Catching Up: Nov 12 - 25

11-12-2012
Mon-AM: 2:31, 5300' ~ 2xGreen Mt.
Both laps I went up Gregory-Ranger and down the NE ridge.  Not a particularly inspired effort this morning--I seemed to be bonking pretty hard on the second climb--but got it in. Still waiting for encouraging signs of fitness; kinda feel like I'm in some doldrums right now.
PM: 1:06, 2700' ~ Green Mt.
Up 1st/2nd Access and down NE ridge. Started this one pretty late, so that when I got to the base of the First Flatiron I decided the combo of soloing on icy holds in the dark was probably not very wise.  Just ran the trail to the top then.

11-13-2012
Tue-AM: 1:00 ~ Creek Path
Got up at 5:00am for an easy hour mostly in the dark before flying to Tennessee.  This was the most pathetic run I've had in a while.  I usually reserve this kind of shuffling for the week after a 100mi race, but I think I woke in the middle of a sleep cycle or something because my legs would simply not function. Literally 10min/mi pace.

11-14-2012
Wed-AM: 0:50, maybe 1000'? ~ Percy Warner Park, Nashville TN
Went out for what would've been a nice jog with a big group in the peaking leaves in Nashville except that I was coming down with flu-like symptoms and I felt absolutely terrible.

11/15-17/2012
Thu-Sat: SICK
Suffered through the flight/bus home on Wednesday and spent the next three days bed-ridden.

11-18-2012
Sun-AM: 2:10, 2500' ~ Satan's Slab & Fifth Flatiron
Parked at NCAR with Joe and hiked casually up to Skunk Canyon, enjoying the beautiful fall day. Changed into rock shoes at the base of the imposing slab and started up.  The first stretch up the water chute held the crux of the day with some semi-desperate weird little thin pocket holds on a slightly steeper stretch.  The 5.6 climbing there was legit.  Above that gaining the ridge was more moderate and the south ridge itself was a spectacular arete.  The next crux was the negotiation of a big boulder that had some wild exposure on steeper than average rock.  Not a slab.  The rest of the climb was a romp, finishing with consistent 5.4 to the fantastic summit.

Hours: 7h27min
Vert: 11,500'

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11-19-2012
Mon-AM: 1:51, 3000' ~ 5th Flatiron+Green Mt.
After yesterday's outing with Joe I returned to the Fifth to try out what was supposed to be an easier line on it's east face--East Face North Side--so as to be climbable in running shoes. Turns out it was a heavily-sandbagged rating in the guidebook (check the comments on the mountainproject link), and it isn't really any easier than sticking to the North Buttress route that we climbed yesterday. Some tense moments as a result, but I got through it, and after completing our downclimb (on the south side of the rock--the usual sneak is on the north side), I continued on to the summit of Green before descending.

11-20-2012
Tue-AM: 2:52, 5000' ~ Flatiron Quinfecta
Awesome day out with Joe.  After feeling so sketched yesterday on the Fifth I advocated starting with the First so as to get my confidence back up (even though it contains, by far, the hardest climbing of the whole link-up).  After lacing together the first three Flatirons we descended to the Royal Arch trail, humped over Sentinel Pass, and decided to do the Fourth before the Fifth, poo-poo-ing reports that the descent between the 4th and 5th flatirons is truly heinous.  Climbing the Fourth was fun (only my second time ever) despite the grubby upper piece of rock and then we suffered and swore and grumbled our way down that gulley; I'll never go back there.  Finally, at the base of the Fifth I confidently led the way up the route that had given me the willies the day before with zero issue.  Joe and I were both bonking pretty badly at this point and were quite dehydrated on the ridiculously warm fall day, but 23min after leaving the summit of the 5th, we were back at Chat.

11-21-2012
Wed-AM: 2:27, 4000' ~ Angels Way+5th Flatiron+4th Flatiron+Green Mt.
Joe and I were back at Chat this morning for another epic scrambling session.  Jogged the Mesa trail over to Skunk Canyon and quickly dispatched of Angel's Way--an extremely aesthetic ridge of rock but with only occasional 5.0-5.2 difficulties more of a hike than anything. From the top of Angel's we bushwhacked over to the base of the Fifth Flatiron where Joe climbed the North Buttress and I went up the East Face North Side.  Descended to the base of the Fourth, climbed the whole thing, and then I told Joe that I was either going to tag the summit of Green or climb the full east face of the Third (we were both pretty parched again). He chose Green, so we headed up there before descending back to Chat.

11-22-2012
Thu-AM: 2:40, 5500' ~ Flatiron Quinfecta+Green Mt.
Starting from Chat I linked up the five Flatirons again: 1st-2nd-3rd-5th-4th.  Switching the order of the last two avoids the heinous bushwhack down the gulley between those two rocks.  And for me, today, it left the highest flatiron--the Fourth--for last, putting me the closest to the summit of Green at the end of the link-up. After this morning I have some new respect for Buzz Burrell's and Bill Briggs' extremely strong efforts on this enchainment.  Buzz has the FKT at 2:01:xx, but chose to downclimb the 2nd and 5th Flatirons--to make the 2nd more interesting, and to save time on the 5th, I imagine. This is impressive style and may be necessary in order to break the record, but something in me definitely appreciates the symmetry of actually ascending the east face of each rock.  If I had simply descended back to Chautauqua this morning--instead of continuing on to the summit of Green--I think I would've been in the 2:25-28 range for the full car-to-car link-up, so I definitely have some work to do. Going 2hr-flat definitely requires a higher level of fitness than I currently have, too.  Either way, a particularly fantastic start to Thanksgiving Day.

11-23-2012
Fri-AM: 2:00, 3200' ~ Third Flatiron+Green Mt.
Ran to Chat and then up the Royal Arch Trail to the true base of the Third Flatiron.  The standard East Face route starts a couple hundred feet up the rock from the East Bench.  I always thought that was kind of strange, but after this morning's scramble I don't mind it--there wasn't really any interesting climbing below the usual start.  After downclimbing and tagging the summit of Green I descended Greenman-Gregory.

