Week in Review: June 10-16 -- Life Above Treeline

Monday, June 10^th

AM—8 Miles—2:41—3,200’—Grays (14,270’)

David Ponak and I both had tight schedules today. So, we decided to head up Grays and decide on the summit if we had time for Torreys as well. We didn’t. Once I realized that we were taking the trail that connects the saddle to the main Grays Trail I decided to take a direct route straight up through a snow field to the summit of Grays, which was a fun little addition to the usual easy Grays ascent. Legs felt like crap the entire day after taking the last week almost entirely off due to my ankle injury. Casual descent as I babied my ankle the entire way down

Tuesday, June 11^th

OFF—Acupuncture, recovery, and preparing for the high country

Wednesday, June 12^th

AM—9 Miles—2:34—4,300’—Mt  Elbert (14,433’)

I met with Mike Ambrose and his roommate Ryan with the intent of linking Elbert and Massive together. After a super casual ascent that topped us out in 1:30 Mike and I realized that we didn’t have enough in the tank for Massive. So, we joined a large group of hikers in a quick Harlem Shake video on the summit of Elbert and then headed back down. Mike and Ryan flew while I crawled on my bum ankle. Mike bottomed out in 2:09, which has me excited at our prospects of breaking two hours in the very near future (once I get my ankle healed up). I know we can cut a huge chunk of time off the ascent. 

Thursday, June 13^th

AM—10 Miles—4:16—7,350’—Belford (14,197’), Oxford (14,153’), Belford, Pecks Peak (13,270’)

Pretty frigid winds up in the mountains this morning. I put on my base layer and my wind shell about halfway up the ascent of Belford and kept them both on until I got back to the Missouri Gulch trail. The climb up Belford seemed to be an infinite amount of switchbacks that couldn’t end soon enough. The out-and-back to Oxford provided a nice little section of runnable terrain at high elevation. Gerry Roach recommends Pecks Peak as an “extra credit” summit for Belford and says the descent is down steep grassy slopes. Well, maybe there’s grass somewhere, but I sure as hell didn’t find it. My descent was down steep scree, talus, and boulder fields. The extra credit probably added at least an hour (likely more) to my descent versus just going down Belford. Oh well…

Friday, June 14^th

AM1—8 Miles—2:20—3,400’—Huron (14,003’)

Started around 5:30 AM with the intent of getting down quickly to go bag Missouri. The climb up was easy, but frigidly cold. I sat on the summit for about 20 minutes taking in the views before pussyfooting along the descent. The smooth, gentle switchbacks below treeline have me eager to get back on this mountain and bomb the descent.

AM2—10 Miles—3:44—4,500’—Missouri Mountain Bailout

Pretty late (10 AM?) start. By the time I reached the ridgeline I was beginning to see some dark clouds. Lightening is probably the thing I’m most scared of in the mountains. So, I bailed on the ascent. I’ll get it next time. 

Saturday, June 15^th

AM1—10 Miles—2:49—3,800’—Torreys (14,267’) and Grays (14,270’)

I figured that my 9 AM run with Deb being so close to Grays and Torreys had to be for a reason. That reason was likely so that I could camp near the trailhead and bag Grays and Torreys real quick in the morning before joining her. So I did. I decided to head to the saddle first to summit Torreys and then see if I had time for Grays. I passed a group of three guys from Omaha right before reaching the saddle. Even moving as slow as I was, I was up and down Torreys and up Grays before they were up Torreys. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to comprehend easy 14ers like these being an all-day affair. I made my own way down the face of Grays without ever really being on trail—some scree, talus, snow, the usual. Then once I rejoined the main Grays trail I ran somewhat quickly on a descent for the first time in weeks. Ankle is still a little shaky and swollen, though.

AM2—7 Miles—1:57—1,900’—Grays Trail to Base of the Mountain

Deb and I met at the visitor’s center in Georgetown before heading out for a run. The Protrails website said the trailhead for Herman Lake was north of I-70 on the Bakerville exit. All we found there were some private roads and a bum sleeping in his truck. So we decided to just head up the Grays trail and see how far her un-acclimated lungs, my spent legs, and a late start would allow us to go. We got to the base of the main climb up Grays and noticed some clouds that didn’t make either one of us terribly comfortable. So we turned around. Nice, conversational pace and great company for a run.

