Zion Traverse-ish

We got 1 group shot in the parking lot at what we thought was the trail head:

All smiles and ready for the days adventures.  We started down the trail, which seemed a bit overgrown and unkempt, but we are on an adventure, what a great beginning, and it's downhill.  So on we pressed.  After several minutes, the trail really began to disappear and look truly like water runoff and an old animal trail.  we opted to head back up and see if we somehow missed the actual trial head.

We certainly did.  Once we were back in the parking area, not 50 feet from were we parked, there was a large wooden sign indicating the trail head was a short distance down the road.  Off to a good start, we recognized our error early, and corrected.  

Again we started down the trail, this time a much more pronounced and well kept trail.  It was a fun little descent, a little dark, and in my infinite frugality and poor planning, i neglected to check the batteries in my headlamp.  The good news:  the moon was pretty bright, and i was able to stick with the group and take advantage of their headlamps.

There were several small creek crossings, which we managed to stay dry through, then i ran out of patience, besides, it was pretty warm, so i started crossing the easiest routes instead of trying to keep my feet dry.  

After 30 - 45 minutes, my headlamp died completely.  Jamie and Leah were making good time down the trail, and created a bit of a gap on Lacy and I.  Lacy stopped to make some adjustments, and I opted to shed the jacket and dead headlamp.  

The sky was super clear and there were tons of stars, and pretty good visibility, except where the trail went through thick clusters of trees, at which time, i would slow pretty much to a walk, and pick my way through. Through some of the rockier or more rooted sections, Lacy would light the path for me after she cleared the technical portions.  We continued on like this until the sky started to show signs of the rising sun.

My calves and lower legs started to tighten up pretty early on, no bueno.  I kept moving forward and figured they would loosen up in a bit, i just needed to pay attention and take it slow.  We followed La Verkin Creek for a good bit, and crossed that a couple times before we started to climb back up.  As we climbed the rising sun started to show the shadows of the canyon walls looming above us.  Looking at some of the walls, and the moon making it's way towards the horizon: 

After a bit more rolling terrain we made another short stop to shed some more layers in preparation for the rising sun and enjoy some of the colors which were started to show in the coming light:

Once there was enough light, we were able to enjoy some fun little descents 

And quickly found ourselves dumped out on the La Verkin Creek river valley.

Again the trail crossed the creek in several places, most of which had sufficient ice to cross safely.

Jamie making her way across the frozen creek

We checked the map (Jamie is pretty much a girl scout, not only did she bring a map, she brought a "tear proof" map, as in you can cry on it, and it would be fine, i imagine it would hold up pretty well against ripping as well, but let's not lose track of the fact that if you are lost and crying, the map will be safe:).  To see which side of the creek we would ultimately end up on, so we could minimize our creek crossings.


We would make our way along the river valley, each choosing a slightly different path, Leah and Lacy took to the high ground, Jamie wound up skating down the creek for a good portion, and i worked my way between the two options.  Apparently the video is too large to embed, so a link will have to do:  Lacy exhibiting some rock climbing moves while Leah opts for the shorter distance and proceeds to climb through the tree.

 Enjoying the rising sun and early adventures:

There is always time for a bit of ice skating

and back on the trail

Taking some time to reminisce about the trails traveled as we look back just before entering hop valley.

and Looking forward towards hop valley and our first round of treats:

Blue skies and positive outlooks would be the predominant theme throughout the day.  I mean how could it be otherwise, we are out on a quiet day enjoying zion national park with great people.

At the end of the climb up to the beginnings of hop valley, we found ourselves dumped into a field with no discernable trail, and the snowshoe tracks we'd been following seemed to disappear.  After consulting the map again, we decided that we wanted to stay to the left of the field and that should dump us out by the trail.

That logical soon changed when Lacy looked off the the right and inquired, "Is that a gate".  Nobody could confirm if it was or wasn't, since there wasn't much promise in our current direction, we opted to investigate.  Sure enough it was a gate, and had us right back on the trail.  Back to the snowshoe tracks and towards the hop valley trail head and stash of goodies.

