Climbing, Running, & Whatever Else...

Stupid groundhog......

2012-02-05T16:24:00.000-08:00

Pretty decent snow event Thur thru Sat which dumped around ~3' or so at my house, but in the eleven years I've lived here in Conifer can't say this storm even makes the top 10. It's been a couple years or so since we've had a storm like this though...

Here are some pics from when I finally got dug out Saturday afternoon.......

January Totals

2012-01-31T16:48:00.000-08:00

Running....well, still not a whole lot of running in January. Basically two runs a week then three this past week. Totals for the month are 9 runs, 48.17mi, 7:13:58. At least the quality is getting a little better. Last week I did a 10mi run which is my longest run since Sept 2010, then two days later a 6mi in 49:17 (8:13 pace) for my fastest run. With the exception of a run in Clement Park back on Jan 2, everything has been on a treadmill so it's definitely time to start weening myself off that damn thing. Goal for Feb is to start getting outside more, and get in a couple more days a week. That may be a little difficult though with the current winter climbing distraction I seem to have. Big weekends generally leave the body pretty wrecked and it's taking longer to heal. After this past Saturday's climb I caught a pretty bad cold, enough for me to actually call in sick yesterday, so that will idle me for a few days.

Climbing this month has been really good, especially for winter.... but lack of snow has helped with that. Did four climbs getting four winter 14ers, three new 13ers, and a couple other unranked peaks. Totals for the four climbs are ~45mi, ~19,000ft elevation, just over 35hrs.

The breakout.....

Week 1
Jan 2, Run - Clement Park - 7.17mi (1:00:23)
Jan 4, Run - Treadmill - 3mi (29:00)
Jan 6, Climb - Missouri, Belford, & Oxford - 13.5mi, 7100ft, 11hrs

Week 2
Jan 11, Run - Treadmill - 4mi (37:00)
Jan 12, Run - Treadmill - 6mi (54:35)
Jan 14, Climb - Huron Pk, Browns Pk, Pt 13652, Middle Mtn - 9.5mi, 4400ft, 7:45

Week 3
Jan 15, Climb - Quail Mtn - 4mi, 3500ft, 4.5hrs
Jan 17, Run - Treadmill - 5mi (44:40)
Jan 18, Run - Treadmill - 3mi (26:45)

Week 4
Jan 23, Run - Treadmill - 4mi (34:12)
Jan 24, Run - Treadmill - 10mi (1:38:06)
Jan 26, Run - Treadmill - 6mi (49:17)
Jan 28, Climb - Turner Pk - 18mi, 4000ft, 12hrs

Jan 28 - Turner Peak (elev 13,233)

2012-01-29T13:11:00.000-08:00

Met up with my brother for this climb. We both made the mistake of thinking this would a pretty tame day since it was just one 13er and the bulk of the approach would be on a groomed snowmobile road. We didn't really take into account that road closure was 3 miles further down so instead of an 11-12 mile day that we had roughly calculated in our head, it was 18 miles. Throw in some pretty cold temps and 25-30mph winds w/ 45mph gusts driving wind chills to below 0, it ended up being a little more than just a walk in the park.

Around 7:30a we started from the Avalanche Gulch TH off County Rd 306 and hiked approx 7.5 miles west towards Cottonwood Pass. During winter this road receives quite a bit of snowmobile traffic and is even groomed with a snowcat so travel was pretty easy. Still, we wore snowshoes the whole time to help with traction. Turner Pk is less than a mile north of the county road so it was well in our view early on but we ended up hiking a little west past it to avoid some difficult rocky and avy terrain. At kind of a random point, we left the road and headed north working our way up through the trees and deep, soft snow. While this stretch was only a half mile or so, it still took quite a bit of time and effort....and mainly for my brother. I'm a good bit shorter and lighter than he is so while breaking trail I was able to float somewhat near the surface. Even though he was following my tracks he would still punch through up to his thighs and this got pretty exhausting for him. After a while, looking through the trees we could tell that continuing north was not an option so we headed east towards Turner's SW ridge which looked dry and wind blown. We spotted and climbed a safe line up to the ridge, ditched our snowshoes, then headed north to the summit. We eventually reached the top around 3p but because it was late, cold, and windy, we did not stay long.

