days for a West Virginia boy.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7c30fEr-9mcFdkut6ai7cnots6obyrakAk8pWB_syfzOVEvPW6y_-w7Z4p04IFbX5IjHX9QC_rGHJveULok48nnorLoJib9lY25-4PRPVpHt40tZWOuWmrl0O0PLIcAGSW_nSBU9NN_8/s1600/bw_summit_longs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7c30fEr-9mcFdkut6ai7cnots6obyrakAk8pWB_syfzOVEvPW6y_-w7Z4p04IFbX5IjHX9QC_rGHJveULok48nnorLoJib9lY25-4PRPVpHt40tZWOuWmrl0O0PLIcAGSW_nSBU9NN_8/s1600/bw_summit_longs.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Obligatory summit shot with the <u><a href="http://www.thewolpertinger.com/" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">'tinger</span></a></u>.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiVQpe-hmQ6Fn4g4xYNz1JxuzdRUFITVYBw8LwP7Ra0svDKJp4G4VuZ4TC80CdA9CvDr6-obnO7WpHtf13M_7v1Ryc-f0zHgla_Ri8OfSOxJHbveg4FnqDjKVkPWd-miUKas-KntMf6cw/s1600/north_face.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiVQpe-hmQ6Fn4g4xYNz1JxuzdRUFITVYBw8LwP7Ra0svDKJp4G4VuZ4TC80CdA9CvDr6-obnO7WpHtf13M_7v1Ryc-f0zHgla_Ri8OfSOxJHbveg4FnqDjKVkPWd-miUKas-KntMf6cw/s1600/north_face.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">The North Face descent above the Cables was uncommonly steep, but very good snow.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhabeh8pr4iT-V-WiPOPmhb8rCEkKD0V7ug0Oar8hQ4e7gSFga4GLTP8yIIethXlZjf9xSMBrIfJqJTa4cfwwvexWnLfyWT3Ys-SIoBSVpStoAVRbKEUMwEnc0KEvnqmkt9yUi1RsWSiFY/s1600/elbert_solo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhabeh8pr4iT-V-WiPOPmhb8rCEkKD0V7ug0Oar8hQ4e7gSFga4GLTP8yIIethXlZjf9xSMBrIfJqJTa4cfwwvexWnLfyWT3Ys-SIoBSVpStoAVRbKEUMwEnc0KEvnqmkt9yUi1RsWSiFY/s1600/elbert_solo.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Summit ridge of Mt. Elbert on Sunday morning.</td></tr>
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Antonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11148317903654491236noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-451222917425507533.post-87947038092546059662013-05-27T12:27:00.000-06:002013-05-27T12:33:29.032-06:00May 20 - 26<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
5/20/2013<br />
<b>Mon-AM: 3:32, 8000' ~ Pikes Peak</b><br />
Up and down the big hill again, from Manitou. Climbed about 90sec faster than a couple days ago and felt a lot better above treeline, which was probably mental. Started snowing above 11k' or so, but it never really got too nasty until the last 500' of vert below the summit. Still comfortable enough in running shorts and a jacket.<br />
<br />
5/21/2013<br />
<b>Tue-AM: 2:05, 3200' ~ First Flatiron+Green Mt.</b><br />
Got up early and scrambled my 100th lifetime ascent of the First before descending Bear Canyon. Spent the rest of the day driving to Nebraska.<br />
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5/22/2013<br />
<b>Wed-AM: 1:48, 1300' ~ Niobrara State Park+Ethiopian Trail</b><br />
Started in town with <u><a href="http://www.thewolpertinger.com/" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Joel</span></a></u> in a light drizzle. Ran out to the State Park, did my usual 5mi loop through the park, then ran home via the "Ethiopian Trail" (named for the opening scene in the Haile Gebreselassie film "Endurance"), which is an old pasture double-track that climbs out of the Missouri River valley up to my family's farm. Mostly steady cruising, but this was a 16mi run, the miles rack up quickly here.<br />
<b>PM: 0:52 ~ Run into Town</b><br />
Ran 7mi back into town via the Ethiopian Trail with Joel to pick up my truck from the mechanic. Several squalls of rain along the way.<br />
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5/23/2013<br />
<b>Thu-AM: 2:22, 1500' ~ Liska Loop</b><br />
Cranked out this super-classic, hilly 22mi loop that used to be my staple long run when I lived at home. After getting the legs going with a couple of 7min miles I settled into low-6min pace, suffered through a bonk the last 4mi or so, but still finished things off with a 5:40 final mile. I was never very stressed cardiovascularly, but my legs just aren't very used to turning over that quickly for that long anymore. I'm pretty sure I'd have a really hard time breaking 5min for a single mile right now. Great run. <br />
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5/24/2013<br />
<b>Fri-AM: 1:07, 500' ~ Pastures</b><br />
Sunrise run with Joel before hitting the road back to Colorado. Adductors and soleus were tight from yesterday's outing.<br />
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5/25/2013<br />
<b>Sat-AM: 2:07, 4500' ~ Mt. Elbert</b><br />