11-24-2012
Sat-AM: 4:45, 6000' ~ Longs Peak (14,255')
With Joe, ascended via The Loft and descended the Keyhole. It was so windy in the parking lot that we almost decided not to even attempt going up the mountain. but of course resolved to at least go to treeline to suss the conditions.  At treeline I suggested we head up to the Loft because I thought it would be a little more sheltered from the wind.  As we neared the top of the Loft couloir we clearly saw the easy ramp to the left that exits onto the Loft but instead donned crampons and scrambled up a more direct 4th Class line of exposed ledges and popped over the headwall to find a party of two building an anchor to rappel what we'd just climbed.  Our route-finding blunders weren't over yet, though, as I inadvertently led us the extra 700' up to the summit of the Beaver only to be stymied by the Notch, of course.  After dropping 1000' back down to Clark's Arrow we finally crawled our way up the Homestretch slabs to the summit of Longs--it'd taken us a ridiculous 3:35 to get there, losing nearly an hour alone on the headwall below the Loft--and descended the Keyhole uneventfully (other than the hurricane-like winds) in 1:10. Yet another learning experience.

11-25-2012
Sun-AM: 2:16, 4000' ~ 5th Flatiron+4th Flatiron+Green Mt+The Spy
Ran up to Chat and took the Royal Arch Trail to the base of the Fifth.  Linked the two flatties, tagged Green, and then headed down to the base of the First Flatiron to scramble The Spy. It's a very short climb (300'), so if it wasn't such a cool position on a narrow, hyper-exposed ridge, it wouldn't even really be worth doing. Felt strong on the run home, nice to finally be feeling some energy again.

Hours: 18h52min
Vert: 30,700'

Even before I got sick out in Tennessee 10 days ago, my running wasn't going very well.  Ever since I got back from South Africa in mid-October I'd been low on energy.  For a couple of weeks I crammed in the volume and vertical, trying to build strength and fitness and confidence, but, of course, the harder I tried, the more forced and sluggish things became.  Pretty classic case of end-of-the-year burn-out.  So, when I finally came down with the flu and was relegated to laying in bed for several days, it was obvious my body was trying to tell me something so I decided to quit forcing things and just get outside on feel, with no goal-oriented ambitions.  I called off competing in The North Face 50mi Championships and for the past week have instead done a lot of scrambling in the Flatirons.  I'll keep up this schedule of running (/climbing) once per day at least until the end of the year, and probably beyond, before I truly begin to build up for a fun-filled spring and summer season of racing and summits.  I'll definitely continue to get out and tag peaks, but it will be with low expectations and probably a lot of slow, non-race-specific snow-slogging.  The best part is that I'm healthy and I feel fortunate to be voluntarily choosing to scale back the running instead of being forced into it by injury, which so often seems to be the case.

Picking my way up a crux on Satan's Slab last weekend. Photo: Joe Grant.

An airy perch hanging out over Satan's east face. Photo: Joe Grant.

The fantastic North Arete, just below the summit of the Fifth Flatiron. Photo: Joe Grant.

Summit of the Fifth last Sunday. Photo: Joe Grant.

North face of Mt. Meeker as seen from our perch in the Loft couloir Saturday morning. Photo: Joe Grant.

Week Summary: Nov 5 - 11

11-05-2012
Mon-AM: 2:11, 3200' ~ Third Flatiron+Green Mt.
Really nice cruise up the mountain with a descent of Bear Cyn. More energy than expected.
PM: 1:04, 1600' ~ First Flatiron
Started this in the dark after a late-afternoon massage with Jeff Staron, who worked on my fibula/peroneals.  Climbing the First in the dark by headlamp was more than a little spooky, especially with the strong winds that I found on the North Arete.  For some reason not having a sense of scale for the exposure (due to my sight being limited to the cone of my headlamp) was more unnerving than scrambling it in broad daylight.  Pretty sure I won't make this a regular practice. Really slow, tentative run back down to Chat after the downclimb.

11-06-2012
Tue-AM: 2:32, 5300' ~ 2xGreen Mt.
Went up Gregory-Ranger and down the front both times. First lap was with Dakota and I think this, unfortunately, pushed me to go a little harder than I should've and I ended up running the second climb slower, which is really rare for me.  Good to start reintegrating some running ascents of the mountain (as opposed to my now-usual running/scrambling/grunting/hiking affairs) back into the routine. Race specificity.
PM: 1:00, 2000' ~ First Flatiron+
Joe and I led Dakota on a casual scramble of the First from Chautauqua. We'd had hopes of getting in a couple other objectives, too--and even thrashed around looking for the base of the Spy in the dark--but the dynamics of group scrambling had us moving a little slower than usual and darkness came too quickly to get on anything else without headlamps.

11-07-2012
Wed-AM: 2:10, 3200' ~ Third Flatiron+Green Mt.
Up the Third and then down Bear Canyon and back on Mesa.  I really like this loop...a nice mix of scrambling, steep hiking, and cruiser scenic singletrack.  My legs were fairly tired this morning--I've been going at it hard non-stop for the last 10 days or so with no easy day--so I just took things mellow. Try to rest up today for either a legit long run tomorrow or another lap on Longs Peak.

11-08-2012
Thu-AM: 4:43, 8100' ~ Green-Walker Ranch-Eldo Cyn-Green
Started out by heading up Amp-SR-Greeman on the frontside of Green and then ran down to Walker Ranch for a CCW loop before heading back through Eldorado Canyon and back up to Bear Canyon via the Old Mesa Trail. Finished by descending the frontside of Green and running home.  This loop is my standard race-prep long run, and I'll add an extra lap on Green (so another ~5mi/2500'/1hr) each of the next two weeks as progression. This is the longest continuous run (other than the first 42mi of the LT100) that I've done in the past two years, so it was really good to get it in.  I wasn't climbing particularly well, but not badly either, and overall kept a pretty high pace, definitely not just jogging around...this is somewhere in the 30-32mi range. Really fun day out; I've missed being healthy enough to do these kinds of runs.

