Feb 25 - March 3

2/25/2013
Mon-AM: 1:21, 2700' ~ Green Mt.
From Chat, went up and down the front. Slow ascent with lots of loose footing in all the new snow.

2/26/2013
Tue-AM: 1:17, 2700' ~ Green Mt.
Exact same run as yesterday except that it was dumping snow again this morning and I went up with poles, which made a big difference in uphill efficiency with the still poor footing. Got acupuncture afterwards.

2/27/2013
Wed-AM: 1:14, 2700' ~ Green Mt.
Same run again but slightly better trail conditions so I climbed a couple minutes faster. Warm, sunny morning had me in a short-sleeve shirt.

2/28/2013
Thu-AM: 5:24, 5000' ~ Longs Peak (14,255')
Oy. Long, tough day on the hill. Left the parking lot knowing it would be cold and breezy (-30F windchills), but was still hoping to get up and down via the Cables in 3h30 or so. Within 10min or so I knew I should've brought my trekking poles for uphill efficiency---the shortcuts were still covered in fresh snow and above treeline there were lots of deep drifts to wallow through---but so it goes.
                    Once past Jim's Grove the blowing snow became pretty out of hand and I began wishing I had goggles. This only got worse once I popped over the ridge onto the Boulderfield and I eventually decided that soloing up the Cables sounded pretty sketchy in such high winds. So I headed to the Keyhole, but just past the other side a particularly obnoxious gust of wind tore my sunglasses right from my face and flung them somewhere far down the snowy slope, never to be seen again. Dammit. I decided to try on-sighting the Northwest Gulley, hoping that getting in the chute would shield me from the hurricane a bit, but about half-way up the spindrift was insane and it was all I could do to keep my eyes from freezing shut. I had fleeting thoughts of even completely bailing at this point, but with only ~1000' of vertical left I was loathe to give up now.
                    So I meticulously backtracked down the 4th Class terrain to the standard Keyhole Route and took that over to the Trough and up to the Narrows and the Homestretch. The Narrows surprised me with how much snow there was in a couple spots---much more and I don't think I would've been too happy to be soloing it. Crampons and axe were definitely mandatory, and the Homestretch was a total snow climb as well. Finally made the summit after a very hard-fought 3:28, threw on the puffy, sucked down a gel, and descended the North Face via the Cables rappel. Rappeling that line, I definitely kicked myself for not just ascending the North Face because it seemed to be oddly (relatively) sheltered from the wind there, and there was so much snow in the crux dihedral that it would've been quite easy to climb.
                    Felt like I spent quite a bit of time bumbling with the rope and my crampons, but I finally got into a stilted rhythm stumbling my way back across the Boulderfield and down to treeline where I again wallowed around in the snow way too much looking for the easiest line down. Below treeline I finally got back on packed trail and made it back to the parking lot about two hours later than I'd planned. Oh well, any time I can stand on top of Longs, it's a good day; I love that mountain.

3/1/2013
Fri-AM: 1:16, 2700' ~ Green Mt.
Up Gregory-Ranger and down the front, from Chautauqua. Legs were tired from yesterday but it felt good to get out and do some running on the way up instead of the hiking that typically occurs when going up the front. Trail conditions are really good (packed snow) right now except for all the drifting from last night.
PM: 1000', Climbing in Eldo with Dakota
Really debated on whether we should pay to get into Eldo if there wasn't going to be anything dry to climb. Despite there still being a ton of snow almost everywhere (including the 500' of vert on the approach) the rock itself was 99% dry. Dakota led up the first long pitch of the Green Spur, and then from the Red Ledge we went up pitches 3-6 of Rewritten. Another stellar day in the canyon. A little chilly on the rock, but not bad.

3/2/2013
Sat-AM: 1:12, 2700' ~ Green Mt.
Really nice run from Chat up the back and down the front. Trail is in great snow shape.
PM: 500', Climbing in Eldo with Jon and Jenny.

3/3/2013
Sun-AM: 3:57, 5300' ~ Torreys (14,267') & Grays (14,270') Peaks
Parked at Bakerville and ran up the road to the trailhead. Took Kelso Ridge up Torreys before tagging Grays and heading back down. The main trail was decently packed but heavily drifted in some spots. Once I was on the ridge I enjoyed a totally unexpected reprieve from the wind until I was right below the summit. The traverse between the two peaks was super windy and by far the most unpleasant part of the day. Didn't see anyone else out there until I was running back down the road to the highway.
PM: 0:31 ~ Runners Roost Denver group run
First completely flat miles I've done in a long time, so it was nice to start working those back in. Hip was 100% and there was loads of pizza and beer afterwards, so it was a fun evening.

