Week Summary: July 16 - 22

07-16-2012
Mon-AM: 1:48, 3500' ~ Mt. Sneffels (14,150')
Up the Southwest Ridge and down the South Slopes scree (standard route) starting from just below the Governors aid station on Camp Bird Road. Ran everything to Blue Lakes Pass and then the 3rd Class scramble up the ridge was a lot of fun.  At first it was quite sketchy/loose, but once I dropped into and climbed out of a major talus couloir the ridge turned to very solid, sticky pumice-like rock all the way to the summit. Up in a lazy 1:10, with a quick :38 descent.  On most of these climbs Frosty is only 15-20min back, I would put her at 2:40-45 PPA shape right now.

07-17-2012
Tue-AM: 11:34, 22500' ~ Massive (14,421'), Elbert (14,433'), La Plata (14,336'), Huron (14,003'), Missouri (14,067')
Big day, but not nearly as long as I'd hoped. Chased off of Elkhead Pass (between Missouri and Belford) by an epic hail/electrical storm. Frosty was on Belford's summit with some more gels for me, but thankfully scampered down from there once the rocks started buzzing and her hair was standing on end.  Would've really liked to have been able to at least tag the two gimme peaks--Belford and Oxford--before calling it a day, but sometimes larger forces don't care about our silly plans.

07-18-2012
Wed-AM: 2:41, 5000' ~ Mt. Yale (14,196')
Parked at the Avalance Gulch TH, took the CT up to the pass on Yale's East Ridge, which we then took to the summit. Really tired hiking legs today, but not sore at all.  Descended (per Homie's recommendation) via the saddle between Yale and Mascot Peak before dropping into Avalanche Gulch and hooking back up with the CT at ~10,600'. The descent route actually goes quite well by sticking to the right side of the valley. Probably a 55-60min descent on Nolan's legs, but it would be in the dark, so maybe it's not worth the off-trail action?
PM: 1:02, 500' ~ East Leadville+15min barefoot
First flat run I've done in a long, long time.  Trying to work in some flatter stuff for all the roadie action at the LT100 next month. Also want to keep working barefoot in as much as I can.

07-19-2012
Thu-AM: 2:13, 4500' ~ Torreys & Grays Peaks (14,267' & 14,270')
From the usual 1.4mi sign, up Kelso Ridge and down Grays. Pretty tired morning, but just took it easy and had fun. Early start before needing to be down in Boulder for a 10am appt.
PM: 1:01, 3000' ~ 2nd Flatiron+Green Mt.
Up the 2nd and down behind the 3rd with Rickey.  Really hot (like, 100F) at mid-day, but my legs actually felt semi-decent. Probably went a bit too hard.

07-20-2012
Fri-AM: 2:16, 4000' ~ S. & N. Arapaho Peaks (13,397' & 13,502')
Really lethargic morning after a late night. Got up and down the mountain from the 4th of July TH, but it was pretty uninspired, except for the always fun 3rd Class traverse between the two peaks.

07-21-2012
Sat-AM: 2:02, 3500' ~ 2nd Flatiron+Green Mt.
Up the 2nd Flatiron and down Ranger-Flagstaff. Really tired.  Also, really hot.

07-22-2012
Sun-AM: 2:14, 3500' ~ 2nd Flatiron+Green Mt.
Up the 2nd Flatiron and down Bear Canyon. First time I've been in Bear Canyon in months, fun trail.  Legs felt way better, but still seems to be some lingering fatigue in there.  Still hot. A bee stung me in the eye, which was not fun.

Hours: 26h51min
Vert: 50,000'

This was another monster week in terms of vert, and by the end of the it I knew that I hadn't given my Tuesday effort enough respect.  I should've taken Wednesday and Thursday much more mellow so that I didn't feel so shitty later in the week.  Now my only hope is that I can shake this fatigue before Speedgoat rolls around this coming weekend.  I'm in really good shape, I just need to show up to the start line fresh, with poppy legs.  This fatigue has me seriously reconsidering taking a shot at the full Nolan's 14 line between the Leadville 100 in August and Cavalls del Vent at the end of September.  I think such an effort would simply leave me too fatigued to run well at CdV, so I'll probably re-set my goal to just linking up the first 10 peaks (Massive through Yale) in a solid time (I think I can do 16:30-17hr).  It bums me out, but real racing will undoubtedly take precedent for me in the next couple of months.

My chosen ridge of ascent on Sneffels Monday.

Blue Lakes from Sneffels' summit.

Sneffels summit.

Frosty stomping it out.

Nothing beats the San Juans.

Summit of Yale, looking north.

Avalanche Gulch CT descent off of Yale.

Week Summary: July 9 - 15

07-09-2012
Mon-AM: 2:46, 5000' ~ Longs Peak (14,255')
Up and down the Cables/North Face route. This was a miserably slow morning.  From the start I had zero pep in my legs and couldn't believe how slowly I was moving up the Reveley Route.  Things only got worse on the Jim Grove trail before I moved into the very thick fog on the Boulder Field where the slick, wet talus, my leaden legs, and the low visibility had me moving at what felt to be a snail's pace. Scrambled up the Cables in a virtual waterfall before slogging to the summit in an exhausted 1:38.  Spent some time on the summit wondering just how I was going to find the energy to get back to the TH, but eventually started down. When I hit the standard trail just below Granite Pass, I took it all the way down to Battle Mt where I took the Reveley Route down to the long straightaway on the standard trail, which I then took all the way back to the car. Incredibly haggard morning, but always good to get more practice going up and down the Cables.
PM: 1:33, 3000' ~ First Flatiron+Green Mt.
Ran to the base of the First, changed into rock shoes, soloed it in :31 with a 9min downclimb, stashed my rock shoes and then proceeded on to the summit of Green before running back down to Chautauqua. Had some route-finding errors on the upper half of the First that slowed me down a bit.

07-10-2012
Tue-AM: 2:06, 4500' ~ La Plata Peak (14,336')
Up and down the NW Ridge, with Anna. Mellow 1:21 ascent to rest up for what is hopefully a nice run on the Hardrock course tomorrow. Perfect, sunny conditions on the mountain this morning.