We were pleasantly surprised to find our goods still there, a bottle of chocoloate milk and some odwalla bars for myself, Lacy had some salami and gouda cheese (yes Jamie, it was quite gouda:)  Leah had some vegetarian hot dogs, Jamie had trail mix of some form (some bear crackers and other little goodies and raisinets:

After a brief reprieve here, we started on our way again, making our way through hop valley and starting to check of some of the 25 ish miles to our next supply drop.  At this point my body started feeling uncharacteristically sluggish.  reminiscent of last year's malaise issues.  Not as bad, but definitely a solid reminder of the issues i went through.  I did a good bit of walking and trying to make sure i was up on my hydration and eating.

I also opted to take a good number of photos through this section, as it would allow me to go slower and hopefully allow the feelings of lethargy to pass.  i started going through my options (we are roughly 17 miles in, 23 left with a potential drop out point by the zion lodge in 20 miles.  i should be good to make it to the lodge and figure things out at that point.  It was very frustrating as we hadn't done any real hard efforts, yet my legs were feeling pretty tattered, and my energy levels were extremely flat.  i decided i'd keep moving forward and try not to lag too far behind, eat as much as i could get in and drink a lot and see if i could push through this feeling.

My thoughts drifted back and forth between the frustration (remembering how poor the 6 - 8 months of that feeling where and how much they wore on me) to being present and enjoying the incredible scenery and company.  This feeling lasted through most of the wildcat canyon trail (starting shortly after we left hop valley and subsiding at the point we started the descent around mile 30).  There were some fun little descents along wildcat canyon which i was able to enjoy, and get some good photos and video:

When we got to lava point, it was time to take a food break and check the map:

At this point, the wind was starting to pick up, and the sun had been pretty well hidden for some time.  There were a couple snow flurries which we encountered, and lots of relatively deep snow which Jamie and Leah took turns breaking through.  I was just trying to keep moving forward at this point, hoping to get some energy back and feel like moving forward.

After a little time on top of the park, we came across the pair of hikers we had seen while staging our supply drops.  They were about 26 or 27 miles into the hike, and were providing a snowshoe trail which we were following.  We talked with them a bit, I missed most of it, but think they had started 2 days ago, and planned on having another 2 nights on the trail.  The commented on our lack of gear, and inquired where we were heading.  There was a bit of discussion, but at this point much of the group had resigned to calling it a day at zion lodge and hoping to catch a ride to Jamie's truck from there.

They were kind enough to take some photos of us before we headed towards potato hollow:

At this point, the day was starting to wear on most everbody.  Leah and I were dragging pretty noiceably, Jamie was holding strong, and continued to break a good bit of trail, and Lacy was starting to come into her own.  She would take turns with Jamie breaking trail, and setting a solid pace, especially considering the requirement to break trail.

We dropped into potato hollow, 9 miles to Zion Canyon, and our final aid station, and likely bail out point.  We continued following the elk tracks through the hollow and consulting the map to make sure we were on track, and as we were starting to wonder if we'd strayed too far from the path, were greeted with a welcome sign:

Another bit of a climb up out of potato hollow which Lacy broke trail for.  Once we were on top again, there were some more incredible views. As Jamie and I were coming to the top, we caught a glimpse of a chunk of ice and snow as it fell from the opposing cliffs:

Leah and Lacy heard the crash as the snow and ice slammed into the canyon below.

We enjoyed the views briefly before beginning the descent.  A pleasant surprise as most of the snow had melted off the trail and we enjoyed some clear running down much of the switch backs ( i need a gimball, or to learn how to run more smoothly)

After some precarious climbing over snow blocking the trail, and a slip almost of the side by Jamie, we found ourselves once again at the bottom of another climb, gazing up at the rock formations surrounding us. 

We made our way up another set of climbs to scouts lookout or something like that.  Along the way up, Lacy pointed out several mule deer hanging out enjoying their dinner:

Shortly after this we were at the top and ready for our final descent into Zion canyon.  The initial set of switchbacks were ice covered and pretty steep:

Lacy made quick work of them letting out shouts of joy ever once so often, while Jamie, Leah, and myself chose a more cautious and slow approach.  Once the switch backs opened up a bit, i was able to put in a good effort, and managed to close the gap to run with Lacy for a bit.  We were descending as twilight was settling in on the canyon, making for some pretty incredible views:

As we got to the bottom of the canyon, and gathered the last of our supply drops, we made our way to the road just in time for a ride.  We decided it in our best interest to save the final 10 miles of trail for another trip, so we shall be back once the weather warms a bit, and the schedule affords.