Hours: 16h12min
Vert: 25,300'

It feels like I've finally really turned the corner with my hip flexor.  I've run every day for three full weeks now, and my pair of forays into the high country last week have registered zero negative effects, so things are really looking up.  Having said that, I decided over a week ago to not make the trip down to New Zealand for the Tarawera 100K in 10 days, and despite my hip showing significant improvement I know it was the right choice. I've done no long runs of any type since December and don't have any desire to travel all that way to muddle through 62 miles with poor fitness and a very likely chance of re-injuring myself. Depending on how things go over the next few weeks, I could see myself joining the fun at Lake Sonoma next month, however. We'll see. Transvulcania is a race that I'm very excited about and I don't want to jeopardize my preparation for that...or all the necessary groundwork that needs to be laid now in order to reach the goals I have for this summer.

Unpleasant conditions on Longs last Thursday. Looking up the North Face, which I just rappelled.

Summit of Longs Peak.

Torreys Peak on Sunday. Kelso Ridge is the right skyline.

Nearly to the summit, looking back down Kelso Ridge.

Grays Peak, from Kelso Ridge.

Could use a drummer, but otherwise not bad.

Feb 11 - 24

2/11/2013
Mon-AM: 1:06, 2700' ~ Green Mt.
Biked to Chat and went up and down the front. Psyched to finally have the hip back to feeling in fine fiddle. Determined to stay smart with it this time around.

2/12/2013
Tue-AM: 1:40, 3000' ~ Green Mt.
Biked to Chat and met Jurker, Rickey, and his friend Bryce for a run up Bear Canyon and then down the front of the mountain. Apprehensive about the longer distance on my hip but Rickey needed the relative flat of the Mesa trail to loosen up his achilles at the start.
PM: Climbing with Joe at Animal World, Boulder Canyon after acupuncture at mid-day.

2/13/2013
Wed-AM: 1:05, 2700' ~ Green Mt.
Biked to Chat and went up and down the front of the mountain. Finally starting to feel some strength on the hill again.

2/14/2013
Thu-AM: 1:04, 2700' ~ 2nd Flatiron+Green Mt.
Biked to Chat and scrambled the Freeway on the 2nd on the way to the summit.

2/15/2013
Fri-AM: 1:16, 2700' ~ Green Mt.
Biked to Chat and went up and down the front. Didn't wear Microspikes, but it would've been helpful in the 2-3" of fresh snow, which definitely slowed progress.

2/16/2013
Sat-AM: 1:13, 2700' ~ Green Mt.
Biked to Chat and went up Gregory-Ranger and down the front. My first time running up the backside in a really long time, but it was good to start working on that uphill running rhythm again.

2/17/2013
Sun-AM: 1:11, 2700' ~ Green Mt.
Biked to Chat and went up and down the front. Tired this morning.
PM: 1500', Climbing in Eldo Canyon with Buzz.
Really fun afternoon. When I got to Buzz's he asked if I'd brought my rope---inexplicably, I hadn't, I just assumed he would have one.  Well, it turns out all of Buzz's ropes are totally non-standard (short, skinny, static) so we ended up taking his only lead rope, which was only 30m long because he normally uses it for simul-climbing.  In the end, this led to a little more adventurous afternoon in the canyon. When we got to the base of Rewritten/Zot on the Redgarden wall there was (understandably) a line to get on the route, so Buzz instead carefully led up the West Chimney (directly to the right of Rewritten). I took the next pitch up to the Red Ledge and then we traversed over and simul-climbed Swanson's Arete to the top of the Lumpe Tower, which was a total blast. Definitely solo-able material.

In classic Buzz fashion, getting down was a touch trickier. Our short rope made the standard rappels impossible and we both wanted to avoid downclimbing all the way down the East Slabs as we hoped to get in another route before the sun set.  This led to Buzz belaying me as I led a wildly-exposed but reasonably juggy down-traverse pitch before belaying Buzz past the difficulties.

After the quick 4th Class descent back down the west side of the ridge we found Rewritten to be open and I convinced Buzz that we had plenty of time to get up it before running out of light.  I led the first run-out pitch, but was forced to belay Buzz up the crux a little short of the usual ledge because of our short rope. From there we simul-climbed up to the 4th pitch where I then led the uber-classic hand-traverse and finger crack before we simulclimbed the last two pitches to the summit. Ended up getting back to the base of the climb just as the sun was setting in perfect timing.