11-09-2012
Fri-AM: 2:06, 3800' ~ 2nd+3rd Flatirons+Green Mt.
Didn't have shoes with sticky enough rubber to comfortably negotiate the first few hundred feet of the First Flatiron so I scrambled both the Second and Third instead before heading to the top of the mountain and descending Gregory-Ranger.
PM: 1:32, 3000' ~ Flatiron Trifecta
Was originally planning on just heading up the First Flatiron and then to the summit of Green but after I felt really good on that original scramble I made the on-the-fly decision to link-up the Second and Third as well. I did the First downclimb and the full scramble of the Second before having to finally switch on  my headlamp and then enjoyed a fully-in-the-dark scaling of the Third.  I must say, it was much less nerve-wracking than my headlamp ascent of the First earlier in the week.  Should've been well under 1h30 for my Chat-to-Chat time, but I was lazy on the final techy descent in the dark.

11-10-2012
Sat-AM: 2:13, 3200' ~ Third Flatiron+Green Mt.
Still had some tired legs, so just jogged up the hill and was happy to sneak in a final scramble on the Third before the snowstorm---flakes started falling about half-way up the face and I started worrying a bit about wet rock, but I made it up and then down the SW Chimney with no issues. Descended Bear Canyon.
PM: 1:01 ~ Creek Paths
Wow, first run I've done like this in a long, long time.  Didn't feel like mucking around in the drizzle and dark up on the mountain so just cruised around the flatlands. Too many runs like this and I'll have to start tracking miles again...

11-11-2012
Sun-AM: 2:00, 3000' ~ Green Mt.
Up Gregory-Ranger and down Bear Canyon. the new, crusty shellacking of snow on everything made for a nice change, but the wind on the ridge was pretty biting. Legs finally felt "back" after Thu's long run.
PM: 1:02, 2700' ~ Green Mt.
From Chat went up ASG and down the NE ridge. Didn't have to employ the headlamp until the downhill, which was nice. Arctic frigid wind ripping on the summit.

Hours: 23h34min
Vert: 39,100'

Kind of an up-and-down week for me in the lowlands of Boulder.  Fatigue finally caught up with me mid-week after ten days straight w/o much rest, so an easy day there set me up for my first legitimate long run in a long, long time on Thursday.  It went well enough and reminded me of the joys of moving continuously and quickly over easy terrain...a different kind of kinesthetic experience from all the scrambling and off-trail travel that I've spent much of the last six months pursuing.  Races demand specificity, however, which is probably a good thing for my fitness.  Weather shut down any weekend plans for high peaks, so I'll likely make an effort to get out tomorrow before I visit Nashville for a Fleet Feet speaking visit on Tue/Wednesday.  I'm still only very fleetingly confident in my trail running fitness, so hope I can increasingly bolster that over the next two weeks.  We'll see, this time of year feels so unnatural for having any kind of killer competitive ambitions.

All five Flatirons set in stark relief this morning.

Summit of Green, with Bear Peak in the background (the West Ridge trail is finally open!).

Dinosaur Mt (at the mouth of Bear Cyn) always looks to offer so many promising scrambling opportunities.

Week Summary: Oct 29 - Nov 4

10-29-2012
Mon-AM: 1:37, 3300' ~ Third Flatiron+Green Mt.
Most of the snow was gone, so enjoyed a nice day on the hill. The wind on the last pitch of the scramble made it feel really sketchy on the downclimb, but I made it through.  Took a long descent down Greenman and Gregory and was really psyched to feel nothing in my fibula.  Jeff's massage seems to have really worked.
PM: 0:41, 1600' ~ First Flatiron
Cruisy quick lap on the Flattie before the sun set, from Chautauqua.  Leg felt great, really nice warm evening.

10-30-2012
Tue-AM: 2:16, 4500' ~ Mt. Elbert (14,433')
Up and down the NE ridge. Ugh, kind of a rude re-introduction to altitude.  It's been six weeks since I've been over 4000m (well, I haven't even been over 2500m in the past six weeks), so the uphill was definitely a struggle today.  The truck said it was 12F when I woke up, but I was sweating in the sun on the climb and generally enjoyed a comfortable day weatherwise...very little wind.  Really fun to get back up in the high country, very little snow up there still.

l0-31-2012
Wed-AM: 2:58, 5000' ~ Longs Peak (14,255')
Joe and I started from the East TH and took the Reveley Route over the shoulder of Mt Lady Washington to the base of the old Cables Route on the North Face where we donned crampons and headed up the relatively short, iced-in dihedral that goes at 5.4 in summer conditions.  I was in a pair of steel Kahtoola KTS crampons and was very impressed at their lightweight performance on both steep ice and rock. Descended via the Keyhole before cutting back over the shoulder of MLW and back down to the trailhead.  Weather conditions were ideal with reasonable temps, moderate winds, and clear skies. Metal traction was only mandatory from Chasm View to the summit.  This happened to be my 100th 14er summit of the year and my 14th summit of Longs Peak this year (but June was the first time I'd ever been up Longs, so my 14th summit ever of the mountain, too.).

11-01-2012
Thu-AM: 2:04, 4500' ~ Flatiron Trifecta+Green Mt.
Linked-up the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Flatirons before heading to the top of the mountain and running back down to Chat via Ranger-Gregory. Haven't completed this enchainment in a couple of months, so it was fun to string together what ends up being ~2500' of scrambling.
PM: 1:08, 3000' ~ First Flatiron+Green Mt.
Quick spin up the hill, with a snappy 12:45 scramble of the east face. Timed it perfectly to get back to Chat right as it was getting dark.

