Week 6 Rainier Training

Day 1 of week 6 Consisted of a 7 mile training hike up to Quandary Peak.  Jordan and I left the trail head at about 6:15am, me with a 56lbs pack her with a 30lbs pack.  I appreciated the fact that she carried a pack too so she wasn't waiting on me.  We blew through the first section through the trees in about an hour.  We stopped for a drink and a quick snack.

It was an icy hike but we managed without crampons or snowshoes although we carried both on our backs.  After you leaver the trees you start the uphill slog.  It is relentless.  We found enough good snow we didn't even need out crampons.  We were able to kick steps if they weren't already there.

We ran into a few people and a few goats.  We kept on moving at a pretty steady pace up till the last I would say 800-1000 feet of elevation gain.  It gets steeper here and with the pack and as the air got thinner fewer steps made you tired.  As we got to the false summit approximately 100 yards away I told Jordan I was going to make a haul for the summit.  I tightened my pack and took off at a very fast pace.  I saw the top and I was going to make it.  I got about 25 yards and was exhausted.  I guess I overestimated my ability to push the limit.  It just made me realize I need to Spend some more time at elevation and possibly spend a few nights on top (more on that later).  We finally made it to the top where I met a nice guy named Jon.  He explained he had just completed a Project where he spent the night on the summit of all 58 of CO's 14ers in one season. Check out his site: http://www.jonkeverest.org/  Nice guy, gave me some pointers, snapped some photos and we headed down. 

We made it down a different way, A little longer than we had hoped.  But we spent some time with this guy on the way down.

We made it back to the car, the total hike was about 6 hours.  

To the Summit at 208lbs my weight with a loaded pack took 4 hours.  3.5 miles, 3,500 feet of elevation gain.  My Goal was 3.5 hours.  I have alot of work to do in the next 10 weeks.  This week I am focusing on eating for training and extending my workouts.  Looking for Tuesday and Thursday to be 3 hour workouts including some good outside work.  The good news was I am doing something right.  I am not the least bit sore today.  I feel a little tight in the legs when I sat all day but I could definitely Hike Quandary again.