Hours: 10h43min
Vert: 20,500'

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2/18/2013
Mon-AM: 1:14, 2800' ~ 2nd & 1st Flatirons
Biked to Chat and ran up to the base of the First. The bottom 30-40' were covered in ice and snow, including my usual entrance onto the rock. Above there, things looked good. I spent a lot of time looking for an alternate way onto the rock and even started up on a small lie-back feature slightly farther north on the base before backing down as I wasn't willing to commit to the slabby section above it that would connect me into my usual line.  Ran over and scrambled the 2nd Flatiron as a consolation, even though there was still some snow and ice in the gulley leading to the climb onto the Pullman Car.  On the run down from the summit of the 2nd you go right by the base of the 1st and when I got there I decided, screw it, I'm gonna give it another go. Funny how much easier some rock moves feel once you're warmed up and in the flow. The lie-back and the slab went with zero issue but above there I had to improvise a few other moves because of snow and ice still lingering on some cracks/ledges. There was a BD stopper stuck in the perfect finger-lock hold underneath the Ear chimney move, so I resolved to come back the next day with a nut tool to retrieve the booty.

2/19/2013
Tue-AM: 1:20, 3000' ~ 1st Flatiron+Green Mt.
Ran to the base, scrambled in 16min, downclimbed in 3min, and then continued on to the summit of Green. Strategically brought a nut tool with me and was able to get the stopper from under the Ear. Acupuncture in the afternoon.

2/20/2013
Wed-AM: 1:20, 3000' ~ 1st Flatiron+Green Mt.
Was able to sneak in just under 15min on the scramble today and then on the way down descended Greenman to Gregory (kind of the longest way down the mountain), just to get a little extra running in. Cold morning, could tell it was going to snow, so I was psyched to get in one last ascent of the First for a while. Hip has been feeling quite good.

2/21/2013
Thu-AM: 1:54, 3000' ~ Green Mt.
Lots of new snow this morning, so I ran to the Gregory trailhead where I met Gavin, Skurka, and Jeff for a lap up and down the frontside. Jeff broke trail all the way up, which was nice of him.

2/22/2013
Fri-AM: 1:46, 3000' ~ Green Mt.
Ran to Gregory to go up and down the front. Lots of new snow on the mountain but the trail is starting to get established.

2/23/2013
Sat-AM: 1:12, 2700' ~ Green Mt.
Biked to Chautauqua and ran up and down the front. Trying to remain conservative with the hip.

2/23/2013
Sun-AM: 1:57, 3000' ~ Green Mt.
Ran to Gregory and went up and down the front right in the thick of the snowstorm. Probably close to a foot of new snow up top. Hip seemed 100%.

Hours: 10h43min
Vert: 20,500'

Injuries are a funny thing.  I've run every day for over two weeks now, but I still don't have 100% confidence in my hip. But it's never really hurt, either. I'm hoping that with continued vigilance, diligence with my exercises, and acupuncture, I'll gradually get there.

These last few days of snow in Colorado have seen me using some new tactics for getting up the hill, notably a pair of trekking poles and some of Kahtoola's new K10 crampons. We haven't had much snow all winter, so this might seem like overkill, but when the footing is deep, unstable, and loose the combination of these two things definitely makes the uphill a lot more efficient.  When I first saw the K10's I wasn't convinced of their utility.  They only have 3/4" teeth (compared to the full inch on Kahtoola's KTS Steel model), but now I see that they're a much more durable (made from a steel alloy) but only slightly heavier alternative to Kahtoola's aluminum crampon.  And the buckling system is very clean and simple.  Who knows how much more snow we'll get down here in Boulder this season (I stick to the KTS Steel with the 1" teeth for the high country), but I've been enjoying the K10's extra bite this past week when Microspikes have been pretty ineffective.

In The High Country

Last July, I got an email from Joel Wolpert about filming me on some of the mountains I was running up at the time.  I'd first met Joel in November 2010, when he contacted me about making a short film for Running Times about running in the winter.

