Week in Review:
July 14-20
Monday, July 14th
AM—12.1
Miles—2:58—2,800’—Colorado Trail and Point 12,849’
I headed up the CT for about a mile before heading straight
up some grassy slopes. There are a few unnamed 12ers to the southwest of Grand
Turk. My goal was to summit Grand Turk, but a few snowy gulley crossings turned
me around after summiting only one 12er. I made my way back to the CT then
cruised along it for a few miles before turning around back towards the Taco.
Tuesday, July 15th
PM—6.7 Miles—2:32—3,000’—Hogsback (x2) and Perins Peak (Durango, CO)
From Leyden Street TH. I ascended
via Browns Ridge, descended Hogsfoot, ascended Hogsfoot, and then spent a few
minutes hanging around the summit. From there, I decided to do the steep slog
up to Perins Peak. Loose, steep trails and hot temperatures made for quite the
exhausting ascent. En route to the summit the only thing I could really think
about was water. I was pretty happy to get back to the Taco.
Wednesday, July 16th
AM—16
Miles—6:07—5,500’—North Twilight Peak (13,075’), Twilight Peak (13,158’), and
South Twilight Peak (13,100’)
Lightning, thunder, and hail. Oh my! This is a pretty easy
route—first and second class all the way. After a 5.5 mile approach from
Andrews Lake to Crater Lake I ascended a rib up to about 12,800’ to gain the
main ridge a little east of North Twilight Peak. A short ridge run to the west
saw me on the summit of North Twilight. From here, it was talus hopping
southward to the summits of Twilight Peak and South Twilight Peak. By the time
I reached South Twilight Peak I had already been hailed on three times, but
they were all brief. Gloomy clouds were present all morning long even though I
was up on the ridge by 9am. Somewhere between Twilight and North Twilight all
hell broke loose. More intense hail and rain started pummeling me, thunder
sounded like explosives being set off somewhere nearby, and the lightning was
much too close for comfort. Rather than stay on the exposed ridge for another
quarter-to-half mile and return via the same route I decided to dive straight
off the ridge. This ended up sucking. A lot. Ultimately, I traded a 1st/2nd
Class walk down for a 3rd-to-5th Class shitty downclimb
on loose, wet rock while being pelted with hail. Ugh. Eventually, I made it
back to the Taco. If I would have returned via the same route my day would have
easily been an hour, maybe an hour-and-a-half, shorter.
Thursday, July 17th
AM—6.4
Miles—1:57—2,300’—Engineer Mountain (12,968’)
After an easy few mile running approach I leaned into the
steep stuff as I made my way up to the ridge. A little ways up the ridge the
trail made its way up between two rows of towers. The trail looked like it went
to the end of the towers then exited to the right. I stepped out of this
section, looked around for a few minutes, and didn’t like what I saw—an
increasingly narrow, super exposed ledge that disappeared in the distance.
Keeping in mind that a friend told me the route is pretty much 2nd
Class all the way up I assumed that this wasn’t the way. So, I returned to the
trail between the towers and exited to the left. This looked much better—on par
with the 3rd Class sections just below the summits of Pyramid or
Wetterhorn, but with a nice crack going up the middle of it. After this 40-feet
section or so the rest of the route was a walk up. Once off the ridge the
descent was basically just an obstacle course of out-of-shape tourists. The
flowers at the base of the peak were some of the best wild flowers I’ve ever
seen.
PM—11.2
Miles—2:56—3,800’—Kendall Mountain (13,066’)
I spent several hours in my truck waiting for the
temperatures to drop a little. It was hot this afternoon. I finally took off up
the road to Kendall Mountain—not really intending to summit. My legs felt
crappy at first, but felt slightly less crappy by the end of the day. Sunset
was pretty spectacular this evening, but I left my camera in the Taco. Figures.
I just trotted back down the road with slightly limited visibility in the fading
light.