07-11-2012
Wed-AM: 8:01, 13500' ~ Silverton to Ouray CW on the Hardrock Course
Really great day in the mountains.  I'd never done a big chunk of the HR course, so I was keen to get a sense for what a sustainable pace would feel like on it.  The whole day actually went really well, with my only route-finding error being an extra 4min near the KT aid station site, looking for the entrance to the Kamm Traverse. I felt really strong all day, until the last 20min or so on the Camp Bird Rd descent, which was the only portion of the run that I pushed beyond what I would consider a 100mi race effort.  After the first 1h30, I started hitting a gel every 45min. Carried one bottle and dipped from streams all day. I was feeling so good that I was ready to run to Grouse, but, fortunately, Frosty talked some sense into me. Really excited to actually get around the whole course as soon as possible. May the lottery and injury gods be kind.

River Crossing - :20
Start of climb up Putnam (hard right) - 1:00
Putnam Saddle - 1:25
Putnam Summit - 1:30
KT Road - 2:10
Ice Lake Stream - 2:30
Grant-Swamp Pass - 3:00
Chapman - 3:30
Oscars Pass - 4:23
Telluride - 5:22 (this was descending Bridal Veil Basin Rd, which is ~2mi longer than the 2008 CR course)
Virginius Pass - 6:41
Governors - 7:05
Ouray - 8:01

07-12-2012
Thu-AM: 2:01, 4500' ~ Handies Peak (14,048')
Up and down the mountain from Grouse Gulch with the Wolfepaw and Frosty. 1:13 to the summit and only 40min to get back down. Jogged down the road a bit to round out the morning. Legs felt surprisingly untouched after yesterday's outing.

07-13-2012
Fri-AM: 1:01, 2600' ~ Little Giant Pass (13,000')
After watching the 6:00am race start for Hardrock, DBo, Frosty, and I went back to Cunningham Gulch for a quick burn up the final climb of the race. :40 to the pass, followed by some ogling of peaks and a fun ~:17min descent.
PM: 7:39, 9400' ~ Hardrock Pacing from Ouray (mi 46) to Sherman (mi 74)
Picked Joe up and marched up the vertical mile to Engineer Pass very steady, and most of it with Dakota.  The run down the road to Grouse was kinda rough, but our climb up Handies Peak was solid, with the descent (now in the dark) down to Burrows and Sherman being sort of hampered again by Joe's inability to stomach much more than Coke. All in all, though, Joe rallied in a massive way over the last 20mi to pass Dakota and move into 2nd place, cut Hal's lead from 52min to 16min, and run the fastest last 20mi ever in this direction--26min faster than Kyle's CR splits from 2008.  Fantastic race for Joe.

07-14-2012
Sat-AM: 1:47, 4000' ~ US Grant Peak (13,767')
After watching Hal, Joe, and Dakota finish Hardrock, Anna and I parked at the South Mineral Creek TH for the Ice Lake Basin, but then turned off on the trail to Grant-Swamp Pass before scrambling the loose, hyper-chossy 3rd/4th Class ridge to the summit. What a gorgeous part of the world.  Frosty traded the summit for a nap beside Island Lake, which was much needed after staying up all night crewing for Joe.

07-15-2012
Sun-AM: :30, 500' ~ Cunningham Road
Just jogged up and back on the road because I had a flat tire that I needed to change before the Hardrock awards breakfast.
PM: 1:39, 4000' ~ Kendall Mt. (13,066')
Up the avalanche chute and down most of the road back to town, w/ Frosty. Really nice line directly up the face of the mountain got me to its summit tower in :58. The loose rock at the top motivated a more circuitous descent, however.

Hours: 29h13min
Vert: 51,000'

My goodness, what a week. Hardrock is one of the only races that truly inspires me anymore. After seeing ~85mi of the course this past week, I can affirm what generally everyone seems to agree on: it's about as good as it gets.  A big part of me was second-guessing my decision to not race this week, but I think my shin will be far happier the rest of the year as a result of restraining myself. Anyone who finishes or even attempts that beast of a loop garners my respect, but of course I was doubly inspired by the efforts of the top three this past Friday.  I was especially proud of Joe's performance as I think it's been a long time coming for him, and he closed out the race on a high note, with a remarkably strong finish. As for Hal, I'm ashamed at how I seem to serially underestimate his abilities going into competitive races.  He showed this past week that not only can he crank the flatter 100s, but that he is clearly a consummate mountain runner as well. What a competitor.

This next week only holds more adventures, with hopefully an attempt on the Grenadiers' Arrow Peak and Wham Ridge in the morning (weather permitting), and quite possibly a big chunk of the Nolan's route on Wednesday (again, with enough cooperation from the weather).

La Plata Peak, Tuesday morning.

Anna on the final grunt to the summit of Handies Peak.

DBo approaching the summit of Little Giant Pass.

Island Lake, just below Grant-Swamp Pass on the Hardrock course.

Grant-Swamp Pass (on the left) as seen on the way to the US Grant Peak summit.

Looking down the G-S Pass scree descent and across to the next giant climb: Oscars Pass.

Week Summary: July 2 - 8

07-02-2012
Mon-AM: 1:00, 1200' ~ Gordon Gulch & Switzerland Trail
Ran from near Sugarloaf Mt at mid-day. Easy shake-out after a big weekend of running.
PM: 1:00, 2800' ~ 2nd Flatiron+Green Mt.
Chat to summit via the Flattie in 36:10, which I think is a big PR on that route. Legs felt nice and poppy. Was planning two laps on Green, but about half-way down on the first lap the heavens opened up and it down-poured for a while.  Took refuge under a boulder at the base of the 2nd and watched a waterfall form on the rock face, pretty cool.  With the rock wet and it nearly dark I just jogged back down to Chat with Joe once it stopped raining.

