May 27 - June 2

5/27/2013
Mon-AM: 2:03, 5000' ~ Mt. Elbert
Up and down the NE ridge. Did the roundtrip from TH to summit and back in a few minutes under 2hr, but got in some extra time/vert on the corniced southwest ridge as Joel was waiting for me up there so he could do some filming. Brilliant morning on the hill.
PM: 1:06, 3000' ~ First Flatiron+Green Mt.
Ran from Chat with Joel, who joined me to the top of the First. With Joel initially nipping at my heels I tagged a snappy 12:30 scramble on the slab before downclimbing and heading to the top of the mountain alone. So awesome to see the transformation of Boulder from spring to summer in the past week I've been away.

5/28/2013
Tue-AM: 3:53, 5000' ~ Longs Peak
Up via Lambs Slide and Clarks Arrow, down the North Face. Got a 5am start from the trailhead, giving Joel a 45min head-start. There wasn't much snow until Chasm Lake, but all of the snow was in excellent condition, consolidated and frozen, accepting Khatoola crampons quite well. Lambs Slide and Keplinger's Couloir/The Homestretch were classic snow marches in perfect conditions, nary a breath of breeze all day. The descent of the North Face down to the top of the Cables was by far the spiciest terrain of the day. Descending such steep snow facing in was tedious and required focus. Rapped the top half of the Cables and downclimbed the bottom half before running down the apron of snow below there, removing crampons, and enjoying a smooth run back down to the cars. Back below Mt. Lady Washington, the now slightly softer snow conditions were ideal for descending fast. Really good to be back on the mountain after not being up there since early April. #12 of the year.
PM: 1:06, 3000' ~ First Flatiron+Green Mt.
Biked to Chat, 12:25 scramble, then to the top of the mountain and descent of the front. Had a bunch of energy in my legs, which was nice.

5/29/2013
Wed-AM: 2:01, 3000' ~ Green Mt.
Ugh, one of those rough days. The string of early mornings and big days of vert caught up to me, plus motivation was severely affected by the cold rain falling. Eventually stumbled out the door, though, and jogged up and down the mountain at the easiest effort possible. Up Gregory-Greenman, down Ranger-Red Lion-Creek Path. The rain eventually stopped and I was treated with a lot of magical clouds sweeping around the summits.

5/30/2013
Thu-AM: 2:17, 5700' ~ Flatiron Quinfecta+Green Mt.
Got a late start because Joel and I drove up toward Ned, headed for the high country before realizing that, yes indeed, the weather forecast wasn't lying and the Divide held truly apocalypse conditions (snowing, hurricane winds). So we headed to Chat for some flatties, instead. After some stop-and-go, leap-frogging each other on the First, we ran into Dakota on the summit and had a long, casual conversation in the sun. From there, though, I continued on alone and clocked some of my best splits ever in linking some Flatirons together; legs felt really strong. Yesterday's easy day did a lot of good.
PM: 1:05, 3000' ~ First Flatiron+Green Mt.
Really good pep in the legs tonight, and I made it to the summit of Green from Chat in 42min, which has to be a PR or close to it for ascending via the First Flatiron. Good downhill, too.

5/31/2013
Fri-AM: 0:58, 1800' ~ First Flatiron
Got up really early for some filming in good light on the First with Joel. Really windy on the arete and downclimb, though. Ran back down to the hut after we were finished. Had planned a peak in the high country in the evening, but the hurricane winds persisted up there so I decided to just save the energy for tomorrow's outing.

6/1/2013
Sat-AM: 7:41, 13,500' ~ Massive, Elbert, La Plata
First three peaks of Nolan's 14. I started from Halfmoon for logistical reasons and to hopefully save some postholing below treeline (if I'd started from Fish Hatchery), but because of the extensive snowfield on Massive's upper face I ended up reaching the summit in a similar time that it usually takes me to summit from Fish Hatchery (1:46). Immediately turned and started descending Massive's SW slopes, which started dodgy but then turned into an incredible 2500' drop completely on perfect, steep snow that took something like 12min. It was awesome. Too early in the morning for glissading, but running was probably even faster, if harder on the ol' quads. Somewhere in this plummet, however, I lost my 8oz Hydrapak flask, which had been my only water-carrying device for the day. Bummer. I spent a lot of time drinking at streams before the monster climb up Elbert's west ridge, but apparently it wasn't enough as I was really fading toward the top and had even mostly resolved to bail at the summit (3:55) and just descend back to Halfmoon. Luckily, Joel was up there for a couple minutes of film and was in a particularly cheery mood after PRing up the NE ridge; his mood was infectious, and, even more importantly, he gave me a bottle to complete the rest of the run with. The descent off Elbert past the Golden Fleece mine and down Echo Canyon was particularly fast with snow every step of the way until the mine, and by time I started up La Plata (trailhead at 5:04) my energy seemed to be at an all-day high. Things were really good on the LP climb until I got above 12k' or so...where the altitude proceeded to smack me hard. The final 1500' to the summit was a total, staggering horror show on an endless, baking hot reflective snowfield. I had plenty of gels and water, so that, along with the splitting headache I had seemed to indicate that it was just all the time above treeline finally catching up with me. It's still early in the acclimation process for me. Fortunately, there was another perfect snow descent off of La Plata, too---this with some of the best glissading of my life---and despite what felt like days of thrashing around in the hip-deep snow/willows/water just above treeline I was down in Winfield less than an hour after leaving LP's summit. Awesome day, but my fitness---both mental and physical, specifically my altitude acclimation---still has a ways to come before I attempt Nolan's later in the month.

6/2/2013
Sun-AM: 2:07, 4500' ~ Mt. Elbert
Up and down the NE ridge. Jogged about a mile on the road to wake up the legs before starting up the hill. Gorgeous day, perfect conditions, the snow is shrinking quick. Legs were tired, but not terrible.
PM: 1:01, 600' ~ East Leadville
Easy shake-out jog in the evening.

Hours: 25h18min
Vert: 48,100'

This felt like the first week of proper summer running. A few 14ers, some flatties, all of it really enjoyable. As expected, the first real foray onto a chunk of the Nolan's line was sobering in its difficulty. What a monster route. I spent a lot of Saturday relearning techniques of not looking too far into the future, remaining in the moment, staying concerned only with the task at hand. Something like Nolan's is impossible to complete if you get too far ahead of yourself mentally.

Sunrise over Twin Sisters Tuesday morning.

Snow beta shot on the condition of the East Face. Flying Dutchman and the Notch both look good still.

Joel marching up toward the base of Lambs Slide.

Joel on upper Lambs Slide, well above Broadway.

Joel crossing the saddle between the Lambs Slide and Flying Dutchman couloirs.

Joel slogging up the Homestretch. Three 14ers in four days for a West Virginia boy.

Obligatory summit shot with the 'tinger.

The North Face descent above the Cables was uncommonly steep, but very good snow.

Summit ridge of Mt. Elbert on Sunday morning.