We retraced our steps back down to the road which took about an hour and a half, then it was another ~2 1/2 hours back to the TH. It ended up being just under a 12hr day going 18 miles w/ roughly 4000ft of elevation gain. A few pics below......

7.5 miles of this, one way.....

Summit views - looking southwest towards trees we came up through

Summit views - looking northwest

Summit views - looking south along ridge we climbed and at my brother getting a good dose of wind & snow

Proof I was on the summit......

Safely off the ridge and back in the trees.....my brother is looking a little beat....

Back on the road, almost 5pm, and still 7.5 miles away from the truck

The days route.......

Jan 14 & 15 - Huron Pk, Browns Pk, Pt 13652, Middle Mtn, Quail Mtn

2012-01-16T16:51:00.000-08:00

Another stellar weekend climbing in the mountains!!!!!

Jan 14 - Huron Pk (14,005), Browns Pk (13,523), Pt 13,462, & Middle Mtn (13,060).

Conditions are still pretty dry so was able to drive all the way up to Winfield on County Rd 390. Normally winter closure is 8 miles away!! Climbed up Huron via the standard summer route although winter tracks cut straight through most of the switchbacks and making it a little steep. Wore snowshoes most of the way, ditched them at a high saddle north of Huron, then made the quick climb up to the summit. It was pretty breezy and cold up high so I only stayed on the summit long enough to snap a few pics. I came back down to the saddle, retrieved my snowshoes and strapped them to my pack, then followed the ridge as it went over Browns Pk, Pt 13,462 then Middle Mtn. Winds were calmer and temps warmer along the ridge so it ended up being a really nice day. From Middle Mtn, descended into Lulu gulch, put the snowshoes on at treeline, then worked my way back to the main trail where I came out only a few minutes from where I started. Totals for the day were ~9.5mi, 4400ft of elev gain in approx 7:45.

Jan 15 - Quail Mtn (13,461)

While I was climbing the Huron group on Saturday, my brother was climbing nearby Missouri, Iowa, Emerald, and Belford which was a pretty big day. We both wanted to climb again Sunday so we opted for something short and easy. We again headed up County Rd 390 up to Sheep Gulch and climbed Quail Mtn. Slopes were south facing so there wasn't much snow at all, especially above treeline. The weather was great and views incredible. Totals were ~4 miles, ~3500 ft of gain in maybe 4 1/2 hrs.

2012-01-14&15 - Huron & Quail

Jan 06, 2012 - Missouri, Oxford, & Belford

2012-01-08T19:55:00.000-08:00

After seeing several reports on climbing forums and blogs regarding trailhead access and dry conditions for Missouri, Belford, & Oxford, I decided to blow off work Friday and try to squeeze in all three in a day. Even in summer this is a pretty long day so I wasn't sure how this would go in winter. Fortunately, it went pretty well although it ended up being a pretty long day (11 hours). I climbed Missouri first, Oxford, then Belford, and totals for the day were approximately 13.5mi, 7100ft of elevation gain. What's amazing is I didn't carry snowshoes or crampons and I never needed them. The approach trail was snow packed but heavily traveled so I didn't need any extra traction while climbing up....but for the descent I did use micro-spikes which worked great. For some reason the altitude actually got to me some on this climb and I felt a bit queasy on each of the three 14ers I summited, but once I dropped down some I felt better. Weather also was pretty good for a January day. Full on sun but there was a fairly decent wind which got pretty cold after being in it for several hours. All in all...an awesome winter climb, especially with the lack of snow we are seeing this year.

Some pics from the day.....

2012-01-06 Missouri, Oxford, Belford

Restarting the Blog...well, sort of I guess

2012-01-08T17:23:00.000-08:00

Although I haven't posted in over three months, it's not because I've been idle. But.....I haven't exactly been crushing it either. Sadly, I can list all my runs and climbs for 2011 in a few lines.

