What an awesome hike!
I'd say it's the best non 14er hike we have made so far. Boulder really has some good hiking as Green is also cool and I expect Bear....that we ALMOST..made today is also nice.
I say almost and the vid should show why it was a no go for us today even though we were less than a mile away and under 30-40 min of making our fist 2 peak bag day.
The forest sections of this hike about half way in are insane. Real Land Of The Lost type stuff. Massive boulders, rock caves, downed trees, crazy green ferns and things growing all around, eagles screeching overhead....I was expecting a dino to pop out around the corner any second. ;)
Very nice hike, I highly recommend it.
Monday, May 30, 2011
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Bergen Peak 2011
I'll try to post up some of the interesting hikes of this season.
Last week at Green Mnt. was epic but the weather made it impossible to get any pics.
The hike today had a bit of misinformation involved... we expected a 1K elevation gain over a 10 mile hike. The idea here would have been a gradual gain over a longer hike. The best way to make sure you are prepared for an 8 mile loop is to do a 10 mile right?
However it turned out to be a 2,100' elevation gain and approx 12 miles.
The weather was very accommodating, we felt strong, and were able to inflict seriously sinister trail psychology on a few groups of hikers. ;) One of them was able to take us about a half a mile from the summit but we made them suffer for it hahaha! It's a totally different ballgame when you start getting into peoples heads, pushing them harder than they want and making them earn the right to pass you. Funny thing is that all of this goes on and you are oblivious to it until you are aware of it. Different ballgame right at the same field. Fun stuff!
Anyhow, this is a long hike. I was game for the approach all the way until the final summit push...It was getting pretty old weaving these loooooong switchbacks. But the trail gives you what it gives you and that is the way it is.
The summit was a good pay off for the long hike in and the super long walk out gives you a super cool green meadow view and a look at the peak you just climbed. I'll add some of Angie's pics of a few interesting sections in a follow up post but will include a short vid of the summit I grabbed with my phone.
With the 11+ miles and over 2K elevation we got a little beat up out there today. We had to slam protein at the trailhead, L Glutamine, Advil as soon as we got home, and I'm about to go for the Arnica. After we eat it's Tumeric, fish oil, Zyflemend, and ZMA later tonight. I made myself laugh by noticing on the drive home that my torso felt pretty good. Thats all...just the torso. Legs - trashed. Back - demolished.Neck, feet, shoulders/arms....forget it. All thrashed. Torso.....felling pretty good right now. ;) We are officially sick in the head. Absolutely no signs of sanity returning any time soon. We saw some late 50 - early 60's out there tearing up the trail.... Oh yeah that reminds me Glucosamine.
I'm going to pour a small milk latte in about 15 min....yep, livin the dream.
Last week at Green Mnt. was epic but the weather made it impossible to get any pics.
The hike today had a bit of misinformation involved... we expected a 1K elevation gain over a 10 mile hike. The idea here would have been a gradual gain over a longer hike. The best way to make sure you are prepared for an 8 mile loop is to do a 10 mile right?
However it turned out to be a 2,100' elevation gain and approx 12 miles.
The weather was very accommodating, we felt strong, and were able to inflict seriously sinister trail psychology on a few groups of hikers. ;) One of them was able to take us about a half a mile from the summit but we made them suffer for it hahaha! It's a totally different ballgame when you start getting into peoples heads, pushing them harder than they want and making them earn the right to pass you. Funny thing is that all of this goes on and you are oblivious to it until you are aware of it. Different ballgame right at the same field. Fun stuff!
Anyhow, this is a long hike. I was game for the approach all the way until the final summit push...It was getting pretty old weaving these loooooong switchbacks. But the trail gives you what it gives you and that is the way it is.
The summit was a good pay off for the long hike in and the super long walk out gives you a super cool green meadow view and a look at the peak you just climbed. I'll add some of Angie's pics of a few interesting sections in a follow up post but will include a short vid of the summit I grabbed with my phone.
With the 11+ miles and over 2K elevation we got a little beat up out there today. We had to slam protein at the trailhead, L Glutamine, Advil as soon as we got home, and I'm about to go for the Arnica. After we eat it's Tumeric, fish oil, Zyflemend, and ZMA later tonight. I made myself laugh by noticing on the drive home that my torso felt pretty good. Thats all...just the torso. Legs - trashed. Back - demolished.Neck, feet, shoulders/arms....forget it. All thrashed. Torso.....felling pretty good right now. ;) We are officially sick in the head. Absolutely no signs of sanity returning any time soon. We saw some late 50 - early 60's out there tearing up the trail.... Oh yeah that reminds me Glucosamine.
I'm going to pour a small milk latte in about 15 min....yep, livin the dream.
Sunday, May 15, 2011
A whole nother level...