Friday, July 18th
AM—10 Miles—4:20—4,800’—Island Lake, Grant Swamp Pass, V2 (Point 13,309’),
Ice Lake, and Unnamed Point 13,333’
When surrounded by scenery
like this words seem to fail me. This is probably one of the top three most
beautiful places I’ve ever been. From Grant Swamp Pass I did a quick 2nd
Class walk over to V2 before returning to the pass and descending to Island
Lake. I quickly made my way over to Ice Lake where I sat for a few minutes to
empty my shoes and take in the views. I looked up and noticed Point 13,333’ (I
can’t find a name for this one) and decided to charge up to the ridge and see
if I could find my way on top of it. Near the top the mountain quickly turned
into a chossy pile of crap with several loose gulleys to choose from. I chose
to scramble above the gulleys most times. This increased the difficulty to
mostly 4th Class with a few 5.easy moves here-and-there, but it also
increased my comfort level significantly. I eventually reached the summit and
lingered around a few minutes before beginning the shit show of a descent back
to Ice Lake. From there it was a few easy miles back to the Taco. The biggest
obstacle in those last few miles were the hordes of tourists.
Saturday, July 19th
PM—4
Miles—0:30—400’—Silverton Highway 110
Pretty easy road run after volunteering at an aid station
for the Kendall Mountain run all day. About half paved and half dirt road.
Sunday, July 20th
PM—6.1
Miles—1:17—1,900’—Bear Creek Trail (Ouray, CO)
After spending the better part of the morning hungover and
most of the afternoon waiting on storms to pass I decided to start the drive
towards the Sawatch. Once I got over Red Mountain Pass it seemed that the
weather finally cleared up a bit. So, I stopped at the Bear Creek Trail on my
way down into Ouray. This is yet another gorgeous section of the Hardrock 100 course.
One of these years I’ll run HR…
Weekly Totals
Miles—72.5
Time— 22 hours 41
minutes
Elevation Gain—
24,500 feet
Week in Review:
July 7-13
Monday, July 7th
AM—8
Miles—2:41—3,500’—Mount Sneffels (14,150’)
Same exact route as yesterday. Only 52 minutes faster.
Yesterday I lost my Mountain Hardware windshell somewhere on the mountain. So,
my main goal for today was to find it. I didn’t find it…I had no problems with
route finding on the SW Ridge this morning and cruised right up to the summit.
En route, I passed a couple. The woman was hit in the head by a falling rock,
but appeared to be alright. For some reason they decided to descend a somewhat
steep, loose section of small boulders rather than dropping down below them
where the footing was a bit more stable. I hit the snowy upper gulley of the
South Slopes early enough that the sun hadn’t softened up the snow yet. With a
pair of Microspikes I was able to run down this stretch rather quickly. I even
kept my spikes on for the scree field descent, which proved very efficient at
keeping me from busting my ass like I usually do on this stretch.
Tuesday, July 8th
AM—6.6 Miles—2:32—1,550’—Highland Mary Lakes Hike
Easy hike with Gerber, Kari, and
Eric. We just appreciated the flowers all day, basically.
Wednesday, July 9th
AM—9.6
Miles—2:44—4,600’—Handies Peak (14,048’)
Up/down from Grouse Gulch. I was a bit surprised at how much
snow was still in the American Basin. I took the day pretty easy both on the
ascent and descent. On the way back out of American Basin some crazy lady
thought I was Tony and wouldn’t believe me when I told her I’m not.
Thursday, July 10th
AM—6.9 Miles—2:11—3,800’—Kendall
Mountain (13,066’)
I decided to head up the avalanche chute. It’s steep;
ascending 3,800’ in less than 1.5 miles (these numbers tend to vary). Not too
long into the grunt I hear “well, hello” from behind. I wasn’t surprised at all
to turn around and find Tony enjoying the steep stuff. Above treeline, I was
suffering pretty good. I haven’t been at elevation much this summer and haven’t
fully acclimatized yet. Near the top I heard a “wahoooo!” as Tony glissaded
down a short snowy section. I opted for a road descent since I actually wanted
to sneak in a little bit of running today.