PM—3 Miles—1:17—2,000’—Mount Sherman (14,036’)

After some coffee and pizza in Georgetown Deb headed back towards Boulder and I headed up to Alma for more coffee. I spent a few hours in an awesome little coffee shop waiting on some clouds to pass over and determining whether or not to attack Sherman tonight or in the morning. I got to the upper trailhead a little before 7:30 PM and couldn’t help but notice how incredibly close the summit was. Of course, I changed real quick and started heading up on tired legs. Pretty sure I wasn’t really on a trail since I just crawled up a somewhat steep scree slope on all fours until I reached the ridge. From the ridge the rest of the push to the summit was a breeze. The descent was a bi-polar’ish mix of steep glissades down snow slopes (happy!) followed by boulder/talus hopping (ugh…). 

Sunday, June 16^th

AM—7 Miles—2:29—3,500’—Decalibron

I had intended on a 5 AM start, but didn’t get around to the run until 7:30 AM or so. If I had to guess, I would say the moonshine I drank last night with some nearby campers played some part in this. Regardless, I did the loop, albeit really slow. The trips to Lincoln and Bross were pretty awesome. I loved the continuous running above 13k feet. With gloomy clouds, thunder, and possible lightening I headed down the most direct line from Bross I could find—a steep scree slope that soon turned into snow for most of the remainder of the descent. Glissading is always fun.

Summits:

Democrat (14,148’)

Cameron (14,238’)

Lincoln (14,286’)

Bross (14,172’)

PM—3 Miles—0:38—800’—2^nd/3^rd Flatirons Loop

The drive from Alma back to Boulder was horrendously long as all of the weekend warriors headed back to the big city for another week of work. My legs felt tight and lacked the energy needed to get up Green Mountain. So, I just ran around the Flarirons access trails for a bit to loosen up my legs and called it a day.

Miles—75

Time—24hours 50minutes

Elevation Gain—34.750  feet                                                               

Not too shabby for my first week back from rolling my ankle. The ankle is still a little swollen and weak. So, I’ve been taking the descents at a pace just above walking. As a result, all of my times from this week are fairly pedestrian-like. I can’t wait to get out in the mountains with a healthy body and really start pushing myself. It’s pretty amazing how fast the acclimation process can happen. I’m already finding life above treeline to be fairly comfortable. 

I’ve already summited 12 different 14ers in essentially one week of running. This has me pretty excited about the prospects of actually ascending every Colorado 14er this summer. Hopefully I can keep up the progress. The San Juans are next on the list and I hope to have them all summited by mid-July. We’ll see…

One thing that I keep forgetting is that I have the Black Hills 100 Miler in ten days. While I’m not entirely sure how being above treeline and running 14ers will help in this, I am fairly confident the amount of time I’ve spent on my feet and a few weeks of ~35k feet of vert will have my endurance and strength where they need to be. The only question will be my running fitness. Strange enough, the more committed I get to my 14er quest the less I find myself caring about the Black Hills run and the more focused I am on the Telluride Mountain run (and getting up to 14k feet). 

Life is so much better above treeline…

Getting in touch with nature or something like that. (Photo: David Ponak)

Evening summit of Mt Sherman

It's amazing up much more energy you get on an ascent when you see these guys. Unfortunately, we saw him on our descent. So it didn't really do much good.

Glissade (if you can call it that) down Grays on a bum ankle. Not graceful at all. (Photo: David Ponak)

Taking a more direct route to the summit of Grays. (Photo: David Ponak)

Early morning summit of Torreys. Started at 5:30 AM.

Missouri Mountain

Action shots on Mt Elbert. (Photo: Mike Ambrose)

Torreys

Another shot of my direct route up Grays. Look about mid-way up and there's a dot in the middle of the snow. That's me. (Photo: David Ponak)

Week in Review: May 27-June 2 -- Getting High Again

Monday, May 27^th

AM—9 Miles—2:53—4,300’—Mt Elbert (14,433 Feet)