We were fortunate enough that the first car stopped, and offered us a ride.  Two grad students from Cincinnati who had quite the trip planned:  they flew in to vegas, and were planning on hitting up zion, bryce, arches, monument valley, the grand canyon, and the back to vegas before they returned home (i think i missed one or two of their destinations).

They were super considerate, and tolerant, offering all 4 of us a ride, so we all piled in and commenced steaming up their windows (we were very volatile according to the female).  We all got a good laugh out of that, and she tried to explain she was more referring to the heat we were producing than the odor.  regardless if she found our odor overpowering or not, we all agreed we each produced a noticeable odor, and were to pick up Sirius and my truck, get food, and another hotel (Colorado is making me soft:)

We got some pizza, headed back to the hotel, cleaned up and slept.  The next morning, the ladies headed back to colorado, and i hung around to meet up with Mike and Catalina for some hiking in Zion over the weekend.

All in all it was an incredible trip, great views, lots of fresh air, and very good people to share it with.  i look forward to the next adventure, with perhaps a little less snow as there is plenty of that locally.


More photos can be found here:  http://photo-op.smugmug.com

the garmin details can be found here

in summary:
miles:  38.62
elevation gain:  4977 ft
Elapsed time:    12:40:19
Moving time:       8:50:08 (+ time slowly climbing and postholing)

Zion adventures

the trip that kept back and forthing continued to do so throughout.  At first mike and i were talking about coming to zion to traverse the park from west to east.  After a little bit, john and gena were going to join us, then a few weeks before the scheduled departure, leah was added to the roster.  10 days before, the party grew again, Jamie and lacy were adjusting somethings so they could join as well.

there was talk about going to the grand canyon and doing a double crossing instead of the zion.  that would work, though many of us were anxious to see zion for the first time, a double crossing would prove to be an excellent way to spend the day, and logistically easier.

we all met up the weekend before our departure for Leadville Running Company's first annual reindeer run.  all were in good spirits and looking forward to the coming week and our trip.  after the run we met up for happy hour and to go over the logistics.  We would all meet up in leadville and depart at 7pm.

The day before our departure, mike learned his hip pain was due to a labral tear in his hip, he was out.  after some logistical adjustments, it was decided to head to zion and proceed with the traverse.  Leah, Sirius and I would meet Jamie and Lacy in minturn on Tuesday night and we'd head out from there.

We got to Zion early Wednesday morning, set up camp, and got some much appreciated rest.  Lacy,  Sirius, and I woke somewhat early, and decided to wander around and check out the area.  When we returned, Leah and Jamie were up, we made a meager fire waited for the sun to come out (it didn't make it on wednesday), and then started prepping things for a couple supply drops and logistics.

We dropped Jamie's truck off at the east entrance, and stopped by the grocery store to pick up some last minute treats for our supply drops.

We dropped the first bag at the bottom of angels landing a short stretch from the zion lodge, the second bag of treats at the hop valley trail head, and proceeded towards lava point for our third set of supplies.  After some slipping and sliding, we chose the cautious approach and skipped the 1.8 mile drive through unplowed roads to the lava point drop location.  This would mean we'd have aid at mile 13 and mile 38.

By this point we were all pretty tired and ready for food and sleep.  We opted to get a hotel and have a good nights sleep and a good meal before starting on the adventure.  After a little discussion and review, we opted to have mexican for dinner, and decided on a local restaurant:  Lupita's.

We had no idea what a treat we were in for.  We were greeted by a small mexican gift shop with all sorts of random articles.  Somehow nobody thought to document any of this, i think we were just overwhelmed with the state of the restaurant.  We sat down and ordered.

When the waitress came with our food, everybody was pleased and we all began eating immediately.  Everything was super tastey.  definitely worth visiting if you are in the cedar city area and like good mexican food.

next stop hotel.  we migrated the necessary items into the hotel, packs, sleeping bags and pads, and whatever supplies we would be trekking across the park with.  Sirius and i headed out for out evening walk.  It was snowing, fortune was on our side, a nice warm hotel for roughly the same price to pitch our tents amongst the myriad of people that leave their homes to go camping in an undersized overcrowded tract of land on the side of the I-15.

shortly before 5 the alarms starting going off.  time to get moving.  a final once over of our gear, final choices of attire, which was pretty lightweight as the morning turned out to be slightly warmer than the previous day.  a pleasant surprise.  We transfer everything back to the truck and head to the trailhead.

