Week Summary: Sept 3 - 9

9/3/2012

Mon-AM: 2:02, 4000' ~ S. & N. Arapaho Peaks (13,397' & 13,502')

Slept at the 4th of July TH and took the standard avy gulley up to the ridge, hitting the south summit in 59:40 and making the traverse over to N. Arap in exactly 15min.  Both peaks were swirling in clouds and quite chilly with the strong west wind. Picked a good line on the way back down and generally had a lot of energy in the legs, which was nice after yesterday's slogging.

PM: 1:08, 3000' ~ First Flatiron+Green Mt.

Scrambled the First in 12:40 with a 4:15 downclimb...the wind was really howling up there which always makes the downclimb feel a lot sketchier.  Descended via NE ridge-SR-Amp.

9/4/2012

Tue-AM: 2:01, 4500' ~ Flatiron Trifecta+Green Mt.
Tweaked it this morning to go 3rd-2nd-1st instead of the usual order.  I feel like going in descending order might be slightly faster for me.  Was psyched to get up the First in 13:05 with a 2:43 PR downclimb despite being in running shoes.  My climbing PR is a minute faster, but I was using approach shoe rubber.  Super dehydrated by the top of the First, so the trip to the summit of Green was a real slog.  Descended Greenman to Gregory which was a nice variation that I haven't hit in a long time.
PM: 1:19, 3000' ~ First Flatiron+Green Mt.
Got a relatively late start--7pm--so ended up descending mostly in the dark, which slowed things considerably.  New-ish shoes didn't seem to be sticking very well on the rock, so I only managed a 15:15 scramble of the First.  Funny, a week ago that would've been over a minute PR, so obviously can't complain too much. Incredible sunset.

9/5/2012

Wed-AM: 1:18, 3000' ~ Third Flatiron+Green Mt.
Early morning because Joel wanted to catch the sunrise from the summit of the Third (lazy 9:30 scramble of the face). Kind of a sluggish downclimb, then marched to the top of Green before heading back down to Chat.
PM: 2:06, 4500' ~ Torreys (14,267') & Grays (14,270') Peaks
Took advantage of the impeccable fall weather and tagged this duo in the evening, heading up the Kelso Ridge to the summit of Torreys.  Started from my usual spot on the road at the beginning of the private property. Legs were really poppy at first but then I really struggled up Grays.

9/6/2012

Thu-AM: 2:21, 4500' ~ Mt. Elbert (14,433')
My 23rd summit of the state's high point.  Jogged around to the backside of the mountain for an ascent of the West ridge and then descended the standard NE ridge.  Things were OK for 45min or so, but the 3000' in barely a mile up the back of the mountain was a monumental struggle; zero energy. Was extremely relieved to make it to the summit. Spent most of the rest of the day napping and eating food.

9/7/2012

Fri-AM: 3:41, 7200' ~ Guanella Pass to Loveland Pass Traverse
This ~14mi line tags six summits: Square Top Mt (13,794'), Mt. Argentine (13,7xx'), Mt. Edwards (13,850'), Grays Peak (14,270'), Torreys Peak (14,267') & Grizzly Peak (13427'). It's an obvious line that I'd never thought of (indeed, I'd never even been to Guanella Pass before), and was motivated to get out by Ben Clark, who had clearly had this on his tick-list for a while and was interested in getting some footage.  We woke on Guanella Pass to sub-freezing temps and fresh snow on the surrounding peaks.  I very nearly wore tights and would've been a bit more comfortable all day if I had. Ended up in shorts, a long-sleeve, jacket, and gloves.  The summit of Square Top was completely enshrouded in clouds and we had no views to the extent that we first tried descending to the west-southwest and encountered incredibly high cliffs.  Soon enough we found the correct northerly ridge and made a treacherous snow-slick talus descent before climbing to Argentine. Somewhere around Argentine Pass the clouds finally lifted a couple hundred feet and we were able to enjoy some of the incredibly big views up there. Edwards was an easy slog with some nice ridge running between there and Grays.  I waited a long time on Grays for Ben and hunkered down in the talus as a squall of graupel/sleet blew through.  Shortly after that I decided it was time to get warm and I blitzed Torreys and Grizzly before rolling on the CDT back down to our shuttle car at Loveland Pass.  Fun day and some new peaks.

Square Top - ~:58
Argentine Peak - ?? (fog)
Argentine Pass - 1:40
Edwards - 1:59:45
Grays - 2:30:45
Torreys - 2:44:45
Grizzly - 3:12:15 

9/8/2012

Sat-AM: 3:07, 5200' ~ Maroon Bells Traverse (14,156' & 14,014')
Slept at the Maroon Lake parking lot/TH and started from there in the morning.  Headed up West Maroon Creek first, meeting up with Joel at Crater Lake, and we took the South Ridge route up Maroon Peak. The 2800' of ascent from the valley to the ridge was some of the most enjoyable trail I've been on all summer--perfect footing, lovely grassy meadow, and a wonderfully steep hiking grade. There was some route-finding issues now and then on the technical stuff leading to the summit, but all in all it wasn't a very complicated mountain.  There was a mountain goat w/ a baby on top, though, and that was awesome.  Joel did some filming on this ascent that took some extra time (and that I didn't include in the running time).  The traverse from Maroon over to North Maroon definitely got my attention, though. The descent down to the saddle between the two (top of the Bell Cord Couloir) was quick but sketchy with loose choss on top of slabs.  From there, the route stays either right on the ridge or makes short traverses on ledges to the left, but more than once I wasted time attempting to traverse on sketchy ledges to the right because I wasn't sure what line was most efficient.  There were maybe two short dihedral/chimneys that required a couple of 5th Class moves, but overall it was pretty straightforward.  I will say I was glad to be traversing from south to north, as downclimbing a couple of those moves would've been slightly tricky. The north summit was a party, so I got out of there pretty quick and began the loose descent down the mountain's north ridge/east face.  Eventually the route turned into a pretty defined path and it was awesome cruising down the mountain on such a direct route.  Hooked back into the Buckskin Pass trail, took it down to Crater Lake and ran back to the Maroon Lake TH for a time of 3:07:58, not including the filming with Joel on the first peak.  Would love to come back and make a clean, no-stops run of this loop, it's a gem despite the loose rock.  With a more focused effort and now with some route-finding knowledge, I think it could definitely go under 3hr.