2011 Running

Sep 19 - Treadmill - 2mi - 25:01
Sep 22 - Treadmill - 3mi - 32:20
Sep 26 - Treadmill - 3mi - 31:35
Sep 29 - Treadmill - 4mi - 44:40
Oct 18 - Treadmill - 4mi - 41:40
Nov 03 - Treadmill - 4mi - 38:50
Nov 06 - Treadmill - 7mi - 1:05:25
Nov 08 - Treadmill - 4mi - 34:33
Nov 14 - Treadmill - 4mi - 34:45
Dec 10 - Treadmill - 3mi - 31:55
Dec 14 - Treadmill - 3mi - 29:45
Dec 15 - Treadmill - 6mi - 57:00
Dec 28 - Treadmill - 2mi - 21:55
Dec 31 - Treadmill - 5mi - 48:50

2011 Climbing

Sep 17 - Bierstadt (one 14er)
Oct 02 - Democrat, Cameron, Lincoln, Bross, Sherman (five 14ers)
Oct 14 - Broken Hand Pk (13er)
Oct 21 - Spread Eagle Pk, Pt 13490, Silver Pk, 'Peak of the Clouds' (four 13ers)
Oct 23 - Grays & Torreys (two 14ers)
Dec 17 - Quandary (one 14er)

The knee still isn't perfect and I continue to feel some discomfort and weakness when running, but I know it's just a matter of strengthening and training consistently at this point.....and something to train for. A couple weeks ago I went ahead and registered for the Mt Evans Ascent in mid June. I'll also be attempting a climb up Mt Rainier the first week of June so now that I have a couple things officially on the calender, time to start training.

Restarting the Blog

2011-09-25T18:12:00.000-07:00

So, where have I been for the last year? Well, because of issues with my knee I've been pretty much non-active for a year now....and as a result so has this blog.

After a horrible time running Imogene Pass Run last September I took some time off to try and heal a sore knee I had been foolishly running on all year. The time off would also give me a break mentally as I was getting pretty burned out. After a couple months of no running or hiking whatsoever things were still not getting better with my knee so I ended up at an orthopedic & sports medicine specialist. He ran me through PT for another 6-8 weeks but still no improvement. While there was no specific injury revealed through X-rays & MRIs, he did see persistent inflammation with the patellar tendon and issues with how my knee cap was tracking. Since things weren't getting better after basically 3-4 months off and the lack of response to PT, he recommended surgery in January. I was pretty bummed but since nothing else was working, it was middle of winter, and he said I should be able to get back to running in 6-8 weeks, I decided to go ahead and get cut. Long story short I didn't heal as quickly as he said and it wasn't until early summer before I could fully weight my knee...even with PT, light workouts, etc. By then I had accepted that there was going to be no running, hiking, or climbing this summer so I went through a period where I just kinda said 'f*ck it'. Coincidently work got pretty busy for my so instead of resisting it, I just worked my ass off all summer.

Things finally eased at work this past month, mainly due to a promotion, and I found myself with more time so I began getting out occasionally and doing short hikes to test drive the knee. Things have been going pretty well with that although there's still some discomfort, but I think it's mainly just weakness since I haven't done anything in a while. This past week it does seem I have turned the corner a bit. I actually jogged on the treadmill a couple times last week....2mi @ 25:02 & 3mi @ 32:20. Those times are kinda funny, sad, and embarrassing, but whatever. Also did a fairly brisk hike/climb up Bierstadt last weekend (3:20 round trip). There's still a fair amount of discomfort but it does seem to get less with each jog/hike I do....especially if I do them regularly.

So where am I heading now? Not really sure...and not really worried about at this particular time. One thing I have seen over the past year is I've actually missed climbing peaks more than I've missed running....and that was reinforced last weekend when I climbed Bierstadt. Still, I did miss running quite a bit and I am already thinking (cautiously) about races next year. Right now I'm just going to keep things casual and work on building strength in my knee through workouts, light jogging, and climbing peaks.