Our subsequent actual face-to-face meeting was quite odd.  I was out for a typical jog up Green Mountain when I came upon Joel about halfway up the hill, at the junction of the Saddle Rock and Greenman trails. He was wearing a plaid shirt, a blaze orange trucker's hat, and had a camera tripod slung over one shoulder, which---given the rest of his outfit---from 100 yards out I thought might actually be a rifle.  He introduced himself, though---"I thought I might find you up here"---and after doing some filming with him the next day and seeing the final result, I was impressed with what he could do with just a camera, a tripod, a rented steadi-cam, and his running fitness (even with low-altitude, West Virginia lungs).

So, when he called me up in July, I was happy to work with him again, knowing that he had the vision and ability to produce something beyond the standard mountain porn.  What sets Joel apart---and what I think will be apparent in the final product---is his impressive commitment to the craft. Eventually, Joel was able to russle up some backers---including support from my personal sponsors, Ultimate Direction and New Balance---but before any of that happened, Joel simply packed up his aging Subaru wagon in mid-August and sight unseen drove half-way across the country to meet up with me in Leadville for the 100 mile race.

Post-Leadville 100, we spent virtually every day of the next month together, each of us living out of our respective vehicles as I bounced back and forth between Boulder and the state's high mountain ranges, chasing as many summits and scrambles as I could before the weather turned and I had to fly off to Spain for a race. A family man, Joel committed to my itinerant summer lifestyle of 14er summits, mountain stream baths, Flatiron scrambles, trailhead sleeping, and coffeeshop internet-snaking. Don't worry, it's not as romantic as it might sound to some, but it does let me see a lot of mountaintops.

Lots of people can wield a camera, a few more can work some magic in the editing room.  Not very many possess those skills while also being able to keep up on pre-dawn 14er missions and 5th Class scrambles with a 1000'+ of exposure, clinging ropeless to the rock with one hand and pointing the camera with the other. And then keep it up for a month, also dealing with my at-times obsessive and uncompromising personality. Without getting paid.

Obviously, I have a bias, but I'm excited to see what Joel comes up with this time around.

Jan 21 - 27

01-21-2013
Mon-AM: 2:06, 4500' ~ Flatiron Trifecta+Green Mt.
Ended up being pretty tired, so after hitting the first three Flatirons I just slogged to the top of Green instead of scrambling the last two as well. Tired legs. Appt at Peak Performance Acupuncture in the afternoon.

01-22-2013
Tue-AM: 5:47, 5000' ~ Longs Peak (14,255')
Up Kieners down Cables with Joe. Really good outing. Got to Chasm Lake in 1:14 and the entry to Broadway at 1:48 or so. Waited for Joe at the ledge before the first crux even though we both felt really comfortable today, like we could've soloed it.  Roped up and I led as we simul-climbed across Broadway and up the Crux Cracks before packing the rope and marching up to the Diamond Step and the summit. Really nice kicked-in steps in the upper snowfield, made things easy. Got to the summit at 4:12 where we didn't spend too much time before rappeling the North Face and then running back down to the trailhead via the Jim Grove trail.  Lots of wind between treeline and Chasm on the way up and then on the Boulderfield on the way down; otherwise, a perfect day.

01-23-2013
Wed-AM: 2:05, 4500' ~ Odd Flatiron Trifecta+Green Mt.
Starting from Chautauqua, scrambled the 1st, 3rd, and 5th Flatirons before heading up to the summit of Green.  This is a really nice two hour outing because it links up the best Flatirons with the most sustained and quality climbing, and the off-trail connections between each of these flatirons are really logical. Tired legs after yesterday's long effort.
PM: Climbing, w/ Joe. 4th Elephant Buttress in Boulder Canyon, Northwest Face.

01-24-2013
Thu-AM: 2:01, 4500' ~ Odd Flatiron Trifecta+Green Mt.
Same exact run/scramble as yesterday, except that I had a lot more energy. Would've done the full Quinfecta, but wanted to be a little rested for another run up Longs tomorrow. Acupuncture afterwards.
PM: Climbing, w/ Joe. Dome in Boulder Canyon. East of the Sun and East Slab.  By the time we climbed the East Slab the sun was down and the moon was high.

01-25-2013
Fri-AM: 4:56, 5000' ~ Longs Peak (14,255')
Up Kieners, down Cables. With Joe. Not too windy, but kind of a chilly day with misty clouds blowing across the upper reaches of the mountain. Simul-climbed Broadway and the Crux Cracks again, but we're getting it quite dialed in, so it goes really quickly. The snow on upper Kieners was, unfortunately, a bit drifted so that our kicked steps from Tuesday were pretty much gone, which made this section much harder work. 3:37 to the summit and a 1:19 descent.