Splits:
Crater Lake - 18:55
East Slope turn-off - 39:25
South Ridge - 1:22:00
Maroon summit - 1:44:50
Saddle - 1:50:55
N. Maroon summit - 2:10:45
Rock glacier exit - 2:39:15
Buckskin Pass Tr - 2:49:00
Crater Lake - 2:55:25
Parking Lot - 3:07:58

9/9/2012

Sun-AM: 3:38, 5400' ~ Capitol Peak (14,130')
Slept at the Capitol Creek TH and started from there. Legs were a bit weak/tired this morning, but the Capitol Ditch trail is enjoyably flat for quite some time so I was able to slowly find a rhythm after a bit. Things were straightforward up to Capitol Lake at 11,500, but I was psyched to finally start gaining some elevation with the grunt up to the Daly saddle at 12,500'.  From here the route crosses over to the east side of the ridge and I stayed quite a bit higher than what is probably generally recommended, traversing through some brief, loose 4th Class terrain as I angled up towards K2, the small summit that signals the start of the ridge to Capitol itself.  The ridge over to Capitol ended up being more engaging and fun than scary, and with surprisingly solid rock given the crappy stuff that exists all around it. Route-finding from K2 back to the Daly saddle was easier on the way back and then it was just a matter of keeping a solid pace on the flats and rollers on the way back to the TH.  Incredible weather this weekend in the Elk Range, with plenty of leaves changing, too.  CO autumn at its finest.

Splits:
Capitol Creek crossing - 30:30
Fence - 41:xx
Capitol Lake - 1:08
Daly saddle - 1:22:50
K2 - 1:49:20
Capitol summit - 2:08:40
K2 - 2:26
Daly saddle - 2:47:50
Capitol Lake - 2:53:30
Fence - 3:09
Capitol Creek - 3:16:20
Trailhead - 3:38:22

Hours: 22h41min
Vert: 44,300'

Kind of a weird week. My energy has been all over the place, probably from getting after it too quickly after Leadville, but it's really difficult when the mountains are right there, the weather is perfect, and snow is coming soon.  Some days I feel really fit, and other days I feel burnt out and needing a bit of a break.  We'll see.  I was really happy with my weekend in the Elks, though.  The rock there is pretty scary bad, but the scenery is off-the-charts.  I'd like to get back some time and link-up the Bells with Pyramid...I could've made that happen with some planning on Saturday, but I didn't know how difficult the Bells would or wouldn't be, so didn't want to bite off more than I could chew.  A more likely ambition would be to tackle the never (?) repeated traverse of the Elk 14ers that Neal Beidleman and partner put down back in the 1990s.  Nothing wrong with leaving some projects for the future...

Fresh snow on Bierdstadt and Evans Friday morning, from Guanella Pass.

Ridge traverse over to N. Maroon Peak as seen from Maroon Peak.

Looking back down to Maroon Lake. Photo: Joel Wolpert.

Capitol Peak sunset on Saturday evening.

Summit ridge of Capitol, including the knife edge.

Week Summary: Aug 27 - Sept 2

8/27/2012
Mon-AM: 2:12, 3500' ~ 3rd Flatiron+Green Mt.
Up the Third and down Bear Canyon from the creek. Nice easy run. Easy scramble of the Third in 11min w/ a 10min downclimb and then coming down the canyon was a blast after not running that trail in a long while.  Nice to get in some sustained running. Legs feeling good.
PM: 1:00 ~ Creek Path+Kitt barefoot
Ran down to Kitt, did 2.5mi of barefoot and ran back. Legs felt good.

8/28/2012
Tue-AM: 2:15, 4500' ~ Flatiron Trifecta+Green Mt.
Really solid morning for me with PRs on the climbs and downclimbs of each Flattie.  16:30 up the First, 3:50 downclimb; 11:20 up the Second (downclimb is trivial); 7:20 up the Third, 5:50 downclimb. Some days the shoes just seem to stick better than others, haha.  Started at finished at Eben G. Fine Park.
PM: 1:28, 3000' ~ Fourth Flatiron+Green Mt.
Ran from Chat and up the Royal Arch Trail to scope the Fourth with Joel. At first we got on the wrong rock, but after we found the right start, it was a lot of fun.  The Fourth is really three separate pieces of rock. The first section was my favorite--solid conglomerate, spicy angle with significant exposure, just enough techiness to keep one's attention. The second piece was a little dicy as we didn't get into the gash soon enough and ended up sweating through an exposed hand traverse.  Route-finding mistake. The final chunk mostly required negotiating an off-width crack and lots of trees/shrubbery.  Stepping off the top was also a touch trickier than I imagined.  This Flatiron lacks the clean aesthetic of the First and Third, but the summit is very close to the actual summit of Green Mt, so we ran up there quick to catch an incredible pink/blue sunset before making it back down to Chat just as the light really ran out.

8/29/2012
Wed-AM: 2:04, 4500' ~ Torreys (14,267') & Grays (14,270') Peaks
Slept at the trailhead last night and then headed up this morning after giving Joel a headstart.  He met me on the Kelso Ridge, where we had to negotiate quite a queue on the very short section of knife-edge ridge.  Weather this morning was very fall-like--overcast and cool. Legs felt good.
PM: 1:00, 500' ~ Mineral Belt+barefoot
Cruised around on Leadville's bike path before doing a couple miles of barefoot. Crazy good sunset.

