Rainier Speed Test for Elbrus Race 2010

This is my gallery from the speed and gear check I did on Mount Rainier, Sept 3 and 4. I learned that my normal light boot technique works fine in crampons, and I could do a great 1900'/hour uphill pace. That's good enough for Elbrus Race, and I hope to keep my fitness and health up for the race.

More later ...

Running Quandary - Gear Check

Did a great test on Quandary today. Up in 1:35 and down in 1:10 - 10 minutes faster both up and down than my previous best. It's getting close to the end now, so I'm figuring out my gear and finalizing.

In this test, I managed to maintain 2200'/hr for the whole 90 minutes, which is my goal, and it's the first time my speed didn't lag in the last 1200' or so. Yes, it was slower in the rocks, but I was jogging on the flatter sections, so it averaged out. If I can double my endurance, I have the opportunity to crank out a sub-3 hour race pace on Elbrus.

Based on input from a participant in last years race, I tested the Salomon XA 3D Fastpacker (basically a high-top version of the XA 3D). I like the high-top because I have a tendency to roll my ankles if I'm fatigued, but it's only a little heavier than the trail runner. They've been working great on my machines, and sure enough, were awesome on the trail. Fast and light.

I've been using LEKI Corklite Aergon Speed Lock Trekking Poles, and I totally love them. They have traditional style adjustable straps, so if you know how to use cross country ski poles the "right" way, you'll be able to use these. The clip-locks are great, and way better than the twist-friction-locks. Speaking of cross country skiing, I did great with the poles today, even double-poling, and with the CNS training I've been doing, had a lot less mental fatigue from placement issues.

I'll be getting my crampons worked out in the next week, and I might go to Rainier to do some laps and test everything out in the cold and snow. That's enough time and space for now - more later ;)

Training for Elbrus Race 2010 - August 11 2010

It's official. At this point in time I have been accepted as a contestant in the Elbrus Race, the highest race in Europe, this September. I've been training very hard, as I'm very serious, and aside from the Russian Visa, need to qualify.

It appears as though twice as many are accepted as actually qualify. To qualify you have to run from the Barrels Huts to Pastukhov Rocks, about 3570' of elevation gain over 2.5 mi in less than two hours, then return to the Barrels by a set time (I think 4 PM which is about 5 hours round trip).

I've been training hard for this by running in Colorado on 14'ers and 13,000' ridge lines. I've maintained the requisite 1800'/hr of vertical gain pace over about 3.2 miles, so I feel pretty good about that. As well, I have access to a Stairmaster, an elliptical with a lot of leg raise in the front, and an Incline Treadmill that angles up to 40%, which is pretty steep.

I've been working out about 3 hours a day, and have done 4 hour days. Now as I taper into peaking on Sept. 21 and 23, I need to focus on my rest days to learn how to recover fully in 36 hours.

I'll put up more training, and some pictures, in the next week. Wish me luck...

Elbrus Video Uploaded

I put a video up from Elbrus in May of 2010. This is riding the snowcat from the top of the gondola to the barrels huts at about 12,300', the base camp for Elbrus. Short, but it's all I have on video from that trip. I'll be sure to get more and better on my next trip ;)



This was shot on my Creative VADO HD It's small, light, simple to use, has a tripod threaded base, recharges via USB on my Goal0 Sherpa50 (that I recharged at the barrels with my Nomad13 solar panel folding array). As a Goal0 Elite Team Athlete I got to be one of the first in the field with the newer smaller solar panel system. It worked great in the clear high altitude sunlight.

Catching Up: Elbrus then and now

Angie did most of the blogging on her blog about the trip to Russia and the attempt on Elbrus. Long story short, I made some bad choices on summit day and ended up freezing on the cat ride to P-Rocks. When I got my parka and mittens out at the rocks, I managed to almost lose my parka in the wind, and froze 3 fingers hard enough that I couldn't bend them.

Vladimir was very patient and attentive, and tried hard to thaw them, but at that point I was pretty discouraged and decided to quit and ride the next cat down with Angie. Good thing too, because I had a weird blood sugar reaction at the barrels and needed to curl up and equalize my metabolism some. Can't promise it would have happened if I climbed, since it never has, but it was probably a lot safer this way. Hindsight. Alas...

One of the climbers was dragged kicking and screaming up and down (only mild exaggeration), which made Angie feel good in bailing, since she really only wanted to go to the saddle to do an altitude PR, and they had "promised" she could turn around at any point.

That was Elbrus then, and I might go back and post some stuff, and I'll get my pics together in a Picasa album down the road.

For Elbrus now, I'll do the official announcement next week, but I'm preparing to make another go of it yet this summer.

Stay tuned..

Wednesday May 11 2010 - Elbrus in Russia

Angie and I get on the plane tomorrow May 12 to head for Russia. It was an interesting adventure to get this far so quickly.

About three weeks ago Angie said "Go do Elbrus this spring" in response to the general funk I'd been feeling since my failure on Aconcagua in March. I looked up the dates, and there were a few events I needed to work around, and I had decided to go with one of a few local (Russian) operators, and since the difference in price is so minimal, decided to get a "full service" package.

I found the dates May 14 to May 20 to be the most convenient, and arranged it online. I then had to get my airfare set up, which I did with the annoying little inconvenience that no flights into Moscow that I could get for a reasonable rate arrived with the ability to just transfer on to Mineral Vodnye (the nearest airport to Elbrus region). I decided to sleep in Moscow and get the first flight out in the morning, and the tour operator I chose had an affiliation with a hotel at the airport so I arranged that as well.