01-26-2013
Sat-AM: 2:04, 4500' ~ Odd Flatiron Trifecta+Green Mt.
Nice warm morning, but I was moving slowly on the talus with tired legs and an ankle I rolled on yesterday's descent. Felt good on the scrambles, though.

01-27-2013
Sun-AM: 2:01, 3000' ~ 3rd Flatiron+Green Mt.
Easy run from my doorstep. Thought the rock was going to be wet after the rain (!) last night, but it was drying quickly in the rising sun and I didn't have any issues, even without sticky rubber. Descended Ranger to Gregory.  Good to test the hip with some more sustained running, but it is still tight/twingy.

Hours: 21hr
Vert: 31,000'

Similar to when I did the Kieners Route on Longs Peak for the first time this past summer, it's been hard to stay away from it this past week after notching my first winter ascent.  It's just such a nice line on the mountain that is technical and exposed enough to keep things interesting but not too scary or difficult.  So, three trips up Longs in eight days.  In between I've been getting in as much scrambling as possible, trying to maximize this warm January weather and take things a little easier on my hip flexor.  In the coming weeks I'll probably branch out to a couple other 14ers (but Longs is so close and so much fun!), and hopefully start incorporating more sustained running into the routine as the hip allows.  Gotta start preparing for the flat profile of the Tarawera 100K at some point with longer continuous runs, but I need to be mindful of whether my legs will hold up to that.

Summit of Longs Peak. Photo: Joe Grant (and that's proper film, not Instagram :)

Joe (the tiny speck) at the bottom of Lambs Slide.

Joe on the entry to Broadway. Upper Lambs Slide behind.

Broadway and the Lower East Face. Photo: Joe Grant.

Joe just above the crux of the Broadway traverse.

Joe on upper Kieners after the Crux Cracks.

Steep snow.

North Face of Longs (Cables route is just to the right of the Diamond).

Jan 14 - 20

01-14-2013
Mon- nada.

01-15-2013
Tue-AM: 1:12, 2600 ~ Green Mt.
Went up and down 1st Access from Chautauqua. Wow, running up and down mountains is hard. But the hip was 100%.

01-16-2013
Wed-AM: 1:54, 3000 ~ 2nd Flatiron+Green Mt.
Oy, this run kinda wrecked me. Ran from my doorstep, ~18min to Chat, then bumbled my way up the hill. Wouldn't have made it up the 2nd (Freeway route) without Microspikes, so was pleased I brought those. Bonked hard about half-way down the hill and it was about all I could do to stumble home.  Reeaaally not fit right now, but a good place to be in January.

01-17-2013
Thu-AM: 7:30, 5000' ~ Longs Peak (14,255')
Up Kieners, down Cables with Joe. Fantastic day on the mountain. Next time we can definitely simul-climb, which should cut almost an hour off the car-to-car time. My first 14er of the year, first calendar winter ascent of Longs (though both my October and November outings were in "winter conditions" I would say), and a January grid slot for Longs. Highly satisfying outing; I was reminded of why I did Kieners seven times this past summer.

01-18-2013
Fri-AM: 1:13, 2800' ~ 2nd Flatiron+Green Mt.
A little tired and sore from yesterday, so deliberately took it easy today. Flatirons look basically dry enough to scramble but I was wearing a pair of shoes with screws in them, so was forced into staying on only the 2nd Flatiron, which is moderate enough to be climbed without much friction. Another crazy warm day.

01-19-2013
Sat-AM: 2:58, 5700' ~ Flatiron Quinfecta+Green Mt.
Damn, the Quinfecta is just the best. It's been a month since I've been able to get any scrambling in, so I decided that depending on conditions today I was going for all five Flatirons.  Things got off to a tenuous start on the First as a couple of key holds had ice and snow on them, but I just improvised and took it easy.  The base of the Second required a much more difficult start than usual in order to avoid the snow and ice, but again, no issues. The Third was the driest rock of the day.  After overcoming the snow at the base of the Fifth it was dry enough, but descending its south side required hip-deep postholing in the shade. In running shorts. Ouch.  The Fourth was probably the most sustainedly tricky with the whole Birthing Canal section on the second piece being completely full of snow, not to mention that by this point I was bonking like a champ (I forgot to bring a gel or two) and was desperately sucking on snowballs.  I gamely trudged to the top of Green, but was able to regain some energy on the downhill.  Slowest time I've ever posted on this link-up (barring the first scouting mission), but it was easily the trickiest conditions I've done it in and me at my worst fitness. Temps probably hit +60F today. A week ago, the highs were in the single digits.  Gotta love the Front Range.