Sirius would stay in the car at Lee's pass for the day while we made our push for the east park entrance and Jamie's truck.

If you are interested in the day's adventures, check out part 2:

enjoying the snow

It's been a couple weeks since the last write up.  i like to believe i'm getting the hang of this winter running deal.  it's more like the running done in Juneau during the Alaska Mountain Ultrarunning Camps  Lots of scenery and enjoying the views.  I haven't been very good about bringing my camera along, perhaps that will change.

One thing for sure, it's definitely a bit colder here than i've had the pleasure of experiencing during the past 15 or 20 years.  As a matter of fact i can't recall running in negative or single digit temperatures before about a month ago.  It takes a good bit of motivation to get moving, and i've been struggling a little trying to keep my feet warm, but once you overcome these couple of hurdles, it's an incredible experience.

This past week has been extra cold.  I don't know that it's been above 10 since the 1st.  The average temperature on my runs has been right around 3 degrees, lots of snow means even running on the road is like running on a trail (if you choose the right roads).  surrounded by trees with the crunching of snow under foot, it's a great experience so far.

Once i figure out how to keep my feet warm, i'm sure things will be much more enjoyable.  For now, i'm just focusing on playing in the snow and trying to find some new trails.

In a couple weeks, there will be an excursion to either zion or the grand canyon, either one will be a great time with good people, looking forward to some warmer weather, until then, i'll be making fresh tracks and seeking out more fun trails.

Winter wonderland

It's been over a month since i've written anything down.  I've been busy with too many endeavors to make writing a priority, but over this past weekend, i had a couple truly fun runs and explorations through the winter wonderlands which have become home, and felt a couple paragraphs and pictures were in order.

I was doing a bit of traveling and managed to get in some really fun runs in san diego with victor (revisited some old familiars, sunset cliffs).

In new york, exploring some of the hills i used to roam about as a kid.  how much less climbing there seems to be, but so much fun and lots of obstacles in the form of hidden rocks, fallen trees, and briar patches.  I also had the pleasure of following my good friend Ian of Finger Lakes Running Company through some of the spectacular trails around Ithaca.  If you love down home back to your roots type of running where the race director isn't the most organized, but pours every ounce of his soul into the event and makes an effort to accomodate every participant, you won't find a better fit than Ian and his races:

• cayuga trails 50 we ran a bit of the course, and it is incredible views and some very technical sections, along the way we came across some railroad tie sections (literally railroad tie sized pieces of wood) which had washed down into a gully below the trail.  Ian, and his genuine love for his local trails proposed a little cross training:  and so we proceeded to haul each of the 15 or 20 hunks of wood up out of the gully and place them above the trail.  sorry no pictures, i truly wished i had my camera on this trek.
• Virgil Crest Ultras: if you are interested in doing an ultra with incredible support, Ian offers a 50k, 50 miler, and a 100 miler on some super technical and fun trails.  As with everything i've seen Ian do, all his heart and soul, and that of his family gets poured into this race, ensuring the participants have a great time, and get their monies worth.  it's a tough course, deceptively tough.  there are only a few sections that you can turn your brain off and run. the vast majority of the race your trying to figure out your footing, and wiggling through trees.  Despite my thoughts that the course is well marked, it is a bit of an adventure, and has had 1 or 2 sections each year that are a bit tricky, though most of it is super easy to follow.  If you want to read more, my buddy Scott Magee wrote a great little post on the course, and i've written a few over the years:
• 2013 VCU 50 miler
• 2012 100 miler (or my version the 50k)
• 2009 100 miler (my abrided 50 miler)
• 2008 my first 100 mile finish

Upon arriving back in leadville I got in touch with Mike to see what was on the agenda for running.  A small group runs out of Breckenridge saturday mornings, so it was off to breckenridge for some explorations, with a bail out option around 10 miles.  no camera, just enjoying the fresh snow and once again surrounding myself with trails and a few good people.  Mike and I opted to go up Mt Royal, one of Mikes favorite spots in all of Colorado.  This has to be worth checking out.  After nearly an hour of scrambling up icy trails we reached the summit, overlooking the 70, and Frisco, windblown and full of snow and rocks, it was incredible.  i can see why Mike loves this place so much.  There will be more trips up Mt Royal.  We scrambled back down and met up with the rest of the group at the coffee shop, warmed up a bit, and took the shuttle back to Breckenridge (It takes a certain kind of fortitude to head out for another 10 miles in 20 degree weather with snow falling and wind blowing after drinking hot liquids and sitting in a cozy coffee shop for the better part of an hour:  none of us had it today).  Instead we sat in the warm shuttle and had good conversations.