In the middle of all this, Angie decided to go with, which is awesome, but now I had to redo some things. I contacted the tour operator while she contacted the airlines. I added her to the package, and they sent the "invitation" letters for us to go (a formality in obtaining a Russian visa). She had to go get passport pictures for the visa copy.

We got all our stuff together quickly and Fedex'ed it to the Consulate with the express option, but this is also in the middle of May Day - a national Russian Federation holiday, which slowed it down a bit. We did get it in amazing time thanks partly to a great efficient staff at the Consulate, and I have to really thank the people at work who helped me in the Fedex process, since I'm somewhat helpless in such things.

I had to wire the money to them, which is great and simple and easy. My bank allows me to do this with minimal hassle. Unfortunately that's not true. When the request came in for a transfer to Russia they locked down all my accounts until I could verify that I'm me and that I had a valid reason to transfer money to Russia. Beware if you try this. I appreciate their security, just annoying to be trying to get online to do my bills and get kicked out of my login.

Angie had to go to my favorite DO at IHC in Highland/Cedar Hills, Dr. Slack for her travel medications (I recommend that if you want to replicate all this you find a good friendly doctor who can arrange for your travel medications - the exception would be Yellow Fever, which has specific requirements, and might only be available at a University or Public Health Travel Clinic).

We had to get our gear together, which normally causes me some anxiety as I decide what goes and what doesn't, and since we're going together and can share some stuff, and since it's full-service and there's some stuff we just won't need to take, and trying to hit the airline luggage restriction (1 20 kilo bag and 1 10 kilo carryon) it was very stressful. I'm still stressed wondering if I got the right stuff in - oh well, I have about 18 hours to change my mind.

My Facebook Friend Elbrus Race gave us some weather beta. At the basecamp at the Barrels Hut it should be hovering around 30 degrees F during the day. At the summit it should be around 0 degrees F during the day, maybe dipping to about -10 with a 30 mph wind and very light snow (less than an inch a day).

This caused me to rethink some of my clothes, so I'll let you know how that goes later. I wasn't planning on taking a laptop, and I don't have a smartphone, so I might not be updating this till after. I'll let you know as I go. If you're following me on Facebook, that might be easier if you just can't wait. Sometimes I can send messages to FB from my tinyphone.

Tuesday March 2 2010 - Weighty Decisions

Yesterday the Hungarian group went down, and the Spaniards went up, leaving just the Polish in my LANKO area of camp at Plaza de Mulas. In the middle of the night, as well as the storm, as well as the throbbing of my knee, the rest of the Polish team came down and made a lot of noise doing it. They took over the Hungarian bunks in the other hut after about 2 hours of talking with the Polish couple in my tent.



A groggy morning in the snow, with a painful knee, and I wasn't sure what to do. I cranked up the MSR XGK and made oatmeal and hot chocolate for breakfast, since I was off the LANKO leash so to speak. I walked out and cleared the Spanish camp area, which had the best windbreak. On the way, walking over the rocks I decided to test out my knee, and found the dozen or directions not to move it, and the weakest direction, which was down. Youch. So I might make it up if I were careful, but coming down would really suck. I tested in boots and running shoes, and apparently the torque of stepping down with the boot on my shin was doing something really bad to my knee.

I called Angie for advice, and she said she would support me if I bailed. I talked to Jacek, 53, of the Polish team (which was turned back by the trail police at 3 PM because there was no way they would safely make the summit). He talked about knee injuries, having had one not too long ago, and he recommended rest and care. Get off the mountain and come back stronger.

They then went down. It was late (around 11 AM) and I talked to Vanessa, who said I could go down and she'd send my bags down the next day. I quickly packed, making my backpack as light as possible, and managed to get out at 2 PM.

I had to really move to make it out on time. Fortunately, I didn't get lost on the way down, finding each fork quite easily and much more obviously than on the way up. I did a lot of thinking, and decided that the "high boot torque on the knee" might explain why over the years I got progressively softer ski boots and pretty much bailed on skiing altogether. Why I can run on snow descending, but have to hobble on rocks and gravel. Why I grew to prefer my Batura's for most everything I do in boots.

I managed to cross paths and overtake the Polish about a kilometer before I got to Confluencia, just before I had to go on the steepest part of the trail going down to the wire bridge. I ended up hopping down on one foot, and maybe even cried a bit.



I made it to Confluencia just at sunset, and of all the luck, ran into Osvaldo, who was looking for the Polish. I told him at their pace they were most likely an hour out, so he packed me up and took me down to the Hostel. Sure enough the Polish arrived about an hour later, and we ate at the same time, though not together.



Oddly, they lost all sense of being climbers the second they got down, and were drinking a lot and being rude and obnoxious (is this a Euro trait?) about getting a ride into Mendoza so they could find flights to Buenos Aires (which I soon discovered was quite a feat). They had dropped a bag on the mountain in the storm at around 16,000' and had to send a porter up to snag it and bring it down, but it didn't make the mule trip that day, so it would come down the next day with my bag.

I took a long shower, patched my blister (from my fast walk) with chapstick (works good) and hit the sack. My poor knee - my bed was upstairs so I had to hobble up and down, and even crawled a time or two. Thank goodness for pee bottles.