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.