11-02-2012
Fri-AM: 2:31, 4500' ~ Torreys & Grays Peaks (14,270' & 14,267')
Parked half-way up the road and summited Torreys via the Kelso Ridge before bopping over and tagging Grays, too.  Conditions were pretty nice, frigid on the summits, but not terrible and the snow wasn't too troubling on the ridge.  My energy on the uphills, however, was rock-bottom.  I had nothing.  But, on the downhills my legs seemed to have plenty of pep, so maybe just the altitude affecting me?
PM: 1:00, 700' ~ East Leadville trails
Nice, peppy cruise at sunset (which was amazing).  It was fun to feel good after feeling so wasted this morning.

11-03-2012
Sat-AM: 2:53, 6000' ~ Belford-Oxford-Belford (14,197' & 14,153')
From the Missouri Gulch TH. Seriously seemed like maybe September conditions. I took Microspikes but never needed them; any snow was either powdery and trivial or nicely-packed and my shoes gripped fine. Took me a long time to get into the sun, but once I was it was warm...unless there was a breeze. Then it got cold real quick. Overall, a beautiful morning, though.
PM: 1:07, 2200' ~ Mt. Sherman (14,036')
From Iowa Gulch. Got this in quick, finishing just as it got too dark to really run. Felt really good on the uphill, which was encouraging because I've been really struggling with energy above treeline this week. Once on the ridge it was crazy windy (and cold) but manageable. Pretty cool to be watching the sun setting over the Sawatch from the other side of the valley.

11-04-2012
Sun-AM: 2:56, 5000' ~ Mt. Massive (14,421')
Started from the Half Moon TH and went up the east slopes before descending the southwest slopes.  Not too much snow to deal with ever, but the wind above treeline was pretty bad.  Lots of hunkering down in my hood just marching up into the gale. The run down was much more pleasant and it was fun to do the run as a loop instead of the usual out-and-back that happens on 14ers.
PM: 1:20, 1700' ~ Stairway To Heaven
Started from NOAA with Joe and jogged up Skunk Canyon to the base of the Stairway To Heaven rock ridge on the north side of the canyon. Found some exceptionally good rock in places with wild exposure (typical of the flatirons) and then just some 3rd-4th Class scrambling in other spots. The summits of Like Heaven and Heaven were totally worthwhile, though, especially with the stunning views of Satan's Slab immediately to the west. Getting off the rock was a touch hairier than expected, but the downclimb will be way easier doing it a second time. Jogged back down to the car after some casual exploring around.

Hours: 22h31min
Total: 42,000'

Well, this marks the first week back to full activity after my three weeks of doing mostly nothing.  Much credit must be given to Jeff Staron, who largely fixed my fibula/peroneal injury with one incredibly painful visit last Friday.  When Rickey Gates first recommended Jeff, he claimed he was a miracle worker.  Now I believe it.  I also finally moved into an apartment this week after seven months in the Roost.  Of course, I then promptly went on a three-day trip back to the big mountains.

My efforts at altitude this week have been all over the place.  Except for Longs Peak on Wednesday and Mt. Sherman Saturday evening I have invariably felt like an utter sloth when trying to go uphill above treeline.  I know that shouldn't be surprising, but in past instances of re-acclimating to altitude it hasn't been this sluggish of a process, so I'm beginning to wonder if maybe I'm dealing with a bit of an iron deficiency.  I'll probably give it another week before I become truly concerned.  Either way, it's been a blast getting back to the high country, and nice to experience the big mountains in a different season.

Some video footage of our ascent of Longs on Wednesday, courtesy of Joe.

North Face route on Longs ascends directly to the right of the Diamond.

The Knife Edge on the upper Kelso Ridge of Torreys Friday morning.

Belford summit Saturday morning.

Lenticular cloud ripping over the south summit of Massive Sunday morning.

Summit of Massive.

Week Summary: Oct 22 - 28

10-22-2012
Mon-AM: 0:44, 1600' ~ First Flatiron
Mellow scramble, but my peroneals/fibula acted up right at the end on the run down the hard-packed dirt back to Chautauqua.
PM: Climbing with Jenny.
Did the Owl on The Dome at the base of Boulder Canyon. Funky roof on the final pitch but overall lots of fun.

10-23-2012
Tue-AM: 0:45, 1600' ~ First Flatiron
Same as yesterday morning except I descended Saddle Rock to Amphitheater, which seemed to be nicer on the fibula as it only tweaked slightly right at the end.
PM: Climbing+Gym Climbing (Eldo and Movement).
Buzz and I got on Calypso down in Eldo and after the second pitch traversed the ledge over to the bottom of the final pitch of Wind Ridge so that we could top out on Wind Tower. Fun stuff, especially the downclimb on the descent.  Immediately afterwards I met Marissa for a couple hours of climbing plastic at Movement, which was a first for me, plus pretty frustrating considering I was already pumped from the couple of hours spent on real rock beforehand.  Also, gym ratings are so bogus.

10-24-2012
Wed-AM: 0:48, 1600' ~ First Flatiron
Standard run up to the base, scramble and downclimb and run back down to Chat. Peroneals didn't hurt at all, which was nice.
PM: 1:00, 1600' ~ First Flatiron w/ Joe.
Did a casual hiking scramble of the Flattie, snuck this in right before it started raining...clouds were swirling on the summit and we got a little wet on the walk back down to the car.

10-25-2012
Thu-AM: 1:10, 1000' ~ Gold Hill
Ran in the cold, fresh snow from Joe's house.  Predictably, the fibula was totally fine for 45min but then tightened up after that. Full-on winter run here at between 8500' and 9000'.

10-26-2012
Fri-AM: 0:50, 500' ~ Gold Hill
Another snowy run from Joe's house, but this time we got above the clouds, which was as beautiful as one might expect. Fibula acted up right at the end again.  Got a crazy painful massage from Jeff Staron afterwards that left my lower leg immediately sore but hopefully did some good.