07-03-2012
Tue-AM: 2:27, 5000' ~ Longs Peak (14,255')
up Kieners, down Cables. This ended up being a pretty solid outing. I had a slow first 15min out of the gate, waiting for my legs to warm-up, but then I was hitting good splits up the mountain. I think I would've PRed on the ascent if I'd just done a warm-up in the parking lot. The crossing of Lambs Slide was a giant pain in the ass as in the past week it has turned into largely glacial ice. As a result I ended up crossing much lower down so as to avoid most of the ice and awkwardly climbed the rock on the west side of the couloir instead of the east. This was techy (definitely some 4th Class) and felt slow, but I still got to Broadway with a good split. The downclimb of the Cables was fine, if still quite wet, but I couldn't get my footwork very dialed in on the crossing of the Boulder Field, so my descent (50:37) wasn't quite as fast as I would've liked. All in all, still an excellent day on the mountain, even if I was a bit over a minute slower for the RT than when I descended the Keyhole route last week.

Full Splits:
Goblin: 13:50
Battle Mt: 28:30
Chasm Cut-off: 38:30
Chasm Lake: 48:30
Base of Lambs Slide: 1:00:40
Broadway: 1:12:45
Base of Notch: 1:17:30
Diamond Step: 1:33:15
Summit: 1:36:54
Top of Cables: 1:44
Chasm View: 1:48:55
Trail: 2:05:20
Battle Mt: 2:14:10
Goblin: 2:21:40
Parking Lot: 2:27:31

PM: 1:34, 2200' ~ First and Second Flatiron w/ Joe.
Ran up to the base of the First (~12min), changed into rock shoes, soloed the standard East Face, downclimbed the back, changed back into running shoes and ran down the trail to the base of the Second, scrambled up the Freeway, and ran back down the trail back to Chautauqua.  I'd only been on the First once before (on belay with Buzz last October) and Joe had never been on the rock so I was a bit apprehensive about route-finding, but we never had any issues.  The first couple hundred feet is quite thin, slabby 5.6 that I can't imagine being comfortable on w/o rock shoes for quite some time, but it went well. The First itself took 43min and the downclimb another 10min.  Really fun to finally solo the First after thinking about it a lot.

07-04-2012
Wed-AM: 4:24, 6500' ~ Longs Peak (14,255') via Glacier Gorge w/ Joe
Wow, long day on the mountain. Got a late start from the Bear Lake parking lot in RMNP, but enjoyed the magnificent run up the trail approach through the gorge. Eventually started route-finding across the brush and slabs past Black Lake shooting for the couloir leading to the Chiefs Head-Pagoda saddle, which I reached 1h43 into the day. The scramble up the couloir was surprisingly secure Class 3, and then the scouting/route-finding fun began on Pagoda's daunting West Ridge.  Everything I'd heard/read reported 5.6-7 climbing to reach the summit, but I was somehow hoping we could find an easier line traversing below the ridge. Once the 4th Class and low-5th Class terrain petered out, Joe and I couldn't find anything we were comfortable soloing in running shoes w/o knowing what was above us, so we ultimately came short of the summit and humbly descended 1500' back below Pagoda's north cliffs before climbing the 1500' of boulders and talus to the Pagoda-Longs saddle.  From there it was another 1000' and a couple of 5.0 cliff bands to pop out on the Narrows and take the Homestretch to Longs summit, 25min from the Pag-Longs saddle. Downclimbed the Cables and then cut cross-country through the Boulder Field before bushwhacking into the Boulder Brook drainage and connecting with the North Longs Peak trail and taking it back to the Bear Lake trailhead, 1:20 descent.  I really want to get Pagoda figured out as it's the only thing preventing me from taking a crack at the full uber-classic Glacier Gorge Traverse.

07-05-2012
Thu-AM: 1:04, 2800' ~ 2nd Flatiron+Green Mt.
Really hot and humid (by Colorado standards) morning had me sweating buckets, but I felt good otherwise.
PM: 2:16, 4500' ~ Torreys & Grays (14,267' & 14,270') Peaks
Via Kelso Ridge. Got a late (7:30pm) start from the 1.4mi sign and the heavy cloud cover had it getting dark a lot sooner, too.  Felt great on the ridge, but then my entire descent from Grays back to the Roost was pretty much in the dark, easily lost 15min there.

07-06-2012
Fri-AM: 2:16, 4500' ~ Mt. Elbert (14,433')
Up West Ridge, down NE Ridge. Tired after last night's late run, but the jog over to the backside of the mountain woke me up before the 51min climb up the wet, slick talus on the west ridge. Peppy 36min descent.

07-07-2012
Sat-AM: 2:54, 5000' ~ Mt. Massive (14,421')
up and down Highline-East Ridge from Fish Hatchery. Rainy, cloudy, foggy morning was an interesting change of conditions, but was frustrating in that the talus and boulders were slick and route-finding almost impossible at times (where's the ridge? where's this gully lead? I know I've never been on this part of the mountain before!). On the descent, I consulted the compass on my watch for maybe the first time ever in order to muddle my way out of the mess and down out of the clouds and into more familiar territory. So, a little longer than I was looking for, but as always, still a fun day out.
PM: 1:01, 2200' ~ Mt. Sherman (14,036')
From Iowa Gulch. Got started at 6pm after it had stopped raining, but there were still lots of crazy, swirling clouds. Impulsively took a steep gully straight up while crossing the first talus field and ended up encountering some very brief Class 4 moves to gain the ridge. Summit in 38:20 with a 20:30 descent via the standard trail. Legs felt solid.

07-08-2012
Sun-AM: 2:05, 4500' ~ Mt. Elbert (14,433')
Up and down the NE ridge. More cool, cloudy conditions and a damp, tacky trail set me up to shave another 20sec off my ascent PR. 1:11:37 up, followed by a casual :39 descent. Legs felt very good. Gut might be starting to exhibit some sort of microbial habitation symptoms, though...
PM: 1:58, 4000' ~ Green Mt+First Flatiron
Holy cow.  Fantastic afternoon on the hill.  After my run this morning I felt I still had some more pep in the legs, so I decided to try for a fast time on Green's standard front route...the first in at least a year and a half.