PM—1
Mile—0:11—0’—Silverton Beer Mile
My first ever beer mile. I ended up finishing 4th
with a time of 11:40 (min:sec). Honestly, I was surprised that I could even
drink four beers in less than twelve minutes. I’m too old for this shit…
Friday, July 11th
OFF
Saturday, July 12th
PM—3
Miles—1:17—1,500’—Kendall Mountain Bailout
Dan and I got a late start up the avalanche chute on
Kendall. Common sense told us that we would likely end up bailing on the route
since gloomy clouds already filled the sky. We got almost halfway up before
booming thunder turned us around. It was a bit of a shit show for me since I accidentally
put on a pair of 110’s with enough wear that the tread had been essentially
removed to expose the rock plate—not much traction there…
Sunday, July 13th
OFF—Hardrock Hangover
Weekly Totals
Miles—35.1
Time—11 hours 40
minutes
Elevation Gain—14,950
feet
Week in Review:
June 30 – July 6
Monday, June 30th
AM—8
Miles—1:59—1,700’—Crow Peak
My legs are still pretty tired from Saturday’s race. It’s
hard to call this a “run” when it took almost twice as long today as it did the
other day.
Tuesday, July 1st
AM—6 Miles—0:51—250’—Spearfish Canyon Road
Easy road run on still tired
legs.
Wednesday, July 2nd
Climbing in Spearfish
Canyon
I led a few routes today and top-roped a few routes. I led the
60’ 5.8 route Sylvester Sidewalk (also top-roped this route), the 30’ 5.6
chimney Ghetto Toes, and top-roped the 100’ 5.9+ Lost Ninja. I’m still trying
to figure out if these are sandbagged ratings or if my legs are still tired
from Saturday.
Thursday, July 3rd
PM—7.7
Miles—2:12—3,000’—Mount Sanitas (x3)
Mark invited me to tag along for some sort of tempo/interval
(I’m not sure what the difference is) workout on Sanitas. So, I joined. We
topped out on Sanitas in an easy 25 minutes or so before heading over the west
side of the mountain on some more runnable trails. Then we turned around and
headed back up to the summit again. After a casual descent on the south side of
the hill we parted ways and I headed back up for another summit. Pretty mellow
day after spending all morning driving.
Friday, July 4th
AM—4.4 Miles—2:06—3,000’—2nd Flatiron (x4)
I set off this morning with
the intent of doing a few laps on the 2nd Flatiron. I didn’t really
think I’d do four laps. I slowly made my way up the first lap in 18:xx minutes
and trotted back down to the bottom. With a little more confidence, I shimmied
up the second time in 11:41 (a new PR). My third lap was 13:xx. I stopped about
halfway up to chat with Cordis, who was downclimbing. When I reached the bottom
of the 2nd I spent about five minutes waiting for Cordis to get
down. Then we started hauling ass one more time. Near the top, some guido guy
who looked straight out of Jersey Shore was resting. Cordis had a 5-10 second
lead on me where the guido decided to jump in between us. This pissed me off to
no end. I used a more runout section and got my heart rate redlining to sneak
around the douchebag. I may have let lose a few profanities. Shortly after I
passed the jackass he had to stop for another rest. I guess that’s what he gets
for trying to keep up with us. When I reached the top of the Freeway route (not
the true summit of the 2nd) I hit the lap button on my watch. To my
surprise, I just knocked out a 9:33 lap of the 2nd. I was almost
certain that trying to sneak around the frat boy was going to ruin my PR
attempt at the last pitch or two of scrambling.
Saturday, July 5th
AM—10.8
Miles—3:52—4,450’—2nd Flatiron, Green, Bear, South Boulder, Bear
Today I got congratulated for my recent win a Lavaredo.
Goddamnit…Pretty epic bonk on the way up South Boulder had me debating which
route to take back to Chautauqua: down Shadow Canyon where there’s a potential
water source or back over Bear and down Fern Canyon for a shorter return trip. When
a random hiker offered me a drink of water that little sip was enough to make
me choose the shorter, waterless route.
Sunday, July 6th
AM—8
Miles—3:33—3,500’—Mount Sneffels (14,150’)
Must have left my route finding hat in the Taco this
morning. I started around the Imogene Pass turnoff, ascended via the Southwest
Ridge, and descended via the standard South Slopes. The SW Ridge is cruiser 3rd
Class if you’re not an idiot like me. I found myself climbing up 4th/5th
Class choss piles only to realize that I had to downclimb the damn pile on the
other side. There were a few little snow stretches that were mostly avoidable.