01-20-2013
Sun-AM: 2:10, 3000' ~ 3rd Flatiron+Green Mt.
Quite tired today, so just tried to take it easy. Yesterday took it out of me.

Hours: 16h56min
Vert: 22,200'

Well, 2013 had a bit of an inauspicious start for me.  While visiting my parents in Nebraska over Christmas I developed a bit of tendonitis in my right hip flexor (damn runnable terrain!) and it's taken me until this past week to finally come right...but now--after some really helpful trigger-point therapy at Peak Performance Acupuncture and some excruciating body work from Jeff Staron--all is finally right with the world again.  Or at least moving in the right direction.  I still have to manage it, but at least I can get out in the mountains again.

Boulder is getting it's annual spate of unseasonably awesome January weather right now, so I've been getting back on the Flatirons for some scrambling and am looking forward to start making regular trips up to Longs Peak, too.  Joe and I got back up there again yesterday (Tuesday, 1/22) for another lap on Kieners, so things are going well on that front.  Main priority right now, though, will be to get my hip 100% healthy and keep it (and the rest of my body) that way.

Went to a Walkmen show Monday night, too. Probably my favorite band.  Here is a (different) full concert of theirs:

Lambs Slide at the entrance to Broadway right now on Longs Peak. A lot of exposed water ice. Colorado is very dry.

Joe on upper Kieners on Longs Peak. The Notch in the background.

Dec 10 - 16

12-10-2012
Mon-AM: 2:11, 3300' ~ Green Mt.
Up Gregory-Greenman and down Bear Canyon from my doorstep.  This is about the flattest possible trail loop you can do in Boulder and still summit one of the 8er peaks.  Taking every single twist and switch-back on the Green-Bear trail, it seems to be almost a full mile longer than the old line.  I must admit, on a day like today where my legs were tired and I was just looking to go easy, that new buffed-out singletrack was pretty fun to cruise.

12-11-2012
Tue-AM: 1:01, 800' ~ East Leadville
Got up early in the dark and did an out and back on 7th St before spending the rest of the day doing a film shoot with NB at Turquoise Lake and Twin Lakes.  Bitter cold, windy, and snowy all day, I felt bad for the film crew as I spent a lot of time just sitting in a heated SUV in between takes.

12-12-2012
Wed-AM: 2:32, 4500' ~ Mt. Elbert (14,433')
I had the morning off from shooting with NB while they constructed an interview set, so I got up early and headed up the mountain--my 26th summit of Elbert all-time and 21st this year.  This might be my slowest-ever ascent (1:48), though, due to breaking trail through ~6" of fresh snow below treeline.

12-13-2012
Thu-AM: 1:56, 4000' ~ Green & Bear
Planned on doing some scrambling, but it seems that Boulder received a bit of snow while I was out of town and there was still some ice and snow on the Flatirons, so instead I just opted for the standard Double Hump outing, heading up Bear's West Ridge and down Fern Canyon after summiting Green. Mellow easy effort today.

12-14-2012
Fri-AM: 2:18, 4500' ~ Bear & Green
Ran from the house up the Mesa trail to Fern Canyon, which was fun because I haven't gone up it in months. Descended the West Ridge of Bear and then grunted up the 1000' climb to the summit of Green before descending the front and heading home.  Such a great loop.  28min ascent of Fern from the Mesa Trail--you'd have to be going really fast in order to make running above the Nebel Horn Saddle worthwhile (I hiked every step today)...

12-15-2012
Sat-AM: 2:32, 5800' ~ Flatiron Quinfecta+Green Mt.
Just did my usual outing Chat-to-Chat except that I descended Ranger-Gregory instead of the front of the mountain, adding 5min to the overall time.  I was 1:56:15 at the summit of the Fourth Flatiron (the end of the climbing...I scramble the Fifth before the Fourth), which is only a couple minutes off my PR, so I was moving pretty well despite having to check my foot placements a few times on the Fifth due to a few remaining pockets of snow and ice.  By time I made it to the top of Green the clouds had moved down out of the high mountains and a few flakes were starting to fall.