When in Boulder I try to take advantage of all the available pleasures, so for a warm-up I jogged from Chat up to the base of the First Flatiron to stash a pair of rock shoes for a solo after my run up the mountain.  The rock was still a little damp, so I was doubtful about actually doing any climbing, but thought I'd at least give myself the option.  Jogged from there over to the junction of the Baseline Trail and Amphitheater and started charging up the hill.  All in all I feel like I hit the bottom half of the mountain too hard--a bit over-enthusiastic with all the oxygen--but I was able to recover (relatively) on the fast, flat stuff after the Greenman junction and then completely wrecked myself on the last 1000' of steep stuff to the summit.  To be 100% clear, my timing was from the Amphi/Baseline junction to the summitpost (where I proceeded to nearly lose my breakfast).

Splits
Saddle Rock Junction - 6:02
Flatiron cut-off - 11:16
Overlook tree - 13:38
Greenman Junction - 16:54
Talus switchback tree - 20:24
NE ridge trail post - 23:40
Snow fence - 26:29
Summitpost - 28:54

The actual summit rock was a cluster of humanity, so I didn't even attempt to plow up through that and just collapsed onto the log next to the summitpost before eventually tagging the actual top of the rock.  I kind of couldn't believe that I'd just PRed by almost 2min, but it makes sense considering I've taken over 4min off my Elbert PR so far this summer.  This time probably wasn't quite fast enough to establish a clear FKT on Green and erase Rickey's nebulous time, but I'm getting close.  Either way, Kilian will probably drop a 26:xx or some bullshit like that in a couple of weeks :)

Descended down between the First and Second Flatirons, changed into my cached rock shoes, tucked my running shoes in my waistband, and soloed the First in 27min, plus a careful 9min downclimb before re-changing shoes and running back down to Chat to finish out the afternoon.  Was really psyched to get the First in between light sprinkles/drizzle.

Hours: 23h59min
Vert: 45,200'

This was an incredible week with a nice mix of scrambling, hiking, and real running. Today (Sunday) has me incredibly excited to race, which I will do in three week's time at the Speedgoat 50K Skyrace.  The field there is crazy stacked, but I couldn't be more confident about my fitness.  I honestly never thought I'd ever be capable of running that kind of time on Green; apparently all it takes is a year and a half of hiking and then a month and a half of more hiking (ok, some solid running, too) at high altitude.

The coming week-plus is going to be crazy fun.  With the ice on Lambs Slide I'll probably use that as an excuse to avoid Kieners tomorrow and instead do my first up and back on the North Face of Longs--I'll go hard if my legs are feeling good, but won't force anything.  Then it's down to the San Juans with Frosty to help Joe get around the mountain on Friday. I hope to run a good chunk of the course on Wednesday before pacing Joe from Ouray to Sherman on Friday evening.  Before I make it back up to Central/Northern Colorado, I'm definitely going to do my best to tag some San Juan 14ers (Handies Group, Wilson Group, Sneffels) and see some of the Grenadiers (at least Arrow and Vestal, hopefully, maybe try and snag a Trinity Traverse, too).  That's all a lot, but I don't have to be back this way until the Jurkers tie the knot in 10 days, so I have some time.

Joe in the upper basin of Glacier Gorge on Wednesday. McHenry's Peak and Arrowhead behind.

Joe topping out on the Chiefs Head-Pagoda saddle with the Glacier Gorge and Mummy Range behind.

Hitting a dead-end on the north side of Pagoda's West Ridge. The Keyhole is visible on the far ridge.

At the Pagoda-Longs saddle with obvious vertical obstacles to reach the summit.

Joe at the top of the Homestretch, steps away from Longs' summit plateau.

Clagged in summit of Massive on Saturday.

Sherman has an interesting west face. I ascended the furthest right scree/talus chute.

The crux cliff of the ascent.

Looking back towards Leadville and Turquoise Lake from Sherman's summit.

Week Summary: June 25 - July 1

06-25-2012
Mon-AM: 1:00, 3000' ~ 2nd Flatiron+Green Mt.
Had an early morning Ultimate Direction photo shoot, so just got out for a quick lap on the local hill afterwards. Really hot, but fun to get a non-alpine scramble back in the mix. Little did I know it would probably the last for a long time, considering the fires burning up there now.
PM: 1:59, 3700' ~ S. & N. Arapaho Peaks (13,397' & 13,502')
From the Fourth of July TH w/ Joe. Nice outing in the evening; happy to miss most of the rain from the surrounding clouds.

06-26-2012
Tue-AM: 2:44, 5000' ~ Longs Peak (14,259')
Up Kieners, down Cables. Really tired today, and I was trying out my new camera, so it was a casual outing--1:47 up and :57 down. Did my first-ever downclimb of the Cables (5.4), and while the route was still water-slick, it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. Two left feet today.

06-27-2012
Wed-AM: 1:07, 2700' ~ 2 x Mt. Sanitas
The fire in Boulder had OSMP closed from Eldo to Boulder Canyon so I was forced onto a couple laps of the small hill. Nice and mellow (but hot!), I went easy with a pair of 18:50 ascents of the South Ridge.
PM: 1:58, 4500' ~ Torreys & Grays Peaks (14,267' & 14,270')
Up the Kelso Ridge from the 1.4mi to go sign on the Stevens Gulch Road. Did the roundtrip loop from trailhead to trailhead in 1:30:57 despite the sun setting on Torreys' summit and it being pretty much dark the last 20min. Splits: big sign, 16:30; ridge, 22:35; Torreys summit, 52:33; Grays summit, 1:04:56; big sign, 1:21:45. Legs felt great and I descended hard despite the lack of light.

06-28-2012
Thu-AM: 2:17, 4500' ~ Mt. Elbert (14,433')
Up West Ridge, down NE Ridge. Pretty tired this morning after the late evening outing yesterday. Jogged over to the backside of the mountain and then grunted to the summit. :52 from the road to the top, which is 5min faster than I've done it before, despite the haggard legs. :37 descent but it felt clunky.