I did a couple other little runs throughout the week, and joined the group again in Breckenridge on Saturday for a short excursion through a light dusting of fresh snow:

a light dusting of snow down in Breckenridge

Following through some packed paths

trees and blue skies - a lovely day for a run

dogs love snow

looking back on the trail as the crew regroups

I did an encore performance on sunday with a bit more climbing and a lot more snow.  i had hoped to run a bit more than i did on the ascent, but the fresh snow, climbing, altitude, cold, and my breathing all suggested it was more of a hike up with some short efforts at running, and a fun jaunt down:

The goal: mt massive

flat and somewhat packed early on

started out a bit overdressed, but i'm cautious these days

almost ate some of these, but decided they weren't really raspberries

wiggling through the trees

all this climbing makes things warmer

breaking new ground

looking back on the trail i am working on

no photos from the return trip, i was having too much fun "running" down.

Some more photos of my running excursions can be found here

20131015 adventures

6 runs since welcome winter, and i thought things were going well.  After todays debacle, it seems there are somethings that need adjusting.

Just shy of 40 miles with a little less than 5,000' of gain, nothing spectacular, and nothing impressive either.

today's run was the coup de grâce.  it was supposed to be an easy jaunt, i knew i was a little light on calories over the past 2 days, and was planning on taking it pretty slow and enjoying the scenery.  When i got to Crowder State Park in North Carolina, it was too tempting to run to South Carolina (an easy 8 mile jog over Kings Pinnacle, and along a ridgeline), how could i resist.

Everything started out fine, a nice easy climb over just under 2 miles and some great views (pictures to come, i left my cable at home, so am unable to get the photos off my camera yet), then a fun little rolling 6.5 mile section dipping into south carolina for the turn around.  
At the turn around, i felt a bit tired, but figured i'd be ok, jogging back at the same pace i held on the way out.  After about 2 miles on the way back, things began to really fall apart.  At this time, i was beginning to think i could use some water and something to eat (it would have been good to think of this a couple hours ago when i decided to go without either).  The ups turned into walks (though none of them were terribly steep, nor where they long).  I was still able to cruise the descents pretty well, and found a little solace in that.  It's kind of like coasting down on a bike, is my body getting acclimated to just letting gravity do the work?  it seems as such.

But i pay severely on the climbs.  With about 3 miles left, things got even worse.  i was feeling extremely haggard, my legs were aching, and my body was depleted.  I don't recall feeling this depleted on any of my runs.  I was a bit dizzy, and looking for one of those many benches i'd seen on the way out.  on a couple of occasions, i sat down along the side of the trail hoping things would straighten out, and i'd feel better again.

this never happened.  i kept moving forward as i figured the sooner i get back to the car, the sooner i could get some water and calories.  as i came around the side of kings pinnacle (i was eager to avoid any climbing i could and anxious to make my way back down to the part visitor center).  I saw a sign indicating there were only 2 miles left, a glimmer of hope, though i was still sinking further into the depths of depletion.

I took a slightly different route back, hoping it would be shorter, and less technical (as i remember the pinnacle trail having 1 or 2 somewhat technical rocky sections, which i was eager to avoid in my wonky state).  i made it back to the visitor center, and sat in the rental car for several minutes before i could muster the ambition or energy to walk to the water fountain fill my bottle.

i drank a bit form the fountain and some from the bottle on my way back to the car.  i then sat down again, and felt myself growing nauseous.  i had no desire to eat, and was now feeling nauseous, great, i need liquid and food, and all i want to do is throw it up.

i laid the seat back and stayed there for 10 - 15 minutes waiting to feel like i could drive to get some food and liquid.  i made it to the grocery store about 3 miles away, and again laid the seat back and tried not to throw up.  i stayed there another 15 - 20 minutes before i was able to muster the ambition to go into the store and get something to try and settle my stomach and regain my strength.