The notable exception was a snowy gulley just below the Pinnacles. When
dropping to bypass the Pinnacles it was necessary to get on the snow for a few
steps. A slip here would likely have been a very long (fun?) sled ride down to
the bottom of the East Pinnacle Bypass. The upper gulley on the South Slopes
was completely snow-filled. Given my lengthy ascent the sun had already
softened the snow to the point that it was an interesting descent. After the
shit show bald scree field descent I trotted back to the Taco.
Weekly Totals
Miles—45 Miles
Time—14 hours 35
minutes
Elevation Gain—15,900
feet
Week in Review:
June 23-29
Monday, June 23rd
PM—15
Miles—2:52—3,700’—Bighorn 100 Course
My legs didn’t seem to have an extraordinary amount of pep
in them today. I started heading out from the Bighorn 100 start line, which has
about 1.5 miles of mellow dirt roads before it hits singletrack. This gave me a
little opportunity to loosen things up a bit. After about a mile or so of
trails I noticed that the course markings were still out. So, I just started
following them. Around 7.5 miles (1:44 hours) into the run I reached a high
point where the trail began a descent. This seemed like a good place to turn
around. On most days this would be a quick descent back to the Taco, but my
legs weren’t feeling terribly solid on the downhills. So, I took it pretty easy
and covered the 7.5 miles back to the Taco in 1:08. I’ve seen about half of the
Bighorn 100 course and it’s quite impressive. I think next year I might sign up
to see the rest of it…
Tuesday, June 24th
PM—7 Miles—1:06—1,500’—Crow Peak (5,760’) in Spearfish, South Dakota
I stopped at the rest
stop/tourist office on I-90 as soon as I crossed into South Dakota. The ladies
recommended Crow Peak when I told them I wanted to find steep and challenging
trails. The run is comparable to running up Flagstaff in Boulder, but noticeably
easier. I started running up the hill on smooth singletrack. The trails
remained fairly smooth up to the summit with only a few scree crossings. I
covered the ~3.5 miles and 1,500’ to the summit in 0:36. Pretty sure I could go
under 30 minutes on this ascent with a moderate effort and not hitting the
trails immediately after a 3.5 hour drive. Easy effort on the descent since I
still seem to have shaky descending legs.
Wednesday, June 25th
AM—6.7 Miles—1:07—1,100’—76
Trail, Roughlock Falls, and Dirt Roads
I started off with an easy effort up the 76 Trail, which
provides a panoramic view of Spearfish Canyon. I knocked out the 700’ over 0.7
miles in 11 minutes. Next, I ran up the one-mile long crushed gravel trail to
the Roughlock Falls. After adding on a few miles of dirt roads I headed back to
the Taco. Nice, easy day.
Thursday, June 26th
PM—10
Miles—1:32—1,100’—Tinton Trail
I spent the morning at Crow Peak Brewery watching the US
World Cup match. A guy there recommended the Tinton Trail to me. This ended up
being a great run. Any elevation gain was mellow and the surface was almost
always smooth. My legs took a few miles to feel good. I ended up running up 5
miles and ~900’ in 0:50 before turning around to head back to the Taco. The descent
was gradual enough that I was able to finally get in some quicker downhill
miles than in the past few days. I still wasn’t running fast by any means, but
quicker than in previous days. I made the return trip in 0:42 and reached the
sanctuary of the Taco just before the skies opened up.
Friday, June 27th
AM—5 Miles—0:50—500’—Iron Creek and Big Hill Loop D
I got out on the trails
somewhat early this morning—around 6—to maximize rest time between this run and
tomorrow’s race. My Achilles’ were both a little stiff, but loosened up
quickly. I just putzed around slowly on the trails today to work out any kinks
in the legs. After the run I headed to Sturgis for packet pick-up and the
pre-race meeting.
Saturday, June 28th
AM—50
Miles—9:13—9,050’—Black Hills 50—3rd Place
Muddy, shit-show. I think I’ll do a little write-up for this
one. Eventually, maybe…
Sunday, June 29th
AM—4
Miles—0:36—100’—Sturgis Bike Paths
It took a while to get going, but once I did I was able to
hit 8:30 pace briefly. My Achilles’ are both super tight.