06-29-2012
Fri-AM: 2:00, 4500' ~ Mt. Elbert (14,433')
Up and down NE Ridge in a roundtrip 1:42:55 (1:11:58 up, 30:57 down). PRs for all three numbers, which was rewarding, especially since my legs are pretty tired right now. When Kilian was out here two years ago I'm pretty sure he went 1:08/:34 for a 1:42 roundtrip. Either way, a nice fitness check.

06-30-2012
Sat-AM: 5:50, 11,500' ~ Huron (14,003'), Missouri (14,067'), Belford (14,197'), Oxford (14,153'), Belford and Missouri again
Started from Winfield and followed the Nolan's line out to Oxford. Returned the same way, except that I climbed Missouri's chossy East Ridge (Class 4) from Elkhead Pass on the way back, and then down at Clohesy Lake I ran down to Rockdale and back to Winfield on the road instead of humping back over Huron because the skies were darkening in all directions.  I'll save my lightning-avoidance karma for when I really need it, like in a race, or whilst making an attempt at Nolans. Solid energy all day, five gels.

Missouri's East Ridge is definitely worth taking when going South-North (only took me 33min from Belford to Missouri, vs. 39min from Missouri to Belford using my standard scree chute descent to 13,500' or so before traversing over to Elkhead).  I don't think I'd ever risk downclimbing that rotten rock, though.

Full Splits, from Winfield:
Huron TH - 19:40
Treeline - 43:00
Headwall - 50:15
Huron - 1:15:00
Clohesy Lake outlet - 1:45/:48 (took 3min to drink and fill bottle and empty shoes of scree)
Missouri - 2:49:45
Elkhead Pass - 3:10:20
Belford - 3:28:45
Oxford - 3:48:10
Belford - 4:09:25
Elkhead - 4:17:40
Missouri - 4:42:20
Clohesy - 5:10
Clear Creek - 5:33
Winfield - 5:50

07-01-2012
Sun-AM: 2:54, 4300' ~ Quandary Peak (14,265') and Fletcher Mt (13,951')
Ugh. Sluggish morning. Stumbled up Quandary's East Ridge in 1hr flat (breaking an hour is usually a given for me on that) and then took another 45min to pick my way through the 3rd Class traverse over to Fletcher. Lots of gendarmes, talus, and some short-lived moderate exposure. I'd been hoping to traverse the entire Blue Lakes Valley Rim (Quandary to Fletcher to Wheeler to North Star) but I was w/o calories or water and on a tired pair of pegs, so bailed after climbing to the next couple high points past Fletcher and just ran back down the valley. Picked up a nice trail and opened up the legs on the road back to the trailhead. Still a great morning in the mountains, of course.
PM: 1:11, 2000' ~ Anenome & Mt. Sanitas
Late afternoon jog in the only hills still open. Hot.

Hours: 23hr
Vert: 45,500'

Really great week, despite Boulder joining the other raging infernos across the state. I can't believe my home peaks are burning. I was super tired on Longs early in the week, but the second half of the week was marked by a solid effort on Elbert and a long run that seemed to have no negative effect on my shin.  Of course, that has/had me second-guessing my decision to not do Hardrock, but upon further reflection I think I made the right choice.  I have plenty of great opportunities for racing later this year, and I'd hate to ruin my chances at those by rushing into an uber-long effort.

Broadway on Longs' East Face.

Crossing the Boulder Field after descending the North Face of Longs Peak, Tuesday.

Looking back up the North Face (Cables) slabs downclimb.

Alpenglow on McClellan Ridge Wednesday evening.

Wildfire-induced color from the summit of Torreys Peak Wednesday evening.

PRs on Mt. Elbert this week (photo from the day before).

This morning's two summits: Quandary (right) and Fletcher (left).

Always an inspiration.

The nightmarish Fletcher-Atlantic ridge, from the west.

Still so much more rock to go before I'd reach Wheeler (far left).

Retreating down Blue Lakes Valley. Fletcher Mt on the right-center horizon.

Week Summary: June 18 - 24

06-18-2012
Mon-AM: 1:01, 2500' ~ 2nd Flatiron+Green Mt.
Up 2nd down 1st Saddle. Nice mellow morning outing, but hot. From Chautauqua.
PM: 4:31, 4500' ~ La Plata Peak (14,336')
Got out for a mellow hike in the evening. Finished just as it was getting dark.

06-19-2012
Tue-AM: 2:23, 4500' ~ Pyramid Peak (14,018')
From the Maroon Lake parking lot. 1:25 up, :58 down. The last 1000' is an exposed 4th Class chosspile of a ridge that took me 22min to navigate on the way up and 20min on the way down. That should attest to its techiness and generally shittiness. Still, the Elks have to be in the running for most scenic mountain range in the state.

06-20-2012
Wed-AM: 2:07, 4500' ~ Torreys (14,267') and Grays (14,270') Peaks via Kelso Ridge.
Parked 1.5mi from the trailhead. Fighting a bit of a cold, so didn't have a ton of pep, but legs felt solid on the ridge and the time between summits was only 13:30. Cloudy, gloomy morning in Boulder, but I enjoyed brilliant sun up high. 1:39 for the run trailhead-to-trailhead.

06-21-2012
Thu-AM: 2:57, 6500' ~ La Plata Peak (14,336') via the Ellingwood Ridge
Really good morning. Car-to-car (up Ellingwood, down NW Ridge from Highway 82) I managed a 2:57:46 with a 2:21:33 ascent and a 35:46 descent after ~30sec hitting a gel on the summit. Perfect weather. Could see shaving a few minutes off this now that I have some familiarity w/ the routefinding on the ridge.

06-22-2012
Fri-AM: 2:22, 5200' ~ Mt. Elbert (14,433')
Up and down from Echo Canyon. I was crewing Joe for his run over Massive, Elbert, and La Plata, so after parking on Highway 82 I ran up to the summit, waited for him there, and then showed him the line back down.  Tired legs today, yesterday took a bit more out of me than I thought. Long, techy route, too. Really fun descent below Golden Fleece Mine, though. 1:30 up/:52 down.