After catching wind that Mt Elbert was at worst covered in “easy snow” Mike Ambrose and I decided to head up and tag it. I headed out from Boulder around 6:30 AM to stop by Frisco and pick him up. I’m always amazed at how awesome an early morning trip from Boulder, through Golden, and up into the mountains can be. Great start to the day and it only got better from there. Getting above treeline was minimally confusing without any prior route knowledge due to snow covering most of the upper sections of the trail. The slog up to the summit was pretty much what I expected for my first time above 12k feet since November—a drunken stagger. Probably 500 feet or so below the summit a frigid wind picked up that had me fumbling around for the wind shell I had tucked away in the deep recesses of my skimpy running shorts. The < 2 ounce Mountain Hardware Ghost Whisperer Anorak wind shell exceeded any expectations and kept me comfortable. Just wish I would have had something for my frozen hands…I took the descent really easy until we got back down below ~12k feet. I never feel fully coordinated above 12k feet or so until my 3^rd or 4^th time up there. Felt great to bag my first 14er of the summer and start my little project of trying to summit all of the Colorado 14ers this summer. Should be fun.

PM—5 Miles—1:04—2,200’—Green Mountain

After refueling with beer and nachos at the Backcountry Brewery in Frisco I headed back to Boulder. Without hesitation I drove straight to the Gregory Canyon parking lot for a lap up Green Mountain. I ran into Fred Ecks in the parking lot. He was half drunk (I think?) and decided to come do a lap on Green. I had just tagged Elbert in the morning and had a stomach full of nachos. We decided to race to the summit via different routes; he took the shorter front side and I took the longer backside. I immediately felt like I was going to throw up when I started running. This feeling would persist for the duration of the run. Regardless, I still came pretty close to my PR effort. I can’t say for sure if it was a PR since I spent about 30 seconds talking with Fred before I actually tagged the summit. This run certainly surprised the hell out of me. Dead legs, throwing up in my mouth a little, feeling tired, and a near-PR effort? After 20 minutes or so on the summit taking in the always amazing view s I eventually headed down via the front side—taking it easy in most places and pushing hard on a few of the more technical parts for a decent of 20 minutes and change. Overall, a relaxed effort on the descent since my legs were pretty tired and I kept catching my right toes on rocks, steps, and roots. 

Tuesday, May 28^th

PM—3 Miles—1:50—1,400’—Royal Arch

Super easy hike with Kim and Stephanie to celebrate Kim’s (24^th?) birthday. I had acupuncture in the morning and my legs were still a tad sore. So, I used this as an opportunity to take them out and show them a taste of what the Boulder trails have to offer. Hopefully they’re hooked. 

Wednesday, May 29^th   

AM—10 Miles—2:41—4,550’—Green Mountain (x2)

Two laps up Green Mountain; first was up front, down middle and second was up middle, down front. I power hiked the majority of the first trip up and spent about 15 minutes or more taking in the views on the summit. The cloud activity was pretty absurd. After reaching the Gregory parking lot the sun came out so I decided to chug a little water and take one more go at the mountain. My legs felt pretty great on the ascent. I was able to run all the way until the steep stone staircase on upper Greenman before falling into a brief power hike. Great day out. 

Thursday, May 30^th

AM—22 Miles—5:31—7,800’—Pikes Peak (14,110 Feet)

Met up with Mike with the intent of running the Pikes Peak Marathon course minus the short road sections. We began at the Barr trailhead and started heading up and up and up. It didn’t take us long after Barr Camp to realize that conditions above treeline were just going to suck. And they did. Snow, a high temperature of 30 degrees, wind chills in the 10-15 degree range, and wind gusts around 65 mph had me ready to turn around and seek warmer weather since I was beyond underprepared. We reached the summit in about 3:30 and spent at least 30 minutes (maybe an hour?) in the tourist shop on top. For the descent we knew we had to get back below treeline as fast as possible. The only way to do this was via a route of questionable legality. Regardless, after four miles of this route and a few instances of ducking into the bushes we were shirtless again and reached our access back to the Barr Trail  where we cruised at a comfortable pace for the rest of the descent. The time I recorded is a little misleading since I kept it running during a few of our conversation stops on the descent. I think it should be closer to right at five hours.

PM—4 Miles—0:55—1,950’—Manitou Incline

After a few hours of rest and some cups of coffee I headed back to The Incline for a quick lap. I always manage to make time and find energy for this when I visit Manitou Springs. I ran the first couple tenths of a mile until the path becomes noticeably more vertical. Then I just fell into an easy power hike and stopped to take a few 10-15 second rest breaks along the way. I topped out in 27:40’something without ever really feeling like I exerted myself too hard. After some chit-chatting with a few others at the top I meandered down the trail at a pace so slow that I likely wouldn’t even call it casual. Perfect ending to my day trip in Manitou. I love this little gem of a town. 