It became obvious yesterday that things had changed for us. We are simply not on the same level with our hiking as we were last year.
The peak we use to make sure we are prepared for the 14 season is Green Mountain in Boulder. It's got similar stats as 14ers only it tops out at a lower elevation, maybe 9ish. This allows you to get up as soon as that snow melts enough and get in a good simulation on elevation gain, terrain, distance, and so on.
Angie and I have spent the last 2 months working on cleaning up our diet and making moves that bring us just a little closer to athletes than hobbyists. Granted we are never going to be professional climbers but we are doing things that have pushed us to another level. We have a recovery strategy, training plans, constantly examine our fuel options while climbing, gear, supplements, diet, and we have already started talking about our off season training plans for later in this year after we are done climbing the peaks we have not even climbed yet.
These things happen gradually and it's not like a head slapping moment to point at and say "wow, we are pretty serious". But the fact remains we are fairly serious. Somebody asked me to try a cake or something at a restaurant in April and I remember saying it sounds good, I'll go try it in October. The reply was "October?"... And it's funny when you realize that your thinking has changed. How it's totally normal to say something sounds good and you will eat it in 6 months because right now it doesn't fit into your training schedule.
Anyhow none of this is what turned on the light switch for me this is:
Last year we climbed Green in 6 hours. The suggested time to do it is 5 hours. We didn't think much of that because Angie got a little irked by the exposure early on in that hike and we had to stop a few times until she got that worked out. So we were keen to see what kind of time we would turn out this year. The weather was rough yesterday. Very misty and foggy. About 3/4 of the way up it started to sprinkle on us and it got cold. Conditions were bleak and the discomfort level was elevated. At some point I could not see anything and had to take off my glasses...then I couldn't see anything. :)
At a point around 30 min from the summit we started asking the "how much longer" question, normal for these things and also normal we pushed on past the complaining and made the summit. Visibility was nil..like 20' before total fog clouds so there are no pics of this summit.
After a slow and cautious descent due to slippery wet rock we made it back to the car and the moment of truth was here. I took a look at the time...
If we made another 6 hour trip (and it felt like 10) the time would be 4:15.
If we had made the 5 hour suggested time would be 3:15.
I was hoping we made under 3pm to beat the suggested time so with that I hit the button on my phone to check the time....
1:45 .... A little less than 3.5 hours...
Uhmmm yeah, we are not the same hikers we were last year. Chopping our time by almost 50% in bad conditions.
This year should be interesting....very interesting.
The peak we use to make sure we are prepared for the 14 season is Green Mountain in Boulder. It's got similar stats as 14ers only it tops out at a lower elevation, maybe 9ish. This allows you to get up as soon as that snow melts enough and get in a good simulation on elevation gain, terrain, distance, and so on.
Angie and I have spent the last 2 months working on cleaning up our diet and making moves that bring us just a little closer to athletes than hobbyists. Granted we are never going to be professional climbers but we are doing things that have pushed us to another level. We have a recovery strategy, training plans, constantly examine our fuel options while climbing, gear, supplements, diet, and we have already started talking about our off season training plans for later in this year after we are done climbing the peaks we have not even climbed yet.
These things happen gradually and it's not like a head slapping moment to point at and say "wow, we are pretty serious". But the fact remains we are fairly serious. Somebody asked me to try a cake or something at a restaurant in April and I remember saying it sounds good, I'll go try it in October. The reply was "October?"... And it's funny when you realize that your thinking has changed. How it's totally normal to say something sounds good and you will eat it in 6 months because right now it doesn't fit into your training schedule.
Anyhow none of this is what turned on the light switch for me this is:
Last year we climbed Green in 6 hours. The suggested time to do it is 5 hours. We didn't think much of that because Angie got a little irked by the exposure early on in that hike and we had to stop a few times until she got that worked out. So we were keen to see what kind of time we would turn out this year. The weather was rough yesterday. Very misty and foggy. About 3/4 of the way up it started to sprinkle on us and it got cold. Conditions were bleak and the discomfort level was elevated. At some point I could not see anything and had to take off my glasses...then I couldn't see anything. :)
At a point around 30 min from the summit we started asking the "how much longer" question, normal for these things and also normal we pushed on past the complaining and made the summit. Visibility was nil..like 20' before total fog clouds so there are no pics of this summit.
After a slow and cautious descent due to slippery wet rock we made it back to the car and the moment of truth was here. I took a look at the time...
If we made another 6 hour trip (and it felt like 10) the time would be 4:15.
If we had made the 5 hour suggested time would be 3:15.
I was hoping we made under 3pm to beat the suggested time so with that I hit the button on my phone to check the time....
1:45 .... A little less than 3.5 hours...
Uhmmm yeah, we are not the same hikers we were last year. Chopping our time by almost 50% in bad conditions.
This year should be interesting....very interesting.
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