8/30/2012
Thu-AM: 2:33, 5500' ~ Missouri Mt. & Mt. Belford (14,067' & 14,197')
Got an early start so that Joel would have good light for filming up on the ridge. First time I've approached Missouri from the Missouri Gulch TH, and it's a nice climb up to the ridge. Took my now-standard traverse on the southerly side of the East ridge to reach Elkhead Pass, but by staying as high as possible and actually getting back on the East ridge well before the pass, I was able to move more quickly than usual. Almost little bits of use trail in there, even.  Only 18min from the Missouri summit to the pass and then another 19min to the Belford summit.  Really fun descent from Belford back down to the TH in 32min. Really enjoying the transition of seasons; with pockets of golden aspen and the crisper mornings, it's beginning to feel a lot like fall.
PM: 1:02, 500' ~ Boulevard out 'n back (Leadville)
Tired legs felt better at the end. Raining.

8/31/2012
Fri-AM: 1:51, 3500' ~ Quandary Peak (14,265')
Tired, so took it easy up and down after a 17min flattish warm-up on the road.
PM: 1:05, 3000' ~ First Flatiron+Green Mt.
Really fun evening on the mountain.  My legs were bricks this morning but had some solid pep this evening and I set a PR to the top of the First Flatiron (23:24) before downclimbing the SW face and continuing on to the summit of Green Mt. On the way back down the hill I passed by the base of the First downclimb so I could get a split from there back down to Chautauqua and ended up with a 9:16 descent.  Adding together the 11:20 it took me to get to the base (no warm-up), the 12:04 scramble of the East Face and the 3:10 downclimb, that would equate to a 35:50 car-to-car on the First.  I'll have to try it soon with a warm-up (so I can run faster on the approach) and get a true car-to-car time.

9/1/2012
Sat-AM: 6:17, 12,000' ~ Glacier Gorge Traverse, RMNP
One of the most fun days I've had in the mountains this summer.

9/2/2012
Sun-AM: 2:13, 4000' ~ 2nd+3rd Flatirons+Green Mt.
Started from Chautauqua and ran to the base of the Second, climbed it, stumbled down the boulder field over to the east bench of the Third, climbed it, and then continued on to the summit of Green before running back to Chat via Bear Canyon and the Mesa trail .  Legs were obviously pretty worked from yesterday, so I just jogged along most of the morning, trying not to catch a toe and face-plant.
PM: 1:05 ~ Creek Path+barefoot
Jogged over to Kitt Field, did some barefoot, and jogged back.

Hours: 26h05
Vert: 44,200'

The legs seemed to have mostly recovered from Leadville, so I was able to get some good mountain time this week.  The seasons are gradually changing in the mountains, though, with crisper mornings and yellower leaves all acting as reminders that summer doesn't last forever and soon enough getting into the high country will become a much more complicated endeavor.  I was very excited to have snuck in the Glacier Gorge Traverse still this season, though, and am already looking forward to hitting it again next year.

Left to Right: Pagoda, Spearhead, Arrowhead/McHenry's, Powell on the rim of the Glacier Gorge.

Week Summary: Aug 20 - 26

8/20/2012
Mon-off.

8/21/2012
Tue-AM: 1:11, 1500' ~ Second Flatiron
Incredibly slow stroll up to the base of the 2nd, crawled up the rock (Freeway), and then limped back down to Chautauqua at a very very easy walk. Tired, tight legs still, but nice to get out and move them around a little.

8/22/2012
Wed-AM: 1:29, 1500' ~ First Flatiron
Hiked up to the base of the First with only a tiny bit of running mixed in, scrambled the East Face in a very fatigued and casual 35min, did the downclimb in 9min and then hiked slowly back down to Chautauqua as the quads were pretty worked after all the muscle tension required on the climb.  A couple desperate moves up there in my burnt shoes.
PM: 0:26 ~ Creek Path+barefoot
Very very easy run with Jocelyn with ~10min of barefoot on the grass in the middle.  Medial knee/adductor attachment flared up a little bit, which is typical for me after a 100mi race.

8/22/2012
Thu-AM: 1:29, 2700' ~ 2nd Flatiron+Green Mt.
Went with Buzz, Anna, and Joel from Chat. Actually ran up to the base, so the legs are coming around.  Casual on the rock itself as Buzz showed me the route to actually get on the east face of the Pullman Car (the 2nd's summit block) and gain the true summit.  Not too tricky, and the downclimb is simple, too, but there are a few feet of 5.6 or so to gain the Car's south face.  Continued on to the top of the mountain and the legs continued to feel good, but my quads were still dead/twingy/tight on the descent of Ranger and Gregory.

8/23/2012
Fri-AM: 1:33, 3500' ~ 2nd+3rd Flatirons+Green Mt.
Fun link-up this morning with Joel in tow. Jogged up to the base of the 2nd, scrambled it fully to its summit in 11:30, downclimbed the west face and then dropped down the boulder field to the south to the East Bench of the Third where a half a dozen dudes with ropes and full racks looked like they were gearing up for war.  Joel and I scooted past and I proceeded to PR with an 8:14 scramble to the summit (40:49 total from Chautauqua).  The downclimb of the SW Chimney was a PR for me too at 9min (Joel is a pretty accomplished climber, so has zero problem keeping up) before hunching over and grunting to the summit of Green itself. Beautiful on top with finally a day w/o much haze or smoke.  Descended the frontside of the mountain back to Chat (quads are still a bit battered). Back at the parking lot I was disappointed that we hadn't begun the morning with a scramble of the First in order to complete the full link-up.  Tomorrow.