Friday, May 31^st

AM—10 Miles—2:08—2,600’—Green Mountain

With a little fatigue lingering in my legs I decided to take the easy way up Green Mountain—Bear Canyon to Green Bear. Mesa Trail, Bear Canyon, and Green Bear all passed by quickly with my breathing never even approaching out of control. Everything seemed in rhythm and completely relaxed—in perfect harmony. From the old four-way to the summit of Green was the only section where this harmony seemed to diminish a bit with my effort leaving the “easy” zone and gravitating towards “all out” mode. I was happy with my 1:11 ascent from Chautauqua considering how easy the effort felt for the majority of the run. With shaky legs I began a really easy descent down the middle route that consisted primarily of hiking on upper Greenman and slow-as-hell jogging down Ranger and Gregory Canyon. This ascent was certainly a pleasant surprise after yesterday’s volume. A sub-hour ascent via this route is a goal for the end of the summer.

PM—4 Miles—1:23—2,200’—Green Mountain

After sitting around in the coffee shop all day I decided to get out and chase the sunset up Green Mountain. It had been at least a year since my last sunset race. The ascent consisted primarily of power hiking with the most notable exception being some drunken stumbling on the upper sections of Greenman after I thought I heard a mountain lion. It’s amazing how after seeing six of those damn things I can easily convince myself of their constant presence. On the summit I was treated to the expected amazing vistas. Fifteen minutes of oooing and aahhhhing later and I began the descent in limited visibility. For some reason I love descending in near darkness. It demands an intense awareness and connection with the terrain that really makes you feel present in the moment. Love it! 

Saturday, June 1^st

AM—8 Miles—2:13—3,300’—Green Mountain (x2)

I started power hiking up the front side of Green with the intent of doing the backside loop. By the time I reached the summit I was sickened at how many damn people were out on the mountain. When I began the descent down the west ridge I saw no less than 30 people between the summit and the old four-way intersection. I couldn’t help but think of the ever-annoying mule trains in the Grand Canyon—big stubborn beasts with no idea what’s going on and a constant refusal to get the hell out of the way to share the trail. Summer weekends in Boulder, ugh…I started down Flagstaff Road for a quarter mile or so before the cumulative fatigue of the past week and my already soured mood from the Green ascent/descent made me decide to turn around, head back to my truck, and call it a day. I’m thoroughly convinced that all tourist hikers should be required to take a trail etiquette course before being allowed on Boulder Country trails.

Sunday, June 2^nd

PM—12 Miles—3:47—4,650’—Green Mountain, Bear Mountain, Green Mountain

I started heading up the front side of Green Mountain with no real idea of where to go from there. I had debated taking the day off, but talked myself into getting out for at least a trip up the mountain. After seeing about five people or so in the first 1-2 tenths of a mile on Ampitheater I veered off trail and stayed that way until the summit of Green. I managed to find a route that’s less than 1.5 miles (versus the 2.1 miles of the frontside route) from the parking lot to the summit. Short and steep; just the way I like it. The summit was a shit show of people, ugh. I headed towards Bear Peak from there at a casual pace. I decided to push the meat of the ascent pretty hard and managed a 9:53 split from the base of the climb to the summit. Pretty anaerobic all the way. The descent of Bear and second ascent of Green were really easy. I planned on a casual descent down the front side, but rolled my ankle about five minutes into it. Limped it on back to the Tacoma.

Miles—87

Time—24hours 30minutes

Elevation Gain—35,000 feet                                                               

Pretty good week. I got back to 14,000 feet twice, spent a lot of time on my feet, and covered loads of vertical in not very many miles. I’ve knocked out two 14ers in my quest to summit every Colorado 14er this summer (yes, even the crappy ones).

Right now my upcoming 100 miler in South Dakota is keeping me in the Boulder area for running to get in a little heat training since the race has the potential to be friggin’ hot. Impatience will likely get the best of me very soon and cause me to ride the Taco off into the sunset. There’s a certain appeal about getting out and truly living a transient lifestyle (temporarily at least). As nice as it’s been to have a bed, shower, and house the last few weeks I must say that I prefer a higher level of discomfort in my day-to-day life. Maybe five months of living in a backpack will do that to a person? 

