Spring Trails and Denali Prep

The past few years I joked around with my wife and climbing/running buddies about climbing Denali (Mount McKinley), but honestly I never gave it much thought.  Last January plans got serious when Jack flew down from Alaska and we went and climbed some vertical ice to discuss the possibility.  After the climb I was mentally engaged to the endeavor.  A few weeks later I pulled the trigger and got the $680 airline tickets then paid the $350 NPS fee.  Gear prep began at once and has just now concluded. A frustrating part about going to climb in Alaska is that I own lots of nice ski and winter gear, but a lot of it is not up to snuff for Denali, ie puffy Marmot Jacket not puffy enough, nice Sportiva Mountaineering boots not even close to warm enough.  So much much Ebay, KSL Classifieds, Rei, IME, Gear 30, and  Backcountry.com surfing ensued. Resulting in:

Gear List	Brand/Model	Retail $	What I Paid (0 = already owned or borrowed)
Boots	La Sportiva Olympus Mons	1000	880
Sleeping bag	Western Mountaineering PUMA GWS	900	350
Puffy Coat	Mtn Hardware Absolute Zero	800	300
Outer Jacket	Patagonia M's Super Pluma	549	180
Pack	Gregory Denali Pro	499	280
GoPro	Three	400	0
Micro Puffy Jacket	Patagonia Micro Down	350	0
Outer Pant	Rab Latok Alpine Pants	260	139
Avi Beacon abd Probe	Tracker	210	0
Soft Shell Coat	Mtn Hardware	200	0
Mitts	Black Diamond Light	199	99
Butane Stove	MSR Reactor	199	50
Insulated Pants	Moutain Hardware Compressor	180	120
Ascenders	Petzl	160	0
Ice scews	Grivel   (3)	150	0
Snow Shoes	Atlas	150	0
Crampons	Grivel G14	150	0
Liquid Fuel Stove	MSR XGK	140	80
Mountain House Food	Mtn House (4x18)	125	90
Glacier Gogs	Julbo Revolution	120	84
Glacier Specs	Julbo Explorer	100	75
Helmet	Petzl	90	0
Fleece jacket	Patagonia	90	30
Air Pad	Thermorest	90	0
Duffle	Stoic	80	0
Capaline Tops (3)	Patagonia	75	45
Axe	BD Raven Pro	75	0
Solar Charger	Goal Zero	75	0
Harness	Petzl	60	0
Water Bottle Parkas	OR	60	40
Down Booties	?	60	0
Shovel	Brooks Sharktooth Longneck Pro Shovel	55	36
Titanium Pot	Stoic	50	35
Snow Saw	BD	50	50
Work Gloves	Stoic	40	0
Carabiners	Misc	50	0
Fleece Pants	rei	40	0
Liners	Black Diamond	35	15
Ninjaclava	OR	35	15
Foam Pad	Thermorest z lite	35	28
Sun Runner Cap	OR	35	22
Picket	MSR	30	24
Capaline Bottems	Patagonia	25	18
Wool Beanie	Sherpa	25	0
Socks	Stoic	20	0
Head Wrap	Buff	20	20
Lighter	Rei	20	20
Face Mask	OR	15	0
Prusick Cord		15	15
Screw Top Bowl		15	15
Scruffy Mountain Beard		Priceless	0
		8206	3155

With 5 days to go, I just need to get the rest of  my food together and cram it all in the packs.

The route we are attempting is called the West Buttress, and is by far the most traveled on the mountain. Some of the Stats are quite intimidating: The mountain is 20,237 ft.  tall and “At some 18,000 feet (5,500 m), the base to peak rise is considered the largest of any mountain situated entirely above sea level”  (wiki) Around 1100 attempt the summit and 40-50% are successful.  Last year was the most summits ever with 787.  This year is off to a slow start with 12 out of 43 attempts successful summits. Hundreds are on the mountain now. 

Next Thursday, Jack, Brooks, John, and I will land on the Kahiltna Glacier at 7200 ft and then spend the next 16-20 days on the mountain fighting the most notorious storms and brutal conditions in the hemisphere. My gear will be split up between a 60 lb pack pulled on a sled and a 40 lb pack on my back.  We will dig in and make camps at 7800, 9000, 11000, 14000, and high camp at 17,200, then go for the summit.

My physical training has mostly consisted of running and climbing with the following highlights:

1.       A long week end climbing towers and running in Colorado National Monument

2.       A few ski tours with lots of vert to finish off winter and Spring.

3.       A couple of Zion trips with lots of climbing, ridge runs, obscure summits, and super fast canyoneering (Spry in 2:45 and Keyhole in 15 minutes car to car)

4.       Running the Buffalo 50 in 8:01.  A 14 minutes improvement over last year.

5.       Laps up and down Adams waterfall and Eds peak.

6.       A speed go at Olympus and Wire. With a sub 2 hr Oly and 35 minute run up Wire.

7.       A full season of semi-competitive intramural cross country with consistent 19 minute 5K’s

8.       A fun 8 minute pace 21 mile run at the so called "Wedge" over looking the San Rafael River’s Little Grand Canyon

9.       Lots of BCC and gym climbing crowned with a clean lead on Namaste 5.12a in Zion. (my first 12) 

10.   Lots of hauling little Anna on my back.

11.   Weekly ultimate Frisbee matches and heavy weight lift sessions thrown in here and there

12.   A 10,000 ft vert day on the treadmill.

Zion Maximization

Friday: 

I hoofed it up to Willard Falls and watched Jack be nimble on the first pitch of fat ice.  We swapped pitches twice more ending the route with a sweet easy WI3/4 section on great ice.  Even placed a BD goldilocks (#2) cam on pitch 2 and found my slings from last winter on a tree belay….