I went in, grabbed a 1/2 gallon of chocolate milk, a box of mango juice, 2 liters of coke, some yogurt (planning for breakfast), some black berries, and a bunch of bananas.  The woman at the checkout looked quizzically at the blackberries, and asked "do you eat these", i was a bit surprised and responded "yes, they are super tasty".

I drank a bit of the mango juice, and some coke, and again laid the seat back and hoped it would stay down.  After another 10 minutes i started to feel a bit better, and actually found myself actually thinking about food.  a good steak.

on my way back to Charlotte, i stopped by Old Stone Steakhouse, and had a very tasty meal.  things contiued to turn around, and i was feeling back to normal, except i was strangely full with relatively little food.

Looking back on the previous week, it seems i have been neglecting eating.  thinking back, i can't remember eating too much, and the food i've been eating has been low grade.  maybe 1 or 2 meals a day of some eggs a couple peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, maybe some pasta.  tonight i sat down to dinner, and had trouble eating a small salad, 20oz steak, a small yam, and a medium piece of cake (normally i am able to eat this and plenty more, especially after a 3.5 hour run).

Now that the house is in a pretty stable and livable condition, I'll be trying to focus on much higher quality and more consistent eating habits and see if that helps turn things around.

Welcome Winter

i had a couple short higher effort runs on monday and tuesday, neither was fantastic, both were pretty much on roads, and just to try to satisfy my desire to be out and running again.  then work and life (the temperatures are really starting to drop, 20's at night and 50's during the day, so getting a furnace and some form of heat took priority over running).  The good news, i have a gas fireplace, which is now working, and does a good job of keeping the house around 60 degrees.

Saturday was time for the welcome winter run, apparently an annual event in the making, started last year, and continued this year.  The group began to assemble at City on a Hill Coffee shop at a little after 6 am.  It was a bit cold (around 20), but spirits where high.  Due to the previous nights snow the original route was abandoned for what turned out to be a really fun loop from the fish hatchery over to hagerman pass via mt massive, and back.   John promised to run faster than everyone and flag the non obvious turns.

After a little food and drink, everyone began piling into cars, and off we went to begin our adventure. it was a little beyond brisk at the start, a small amount of fresh snow covered the ground as we began up the fire road our of the fish hatchery.  We carried on, Mike performing heel clicks and spinning off rocks.  we carried on up the initial climb into the mt massive wilderness area, periodically regrouping.

we took a couple wrong turns and lost on several occasions, but managed to find it again and continue on our way.  there were a couple creek crossings, one of which warranted balancing on a log, and resulted in milo (Ryan? and Leah's dog) over the creek:

and we were off once again.  after a couple more crossings of this creek, we were climbing up through the far sides of mt massive, and had some great views of mt massive as well as a group photo op, as everyone was once again together:

As we were cresting the ridge to head down into hagerman pass, we were above tree line, and greeted with a good bit of wind and rocky trail.  It was pretty fun to watch the snake of color ahead of me:

A little shaky, and blurry in the beginning, but it gives an idea of the wind and train of color.

After that there was another fun little descent and some deep snow sections:

 taking us down to the Hagerman tunnel, which once connected leadville and basalt via the midland railroad.

We again regrouped here and ate a bit enjoying the warmth of the sun, and discussing the remaining route:  we'd continue down hagerman pass, then start up towards sugarloaf on the leadville 100 course, hopping back on the colorado trail around the top of sugarloaf and following that to highline and rock creek trails back to the fish hatchery.

The group began to stretch out again here.  once we started up towards sugarloaf, most chose to hike up and enjoy the views of turquoise lake and the surrounding area:

Once on the colorado trail we were greeted with some fun little rolling sections.

All in all it was a great little adventure, and warmed up nicely.  The route was excellent, and the fact that there were so many great people and we all stayed pretty close together once we finished the initial climb made it all the better.

This year's route brought to you by John, Mike and Garmin:


Welcome Winter!

Some more photos can be found here:

Minimal running, but some fun adventures

and some new cold weather gear

There hasn't been a lot of running going on, to be honest, since finishing leadville, and a couple since completing virgil crest ultra 50.  Those few runs have proven to be pretty entertaining, looking back on them makes them even more so.