Leisurely hike up Royal Arch

Pikes Peak summit shot after warming up inside the tourist shop. Headwrap and sunglasses just for Rob...

Chasing the sunset to the summit of Green Mountain

Elbert action shot

Out of breath on Elbert

More Elbert action

The warm, welcoming ridgeline of Elbert

Green at sunset

Manitou Incline. Something like almost 2k feet of vertical in a mile (just rounding the numbers)

If one were cold on certain peak this would possibly be a quick way down. IF one were cold...

Green never gets old.

On top of Elbert. Scoping out all the potential.

Heading up Elbert

Early morning drive from Boulder to the high country. Stopped for a photo of Boulder on the way out of town.

Week in Review: May 20-26

Monday, May 20^th

OFF—Slightly hungover…

Tuesday, May 21^st

OFF—Travel day from NYC back to Boulder

Wednesday, May 22^nd  

AM—7.7 Miles—3:35—3,400’—Peak One Bailout, Mount Victoria, and Mount Royal

A ridiculously picture-perfect morning made the drive up to Frisco even more scenic than I remembered. I met Mike Ambrose for an attempt to summit Peak One and Peak Two of the Ten Mile Traverse. There’s still a considerable amount of snow, which made getting above tree line a bit of a chore. We opted to take a more direct vertical route up the mountain by plowing through the snow versus trying to follow any sort of switchbacked trail. From the weather station to the last false summit before Peak One was pretty easy. Ultimately, a cornice on the false summit and watching a mini avalanche persuaded us to call off bagging the peak. On the descent we hit the summits of Mount Victoria and Mount Royal and cruised comfortably back to Mike’s place. My legs were pretty trashed from the knees down from the post holing. It felt great to be back above 10k feet and have perfect shirtless running weather. Excited for the high country to open up this summer.

PM—1.8 Miles—0:46—850’—Second Flatiron Bailout

Full of the excitement of a kid on Christmas morning I picked up my newly re-soled 110’s and took them out for a test run on the Second Flatiron. In my rush to shimmy up I failed to notice the gloomy clouds indicative of an impending storm. About halfway up the rock a huge crash of lightening scared the holy hell out of me and triggered some of the fastest downclimbing I’ve ever done. It’s amazing how fast you can downclimb when any potential fear of falling is completely replaced by a fear of death by lightening. I pushed pretty hard the rest of the way back to my truck in Chautauqua since I really didn’t want to get soaked. About 30 seconds after I reached my truck the skies opened.

Thursday, May 23^rd

PM—5.9 Miles—3:15—2,850’—Second Flatiron and Green Mountain

Finally, I got my first ascent of the Second Flatiron! I had no idea where the route began or ended. So, I just wandered around aimlessly to the top. I decided to start closer to the north (right) side of the base since it allowed gaining a decent amount of vertical without the outright exposure of the south or middle areas of the face. There are also several points in the first half or so of the climb where you can still bail on the route by stepping off the side or doing some easy down climbing back to a step off so I wanted to stay close to these opportunities. Overall, the climb was pretty uneventful (which is great). Just a lot of rest stops and route finding errors that required down climbing. After stepping off I proceeded on to the summit of Green via a bushwhack versus the faint trail that exists. I debated descending the front side, but changed my mind and made my way to the middle route down Gregory Canyon. The Gregory Canyon trail segment was a blast in my sticky rubber 110’s that provide a little more cushion than normal and great grip on the rocks. I finished the Gregory Canyon segment in right around 9 minutes, not a PR, but great considering the only parts I ran hard were the technical parts. Oh, I blew out the goddamned upper in my right shoe on just the second outing. I hate the fact that the most comfortable shoe I’ve ever worn has the durability of wet tissue paper.

Friday, May 24^th

PM1—2 Miles—1:50—1,250’—Second Flatiron

With a few hours to pass before my buddy Robbie Pike arrived in Boulder to run I decided to shimmy up the Second Flatiron. Of course, I had no idea where I was going per usual. I took a lot of rest breaks on the way up in an effort to stay calm and keep my hands from getting too sweaty. On the way down I heard someone yell at me from behind and turned to find Peter Bakwin. He had just got done with the First Flatiron. We both exchanged how pleased we were with our newly resoled 110’s and how they handled on the rock. I joined Peter for the rest of the descent to Chautauqua. He’s always great company to have for an outing in the mountains. Such a wealth of knowledge residing on top of his shoulders.