8/24/2012
Sat-AM: 2:35, 4500' ~ Flatiron Trifecta+Green Mt.
Ran up to Chat with Joel and then headed up the First Flatiron (slow 25:50 ascent...had to wait for one party, plus I had some route/hold-finding issues on the thin stuff), down to the base of the Second, climbed Free For All (12:40 climbing split) , boulder-hopped down and over to the base of the Third, climbed the Third (7:55 PR climbing split), downclimbed the SW Chimney and then headed up to the summit of Green before descending back to Chautauqua and running back down to the creek.  Awesome morning, with the Chat-to-Chat Trifecta+Green Link-up being done in 2:09:40.
PM: 1:04, 500' ~ Creek Path+2mi barefoot
Jogged over to Kitt Field, did some barefootin', and then jogged up to Chautauqua before heading back down to the creek.  Gorgeous summer evening and the legs actually felt quite good.

8/25/2012
Sun-AM: 2:26, 4500' ~ Flatiron Trifecta+Green Mt.
Ran up to Chat and then the base of the First with tired legs. Scrambled First in 22min, quick 4min downclimb, scrambled Second in 12:45, descended to the East Bench of the Third and scrambled it in a PR 7:35 before downclimbing in 7min and continuing on to the summit of Green. Legs were pretty tapped this morning, but I was psyched to feel much more confident on the couple tricky sections of the First and to PR on the Third.  Still need to get over and check out the Fourth and Fifth.

Hours: 9h47min
Vert: 18,700'

Nice recovery week.  The ol' pins have come around pretty well. I'm not sore at all any more, just still feeling a little weak and a bit battered in the quads, hence no running this evening.  I was very excited to link up the Flatirons Trifecta today and yesterday and will probably hit that once more tomorrow before retreating back to the high hills for some more altitude time before the weather starts shutting it down for the season.  I still have a couple of high-altitude exploits (hopefully a Glacier Gorge Traverse in RMNP and a couple trips up the Grand Teton) planned before I head over to Spain, so I want to keep in touch with my acclimatization just a little bit longer.

Buzz leading the way to the base of the Pullman Car on the Second Flatiron. Photo: Anna Frost.

Sussing the route up the Second Flatiron with Joel and Buzz. Photo: Anna Frost.

First Green summit in a while on Thursday morning. Photo: Anna Frost.

More irresistibly catchy Little Dragon.

Week Summary: Aug 13 - 19

8/13/2012
Mon-AM: 0:54 ~ Turquoise Lake Trail
Easy, flat run w/ Frosty.

8/14/2012
Tue-AM: 1:00, 300' ~ Hagerman Pass Rd
Easy taper run.

8/15/2012
Wed-AM: 0:52, 300' ~ Turquoise Lake Trail
Another easy run out to Tabor Boat Ramp and back from below the lake.

8/16/2012
Thu-AM: 0:53, 300' ~ Turquoise Lake Trail
Ditto, but this time with my friend Martin.

8/17/2012
Fri-AM: 0:38, 200' ~ Boulevard
Easy loop with Frosty.

8/18/2012
Sat- Leadville 100 in 17:21:09, 17,400'
4th place.

8/19/2012
Sun - off.

Hours: 21h38min
Vert: 18,500'

Not much to say, except I'm glad to have finished Leadville and hopefully the recovery goes smoothly and quickly so I can get back to fun stuff again before the high country starts getting snow.

And this.  This is good. Both bands courtesy of Sweden.

In my head the entire race:

Week Summary: Aug 6 - 12

8/6/2012
Mon-AM: 4:01, 8000' ~ Pikes Peak Marathon Course+ (14,115')
Parked at Memorial Park in Manitou Springs and ran to the summit of Pikes Peak in 2:32:58 from the starting line.  My legs felt okay for a while, but the last couple of miles seemed to really be a struggle despite the very shallow grade and what I consider to be very good altitude acclimation at this point.  Overall, my climbing legs were just sluggish this morning, probably from the late evening ascent of Cameron Cone last night. Stopped the watch and took a quick break on the summit to grab a drink of water in the tourist-swarmed summit gift shop.  Frosty was still running up and was planning on hitching back down to the start, so I thought I'd give the descent a little gas and race her back to the bottom.  Really surprised to get back down to Barr Camp in only 36:50 and then eased the effort on the smooth track below there for a 1:20:50 descent back to the finish line in downtown Manitou, so a 3:53 PPM not counting the break on the summit.  Jogged around some and then headed back over to Memorial where I met Anna just seconds after her ride from the summit dropped her off. Good timing.

8/7/2012
Tue-AM: 1:32, 3500' ~ 3rd Flatiron+Green Mt.
Ran from Chat to the East Bench of the Third where I scrambled the standard East Face to the summit, then downclimbed the Southwest Chimney before continuing on to the summit of Green. Met Anna there and ran back down with a couple of short side trips for some scrambling on Jaws and the 2nd Flatiron.  Looks like a long outing but 21min of that was spent downclimbing off of the Third.
PM: 2:05, 4500' ~ Torreys & Grays Peaks (14,267' & 14,270')
Nice evening jog up the peaks, via the Kelso Ridge. Super idyllic conditions on the summits--calm, clear, warm with pleasing light.  It's nice doing these mountains in the evening as the usual crowds are non-existent.

8/8/2012
Wed-AM: 2:17, 4500' ~ Mt. Elbert (14,433')
Up the West Ridge and down the NE Ridge. Remarkably crowded summit this morning, so I was really glad I took the backside route (which I've never seen another human on).
PM: 1:01, 500' ~ Boulevard+barefoot turf
Nice evening shake-out on the start/end of the LT100 course plus 15min barefootin' and striders on the turf field. Some nice pep in the legs.