10-27-2012
Sat-AM: 1:41, 3000' ~ Flagstaff+Green Mt.
Met up with some friends to get back to the basics in the Boulder hills. Kept it super mellow all the way to the summit of Green, but it was nice to catch up with people I don't always make time to run with.  I was just testing out my peroneals, so after hitting the top of the mountain I ran back down Ranger and Gregory Canyon, pretty psyched to have no pain, just soreness from the massage yesterday.  Gorgeous day with all the snow.
PM: Climbing w/ Joe.
Did three laps on the Umbrella Tree top-rope near Crown Rocks on Flagstaff.  Was able to send the direct line, which is allegedly 5.10 but seemed a bit soft for that.

10-28-2012
Sun-AM: 1:18, 2600' ~ Green Mt.
Up Gregory Canyon and down the trail between the 1st and 2nd Flatirons for the descent.  First time I've run Gregory Canyon (and Ranger) in quite a while. Though a proper trail the whole way there are still some legitimately steep sections in there. Tough. All in all, feeling awkward and out-of-shape these days.  Ice turned much of the descent into a tentative walk without Microspikes.
PM: Climbing w/ Joe.
Parked at the Elephant Buttresses near the bottom of Boulder Canyon and just top-roped from a set of anchors on that big jumble of rock between the parking lot and the actual Buttresses. Got in a couple of laps before the sun was gone.

Hours: 8h16min
Total: 13,500'

This week started out tentatively and was turning in a depressing direction as my fibula/peroneals were still giving me a bunch of trouble, but then the massage with Jeff on Friday morning seemed to magically fix the issue and I'm now running basically as much as I want, pain-free.  Incredible.  I got in a lot of rock climbing this week, and I plan on keeping that up, but after two weeks completely off and this third week of very low volume I'm feeling pretty fat and out of shape. It was a break I needed, and my fitness should come back quickly, but maybe not as quickly as I'd like.  I'd still like to race one more time this year...

Sussing the final pitch on The Owl, Dome Rock. Photo: Jenny Jurek.

And, in the spirit of election season, a catchy little tune written by an old college friend.

Week Summary: Oct 1 - 7 (+ an off week)

10/1/2012
Mon-AM: 2:19, 3300' ~ Refugi Sant Jordi
Ran the quiet, bucolic road from our hotel (Ca l'Amgata--truly amazing hospitality; honestly, it blows my mind) ~30min to the start of the trail up the canyon to the Refugi.  Nice mellow trot up the incredibly scenic climb for the third time in the past week, and then ran the last 12K of the race course back into Baga.  Took a while for things to get loosened up at first (left achilles, mostly), but then everything felt good except for my right big toe joint/extensor on the extended downhill.  Really fun to see these mountains on a nice sunny morning instead of having them hide in the clouds.  Spent the rest of the day meeting with BUFF designers and touring the factory just outside of Barcelona. I had no idea that all of their production is right there, nothing in China. The apparel (as opposed to headwear) is manufactured in Portugal, but everything else happens there in Igualada.

10/2/2012
Tue-AM: 1:30, 1100' Basreny River out and back
Nice early 6:30am start in the dark under the very bright light of the moon before an all-day photo shoot up near Pedra Forca.  Legs felt way better than yesterday, including my toe.

10/3/2012
Wed-AM: 1:52, 1800' ~ Collserola Park/Tibidabo
Run in Collserola with Nacho and Pol from New Balance.  Really tired legs.
PM: 0:58 ~ Barcelona Beach
Ran down through the Gothic district from my hotel down to the beach and back. Tired legs and tough negotiating my way through crowds of people nearly the entire way.

10/4/2012
Thu-AM: 2:04, 4000' ~ Montserrat
Run from Montsellero with Just Sensio and Nacho.  They took me on a ~25k route of an old race course that climbs from town to the summit of the mountain and back down.  Awesome line that finishes with a really steep grunt up a canyon to the summit, complete with a couple of fixed ropes. Legs felt good and it was a ton of fun on an awesome mountain.
PM: 1:00 ~ Barcelona Beach
Much better run down along the beachfront. Found a more direct route and legs felt quite good.

10/5/2012
Fri-AM: 2:12, 1700' ~ Collserola Park/Tibidabo
Ran from the hotel up to the forest/hills/trails.  Spent some time contouring on the Carretera des Aigues where I ran into a couple of familiar faces--Richard and then later, Allesandra.  The 25min of noisy, polluted, crowded street running on Balmes on either end of the run wasn't very pleasant, but so it goes when exploring a city I suppose.

10/6/2012
Sat-AM: 2:33, 5000' ~ Montseny Traverse
With Nacho and Roberto Sancho.  Started from Coll Formic at 1100m above the town of Montseny and linked together the three main summits in the park, which included a pair of ~2000' climbs plus a couple other bumps followed by a screaming 4000' descent back down to Montseny.  The second climb was a very fun scramble up an aesthetic ridge to the summit..."La directa!"
PM: 1:01, 600' ~ Park Guell
Ran up to this iconic park where Gaudi has several impressive tile mosaics.  Legs were tired so I just stumped along through the streets and then enjoyed the art and views of the city from the park.

10/7/2012
Sun-AM: 1:40, 1500' ~ Tibidabo Cathedral
Was running by 6:40am, which isn't early but feels really early these days now that it doesn't get light until after 7:30am.  The run up Balmes to the park was interesting in that I got to see all kinds of people still out after a long night of raging. Nice run up and down the trails in the park and then back on Balmes to the hotel.  My right leg really started acting up on this run, to the point where I was definitely favoring it and limping by the end--really weird, nervy peroneal/fibular pain that shoots up and down my whole leg at odd times.  Hurts more to walk than run, and it's a really weird feeling...not usual muscular tightness/soreness at all.  Feels almost like something having to do with a nerve, not muscular.

