It was a cold night without heat in the Barrel Hut #4 where I slept at the 12,300′ level on Elbrus in Russia, and I slept fitfully. At 5:30 I stepped out to check conditions and though it was very cold and windy, the sky was clear, so I prepared to go. It was slowly …
On July 3 I did a speed hike on 14,270′ Grays Peak, a Colorado 14’er along the Front Range. I haven’t been to the summit of Grays since maybe about ten years ago. I had made a few half-hearted attempts, all stopped by snow or weather, or some other little thing, but today the weather …
On June 25 I did a run up and down 14,265′ Quandary, just South of Breckenridge Colorado, to test my current level of fitness as I get myself psyched about Elbrus Race 2012. When I did the 2010 Race I also ran Quandary a handful of times, and wanted to check my progress to see …
After deciding to more seriously pursue Elbrus Race 2012, I needed to adjust my training from long slogs of 18 miles or so on the relative flats (former marathon training) to include some vertical. I did a test run on Quandary last week, and did 1:33 up, which is actually my PR for that. I …
I am currently in training for my Aconcagua trip in December, part of which will be via fast hiking on rough terrain at altitude. I selected Horseshoe Basin, a fork of the Peru Creek Road between Keystone and Montezuma Colorado. The entire 15 mile semi-loop I hiked ascends from 10,100′ to over 13,000′ and returns …
A friend (and fellow Goal Zero athlete) Steve Schrag had some permits to do the Cables Route of Half Dome on June 9 2012, and had asked if anyone wanted to go up with him. I happened to have that day off from other scheduled things, and was in a recovery week from my Steamboat …