8/9/2012
Thu-AM: 2:28, 5300' ~ Mt. Elbert (14,433')
Up and down the Black Cloud trail. This route was a really nice surprise--excellent, proper-steep trail from the highway to reach Elbert's SE ridge at 13.5k', and then a very scenic run up the ridge to the summit, bopping over 14,134' South Elbert along the way. The climb offers nothing in the way of a warm-up, so the start was a bit rough, but overall I felt very good. Trailhead is at 9700', but the 200+' double-bop over South Elbert adds the extra vert.
PM: 1:00, 500' ~ East Leadville+barefoot
Jogged around on the east side of town before finishing up with 17min of barefoot down on the turf, including half a dozen striders.

8/10/2012
Fri-AM: 2:37, 5000' ~ Mt. Massive (14,421')
Up and down the East Ridge from Fish Hatchery. Legs were feeling good up and down, this is quickest I've done this run.
PM: 2:00, 4500' ~ 3rd-2nd-1st Flatirons-Green Mt. Link-up
One of the most fun outings I've had this summer.

8/11/2012
Sat-AM: 2:27, 5000' ~ Longs Peak (14,255')
Up and down the North Face (Cables) from the East TH. Up in 1:29:55, down in 48:47. Even though I got to the TH at 7:00am, being a Saturday morning the lot was already completely full with cars parked over a half a mile down the road. This gave me a few minutes of warm-up and cooldown, which was nice.  Legs felt quite good on the run up, but once I popped out of the trees at Battle Mt I was buffeted with a heinous headwind that would toss me about and periodically stop me in my tracks all the way until Chasm View.  Definitely lost a few minutes to the wind as I couldn't run nearly as much as I normally would.  Cutting over the north shoulder of Mt. Lady Washington I also lost a couple minutes by traversing too high and remaining in slow talus/boulders (not wanting to lose any elevation) instead of crossing the more runnable terrain down in the basin.  Despite all the cars in the parking lot, I encountered my only other compatriots of the day on the section of technical climbing on the Cables--a roped-up couple.  The 5.4 corner went quickly and 9min later I was standing on the completely clagged-in summit. On the Cables downclimb I re-passed the couple who was now rappelling (slowly--apparently w/o tagging the summit?!?!) before cutting back over the shoulder of MLW and taking the Jim Grove and Reveley Routes back down to the car. Footwork and energy were excellent on the downhill.

Splits:
Goblin - 12:56
Battle Mt Trail - 27:00
Granite Pass Trail - 45:13
Chasm View - 1:17:00
Top of Cables - 1:20:54
Summit - 1:29:55
Top of Cables - 1:36:05
Chasm View - 1:39:50
MLW Shoulder - 1:52:15
GP Trail - 1:56:45
Battle Mt Trail - 2:05:45
Goblin - 2:12:45
Pavement - 2:18:42

PM: 1:30, 3000' ~ 3rd Flatiron+Green Mt.
Scrambled the Third and continued on to the summit of Green before descending Gman-NE Ridge-Saddle Rock. Did the scramble in 10:36--wasn't feeling super 'on' today, especially on the downclimb--so abandoned any plans of hitting the Second and/or First, too. Trails have taken a real hit this summer; lots of water run-off damage, wonder if OSMP has any plans to do anything about that. Runners in Boulder would be ready to volunteer in a second if just given the opportunity.

8/12/2012
Sun-AM: 2:12, 4500' ~ La Plata Peak (14,336')
Up and down the standard NW Ridge. Easy the whole time, testing out a footwear option for the race next weekend (RC1600, 5oz racing flat). Think I might use them, but would like just a touch more traction on sandy/gritty sections of trail as there was a little slippage. Overall, a super-dialed in shoe, though. Last summit I'll see before the LT100; it's been an awesome summer for sure.

---------------------------------------

Really fun week with a good mix of flat running (the most I've done all summer), peak-bagging, and scrambling.  Did my only longish run way at the beginning of the week and my legs are definitely itching to go long again, so after a week of nothing more than short, flat jogging I'm sure I'll be ready to go for the Leadville 100 this weekend.  It's going to be really fun to race 100mi again for the first time in 18 months, but there's definitely a part of me that can't help but feel that next weekend pretty much marks the end of the summer.  A few aspen leaves have already started draining their chlorophyll and I'm sure I'll need a couple super-mellow weeks post-Leadville before my legs are ready for any significant adventuring again.  I'll probably spend a lot of that time scrambling in the Flatirons, but definitely hope to tag a few more high-country summits, too, before I head to Europe the middle of next month.

• A post I recently published over on the UD Blog.

Flatiron Trifecta + Green Mt.

Three hunks of rock on the face of Green Mt.

Since the Third Flatiron opened for business on August 1st (after it's annual six-month closure for raptor nesting), I've been excited to get back on it.  Back on January 30th and 31st (the last two days it was open) I climbed it each day for good measure--the first day, soloing in rock shoes, with Buzz belaying me as I tried the Southwest Chimney downclimb; the second day, I went out by myself, soloed in rock shoes again (in a then-PR 26min), and rappelled the three pitches off the south side of the summit.

Rappelling off the Third back in January. Photo: Buzz Burrell.

I felt really good about that fully solo summit then, but definitely dreamed of a day where I could just run to the base of the 1000' slab, solo it in my running shoes, downclimb it, and continue on to the summit of Green.  After a lot of scrambling in the following months, I did just that this past Tuesday morning.  I was a bit nervous about the downclimb as I'd only seen it once ever--and that was on belay and six months ago--but to my surprise the entire thing was way, way more moderate than I'd remembered.  And I more than cut my PR in half, without trying at all, clocking an 11:34 scramble of the standard East Face. The downclimb was a bit more involved at 21min, but I was excited to have completed it at all.