Hours: 17h09min
Vert: 19,000'

My legs came around quite quickly after the race and my local mountain runs near Barcelona on Thursday and Saturday were of a much higher quality than I could've ever planned on my own.  Many thanks to Pol, Nacho, Just, Roberto, and Dani for all rallying and showing me the two main playgrounds near (within 45min driving) Barcelona--Montserrat and Montseny.  Both were top-notch outings that I will definitely make sure to not miss the next time I'm in Barcelona.

Last week ended on a bit of a down note, though.  On my last run in Barcelona (Sunday morning) before catching a plane (and enduring 30hr of transit) to Cape Town, SA my right leg started acting up in a really weird way...not sure how to describe it except it feels like my peroneals/fibula, but it doesn't feel muscular at all.  Much more nervy.

I thought a day of rest whilst traveling would help set it right, but on my first attempt at a jog in Tonaika Forest in Cape Town on Tuesday morning it worsened and I had to walk back to the car after only 20min.  The wonderful folks at New Balance in SA got me right in for an appointment with a physio at the Sports Science Institute that afternoon, though, and it seems I aggravated a nerve (the sural nerve?) and it needs a few days of rest to quiet down.  This all meant that I had to miss the Otter Run and came back to Boulder a couple of days early, which was obviously a bit of a bummer, but I'm also happy to be back and look forward to getting back into a regular daily routine and getting fully healthy.  I'm taking this ill-timed niggle as an opportunity to rest for a week or two and recharge the batteries before hopefully getting in a nice block of training before the TNF50 Champs in San Fran on December 1st, which I'm looking ahead to with a lot more confidence after my run at Cavalls.

On Montserrat with Just. Photo: Nacho Puig.

Summit of Montserrat on Thursday morning, a 1000m climb up and out of the clouds. Photo: Nacho Puig.

La Sagrada Familia--Guadi's vision still being constructed nearly 100 years after his death.

Barcelona at dusk as seen from Park Guell. Mediterranean Sea in the distance.

On the first summit of the day at Montseny outside of Barcelona, looking at the next peak in the distance.

Final scramble to the summit of the second peak in Montseny.

Roberto reaching the summit after the scramble.  Pyrenees on the horizon.

Chapman's Peak overlook at sunset, near Hout Bay in Cape Town.

Camps Bay from the summit of Table Mountain.

Cape Town.

Week Summary: Sept 24 - 30

9/24/2012
Mon- off, traveling to Spain.

9/25/2012
Tue-AM: 1:34, 3500' ~ Pedra Forca
Drove with Dakota, Frosty, and Nuria to the foot of Pedra Forca near Baga (the start/finish town for Cavalls del Vent), which is a very dramatic rabbit-eared shape mountain whose base we run along during the race.  Ran to the summit--including some fun, optional scrambling on the excellent limestone--before descending between the rabbit ears on some not-optimal scree.  Really nice introduction to the Pyrenees.


9/26/2012
Wed-AM: 1:20, 2700' ~ Refugi Sant Jordi
Ran from approximately km67 to km78 on the Cavalls course with Phillip Reiter, Emelie, and Frosty, which included the last two major climbs of the loop--a 600m (2000') run up a gorgeous canyon to the Refugi and then a small descent followed by a 200m (700') bop up to the final pass with incredible views of the cliff faces on the south side of the range.  Gloomy, humid conditions and all in all it was a gorgeous morning out. The first climb felt quite gradual, but the final bop will definitely have some hiking in it come race day. Really seems like it will be a mint course, judging from this small taste.

9/27/2012
Thu-AM: 1:27, 2200' ~ Queralt Monastery
Ran up to the monastery on the mountains above Berga from the house and back down. Really nice mountains behind town with lots of trails, wish I could explore more.

9/28/2012
Fri-AM: 0:34, 800' ~ Queralt Monastery
Drove up to the monastery with Anna and Dakota and went for a short, flattish out-and-back. Cool, gloomy day. Would be good weather for tomorrow, but it's supposed to rain all day, which is fine, too.

9/29/2012
Sat-AM: 8:49, 19,600' ~ Cavalls del Vent 84K
2nd place, 7min behind Kilian. Both of us were under Miguel Heras' previous course record. Really cool to have Dakota round out the podium.  Pretty crazy bad weather conditions...only 183 of the 900 starters finished, many succumbing to hypothermia.

9/30/2012
Sun-PM: off.  Wanna make sure I recover, but things feel fine except for my big toe joints. Weird.

Hours: 13h44min
Vert: 28,800'

Taper week in Spain leading up to Cavalls del Vent.  Not much else to say; the race went well.

The view from our house in Berga, at the foot of the Pyrenees.

Berga, from the Queralt Monastery high on the mountain.

Pedra Forca (Forked Rock?) outside of Baga.

Summit of Pedra Forca with Dakota, Frosty, Nuria and a Catalonian flag.

Week Summary: Sept 17 - 23

09/17/2012
Mon-AM: 3:23, 7000' ~ Grand Teton (13,770')
Not many mountains are more inspiring than this one. Driving in early in the morning over from Dubois there was a crazy amount of smoke settled in the valley and I could barely see the peaks most of the way, but once I got there...man, such proud summits. I'd heard there was some ice in the chimneys on the Owen-Spalding route, but conditions seemed perfect, so I figured I'd go give it a shot, even if I was turned around only a few hundred feet from the top.  Had pretty decent legs on the run up Garnet Canyon and the climb from the Lower Saddle to the Upper Saddle felt shorter than I remembered from July.  It was cold and blustery on the OS, though, and once in the chimneys there was indeed some ice, not to mention cold rubber that didn't seem to want to stick to the rock as well as I remembered, nor gloved hands that wanted to grip very well either.  I passed a couple of roped-up parties, but had the summit to myself, which was really nice. The descent went well and I mostly just enjoyed being in one of the more special ranges in the country.  Lost probably 6-7min roundtrip due to the ice in the chimneys, but I ascended in 2:08 and descended in 1:15.