1 run in particular is worth a short story.  I was helping mark the UROC 100k course between Frisco and Copper Mountain, which happened to cross the 10 mile range.  The day started out pretty gloomy, with some snow and rain.

I headed down to Frisco to meet up with Mike and a couple others that were going to help mark the course.  around 12 we started out on the trek which would climb up over the 10 mile range, and take us up around 12,500'.  This promised to have some good weather in store for us, and it made good on the promise.

The first couple miles were spent climbing up a dirt road before turning into some pretty fun single track, that continued climbing.  the 3 of us (Brian, Sandi, and myself) were enjoying a leisurely climb, alternating between a jog and a hike.  Making sure to put surveyor flags every so often to make sure the runners would be able to follow the course tomorrow.

some comments were made regarding there being less snow then expected.  then we got above tree line, and were hiking through snow a little over ankle deep and making our way up to the ridge.  spirits were still high, though it was starting to get a little chilly (good thing i brought my patagonia houdini, a very light and thin wind breaker:  i'm getting better at this preparation thing).  once we were on the ridge, things got pretty real.

the banter stopped, the flags started to get placed a little farther apart.  the wind was howling, the snow was coming down sideways, and we were all getting cold.  everybody added all the layers they had.  Of course, in all my preparation, i had a hat (which was serving as a glove by now), an asics cold weather running shirt, shorts, and of course my magic houdini.  at this point we could see about 100 yards in front of us, and the pace was quickening.  everybody was ready to get off the ridge and out of the winds and snow.

Patagonia Houdini

The houdini stored in it's pocket for convenient carrying

ice covered my legs (literally, i had balls of ice all over my legs, on the windward side), the windward side of my face was starting to freeze, literally, ice was forming on my eyelashes and eyebrows and obscuring my vision on that side. I put my hood up and was thinking how grim things were beginning to look.  My hands were so cold, they stopped working correctly.

1 hand was wrapped in the glove to keep warm, the other i tucked under my shirt next to my body to try and warm it.  i would rotate the hands every so often to try to keep some dexterity.  I was looking around and hoping we'd come to the descent and get back into the trees for some shelter from this beating we were taking.

then about 1/2 way through the ridge section, we lost the trail, or rather re-routed the race course, along a ridge, then down through a rock field back to the actual trail.  at this point we were moving pretty good, the lead runner (yes we were doing everything we could to run at this point, despite the close to knee deep snow that we would punch through periodically) would place a flag, the other two would continue around.  wash rinse repeat.

this continued for what seemed like an eternity, in reality it was probably 1 - 2 miles of extreme discomfort and cold like i haven't experienced in a while (and i've been without heat for all of september).  finally we began to descend and the snow thinned out, revealing lots of rocks and a pretty steep descent on technical footing.  at this point the banter was starting to come back, things were warming up, and we were back to having a good time.

we enjoyed some really fun single track descent over the next several miles and a fun little flat section before crossing the 91, and making our way through copper mountain and into where the aid station would be.

that was a very tough and fun little section.  there were times i was thinking:

 i worked so hard to try and make sure i was prepared so i wouldn't be that guy that search and rescue was looking for, and now i'm galavanting over this pass in some pretty severe weather (temps in the 20's and winds gusting around 40mph with snow:  these are all estimates on my part, so i'm sure it's a bit off), at least i'm with 2 other people, both with tights, gloves, hats, and multiple jackets.  just keep moving forward and get out of this weather.

When it was all said and done, it wasn't that bad (definitely a hindsight thing).  I did learn a bit, and gained more respect for the mountains, and the weather they offer up.  I went out and bought some cold weather gear:

knickers (yep 3/4 tights)

Marmot Mica a more substantial shell than the houdini

Marmot Mica stored in it's pocket

The houdini in it's pocket, next to the mica in it's pocket for comparison

black diamond liner gloves (not as warm as i expected, but definitely has to be better than bare hands)

With that, I believe i'm prepared for this weekends welcome winter run, i forget the details, but its' something like 60k (37ish miles) over 3 or 4 passes, including hope pass (around 12,500'), and of course all the 50 degree weather we've had this week, is leaving.  Being replaced with some nice 20 degree weather, and snow.  looks like i'll be carrying some cold weather gear, good think i'm more prepared than i was last week.

if this goes well, maybe i'll actually get up on some of those ridgelines i've been eyeing??  one adventure at a time.