After spending the rest of the week tagging Sawatch 14ers, I found myself back in Boulder Friday evening, and--after a summit of 14,421' Mt. Massive in the morning--thought it would be fun to maybe link up the Third, Second, and First Flatirons.  I didn't really think I would tack on the First at the end as I'd never climbed it in running shoes before and I wasn't willing to carry rock shoes with me through the ascents of the Third and Second (I wanted to climb them in descending sequential order as the descent trails make more sense in that direction, in my opinion), but the thought of soloing it in running shoes definitely sat way back in the recesses of my mind.

After starting my watch at the Chautauqua trashcan, I started off up the hill and within a few minutes could tell my legs felt good.  I put in a solid but not all-out effort to the East Bench of the Third (14:53) and immediately stepped on to the face, feeling more secure and confident than usual.  I worked steadily up the route, and basically ran up the final crux 5.2 slab to hit the summit in 24:09 for a 2min+ PR of 9:16.  I immediately started the downclimb and was way more comfortable than on Tuesday morning, touching down on the ground almost exactly 12min later.

The mighty Third, last winter.

The run down the trail through the boulder field to the base of the Second was easy and I started up the face at 43:18--there was a pair of climbers roping up at the base, but I never even broke stride just running straight up on to the face.  Unfortunately, as I've never even been on Free For All--the standard  5.6 East Face route for the Second that includes climbing the Pullman Car summit block--I stuck to my usual 4th Class Freeway route, taking rock all the way and stepping onto the trail at 51:35.

I was feeling really good on the rock, so on the way down the trail to the bottom of the First Flatiron, I decided to forgo climbing the 5.4 Bakers Way route and instead do the standard 5.6 East Face route all the way from the bottom.  I stepped onto the face at 56:58, and--much to my surprise--had zero difficulty with the slabby, thin first 200' or so of climbing.  I'd only ever done this in rock shoes, so this was hugely confidence inducing and when I hit the summit in 1:14:16, my climbing time of 17:18 was 11min faster than my previous PR.  The downclimb that usually takes me 9-10min passed in only 5:45, and from there I decided I'd do a quick tag of the summit of Green Mt. as well.

When I hit the top at 1:37:07 I knew it'd be close in order to get back to Chautauqua in under 2hr, so I gave it a little gas on the descent, reaching the Baseline Trail junction in 1:52:53 (15:46 descent) and then finally returning to the Chat trashcan at 1:56:28, for a 19:21 descent from the summit, both of which have to be dry trail PRs for me.  This route is probably no more than 7mi total, but it packs in 4500' of vertical gain---such is the nature of scrambling I suppose.  This outing has me excited to spend some time post-LT100 really dialing in the First and Third East Face routes and maybe even taking a shot at Dave Mackey's venerable Chat-to-Chat speed records on those rocks.

Week Summary: July 30 - Aug 5

07/30/2012
Mon-AM: 3:20, 6200' ~ Middle Teton (12,804')
Started from Lupine Meadows. I was planning on summiting the Grand Teton but at the Meadows backcountry campsites I mistakenly climbed to the pass between the South and Middle Teton instead of to the Lower Saddle of the Grand. Climbed over the snow field and then up the last 1500' or so to the summit via the SW couloir, mostly easy Class 3.  Awesome view of the Grand from the top, and a satisfying consolation summit. Descended the same way, glissading a significant and steep snowfield back down to the Meadows. Ran into Kilian and Seb heading up to the Grand, just before I got back to the Lupine Meadows TH. Funnily enough, they ended up taking the same wrong turn as me (but didn't climb as high) even after I told them to stay right of Spaulding Falls.

07/31/2012
Tue-AM: 3:23, 7000' ~ Grand Teton (13,770')
Finally got up this most iconic and worthy of peaks. Man, it's a beauty. Kilian and I kept a solid pace up; we decided to not take any water-carrying options, so I was excited that there was still a decent trickle coming down the route between the Lower and Upper Saddles. Seemed like there were quite a few people on the mountain, which made route-finding a bit easier in the gully and on the Owen Spalding itself. The O-S felt quite a bit less technical and exposed than I was led to believe in reading trip reports, and the downclimbing was quite simple, too, with just a couple slow moves in the chimneys.  On the way down, Kiki and I kept a steady pace but weren't killing it by any means. Did a short glissade from the headwall down to the Moraine, but it seemed hardly worth it in terms of time--there's just not much snow left up there right now. We took the climber's trail both up and down and didn't count the ~5min we spent on the summit in our running time. Awesome peak that I'd love to come back and hit a few days in a row in order to really get the route dialed.

Splits:
Valley Trail junction - 16:55
Boulders (Platform) - 42:25
Meadows sign - 48:40?
Moraine - 1:13
Lower Saddle - 1:28
Upper Saddle - 1:54
Belly Roll - 1:55:30
Summit - 2:05:10
Upper Saddle - 2:16
Lower Saddle - 2:32
Meadows - 2:52
Boulders (Platform) - 2:57:45
Valley Trail - 3:11:40
Lupine Meadows - 3:23:05

Kilian can do this fast, for sure. He was thinking maybe 1:50 up and 1:10 down. That seems reasonable to me (for him), but I think he could probably descend even a bit faster (even w/o snow) and take the thing into the exciting sub-3hr realm.  Rested, focused, and with a few more times up and down the mountain, I think I could take my uphill under 2hr and be in the 1:10-12 range on an all-out descent, which would put me within reach of Bryce Thatcher's 3:07 record (during which he had a 1:53 ascent, which is extremely impressive to me). But, seriously, who cares when it's pretty obvious Kilian can go far faster?  Personal challenges are always still fun, I suppose.