06-23-2012
Sat-AM: 3:25, 6000' ~ Mt. Princeton (14,197')
From the South Cottonwood TH on the CT, over to Maxwell Gulch, then up the gulch to the NE ridge to the summit. Back the same way. With Joe (though he turned around at the ridge w/ tired legs). More Nolan's scouting. Took 48min to run the CT over to Maxwell Creek after which 15min of heinous bushwhacking occurred, heading up the gulch. Finally emerged from the jungle, gained the ridge and grunted to the summit. Took 1:19 to do the 4500' of vert from the CT to the summit. On the way down, I slalomed down a particularly nasty scree/talus chute, cut across to the south side of the gulch above treeline, and gained the actually quite nice abandoned road/trail that offers a remarkably clear path back down to the CT (48min descent).  Took another 30min to run the CT back to the Roost at South Cottonwood.  Before finding the abandoned trail on the way down, I was convinced this climb is the crux of Nolan's...it's still a giant vertical mile of gain, but much smoother now that I know the line. Very important, as I almost certainly will be doing Princeton at night.

6-24-2012
Sun-AM: 2:26, 5000' ~ Longs Peak (14,259')
Up Kieners, down Keyhole+Reveley Route.

Improved my car-to-car time by a couple minutes: 2:26:11 RT = 1:34:54 up/51:17 down.
With the hot, calm weather I decided to just go in shoes and shorts--didn't take a jacket this time--and carried a pair of tent stakes again for the traverse of Lambs Slide.  I was right on my splits from last week until treeline (legs were a bit heavy again, coming off the run up Princeton yesterday), and then I gained a few minutes between treeline and the base of Lambs Slide (no wind to deal with this time, so I could actually run most of it).

My climb up the east ridge of Lambs Slide was sort of hairy this time, as for some reason I ventured into high 4th Class terrain with even some 5th Class moves.  I was just stubborn about not losing elevation I guess. The snow traverse was easy as the snow was very soft and I basically didn't even need the stakes. I also traversed way lower than last week, which saved a ton of time. Above Broadway I'm getting the route pretty dialed in, so that went quickly and soon enough I was on the summit, with a nearly 7min PR.

Since I'm not yet comfortable downclimbing the wet North Face, though, after literally 5 seconds of catching my breath I descended the Keyhole route, passing a bunch of people on the Narrows and moving quite well down a completely dry Trough.  After the Boulder Field outhouse I cut across for the ridge and took my now usual descent down to Jim Grove and back to the TH, running pretty much as hard as I could because I needed to get back to Boulder for an appointment.

Full Splits:                                                (last week's split)

Goblin - 12:30                                          (12:30)

Battle Mt sign - 26:35                               (26:45)

Chasm cut-off - 36:30                               (37:50)

East side of Chasm Lake - 45:35              (47:30)

Base of Lambs Slide east ridge - 58:??     (59:40)

Broadway entry - 1:12:??                         (1:17:??)

Base of Notch Couloir - 1:17:15              (1:23:10)

Diamond Step - 1:31:30                           (1:38:15)

Summit - 1:34:54                                      (1:41:37)

Top of Trough - 1:39:30

Bottom of Trough - 1:44:??

Keyhole - 1:49:30

Boulder Field outhouse - 1:55:10

Crossed trail - 2:04:45                               (2:05:40)

Battle Mt trail - 2:13:15                             (2:14:50)

Goblin - 2:20:20                                        (2:22:25)

Pavement - 2:26:11                                    (2:28:31)

With the dry Trough conditions, I think I may take a crack at the true standard Keyhole route up and down FKT sometime in the next week or so.  Something in the 2:30-40 range seems possible (1:35-40 up, 55-60min down).  It looks like that with a descent of the North Face instead of the Keyhole, I could come close to cracking 2:20 on the roundtrip of Kieners. 

Hours: 21h12min
Vertical: 39,000'

This was a nice comeback week for the shin after having a bit of a scare the previous week and realizing that it isn't ready for the really long days yet.  I'm more than happy with the way it held up this week, though, and am grateful for every summit and day in the mountains.  Speedgoat will probably be my first race back.  I haven't decided yet if my shin will be up for all the running at Leadville (less than 4mi of that race is worth hiking if you're going as fast as I like to), but I'm just excited to get back to some competition.

Of course, yesterday's WS100 can't be ignored.  I think we all knew that heat has an adverse effect on distance running performance, but wow, quite a spectacle that everyone out in California put on yesterday.  Really inspiring stuff from lots of people; it's awesome to see the sport continue to move forward.  I'm extremely excited to get back amongst it, that's for sure.

At the same time, I'm more inspired than ever by the Nolan's 14 line and am scheming as to when exactly I'll be able to fit it in during the next couple of months, and if the shin will allow it...we'll see...

La Plata summit, Monday evening.

Maroon Bells and Snowmass from the summit of Pyramid Peak. 

La Plata's Ellingwood Ridge.

Pretty much only been listening to The Walkmen's new album for the past month.

Week Summary: June 11 - 17

6/11/2012
Mon-AM: 1:34, 3500' ~ Quandary Peak (14,265')
First time I've ever done this peak in dry (non-winter) conditions.  57:30 from the trailhead. Lots of people on this route for a weekday.

6/12/2012
Tue-AM: 2:32, 4500' ~ Mt. Elbert (14,433')
Pretty standard outing up and down the NE ridge from Halfmoon Creek.

6/13/2012
Wed-AM: 2:16, 4000' ~ South & North Arapaho Peaks (13,397' & 13,502')
Started from the 4th of July TH above Nederland, straight north up an avy chute to the ridge, and then out and back on the Class 3 traverse between the two peaks. Perfect morning weatherwise. Some fun, moderate exposure out on the traverse, 15min between peaks, in both directions.
PM: 0:51, 1500' ~ 2nd Flatiron
Quick evening ascent of the flattie w/ Joe. Downclimbed it, too, which was good practice.

