Personal Record on Quandary - Fast Ascent and Descent

On Monday, June 25 I went to the Quandary trailhead and boogied up in 1:33, hung out for about ten minutes to eat, drink and take pics, then down in 1:26. It was freaking amazing and I feel great about it. I was wearing my Fuji Racers, and they did really good in all the terrain I was on.

If I were training for Elbrus Race again, I'd call this a really good training session.

My Google Earth KMZ file for this run:

Correction: I have discovered that although the fastest ascent time previously was 1:35, which doesn't affect this 1:33 ascent, my fastest previous descent time was 1:10, so this is not a descent record.
I did stop a few times to talk to people on the way down, but admittedly not 16 minutes worth, so alas, I'll have to work harder next time.

Above is the elevation profile for this run from Google Earth. I have a few other thoughts, a map, and a photo at my other Blog Here

Fast Hike of Horseshoe Basin in Colorado

On Saturday, June 23, I went up from the Peru Creek parking West of Montezuma Colorado, and did most of this run/walk. It was a 15 mile round trip hike in just under 6 hours. The section above Gray's Lake (about mile 7) was very technical and not really good for my running shoes. Really slow going up and then back down to about mile 9. Overall an excellent training hike for moving fast on dirt, gravel and rocks.

Picture with Gray's Peak above me showing hard ground to left ridge.

This is the Google Earth track from my hike.

Look on my other Blog Here for more details.

Half Dome Ascent in Google Earth

This is from my recent ascent with a friend of the Cables Route on Half Dome - this is a classic Yosemite climb. I did most of my writing about it on my other Blog Here.

Catching Up - October 6, 2011

It's been a while. I had to spend a few months recovering. During that I got into running a bit more, and while I'm way heavier than the average "runner" it seemed I could plod along at my little 12:00 pace for hours and hours, so I did a 10k and half on the road, and a 10k, half and full marathon on trails. Beat the heck out of me, and took a month to heal from the marathon. So maybe I am just heavy and slow and need to drop that for a while and get back to hiking.

Had another discussion with my "work boss" and I guess now we're down to counting minutes - which sucks in planning trips to foreign countries. Not that there's anything wrong with that, mind you ... ;)

Goal0 Denali Equipment Report

Before I went to Denali in early May, I dropped by the office of Goal0 (pronounced like Goal Zero) to grab a Guide10 Kit - that's the Guide10 charger, and the Nomad7 with charging port.

I spent a few days doing some oddball testing, including charging and discharging the battery pack out in the yard and on the hood of my car, with a couple of mp3 players, a droid phone, a usb-charging camera, a kindle and a droid tablet. Seemed to do well, lots of power.

When I got to basecamp at 7200' I pulled out the Nomad7 and did a quick refresh charge on the Guide10 in case a storm came in and I needed a few days worth of power.

I had put some 2mm nylon cord in the little loops (previous to this trip) to make this easier.

Here it is with the mountains behind in cloud - even then the charge light was on.

After the Guide10 was full I recharged my mp3 player with my audio books on it after listening to it on the plane. Wanted it full in case there was a storm and we were tent-bound for a few days.

Busy base camp on Denali.

Here it's on the tent at the camp below Kahiltna Pass at about 10,000' on Denali, charging a guide's iPod. I had a lot of positive input from a lot of climbers and guides on this trip. For one thing, I discovered that many thought it was "Goal Oh" so I fixed that ;) We hauled about 140 lb of gear each on these sleds and in backpacks. Light weight and durability are key features here.

Later, when I was brought down being sick, one of the kind volunteers asked if he could charge his iPod Classic while waiting for the plane, so I let him hook it up resting on my duffelbag.

Thoughts:

1. light, easy to travel
2. worked good in the type of light here (thin clouds to blazing blue sky)
3. angle not extremely important
4. durable, handled packing well
5. plenty of power over the week - no worries about it if I'd stayed the whole three weeks
6. very reasonable price for what you get

Suggestions:

1. the thin plastic face can scratch - when it's open please be careful
2. be sure the usb/charger plug is on tight and dry
3. use the velcro pocket for your device/battery pack - don't let it hang by the cord

One wild thought - the Nomad7 was the perfect size to protect my Kindle in the bags/packs while traveling.

on the way to anchorage

Sitting at seatac waiting for the flight to anchorage. Excited and nervous. Whats next? I'll have to tell you when I know more. Ivar's most likely.

Before Denali: 5 days to Anchorage

Today was mostly making stuff smooth at work, getting backup infrastructure in place, giving direction for the next month for my absence. After work I hooked up with Ryan again and we climbed at The Draper Red Rock in between some scouts, and a guy toprope solo'ing the 5.7. I asked about his rig in comparison to mine, and he was happy enough with his.

We did the 5.8, both in the crack and on the face, and Ryan worked the thin and sloper 9 up to the large horizontal crack and I worked the 10a, making it over the first bulge and over into the same cra
At home I messed with my boots some more. Why oh why can't I feel happy with my boots and socks? Maybe because in the past it's been so painful for me? Because between losing 50 lb and running a lot, and rock and ice climbing my feet are a pitiful mess?

I got all the pointy bits laid out from last night, and got my down parka stuffed in a sack - maybe I need a couple more compression sacks. Sorted out my harness, and emailed the other guys.

Todd of Mountaintrip responded right back that guide Sebastian broke his collar bone and will not join us. We'll be taking Sean McNamany instead. Exciting news just before leaving.