12-16-2012
Sun-AM: 2:46, 5800' ~ Flatiron Quinfecta+Green Mt.
Oy, bit of a rough day on the mountain.  Started out tired and sluggish and then bonked like a champ on the Fourth (and final) Flatiron.  I could tell on the climb to Sentinel Pass that things were going sideways, but then my scramble of the Fifth was fairly normal before totally cratering on the slog up the Fourth.  That flatiron alone took me five minutes longer than usual. Still marched to the summit of the mountain to finish out the day, though.  I guess each of the last five days has been a pretty solid outing and it finally caught up to me.  The real reward today, though, was the low-lying layer of clouds blanketing the city...pretty awesome to be in some heroic, exposed position on the face of a Flatiron and feel like you're just floating on top of the clouds.

Hours: 15h16min
Vert: 28,700'

Another solid week.  Right now, my main goal is to get out and do a lot of scrunbling if the weather and rock conditions permit, and if they don't, then do a more "normal" run.  This has been working out well, giving me a fun mix to the daily rhythm.  I'll be heading home to Nebraska to see my parents at the end of this coming week, but I still want to tick some more December 14er Grid slots before the first of the year...Longs, Grays, and Torreys specifically.  Don't worry, Homie, I'm a neophyte with only 96 grid slots (out of 708) at current.  Silly, arbitrary peak baggery goals such as that are easy for someone like me to denigrate, but the fact of the matter is, there's part of me that is a lists/numbers guy and even more importantly, these kinds of goals can motivate me to get out the door and have experiences that I would otherwise let slip by.  Once I'm actually out there on the mountain my inspiration and motivation becomes much different--it almost always transfers to being the mountain itself, not some tick-mark on a list--but lists admittedly often offer a crucial, initial, inertia-overcoming nudge.

I do have a loose goal for 2013 of summiting Elbert, Grays, Torreys, Longs, Pikes, Evans, and Bierdstadt in each month of the year.  Maybe not Evans and Bierstadt...for some reason I've just never found those peaks to be very inspiring.  Maybe because there's a road to the top of Evans? Maybe because the approach from Echo Lake is so long?  Maybe because the trailhead at Guanella Pass seems cheatingly high? But, they are on the Front Range and that's why I'm including them.  I think March will be the crux month as this is typically the most wintry month of the year in Colorado and I'll be out of the country for most of it.

Moving right along, race-wise 2013 is looking super-exciting for me.  Of course, Hardrock really has no match when it comes to being the race-that-inspires-me-most, but the Ronda del Cims 170K in Andorra three weeks beforehand looks to be at least as aesthetic of a course, and--being included in the Skyrunning Series this year--it should attract a top-shelf group of athletes. At 105 miles/40k' of techy vertical, and the sobering fact that it took Miguel Heras 30hr to get around it...there's no way it won't be an epic outing in the Pyrenees.

My second half of the summer should be equally as quality.  I'm excited to go back to Speedgoat to support Karl's directing efforts and hopefully have a proper good run there--last summer was a scantily-salvaged disaster--and then Dakota's brand-spanking-new Telluride Mountain Run (T-Rad!) is sure to be an instant classic.  I love the fact that it's an off-distance 44mi and comprises one clean loop starting and finishing in Telluride.  As anyone who has been to the San Juans knows, there's simply no way you can go wrong there, course-wise.  And the course he's devised looks to be a true monster.  Right now he's sand-bagging everyone with the 15k' vert number, but it's really more like at least 16k' and we've had some programs register as high as 18k'.  It's gonna hurt.  Seven hours will probably be super impressive. But at least the scenery will be as good as it gets.

After that, I'll be treating my attempt at Nolan's 14 at the end of August like a race effort--train specifically all summer, focus, and taper--and it's probably the thing that I'm most excited about on my calendar.  Finally, if there's any gas in the tank after Nolan's, it'll be hard to stay away from UROC given that it's the Skyrunning Series Final this year and virtually in my backyard.  It looks like Francesca and Gill have done there level-best to put together a proper mountain course whilst linking together a bunch of Colorado's most iconic mountain towns (Breck, Frisco, Copper, Minturn, Vail).

Just gotta remain healthy...

I don't post many (any) Flatiron pics because they are all some variation of this. I find it's really hard to capture the scale and angle of the rock when solo, both because I'm holding onto the rock and because there's no one else around for scale.  This is looking down the East Face from the summit of the Third during a recent enchainment.  The low-angle, slabby final pitch is in the foreground with the rest of the face steepening and disappearing below.  I guess looking straight down on the pine trees nearly 1000' below offers a little scale.