Up and down NE ridge. So great to be back up in the Sawatch! Snow on the route was much more manageable than I had anticipated, which got me really excited for all the great running to be done this summer. Windshirt was sufficient on the summit, it was basically summer conditions. Felt really strong on the whole climb, which was nice since the last time I was up here in November I was super weak above treeline. I was just beat-down by that point last fall.<br />
<b>PM: 1:01, 600' ~ Boulevard, Leadville</b><br />
Easy jog out and back on the Boulevard (Leadville 100 race course) in the evening. Legs felt solid.<br />
<br />
5/26/2013<br />
<b>Sun-AM: 2:24, 4500' ~ Mt. Elbert</b><br />
Up the West ridge and down the NE ridge. Struggled through some snow between 11k' and treeline, but nothing horribly frustrating. Above treeline, the fell lugs on my custom winter 110s were indispensable on the frozen snow. The 3000' grunt in a little more than a mile on the west ridge delivered the usual beat-down, however. Gorgeous morning.<br />
<b>PM: 1:05, 1500' ~ 5th St Leadville</b><br />
Out and back up the hill east of town in beautiful evening light. Easy jog to 11,600', legs felt good.<br />
<br />
<b>Hours:</b> 18h24min<br />
<b>Vert:</b> 25,700'<br />
<br />
Low vert and (relatively) low hours but I think it was somewhere around 120-125mi, so pretty solid. Really fun week with the mix of flattish, faster <u><a href="http://blog.ultimatedirection.com/home/" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">running back in Nebraska and the return to the high country</span></a></u> for the summer. Super psyched to be regularly getting back above treeline, and can't wait to get the <u><a href="http://mattmahoney.net/nolans14/" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Nolan's 14</span></a></u> line dialed back in over the coming weeks. Definitely the focus for the next month.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb2lAzG1_VYcwlsJ8izR10PANcc1xVvFnNOw0FaFJ0SKX4d1M4HtKDw67O0uRB6zx0WrU5pP1CQvOr-9PFaSOowVwaQgntDrwmir_jtLAAxs5AT2pzjUinEPjBZyIOzDEzmuFrpMzuZAQ/s1600/elbert_summit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb2lAzG1_VYcwlsJ8izR10PANcc1xVvFnNOw0FaFJ0SKX4d1M4HtKDw67O0uRB6zx0WrU5pP1CQvOr-9PFaSOowVwaQgntDrwmir_jtLAAxs5AT2pzjUinEPjBZyIOzDEzmuFrpMzuZAQ/s1600/elbert_summit.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Summit of Elbert Sunday morning.</td></tr>
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Antonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11148317903654491236noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-451222917425507533.post-91034421477379143942013-05-19T20:06:00.000-06:002013-05-19T20:41:19.341-06:00May 13 - 19<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
5/13/13<br />
<b>Mon - off.</b> Launch of <u><a href="http://www.buff.eu/es_es/outdoor/headwear.html?pro_models=2066" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">BUFF Signature Collection</span></a></u> in Barcelona. After another nearly sleepless night, I went for a stroll down <u><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Rambla,_Barcelona" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Las Ramblas</span></a></u> in the morning from my hotel and had to stop and get a coffee and a croissant on the way back in order to make it back to the hotel. Feeling really really weak but finally no more fevers and muscle aches.<br />
<br />
5/14/13<br />
<b>Tue - off.</b> All day travel back to Boulder from Barcelona.<br />
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5/15/13<br />
<b>Wed-AM: 1:35, 3000' ~ First Flatiron+Green Mt.</b><br />
From my house, descent down Flagstaff. Oy. Thought things were feeling ok, but then about half-way up the rock I got super weak and had to take a minute before slogging through the rest of the run. Really weak after the first 30min or so. So good to be back in Colorado, though. The weather is gorgeous and I just love being here at home.<br />
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5/16/13<br />
<b>Thu-AM: 2:00, 3200' ~ First Flatiron+Green Mt.</b><br />
From my house, descent down Bear Canyon. Felt quite a bit better today, but still not quite 100%. Always fun to just cruise easy down through Bear Canyon, too.<br />
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5/17/13<br />
<b>Fri-AM: 2:10, 5000' ~ Flatiron Trifecta+Green Mt.</b><br />
From my house, scrambled the 1st, 5th, and 4th flatties before going to the top of the mountain and descending Flagstaff back to my house. Finally feeling close to 100% again in terms of energy. Really fun morning on the mountain, always a pleasure to get in a few thousand feet of scrambling. Not much else I'd rather be doing while waiting for the high country to start melting out a bit.<br />