PM2—9.9 Miles—3:36—4,100’—Green Mountain and Bear Peak

Robbie told me he wanted to come to Boulder and bang out a lot of vertical in about 12 miles. After a brief 20 minute post-Second Flatiron intermission we headed up the 1^st/2^nd Flatiron access trail and bushwhacked to the summit of Green tagging the East Green summit along the way. My legs felt pretty shitty during the bushwhacking considering how great they felt on the access trail. From Green we headed over to Bear Peak. I was running pretty well until we got to where the climb really begins. From there it just turned into the type of shit show that can only result from thorough dehydration and a severe calorie deficit (it was around 4PM and I had about 200 calories and some coffee up to this point in the day). Slow going down Fern Canyon to hit Mesa and ride it out to Chautauqua. I felt like absolute crap after the run and couldn’t seem to drink enough water.

Saturday, May 25^th

AM—2.5 Miles—1:57—1,400’—Second Flatiron

I had the usual problems with route finding, of course. Near the beginning of the final pitch of climbing I took the same route I’d been using the past few times, which is possibly low 5^th class terrain at worst. I’ve been disposing of this pretty easy the last few days, but today my legs and body just didn’t have any energy. In the last few moves on this section I started getting the Elvis leg, my hands seemed to be losing all grip, and a fall seemed inevitable. For the first time ever while climbing I felt an extreme rush as my heart rate shot through the roof, breathing become heavy and uncontrolled—panic was starting to take over. I kept the panic in check briefly and escaped the immediate troubles to the refuge of an area large enough to sit and collect myself. I spent at least 15 minutes here, head in hands, body trembling, trying to regain some composure to finish the last pitch of climbing so that I could get off the goddamned rock. On shaky legs I stumbled up the last pitch, walked off, and took the access trail back to Chautauqua. Ugh…A lot of lessons learned today, though.

Sunday, May 26^th

AM—20.8 Miles—4:47—5,050’—Green Mountain and Backside Loop

Pretty easy effort for the entire day. I waited until about 10:30 AM to start the run with the intent of suffering through the hottest part of the day. Turns out, it never really got that hot. From Chautauqua to Eldorado Canyon (~13.5 miles) I managed with a single handheld bottle and two VFuel gels, which were much needed considering I didn’t have anything for breakfast other than coffee. I ran into Jorge at the park information office in Eldorado Canyon re-filling my water and decided to tone down the effort a little and run with him. We parted ways at the Bear Canyon split-off where he hit Green and I headed back to my truck at a slightly more strenuous pace. Great day of just getting out and covering some miles on tired legs.

Miles—50.6

Time—19hours 50minutes

Elevation Gain—18,900 feet                                                               

Well, I didn’t really cover many miles this week, but I did spend a lot of time on my feet. Slogging through knee-deep snow and learning how to scramble/route find in the Flatirons sure do contribute a lot of time and vertical, but not many miles, to the weekly totals. Right now I’m both building my scrambling skills and attempting to dial in routes in the Flatirons. These factors are leading to ridiculously slow times on my ascents of the Second—around 1:15 is my fastest so far. In my defense, I am taking a super casual approach while up on the slab in an effort to minimize down climbs and getting into terrain that’s out of my league. I’ve decided to use the Second Flatiron for no other reason than the ability to step off the top versus down climb or rappel. I’m pretty excited to watch my times plummet as comfort in both my abilities and my chosen line is developed. 

Summit of Green Mountain on a hot day (Photo: Robbie Pike)

Descending Gregory Canyon after scrambling the Second Flatiron and summiting Green

View of the Third Flatiron from the Second

I was in the middle of the Second Flatiron when this rolled in and provided a little lightening to encourage me to get the hell down

Peter Bakwin persuaded me to get one of the many pairs of 110's I have re-soled for some decent scrambling shoes. Couldn't be happier with the result.

Heading up Peak One with Mike Ambrose before calling off the summit attempt due to a large cornice and witnessing a mini avalanche.

On top of Bear Peak with beautiful Boulder in the background