PM—2.3
Miles—0:30—200’—Iron Creek
Slow run to see how my legs felt on trails. They were
predictably crappy feeling.
Weekly Totals
Miles—100
Time— 17 hours 49
minutes
Elevation Gain—
17,250 feet
Week in Review: June
16-22
Monday, June 16th
AM—10.5
Miles—4:16—4,500’—Mount Meeker East Summit (13,911’)
I ran into Derek Brooks at the Longs Peak TH yesterday and
we made plans to get up Mount Meeker. We went up/down the Iron Gates route to
the east summit. Terribly high winds had neither one of us daring to venture
across the knife edge ridgeline over to the west summit. We hit the Chasm Lake
junction in a mellow 1:09. Shortly after the junction our progress slowed significantly
as we began the more vertical part of the route. The altitude seemed to be
affecting Derek a little. Fortunately, I was finally able to cruise up a high
mountain with relatively little altitude problems. We didn’t linger too long on
the summit due to the high winds. The descent to the Chasm Lake junction was a
fun mix of talus hopping, scree surfing, and sweet glissading down a snow field.
Once back on the singletrack we began pushing the pace for our descent. Just
above treeline I slightly tweaked my right ankle and decided to slow the pace
for a while to determine any potential damage. It didn’t take too long before
we picked the pace up again. I even ended the day with some 6-minute pace in
the last mile or so of the trail. Great day on a great mountain with great
company.
Tuesday, June 17th
AM—14.5 Miles—5:18—5,100’—Longs Peak (14,255’)
Up/down the Keyhole Route from
Longs Peak Trailhead. I may have been overly cautious in preparing for this
route, but since it was my first real snow climb I figured I’d play it safe. I
loaded up my Osprey Rev 6 pack with an ice ax, crampons, helmet, a water
bottle, two wind shells, two pairs of gloves, and a puffy jacket. Fixing the ax
to the pack was a bit tricky since it doesn’t have an ax loop, but with a
little work I got the pack to ride smooth. Conditions were nice and warm from
the TH to the Keyhole, but I knew that would change as soon as I crossed the
Keyhole to the shady, windy west side of the mountain. The first mile or so
kind of sucked as I tried to get my breathing in rhythm—easier said than done
with a full bag of gear on my back. Once I settled into a rhythm the approach
run got significantly easier. I reached the Chasm Lake junction in 0:58 (versus
1:09 yesterday) and went on to hit the Keyhole in 2:02. On the boulder field
side of the Keyhole I could hear the wind whipping and knew I had to put on
some layers. I put on a windshell, gloves, and my puffy jacket in anticipation
of the cold I’d encounter on the shaded side of the mountain. I also put on my
helmet and got my ax/crampons ready for action. The helmet might have been
overkill, but I did actually see some rockfall during the day. Plus, it was my
first snow climb so I wanted to protect the ol’ noggin’ should I go sliding
down the snow. I was able to skirt around most of the snow on The Ledges
without using crampons with the exception of one or two patches. I opted to put
on and take off my crampons as I went from snowy sections to rocky sessions
versus keeping my crampons on throughout. This was mainly because I was wearing
minimal trail running shoes that didn’t fit very well in the crampons. So, my
toes kept sliding out of the toe clip. Once I hit The Trough it was snow all
the way to The Narrows. I took my time on this stretch since some of the snow
was solid enough that I could only get a few inches of my ax into it. The
Narrows allowed me to remove my crampons again and move a little quicker. The
Homestretch provided one more section of uninterrupted snow before reaching the
summit. Again, I took my time here due to some small patches of solid snow and
ice. It was a glorious day on the sunny summit of Longs! The sun was shining
and the wind started to die down a bit. It was impossible not to enjoy the
solitude of being the only person sitting on the summit of Colorado’s most
trafficked 14er. I reached the summit in a sluggish 3:19 from the trailhead,
but enjoyed every step of the way. Descending The Homestretch and The Trough
proved to be much easier than the ascent. The snow softened just enough that I
could almost run down these sections. Once on the boulder field side of The
Keyhole, I spent about ten minutes shedding layers and re-strapping everything
to my pack. It took some finagling to get the crampons, ax, and helmet back on
snuggly, but once in place they ran smoothly. I took most of the descent pretty
easy, with the exception of the last mile or so. Here, I decided to push the
pace to see how much bounce I would get from my loaded pack. Surprisingly, the
pack handled 6:40 minute/mile pace like a champ. It was great to finally get
out and see what the big deal is about the Keyhole Route. I’d love to be able
to do this route in summer conditions and not see anyone on it…
PM—Two Hours of Acupuncture
Wednesday, June 18th
AM—2
Miles—0:38—700’—Amphitheater
My legs felt horrible after yesterday’s acupuncture session.