Saturday:
Took off on the Chinle Trail from Springdale with Pete, Court, and Spence dog. Destination Kinesava then West Temple summits. Super rare summits for anyone to attempt and not really any trail. After .5 miles we left the Chinle and headed up a random wash, then up a ridge with a some what navigable trail. Once up we cut towards the Cowboy Ridge and scrambled up on the blocks. The ridge continues up up up on narrow blocks and cliffs, past a few short class 5 sections, including a sweet 30 foot hand crack. Court and Spence soloed everything and I hauled up Pete on belay. Once on top of the ridge we ran over and up Kinesava. Great views, Great Summit. Next we continued the link-up by dropping down off the east side in a gully for 1000 feet then back up onto the SW Ridge of West Temple. Summited the 7800 ft peak (Tallest in Zion) in about 5.5 hours 6000 vert. Great Views. We then reversed the ridge using the rope at one spot to assist descent. Made in down off the ridge and ran a view miles across the desert back to the car. I beat Spence to the car by .0045 seconds. Something like 8.5 Hours 14 miles and 7000' of Vert

Sunday:

Got charged at Church in Springdale, both cell phone and soul.  Ate a monster hoagie in the parking lot then drove out to Wildcat Ridge. Tagged Pine Valley Peak then meandered down to the start of the Subway.  Really enjoyed going slow and taking in the brisk air. 

Monday:

Started up the Overlook Trail after the tunnels towards East Temple peak.  A rare desert gem that few ever summit. We ran up left across sweet red slabs.  Then followed the herds of desert sheep higher and higher.  The route then drops down a huge gully then climbs a sketchy crappy gram cracker rock surface for 1000 feet.  Pete decided he had had enough of the steep bad rock. Spence and I pressed higher past some airy scary traverses to a ramp 200 ft below the summit.   3 pitches of bolted slab halted our climb.  I will cruise up easy class 5 but definitely not down climbable for us.  We headed back down. Smart move. With lots of sun left we went up to Keyhole slot canyon and did a fast lap through the icey slot.  18 minutes of out of control awesomeness. Breaking through ice, swimming in freezing water, running, and flying down cliffs. I enjoyed it so much I did it again with a cool dude that stopped on the road to see what we were up to.  15:30 the second time through.



LINK TO YOUTUBE VIDEO of Ridge Scramble

Are These Times Contagious.

Collective Soul's "I've never been this bored before, I've got a long way to run" have to be the most hilarious lyrics to first hit my ears at the start of any run.  With my tunes on shuffle at the start of the News Years Revolution Run, I chuckled out loud from the coincidence.  The gist of the event is to run around a 440 meter indoor track for 5 hours with 400 other people... and rack up as many laps as you can. Three days ago I had never heard of such an event around here.  Also having recently been mega-inspired by Zach Bitter's amazing 100 mile record on a track, I convinced my wife Izzy to join me for the torturous fun. 

Going into the run my entire mindset centered on how good of a training it would be, especially because my legs were trashed from running everyday during the week.  Including 4 summit climbs (9850 ft of vert) and some quad screaming powder turns the night before. 

The mundane nature of running in a circle for 5 hrs actually really intrigued me.  I like numbers, splits, and pace charts.  That said, the only goal in my head was to run the whole 5 hours.  At times swerving through traffic on the track annoyed me a little, but not too much. I thoroughly enjoyed meeting other people, chatting with my wife, and watching other folks running their guts out. At the 1 hour mark my total laps hit 25 then I walked a little and ate fruit and energy gels.  I could tell lots of other folks were running faster than me but I was not paying that much attention, yet.  I did not really count laps till the end nor did I have a watch on.  If you asked a volunteer your laps they would write it on a white board the next time you came around.  The board also listed the top 3 runners, my race bib number never appeared.  Running in a loop makes it real easy to hydrate and eat. I grabbed a water bottle for a lap here and there or grabbed things from my duffle on the bleachers once or twice. 

 Mid way through, my legs started dragging, but after eating and walking a bit I sped back up. At the two hour mark my total laps hit 50 and then 75 laps at the 3 hour mark. I am learning all this in hind site.  (I knew I was at 91 3.5 hours in but other than that I just ran.) At the 4 hour mark I hit 100 and then hit 126 (34 miles) as time expired. Crazy how consistent it ended up.  A lot of the fast dudes at the first slowed down towards the end and for some reason my legs felt great the whole way. I learned as we gathered up our stuff that I was first for the Men and second overall.  A super talented lady did 127 laps!  Speaking of ladies, Izzy ran hard for 50 laps then walked the rest. For a total of around 19 miles! Double the distance she has ever run before! 

I am super glad to see my body hold up through the week and feel extra confident I can knock off some goals for the year. Namely, sub 8 hours at  the Buffalo 50 Miler, sub 3:10 marathon, complete another 100 Miler, and summit 100 mountains in 2014.  Oh and one more thing I won a pair of Altra shoes for taking first. 

Hmm is there room in the closet next to my Sportiva, Nike, Motrail, Hokas, and Peral Izumis.  I am curious to see how they compare and which ones to get??