08/01/2012
Wed-AM: 2:00, 3500' ~ 2xSnow King, Jackson WY
After some sunrise film and photo shooting with Seb and Kilian, we drove into town (because some electrical storms were moving through the mountains) and I did a couple of laps on the ski hill--one kilometer straight up the face under the main chairlift with 1600' climbing: 19:55 lap 1 and 19:50 lap 2. Really fun with the super direct line and the solid footing. Contemplated a third lap, but finished up with 17min barefoot on a grass field instead, that included 8xstrides. Good to get the legs turning over a little.
PM: 2:51, 4500' ~ West Slabs Mt. Olympus Traverse, SLC, UT
Holy moly, what carnage. After driving back to SLC all day we finally left the TH for the West Slabs at 8pm.  Anna drove around to the true Olympus TH in order to summit from that side, the trail I expected to descend.  Scrambled the Slabs and was surprised to find that they were easier than pretty much anything in the Flatirons.  Really fun line w/ a bunch of exposure but I'm not sure it ever exceeds 4th Class.

Once on the ridge I was a bit disheartened at how far away the true summit of Olympus looked--and that there was a lot of scrambly, choppy terrain between me and it, and that the light was rapidly disappearing (but the sunset over the lake was incredible)--but I just kept moving quickly, tagged the North Summit and then spent a lot of time on what was definitely the technical crux of the route--a short section of downclimb to the saddle between the North and South summits.  As I made the final scramble up to the South summit I was psyched because even with the low light I thought it would be easy to just follow the standard Olympus trail back down to Wasatch Blvd.

Well, of course, I couldn't find the trail off of the summit.  I ended up dropping off of the peak too far east and was soon bushwhacking down a choked, steep couloir/drainage with zero trail in near total darkness w/o a headlamp. Stupid.  A few hundred feet below the summit, I heard some yells from up and to my left (I was descending down/south) and the shouting voice asked if I was Search and Rescue.  Haha, no.  Then he asked if I was lost, too.  I replied, not yet, really, and that I was just going to descend this drainage to the bottom of the canyon and walk my way out the canyon west back towards the city and that I could call someone to come find him when I got out if he liked.  He said he'd tried to do that but had came to a cliff and hiked back up to the top and that he'd already called S&R and a helicopter was on the way.  Holy cow, I didn't want to be part of that mess.  Then he asked where I was going to sleep that night.  I replied, um, my bed?  Definitely not on the mountain.  Then I kept 'schwacking down through the dark thicket.

It took a long-ass time, but eventually I was close to the bottom and started contouring my way west through even thicker 'schwacking.  After much cursing and frustration and bruised/scraped shins I finally popped out onto a ridge that seemed to offer a more clear path at ~7000'.  I also found a cairn and could just maybe make out what seemed to be a faint trail heading down the ridge.  Just then I heard shouts from above for "Scott" and saw a couple of headlamps flashing about.  I shouted up that I wasn't Scott, but was wondering if these guys were on the trail.  It turned out to be three S&R folks looking for the lost hiker (he'd been out since 5am!).  I chatted with them for about 15min about my interaction with the lost dude and where I thought he'd been when he was shouting at me.  One of the guys was kind enough to let me borrow a headlamp to run the primitive Hughes Canyon trail back down to the neighborhoods with, which took me about 15min when I finally got going.  Way way way easier than thrashing around in that canyon in the dark for what probably would've been another hour.  Back at the TH, I had to have a little final debriefing with S&R (they'd located Scott high on the mountain) before Frosty and I were allowed to go on our way.  Odd evening on the mountain, that's for sure.

08/02/2012
Thu-AM: 1:36, 4500' ~ Mt. Olympus (9026')
Up and down the standard trail from Wasatch Blvd. 1:01:05 to the summit; it'd be fun to take this one under an hour. Good solid grunt.  A bit tired from the late night last night.

08/03/2012
Fri-AM: 2:07, 5000' ~ West Slabs Mt. Olympus Traverse
Parked at the TH on Wasatch Blvd, ran the 3mi of streets over to the West Slabs TH, and did the loop that I'd planned to do Wednesday evening. Lots of fun in the daylight, it took me 41min to get from the cul de sac TH to the summit of the Slabs, another 28min to tag both the North and South Summits, and then 34min to run down the trail back to the Roost. Nice to do this awesome loop in a quick, clean fashion.
PM: 1:05, 1500' ~ Treadmill Uphill Challenge+barefootin'
Did an 11min warm-up jog before hopping on the treadmill for 15min at a 15% grade vs. Luke Nelson. Ended up with 1.50mi to his 1.51mi.  Had a hard time finding any will to really hurt, but basically I saved too much for the end in order to surpass him.  Afterwards, ran up to the Capitol building for a couple of barefoot laps on the nice grass there--2mi/16min total sans-shoe running.

08/04/2012
Sat-AM: 2:34, 5700' ~ Twin Peaks (11,330' & 11,328'), SLC
Parked at the Broads Fork TH at 6200' in Big Cottonwood Cyn and went up. I got a little confused around the pond area at ~8200' before deciding to just keep heading up the valley and then climbed directly to the summit of the East Twin (1:32 from the TH) over some disappointingly chossy 3rd and 4th Class terrain (the standard route goes to the saddle further to the east before climbing to the summit). Made the quick 3min bop over to the West Twin before coming back and descending back to the trailhead via the slightly less steep standard route. Pretty cool to have such big vert so close to an urban center. Back to CO in the evening.

08/05/2012
Sun-AM: 1:09, 1000' ~ Mack Ridge (McInnis Canyon), Fruita CO
Ran from the start of the Desert Rats races (where we slept last night) and did an easy run up and back on Mack Ridge to shake out the legs before driving all day.
PM: 1:57, 4500' ~ Cameron Cone (10,707')
Really great run up this convenient peak in Manitou. Some clouds rolled in to cool things off a bit and my legs felt really good on this grunt of a climb.  Never felt stressed; so much fun to have my legs back.  Ended up doing 1:01 from Hydro St to the summit--this can definitely go under an hour pretty easily with a little focus. Really fun :35 descent back to Hydro before jogging back down to the car at Memorial Park.