9/18/2012
Tue-AM: 8:46, 8700' ~ Gannet Peak (13,804')
One of my favorite days in the mountains this season. New FKT.

9/19/2012
Wed-AM: 2:05, 4500' ~ Flatiron Trifecta+Green Mt.
After getting up at 5:00am to finish the final 3hr+ drive home from WY, I went straight to Chat and got on the rocks.  My legs were surprisingly minimally affected by yesterday's effort, so on my jog out of the parking lot I decided to hit all three flatirons.  The First went well with a reasonably quick 12:45 scramble and 3min downclimb. On the descent to the base of the Second I could definitely feel all of yesterday's boulder-hopping, but the scramble went well in 11:30.  More boulder-hopping over to the base of the Third, and I laced that in an only-10sec-off-PR 7:30 before a quick 5:50 downclimb. The march to the summit of Green was a bit of a slog, but I held it together and back down at Chat in 1:57 I rounded out the day's time with a mile of barefoot on the lawn there. Awesome morning.
PM: 1:18, 3000' ~ First Flatiron+Green Mt.
I was feeling lazy and just kept the whole outing leisurely with a 16:30 scramble and a mellow effort on the rest of the mountain. Amazing sunset from the top of Green, though.

9/20/2012
Thu-AM: 4:37, 6500' ~ Audubon (13,233'), Paiute (13,088'), Toll (12,979'), Pawnee (12,943'), Shoshoni (12,967'), Apache (13,441'), Navajo (13,409')
Started from the Long Lake TH with Joe. Ran the 6min on road over to the Audubon TH and headed up the mountain. The pace seemed pretty mellow, but I could tell my legs were still pretty haggard from the past three days. I was really uncoordinated on the ridge traverse of boulder hopping from Audubon to Paiute, but seemed to find some dexterity on the descent down to the north ridge of Toll.  Mount Toll was awesome.  Joe and I located the sneaky ramp on the west side which ends in an even sneakier, exposed, cruxy step-across.  It doesn't look like it's going to go, but it does!  Which would become a theme of the day.  Pawnee was a simple talus walk-up, as was Shoshoni, but then the real fun began as we engaged the airy, sometimes loose 4th Class ledges of The Chessmen that guard the traverse over to Apache.  This section was magnificent, high above Isabelle Glacier and despite my low energy we were having an awesome day out.  The final climb from Dicker's Peck to the summit of Navajo looked quite intimidating, but for seemingly the dozenth time all day, once on the face it was actually very fun 4th Class with enjoyable route-finding and an impressive summit. From there we dropped into Airplane Gully (a plane crashed in there in 1943, there is still wreckage) and made our way back down to Lake Isabelle and the trail back to the car.  Awesome day out on some of the most fun, inspiring terrain anywhere.

9/21/2012
Fri-AM: 2:02, 3200' ~ Third Flatiron+Green Mt.
Ran from Eben G. Fine Park up to Chat, scrambled the Third easy in 8:55, downclimbed the SW Chimney and tagged the summit of Green before descending Bear Canyon back to Chautauqua.  This has to be my favorite easy day loop, such a fun variety of terrain from flat running, to scrambling, to steep hiking, to fast descending through the canyon.

9/22/2012
Sat-AM: 2:06, 3200' ~ Third Flatiron+Green Mt.
Ran up to Chat and then to the base of the Third, scrambled it in 8:35, downclimbed, grunted to the summit of Green and descended Bear Canyon again. The downclimb took 5min longer than yesterday because of the complete lack of sticky rubber on my shoes.  More exemplary fall weather, though.
PM: 1:05, 3000' ~ First Flatiron+Green Mt.
Awesome evening out on the hill where I PRed to the top of the First (22:32) by taking it easy to the base (11:42) and then PRing on the actual scramble (10:50 East Face). Did the downclimb in my usual careful 3:50 and then continued on to the summit of Green before running back down the front back to Chat.

9/23/2012
Sun-AM: 2:14, 4700' ~ Flatiron Trifecta+Green Mt.
Ran up to Chat and then laced together the first three Flatirons in sequential order. I was feeling quite on point with the scrambling today and had East Face splits of 12:35, 11:10, and 7:55 for the First, Second, and Third, respectively. I still need to try Buzz's route on the Third of not crossing over the gulley at the beginning.  It does seem like it would be a lot faster. Continued on to the summit of Green after the Third before running back down to the Creek. Awesome last morning on the mountain for a few weeks.

Hours: 27h36min
Vert: 43,800'

This was the last week of hard training before heading overseas for Cavalls del Vent and the Otter Run, but I hardly viewed it that way.  Instead, I was just trying to cram in as much autumnal fun as I could knowing that conditions will likely have changed drastically in the high country by time I get back in mid-October.  So it goes, though, and I'm actually really looking forward to the change in seasons. CdV should be a ton of fun as I expect there to be a group of at least five really solid competitors going for it at the front of the pack (Kilian and Miguel, Dakota and myself, and Tofol Castaner), plus probably plenty of other legit but lesser-known Euros.  I'm excited for what is billed as a very tough course and my introduction to European mountain racing.

The Black Dike and Upper Exum Ridge (leading to the Grand Teton summit), as seen from the Lower Saddle.

Looking south from the summit of the Grand on Monday morning.

The view looking east from the summit of Gannet Peak.

On the summit of Shoshoni, considering my immediate future: Apache (center) and Navajo (far left). Photo: Joe Grant.