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5/18/13<br />
<b>Sat-AM: 3:34, 8000' ~ Pikes Peak (14,115')</b><br />
Parked in downtown Manitou with <u><a href="http://www.alpine-works.com/" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Joe</span></a></u> (who had dog, so was only going up Cameron Cone) and ran up the big hill. From Hydro Street (after all my years living in COS and running with MC it became habit to time from there) it was 2:19 to the summit and 0:56 for the descent back to Hydro. (Obviously, I wasn't going the standard route.) Felt really solid climbing today, only wavering the last 1000' or so. First 14er in over a month, though, so altitude weakness is to be expected. Let gravity take over on the descent, clocking a number of sub-6 miles. Per usual, there's way less snow down in the Pikes Peak region than up here on the northern Front Range. Granted, I was on the southern slopes of the mountain, but there was basically no snow below 12k' or so, and above there it was well-consolidated, perfect for kicking steps. Mostly overcast day, but I was shirtless all the way to the summit, and only put it on for the descent above treeline. Great day.<br />
<br />
5/19/13<br />
<b>Sun-AM: 2:06, 3200' ~ First Flatiron+Green Mt.</b><br />
From my house, went easy on the uphill and then descended Bear Canyon, enjoying the smooth trail on my tired legs.<br />
<b>PM: 1:05, 3000' ~ First Flatiron+Green Mt.</b><br />
From Chat, cruised up the slab with a light sprinkling of rain part-way up and then had good energy in my legs to the top of the hill. Descent down the front. #99 lifetime ascent of the First Flatiron, all but one of those coming since last July.<br />
<br />
<b>Hours:</b> 12h30min<br />
<b>Vert:</b> 26,400'<br />
<br />
Took me until Friday to get my legs back under me after being sick and re-adjusting from the overseas travel. The second half of the week was super solid, though, and after hitting Pikes on Saturday I'm really excited to spend a good chunk of time at altitude. Which I will do, starting next weekend when I get back from Nebraska. Bring on summer!<br />
<br />
Against all odds, Joe actually turned me on to these guys:<br />
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Antonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11148317903654491236noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-451222917425507533.post-27279494000583790482013-05-16T14:53:00.000-06:002013-05-16T14:53:09.737-06:00Last Couple Of Weeks<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
04/29/2013<br />
<b>Mon-AM: 2:01, 4000' ~ 1st and 5th Flatirons+Green Mt.</b><br />
Ran from my doorstep up to Chat, linked up the two flatties, then headed to the summit of Green before descending down Ranger-Flag-Viewpoint. Took it easy but legs felt good considering yesterday's long run.<br />
<b>PM: 1:09, 3000' ~ 1st Flatiron+Green Mt.</b><br />
Usual evening outing, but after warming up my legs felt surprisingly snappy and I scrambled the 1st in 12:30 before tagging the summit of Green in 45min from Chat.<br />
<br />
04/30/2013<br />
<b>Tue-AM: 2:08, 3200' ~ 1st Flatiron+Green Mt.</b><br />
Ran from home, went up Green via the First and then descended Bear Canyon. Tired morning, but by just keeping the effort mellow it was a very enjoyable outing. Good to remember I don't always need to be pushing.<br />
<b>PM: 1:09, 3000' ~ 1st Flatiron+Green Mt.</b><br />
Biked to Chat and then did the same exact run as last night, scrambling in 12:40 and getting to the summit in 44min. Gorgeous evening with the sun shining over the low clouds of the incoming storm.<br />
<br />
05/1/2013<br />
<b>Wed-AM: 2:20, 3000' ~ Green Mt.</b><br />
Ran down to the Boulderado to meet the <u><a href="https://twitter.com/mwolfepaw" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Wolfepaw</span></a></u> for a lap over the hill in a snowstorm. Up Bear Canyon, down Ranger-Flag. 6" of fresh snow with more dumping down.<br />
<br />
05/2/2013<br />
<b>Thu- off.</b> Toe is really infected, so couldn't really even get a shoe on. Needed an easy day anyhow.<br />
<br />
05/3/2013<br />
<b>Fri-AM: 2:27, 4500' ~ Bear & Green</b><br />
Ran up to Chat and apparently just missed Mackey and the Paw as I caught up to them on the summit of Bear, after marching up Fern Canyon. Brilliant morning. Broke trail down Bear's West Ridge---dutifully bloodying the shins---before heading up Green and descending down Ranger-Flag.<br />
<b>PM: 1:16, 3000' ~ First Flatiron+Green Mt.</b><br />