Hours: 22h02min
Vert: 43,400'

A really busy, dis-jointed week with lots of travel and lots of glad-handing, but I still managed to get in some good summits, I think.  Today (Monday) I did my last long run before Leadville, and it was a classic--the Pikes Peak Marathon course down in Manitou.  My climbing legs were disappointing on the way up despite feeling so good on Camerons Cone last night (I probably left a lot of this morning's run on the Cone last night, but so it goes), so I stumped to the top in an uninspired 2:32:58 from the starting line.  After stopping the watch and wading through the masses of tourists on the summit to get a drink of water, I set off back down the hill with more intention than usual as I was casually racing Frosty back to the bottom (who was planning on hitching down after her run up).  Ended up descending back to the finish line in 1:20:50, which was a total surprise to me as I think I've run harder down Longs Peak a few times earlier this summer chasing Kieners FKTs and I know I ran way harder down the last 5mi of Speedgoat last weekend.  As luck would have it, I jogged back into Memorial Park just as Anna's ride was dropping her off.  Good timing.  For some reason I almost never feel very good running up Pikes Peak--the very shallow grade just doesn't seem to suit me and I probably need to do some focused hillwork to improve on it--but today's downhill gives me confidence that hopefully sometime in the next year or two I could still remain relatively competitive when I give the Marathon a go.

Middle Teton, with the prominent black dike.

The Grand from the summit of Middle Teton.

Doesn't get much better than the Grand Teton and a double rainbow. Photo: Seb Montaz.

Looking down the West Slabs of Mt. Olympus, SLC.

Twin Peaks, SLC.

Week Summary: July 23 - 29

07-23-2012
Mon-AM: 1:09, 2000' ~ Kelso Ridge
Out and back from my usual 1.4mi sign start on the Grays & Torreys access road.  Parked at 7:30am, but felt exhausted so crawled in the Roost for a little nap and ended up sleeping another two hours.  Stumbled up the mountain for a while, but once I got to the start of the ridge and still felt terrible I just turned around and stumped back down to the truck. Body is still wrecked from last week's Nolan's run on Tuesday and overall high volume/vertical, despite taking the last three days easy.

07-24-2012
Tue-AM: 2:13, 4500' ~ Mt. Elbert (14,433')
Up West Ridge and down NE Ridge. Really solid run and felt like my legs might actually be back.  Just went mellow, but PRed up the West Ridge with a 49:20 ascent from the rock cairn to the summit. Great to get back to the high country and have the legs feeling solid.

07-25-2012
Wed-AM: 2:02, 4500' ~ Mt. Elbert (14,433')
Up and down NE Ridge. Just did the standard route from Halfmoon Creek TH.  Right at 2hr roundtrip. Went really easy to treeline with Anna and then maintained a very mellow effort for the rest of the run. Just tried to get up and down the hill as easy as possible. Energy was good. Cool, blustery, cloudy conditions on the summit, but was still surprised to see (via the interwebs) that it had snowed on Pikes Peak. Drove to SLC in the afternoon.

07-26-2012
Thu-AM: 1:00, 1600' ~ Snowbird, UT
Parked at the Speedgoat starting area and tried to check out the first part of the course. Frustratingly squirrelly lay-out to the beginning of the race---just charge up the mountain!---but my legs felt really peppy, which was nice after a week of lethargy. Anna, on the other hand, seriously considered canceling any plans to race.

07-27-2012
Fri-AM: 0:52, 1400' ~ Catherine's Pass/Sunset Peak, Alta UT
Easy pre-race jog.  Parked at the Cath Pass TH and jogged up to the pass in a blustery drizzle. Sunshine came out on the jog up to Sunset Peak before we descended a nice double-track to Albion Basin (that I'd run with Karl years ago) and the Roost. Definitely feeling rested for the first time pretty much all summer. Last week's Nolan's run forced a much more aggressive taper than I would normally employ for a race this short, but that's probably a good thing.

07-28-2012
Sat-AM: 5:38, 11,500' ~ Speedgoat 50K
Warmed up with a 15min jog. Finished 4th in 5:23. Felt terrible for the first 4 hours, which meant there was a 22min gap to the front of the race with 10 miles to go.  Finally turned things around and closed that to 9min at the finish after passing Max and moving into 3rd with a couple of miles to go.  Of course, Max passed me back on the downhill road, but I was able to keep it to within 26sec at the finish. Satisfying and fun finish to an otherwise remarkably off day.

07-29-2012
Sun-AM: 2:02, 3000' ~ Catherine Pass/Sunset Peak, Alta UT
Slept in the Alta parking lot and got up for a mellow jog up the road to the trail to the pass to the peak and then down some of the Wasatch 100 course before coming back up to the pass and taking the doubletrack back down into the valley and back to the Roost. Felt surprisingly decent after yesterday's hectic final downhill charge. Drove to the Tetons in the afternoon.

Hours: 14h56min
Vert: 28,500'

Early in the week I thought my legs would never come around in time for the race this past weekend; and after my performance there it seems they actually never really did.  But that's okay, it was still a blast to get back amongst it this weekend.  I think Karl put on an excellent race and I'd do it again.  Stringent regulations prevent us from devising perfectly aesthetic courses here in the US, but I think Karl does a fantastic job with the limitations he has at Snowbird--a solid amount of vertical, stunning scenery, some steep bits, prize money, and a jovial post-race atmosphere.  Sure, there could definitely be improvements, but in my opinion Speedgoat is a welcome departure from the usual 3h20-40 carpet trail 50Ks that exist across the country.  Be sure to check out some of Kevin Winzeler's photos from the race to get a flavor for the day.

Already haggard on the first summit of the day at Speedgoat. Photo: Marty Bess.

Roost dinner table on the shores of the Snake River Sunday evening, Teton Range WY. Photo: Anna Frost.

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.