6/14/2012
Thu-AM: 1:16, 3000' ~ Green Mt.
Up 3rd access and down 1st Flatiron w/ Joe.  Missed the mountain, good to get back on it. Crazy how lush everything is down here on the Front Range.
PM: 1:00, 1500' ~ 2nd Flatiron
Evening ascent of the flattie w/ Marissa. Dropped my camera maybe 50ft off the deck and it exploded at the bottom. Big bummer. I like taking pictures.

6/15/2012
Fri-AM: 5:10, 5000' ~ Longs Peak (14,259')
Up Kieners and down the North Face (Cables). Got out with Buzz and Peter for some product testing during an introduction to the uber-classic Kieners Route on the East face of Longs. Snow conditions in the Lambs Slide couloir were perfect, and any snow on Broadway was easy to step around. Psyched to find a rope already fixed for the rappel down the Cables, but was sorta bummed to carry a 60m rope all day and never use it.

6/16/2012
Sat-AM: 2:38, 5000' ~ Longs Peak (14,259')
Up Kieners and down the Cables w/ Joe. Hiked all the way up the mountain, but found a nice groove on the way down below the Cables and ran back to the trailhead.  Did a fair bit of stopping for pics and video. Incredible day out w/ clouds and mist high on the mountain.

6/17/2012
Sun-AM: 2:28, 5000' ~ Longs Peak (14,259')
Up Kieners and down Cables. Went back yet again today to go for a quick time on this line, no stopping. After yesterday, I thought I could hit something decent. Unfortunately, today was extremely windy and my climbing legs were flat, no energy all-around.  I still had what I think is a solid time of 2:28:31 for the round-trip with a 1:41:37 ascent and a 46:54 descent.  I can definitely take that uphill under 1:40 with fresh legs and on the way down I bumped into Andy Anderson (absolute roundtrip record holder on Longs), so had to chat with him for a couple of minutes before continuing down. If I hadn't done that, I think I would've been close to his 44min descent from his record run last summer.  But, there was a fixed rope on the Cables slabs that he didn't have during the record, so the time probably evens out.  All in all, a great day out, but a bit low-energy. Hit one gel before the snow traverse, didn't carry any water.

For those interested, full splits:
Goblin sign - 12:30
Battle Mt sign - 26:45
Chasm turn-off - 37:50
Chasm Lake (east end) - 47:30
Bottom of Lambs Slide ridge - 59:40
Start of snow traverse - 1:12
Entry of Broadway - 1:17
Base of Notch Couloir - 1:23:10
Diamond Step - 1:38:15
Summit boulder - 1:41:37 (left summit at 1:42:00)

Top of Cables (fixed rope) - 1:48
Chasm View - 1:50:40
Crossing of standard trail (below Granite Pass) - 2:05:40
Crossing of Battle Mt CG trail - 2:14:50
Goblin sign - 2:22:25
Pavement - 2:28:31

Just like Saturday, I used every shortcut I know of below treeline, and instead of crampons and ice axe I scrambled the ridge just to the left of Lambs Slide before traversing the snow over to Broadway.  Credit goes to Buzz Burrell for this bit of beta; it's nice not carrying all that gear/metal.

Hours: 19h45
Vert: 33,000'

A solid week, but I made the decision this week to not run Hardrock.  I'm not willing to push my training to include 3+ hr runs and continually reaggravate my shin.  At this point, I'm planning on the Speedgoat 50K as my return to competition at the end of July.  Hopefully, by then, the shin will be strong enough to endure the long training runs needed to race 100mi at the end of the summer (Leadville).

South (left) and North Arapaho Peaks on Wednesday.

North Arapaho summit.

The LA Freeway: A term coined by Buzz Burrell to describe a journey from Longs Peak (high point, left-center horizon) to Arapaho Peak via the Continental Divide. The mother-of-all-traverses on the Front Range if one sticks to the ridge.

Topping out on Kieners on Longs Peak Friday morning. Photo: Buzz Burrell.

Traversing Lambs Slide high on Longs Peak, Saturday morning. Photo: Joe Grant.

No place quite like Broadway. Photo: Joe Grant.

Starting up the Crux Cracks at the base of the Notch Couloir. Photo: Joe Grant.

Photo: Joe Grant.

Heading up towards the Diamond Step. Photo: Joe Grant.

Ledges above the Diamond Step. Photo: Joe Grant.

Negotiating the wet Cables slabs on the North face with the help of a fixed rope. Photo: Joe Grant.

Week Summary: June 4 - 10

6/4/2012
Mon-AM: 2:21, 4500' ~ La Plata Peak (14,336')
Up and down NW ridge, with an extra 15min of warm-up. On the descent I punched through some snow and gashed my shin to the gleaming white bone on some talus underneath. Clean-up back at the Roost revealed a likely need for some stitches, but things seem to be healing up fine.

6/5/2012
Tue-AM: 2:35, 4000' ~ Huron Peak (14,003')
Up the West face trail from Winfield.  Descended the East face via a fun scree chute/boulder field before finding a surprisingly nice use trail that switchbacked down to Clohesy Lake. 1:49 from Winfield to Clohesy Lake (1:17 at summit). Ran back to Winfield via Rockdale. More Nolan's 14 scouting.

6/6/2012
Wed-AM: 7:38, 13500' ~ Massive (14,421'), Elbert (14,433'), La Plata (14,336')
Really fun day in the mountains.  Started at the Leadville Fish Hatchery with Gavin, headed up the Highline Trail for 40min before cutting cross-country directly up the East ridge to the summit. Hit the top at 1:43. Descended the SW slopes trail down to cross Halfmoon Creek on FS Rd 110J (2:27) before continuing up the road and up Elbert's West ridge to the summit at 3:49. Descended over Bull Hill from there to the Golden Fleece Mine and Echo Canyon, getting to Highway 82 at 4:50. Ascended standard NW ridge of La Plata in 1:39 from the highway (6:45 total on the summit) before descending La Plata's South ridge and getting to the Winfield campground at 7:38 total. Really strong on the first two peaks, but I bonked like a champ above treeline on La Plata (not enough gels). Felt great on the LP downhill, though more than nine gels for the run would've been ideal.  The enormity of the Nolan's 14 project is humbling.