Biked to Chat, then cruised up the slab/hill with lots of energy. Yesterday's rest day put a lot of pep in my legs and the toe is much improved. Super slushy trails.<br />
<br />
05/4/2013<br />
<b>Sat-AM: 2:25, 5200' ~ Bear & Green+1st Flatiron</b><br />
Biked to Chat, then the usual: up Fern, back over Green, descend to the base of the First for a lap on the rock, and run back down to Chat. Trails were still full of snow/ice/slush, but it's melting quick.<br />
<b>PM: 1:14, 3000' ~ First Flatiron+Green Mt.</b><br />
Biked to Chat to meet <u><a href="http://www.alpine-works.com/" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Joe</span></a></u>. We jogged easily up to the base of the First with <u><a href="http://www.akrunning.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Geoff</span></a></u> and Will. Had a really on-point, quick scramble and downclimb and then slipped and slid to the summit of Green with Joe. He continued on up to Gold Hill, while I ran back down to my bike at Chat.<br />
<br />
05/5/2013<br />
<b>Sun-AM: 1:48, 3200' ~ First Flatiron+Green Mt.</b><br />
Early lap up the slab to the top of the mountain and then descent of Bear Canyon before hustling down to the bus stop to go to DIA and Spain.<br />
<br />
<b>Hours:</b> 17h57min<br />
<b>Vert:</b> 35,100'<br />
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05/6/2013<br />
<b>Mon - off.</b> Travel to La Palma<br />
<br />
05/7/2013<br />
<b>Tue-AM: 1:48, 3500' ~ Transvulcania Course</b><br />
Drove up to the church above Los Llanos with Tim, Cam, and Emelie and ran up the 1600'/20min of steep, cobbled switchbacks to the ridge where we intersected the race course. Tim went right while Cam and I continued climbing. Cam had done a couple hours the day before so he turned around after a bit but I continued on up to a small peak at 6500' or so before running back down to the car. Hot, dry day.<br />
<br />
05/8/2013<br />
<b>Wed-AM: 0:51, 1200' ~ Tazacorte</b><br />
Ran with Tim, Cam, Joe, and Martin down to the beach where Cam stayed on the roads and the rest of us climbed the 1000' or so up the steep, cobbled switchbacks that the race takes down to the beach. Hot and humid, but legs felt good.<br />
<br />
05/9/2013<br />
<b>Thu-AM: 0:56, 800' ~ Sol de La Palma Rd</b><br />
After going to bed with suspiciously flu-like muscle aches, I woke up feeling completely sick---terrible headache, muscle aches all over my body, sensitive skin, feverish---but tried to be positive and thought I'd go for a run to just see how things felt. Surprisingly, not too bad, as long as I didn't move my eyes around too much in my skull. However, things just got worse the rest of the day, which was pretty excruciating as most of the day was spent giving interviews to various media outlets. Those are tough enough to endure without feeling like shit, so it was a pretty rough day where all I wanted to do was just go back to bed. Turns out, fevers and full-body aches would make sleep the next three nights pretty much non-existent anyhow.<br />
<br />
05/10-12/13<br />
<b>Fri/Sat/Sun - off</b>. Flu.<br />
<br />
<b>Hours:</b> 3h35<br />
<b>Vert:</b> 5500'<br />
<br />
Pretty bad trip overseas. These were my top-three highlights of the trip:<br />
<br />
1 - This sunset from my hotel room balcony on Friday night.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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2 - The half-day I spent with the good folks at BUFF in Barcelona this past Monday.<br />
<br />
3 - Meeting and chatting with Robbie Lawless, the <u><a href="http://runtramp.com/" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">RunTramp</span></a></u>; dude's a legend.<br />
<br />
Beyond that...ugh. I haven't been more disappointed about a race experience since the WS100 was canceled in 2008 and I was fully fit and ready to go. Not much else to say, other than, boy, I wish I had decided to duck Sage et al. <i>before</i> I'd embarked on the nearly 30hr of travel it took to get me from Boulder to La Palma. Seems like it would've saved me a whole lot of unnecessary hassle and stress.<br />
<br />
Colorado's late spring snows have pushed back the timeframe for my planned Nolan's 14 attempt---probably far far into late June---and I'm struggling a bit mentally with the prospect of not competing until Speedgoat. We'll see, I'll hopefully jump in something next month, but other than WS and Hardrock, things are kinda blank until Speedgoat.<br />
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Antonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11148317903654491236noreply@blogger.com26