Of course, I'm still making it to the top of Green regularly; I'll be right around 200 summits this year. This is representative of a pretty typical December weather day in Boulder this year.  Wildly mild, though that might finally change later this week...

La Plata Peak as seen from the summit of Elbert on Wednesday. Lots of blowing snow that morning due to some heinous winds and fresh powder.

I know I'm way behind on the whole Beach House thing, but I'm glad I finally gave them a chance. This song and really this whole album has been nearly non-stop for me for a few weeks now.

Dec 3 - 9

12-3-2012
Mon-AM: 2:33, 4500' ~ 3rd Flatiron+Green & Bear
Got up early for a romp over the peaks before flying to Texas.  Legs took a minute to get going but once they did I cruised a really solid pace for the full loop up Bear's West Ridge and then down Fern Canyon back to Chautauqua and back down to my apartment.

12-4-2012
Tue-AM: 1:15 ~ Town Lake, Austin TX
Steady cruise all the way around the lake with Jurker (10mi+ loop).  A surprising amount of dirt to run on right from downtown and the hot humid weather even motivated a short swim at Barton Springs in the middle of the run.

12-5-2012
Wed-AM: 1:15 ~ Town Lake, Austin TX
Reprisal of yesterday's outing, but solo, and no swimming as it was a markedly cooler morning.

12-6-2012
Thu-AM: 1:44, 3000' ~ First Flatiron+Green Mt.
I was hoping to go for the big Double Quinfecta this morning, but as I jogged out of Chautauqua there were a few sprinkles and then half-way up the First this changed to snowflakes, so that, combined with my tired legs made it easy to bail after the First and just head to the summit of Green and enjoy a run down Bear Canyon instead.

12-7-2012
Fri-AM: 4:07, 10,000' ~ Double Flatiron Quinfecta
One of my favorite days on the mountain recently. Starting from Chautauqua I scrambled all five flatirons, twice, in an out-and-back fashion: 1-2-3-5-4-5-4-3-2-1.  Right away I was in a pretty good groove and that just kept getting better the longer I was on the rocks.  On the bushwhack from the summit of the 4th back to the base of the 5th (for my second ascent) I traversed straight south, snuck around the backside of a big slab and descended the south side of the 5th, thus avoiding the hideous descent down the gulley between the 4th and 5th Flatirons. Also, on my second ascent of the 3rd I crossed the dry streambed next to the Royal Arch trail and did a full ascent of the 3rd, starting at the very bottom of the rock, instead of the standard East Bench start.  By time I'd made my way back to the base of the First Flatiron there were no less than five different parties roped up and perched on the lower East Face.  I was able to climb past them quickly and efficiently, though, and thanks to carrying a bottle of water and four gels I finished feeling strong. Full time Chat-to-Chat was 4:07:17. Including downclimbs, this outing consisted of somewhere between 100 and 110 pitches of climbing.

12-8-2012
Sat-AM: 4:31, 6200' ~ El Chubbo Fat Ass Marathon
Headed up to Ft. Collins with Joe to get a tour of Clarkie's backyard hills.  I'd never done any running in Ft. Collins (other than racing XC), so it was fun to get in some miles with friends on fresh terrain.  Very runnable terrain, I must add, making this the longest proper run I've done in exactly a month.  Legs were tired from yesterday's big outing.  Afterwards was a jovial gathering at the Casa de Clarkie, replete with food, brews and friends. Good times for sure.

12-8-2012
Sun-AM: 2:38, 5700' ~ Flatiron Quinfecta+Green Mt.
I awoke to dry (but cold at +18F) conditions when I'd been expecting rain/snow, so I modified some old gloves into fingerless gloves so that I could get some skin on the rock and went and laced the Five Fountains one more time.  Can't stay away, especially when I know I'm going to be out of town the next few days.  Despite the cold it turned into a very pleasant morning out on the mountain.

Hours: 18h03min
Vert: 29,400'

Not much new to report.  Things are pretty mellow this time of year and I've been embracing that by focusing on a lot of scrambling (which, at the intensity I tend to go, still gets the heart rate high and keeps it there, believe me).  This week involved a lot more "real running" than usual, though, because of the trip to Texas and then the Fat Ass on Saturday.  If it ever snows, there will continue to be more of that in the mix.

The five numbered Flatirons on the east face of Green Mt here in Boulder.

A salty duo rehydrating at Clarkie's after El Chubbo. Photo: Rob Timko. 

Definitely worth 15 minutes.

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.