I planned on heading up Green via the front side, but decided to call it quits
at the top of Amphitheater. Ran into Peter and Buzz as they were descending.
Seems like I’ve been running into those guys a lot lately.
Thursday, June 19th
AM—7
Miles—1:04—850’—Big Horn 100 Course
David and I decided to get out for a little run on the first
few miles of the Big Horn 100 course. After cruising along 1.5 miles of mellow
dirt road we reached the TH for a few miles of nice singletrack. If the rest of
the course is anything like the first few miles then this is going to be one
beautiful course…
Friday, June 20th
PM—18 Miles—6:18—4,800’—Bighorn 100 Pacing
The plan was to pace David
for the last 70 miles of the race. After waiting at the Footbridge aid station
for what seemed like forever Shad finally came in saying that David blew up and
had plans to drop when he got to the aid station. I checked with race officials
to see if I would get him DQ’ed by running up to check on him. With their
approval, I took off with hopes of getting the idea of dropping out of his head
before he arrived at the aid station. We probably spent a solid 30 minutes at
the aid station getting him cooled off and guzzling Coke. I convinced David
that we at least should push on towards the turn-around point at mile 48—so he
got up and started moving. This 18-mile stretch was hit-or-miss for David
(mostly miss)—he would run strong on uphills for 5-10 minutes only to resort to
walking the flats. We played cat-and-mouse almost the entire way with Shad,
Hawaiian Shirt Ray, and part of the way with Kari and Gerbster before they left
us in the dust. Kari was on a mission those last 60 miles and she kicked ass
every step of the way (even dropped her pacer). David and I took our time in
aid stations and even sat by the fire several times. I didn’t really object to
him sitting by the fire since the aid stations were out in the middle of
nowhere. So, regardless of whether or not he wanted to drop we would still have
to walk our asses out of there. It was a surprisingly pleasant night
considering all the warnings I’d heard about how cold it gets on the course at
night. I put on arm sleeves, a jacket, gloves, and a hat, but likely could have
just got by with the sleeves and gloves if we were moving a little quicker. A
short misting of rain made the last few miles to the turn-around a little
chilly since everything got wet and the wind started to pick up a little. A
considerable stretch between the last aid station and turn-around was a muddy
slopfest. I enjoyed this, but had I already covered ~45 miles and felt as
shitty as David I would have been frustrated to no end. I certainly would have
exhausted every use of the “f” word. Eventually we hit the Jaws aid station at
mile 48. This place looked like a MASH unit. I’m assuming this is what Fish
Hatchery inbound looked like the year I ran Leadville, but I was far too gone
mentally and physically to have even noticed. We were a bit surprised to see
Aubrey still waiting for us at the aid station. Thankfully, she got a message
that we had Gerber send her about how late we would be. So, she could worry
slightly less, maybe. This is where the Bighorn 100 ended for David—at mile 48.
Still an impressive day, especially when you consider that he felt like absolute
shit from mile 10 onward. I’m glad that David decided to cover those last 18
miles to at least give things a chance to turn around for the better.
Unfortunately, things never did turn around. It happens…He’ll crush Run Rabbit
Run in September.
Saturday, June 21st
OFF—Didn’t really
feel like getting out today
Sunday, June 22nd
OFF—Just being lazy
today…
Weekly Totals
Miles—52
Time— 17 hours 36
minutes
Elevation Gain— 15,950
feet