Week Summary: Sept 10 - 16

9/10/2012
Mon-AM: 3:55, 5500 ~ Longs Peak (14,255')
Oy, quite the day on the hill with Joel. I wanted to show Joel the Kieners Route with the exhilarating and airy position you achieve on the Broadway traverse but with the Lambs Slide snow being in horrible late-season shape we decided to gain access to Broadway via Alexander's Chimney--an alleged 5.5 mixed route just to the right of Lambs Slide.  All in all, it was a terrible idea.  We started by gingerly climbing the Mills Glacier to the base of the wall, which was basically a conglomerate slab pitch of ice. Once on the wall there were some 4th Class slabs/cracks (definitely found some 5th Class in there, unfortunately) to get to the base of the chimney, which we then started up.  Being in the shade, and being September, the first pitch up to the chockstone held significant ice with more water running down.  We made it up, but it was sphincter-tightening to say the least. After spending some time re-warming ourselves on a sunny ledge we traversed over to a steep, left-facing dihedral with insane exposure. This was even more intimidating and took a couple tries. Above there was some easier terrain that led into the "Yellow Bowl" and a final left-facing dihedral that again was steep and hand-jammy.  More cruxing.  Reaching Broadway was never so wonderful.  After making the summit, Joel and I descended the North Face down to the top of the Cables Route, which we found, of course, to be completely iced in.  This 5.4 downclimb is usually almost brainless, but especially after our already hair-raising morning we had no nerves left to deal with the ice and trudged the 500' back to the summit to descend the standard Keyhole Route.

9/11/2012
Tue-AM: 1:05, 2800' ~ Green Mt.
Did a headlamp ascent via the 3rd access route before spending all day in the Indian Peaks near Isabelle Lake for an Ultimate Direction photo/film shoot.
PM: 1:06, 3200' ~ Second Flatiron+Third Flatiron Minions Gathering
What a blast. Some friends were going to be putting in a hard car-to-car effort on the Third Flatiron, so I warmed up by first doing a quick lap on the Second.  After a little delay we headed up Bluebell Road and charged to the base of the rock.  I got there first (14:22) with Dave maybe 30sec back and Matt and Stefan in close pursuit.  I was moving well on the rock but was basically too anaerobic to go any harder and Stefan caught me right after the Kiddy Kar Ledge with Dave stepping on to the summit right behind me (22:22).  There were three rap ropes fixed on the top, so we all dropped off the back but Dave and I proceeded to get tangled and lost a bunch of time...it took me a full 3min to rap the 200' to the ground (25:34).  After I finally got off the line, though, it was wing-suit time and I took off down through the boulderfield catching Dave and then Stefan down in the trees.  From there it was just an incredibly painful sprint back down to Chat for a 33:48 finishing time, a minute ahead of Dave.  Dave has the record at 33:17, and I like to think I would've been close without the tangling on the rappel, but that's all part of the fun!

9/12/2012
Wed-AM: 2:17, 5300' ~ 2xGreen Mt.
Up and down the standard frontside route the first lap and then up the front and down the back on the second lap.  34min laps were slowed by the insistently falling rain making all of the rocks slick.  Felt like a very Fall day, that's for sure.  Good to get some consistent running in with solid vertical.
PM: 1:02, 2800' ~ Green Mt.
Up 3rd access and down front.  The continuing-to-fall rain and low clouds prevented any scrambling (wet rock), so just went for another lap on the hill, but a bit steeper line this time.

9/13/2012
Thu-AM: 2:18, 5300' ~ 2xGreen Mt.
Two more laps on the mountain, but this time up the back and down the front for each. Managed 37min and 36min efforts this time on the slightly longer/more runnable Gregory-Ranger ascents.  Been a long time since I've done running repeats on Green, so these last two mornings have been really good.
PM: 1:03, 3000' ~ First Flatiron+Green Mt.
I was a in a bit of a hurry to get this in before the Reel Rock Film World Premiere, so had some extra incentive to get up the hill quick and ended up scrambling the First Flatiron in a PR 11:25, which was fun, before continuing on to the summit of the mountain.

9/14/2012
Fri-AM: 2:39, 5000' ~ Longs Peak (14,255')
Got an early start up the hill and because I knew the Cables Route was iced in I used a combo of the Reveley Route up to the Boulder Field and the standard Keyhole route above there.  Descended the same way.  Didn't have particularly peppy legs after all the vert the last few days, but I did enjoy perfectly still, crisp conditions on the summit.  A small bit of snow and ice to deal with in the Trough and on the Homestretch.
PM: off - driving to Wyoming.

9/15/2012
Sat-AM: 2:51, 4400' ~ Arrow Mt (11,678')
Started from the Trail Lakes TH outside of Dubois, WY, which is ~20min from my sister's house and also the start of the Glacier Trail, one of the standard (extremely long) approaches to Gannet Peak, Wyoming's highest peak at 13,804' (the Grand Teton is 13,770').  The run in up Bomber Basin was quite flat, and the mountain itself was fairly unimpressive, but the views of the Wind River peaks and glaciers surrounding Gannet were totally worth it, even with all the smoke in the air.

9/16/2012
Sun-AM: 1:41, 3700' ~ Whiskey Mt (11,2xx')
A different trail/mountain from the same trailhead as yesterday.  This one was mercifully more steep and direct, though, and I was on top of the hill in just a few minutes over an hour.  There was so much smoke in the air, though, that my throat hurt. First easy-ish day I've taken in quite some time, but it was deliberate, as I'm planning on ticking probably Wyoming's two proudest peaks over the next two days: the Grand Teton on Monday and Gannet Peak on Tuesday.

Hours: 19h57min
Vert: 41,000'

This was a fun, varied week, with a couple tags of Longs, an incredibly painful sprint up and down the Third Flatiron on Tuesday, running laps of Green mid-week and then getting up to some new mountains by the end of the week.  I was pretty tired by the end of the week, but my multiple laps on Green have started re-building some confidence in my fitness and I'm really starting to look forward to Cavalls del Vent in a couple of weeks.  A big part of me is at least as inspired by getting out for as many mountain adventures as possible before the weather really turns.

About 20' below Broadway on Longs Peak. Final crux crack. Chasm Lake 1500' below... Photo: Joel Wolpert.

Longs Peak summit with the Loft in the background. Photo: Joel Wolpert.

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.