6/7/2012
Thu-AM: 2:15, 4500' ~ Torreys (14,270') & Grays (14,267') Peaks
Parked at ~10,500' on the approach road to the summer TH and ran from there. Took the Kelso Ridge up Torreys. Really tired this morning after yesterday's long effort, but it was still great to get in a couple of peaks before making it down to Boulder by 9:30am for meetings with Ultimate Direction and New Balance.

6/8/2012
Fri-AM: 2:44, 5000' ~ Longs Peak (14,259')
Started from the East TH and took the standard Keyhole route to the summit and back. Went up the mountain in 1:41:58, spent 30min on the summit, then descended in 1:02:54. There was quite a bit of frozen snow still in the Trough, so I lost a lot of time there--especially on the descent--but I ran really hard below the Boulderfield on the descent. Stopped a couple of times to take some pictures when I was descending back through the Boulderfield---would've gone sub-1hr for sure on the way down if I hadn't done that, even with the ice-induced pussyfooting in the Trough.

6/9/2012
Sat-AM: 0:31 ~ All-day photo shoot with NB.  Sun-up to sundown. 4am wake-up call.

6/10/2012
Sun-AM: More photo shooting with NB, but no running.

Hours: 18hr04min
Vert: 31,500'

Another solid week in the high country, but I definitely needed the rest that the weekend's NB activities necessitated. The pounding downhill on Friday might've been a touch more than the shin was ready for, so it was good to take a couple days easy.  Still having such a blast tagging a different peak every day.

Huron summit.

The Three Apostles.

Looking back up at the scree and talus descent from Huron's northern saddle.

The Diamond, Longs Peak.

Week Summary: May 28 - June 3

05-28-2012
Mon-AM: 2:39, 5000' ~ Mt. Massive (14,421')
From the Halfmoon Creek Trailhead with Joe.  Ran up the CT before ascending the east face of Massive in quite blustery, windy conditions.  A bit frigid on the summit.  Descended the SW slopes trail before completing the ~14mi loop with a section of FS road.

05-29-2012
Tue-AM: 2:06, 4500' ~ La Plata Peak (14,336')
Up and down NW Ridge w/ Joe. Stubbornly stuck to a running cadence until hitting a small snowfield at 12,700' or so.  After some more jogging through the boulder field I was able to beeline it to the summit via some more frozen snow. Wanted to sneak under 1h20 for the climb, but missed it by 25 seconds. Perfect day on top with abundant sun and no wind.

05-30-2012
Wed-AM: 2:33, 5500' ~ Torreys (14,267') & Grays (14,270') Peaks via Kelso Ridge
Ran from Bakerville, 33min to the TH, 1:31 Torreys summit, 1:45 Grays summit, 2:14 back at the TH.  I was expecting the Kelso Ridge to be much more technical than it was; it's rated Class 3 but it felt like there were maybe two or three Class 3 moves on the whole thing, otherwise it was just hiking. Extra 500' of vert with all the bumps on the ridge, though. Really windy on both summits (and the ridge), otherwise my plan had been to tag Mt. Edwards and the McClellan-Ganley ridge on the way back. Another day.

05-31-2012
Thu-AM: 2:06, 4500' ~ Mt. Elbert (14,433')
Up and down NE ridge. Just eased into the hill, planning on taking it easy, so was really surprised when I had a 45sec PR at the summit, especially with no warm-up. 1:53 round-trip, but jogged a couple extra miles on Halfmoon Rd to round out the time.

06-01-2012
Fri-AM: 6:15, 10500' ~ Missouri (14,067'), Belford (14,197'), Oxford (14,153'), Harvard (14,420') & Columbia (14,073')
Started from Rockdale with Homie, JV, and Joe for a little Nolan's scouting. Hit Clohesy Lake at :34, summit of Missouri at 1:29, Elkhead Pass in 1:53, Belford at 2:11, Oxford at 2:31, Pine Creek at 3:00, Harvard in 4:00, and Columbia at 4:56. The looong descent down Frenchman Creek was nice except for the 20+ minutes of bushwhacking through heinous windfall. I felt really strong all day, all of the uphill hiking and techy downhills left me way less beat up than a 6hr run usually would.

06-02-2012
Sat-AM: 2:47, 5500' ~ Mt. Massive (14,421')
Did an out and back to the summit from the Fish Hatchery, running up the Nature Trail to Highline before bushwhacking up to the NE ridge, scouting the Nolan's line. Tired from yesterday, 1:46 to the summit. Some extra vert from all the bumps on the ridge. This climb is a rough way to start the entire Nolan's link-up. Or maybe I was just tired.

06-03-2012
Sun-AM: 2:13, 4500' ~ Mt. Elbert (14,433')
Up and down the NE ridge, pretty tired. Forgot it was the weekend, but was reminded by the hordes of hikers on the trail, seeking Colorado's highest point.

Hours: 20h39min
Vert: 40,000'

Well, I guess I'm back. Wow. Nothing like some thin air, some patches of ceramic and some French voodoo to set things right.  I would rank this up there with one of my best weeks of training ever, definitely from a mountain standpoint.  Thursday's PR on Elbert forced me to accept the fact that all of my hiking over the past nine months actually did some good for keeping me relatively physically fit, not just mentally sane.  There's still plenty of time for things to go sideways--I've only had two weeks of pain-free running on the shin--but if I can string together five more weeks like this I'll feel good about my chances when I line up for Hardrock next month.

La Plata (14,336') on Tuesday.

Snowfield descent on La Plata's NW ridge.

Descending Mt. Elbert on Thursday.

Summit of Columbia, Harvard behind, on Friday.

La Plata's Ellingwood Ridge with Elbert behind. Excited to tackle this line soon.