Trail Running Reports
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Green Mountain - the long way
The longest direct route up Green Mountain has got to be Bear Canyon. It is just over 4 miles from the Devil's Thumb trailhead to the summit and climbs over 2500 feet. I ran this with Sheri today and it was hot. Despite doing a 9.5 hour day on Spearhead and Chiefshead the day before I wanted to try a tempo ascent. I gave Sheri a 5-minute lead and then gave chase. I ran her down after 25 minutes and she was walking at that point. She was just getting some exercise and not going hard.
I ran until just a minute or two past the junction with the West Ridge of Bear Peak trail. This was about 42 minutes. I power hiked the rest and made the summit in 58:36. I was sweating profusely. Sheri joined me in 7 minutes and we left immediately. It was a complete zoo on top. I've never seen so many people on top. We took it pretty easy on the descent and I did the roundtrip in a bit over two hours.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Peter the Great on Bear Peak
Sheri and I met Peter at the Cragmoor Trailhead at 5:30 a.m. and Sheri started up right away. Adrian and Jennifer were already gone. We were all headed for the summit of Bear Peak, though Adrian and Jennifer had to turn around after about 70 minutes for work committments.
Peter and I gave chase after ten minutes. I stayed in the lead for about 13 minutes and then Peter went by. I kept him in sight the rest of the way and at times thought I was reeling him in, but he'd just turn the screws and increase his lead.
Sheri won the ascent by one second over Peter, giving him a crucial hip-check to ensure the win. I was about 30 seconds back in 46:27. We passed Jennifer and Adrian somewhere in Fern Canyon and did not catch them on the way down, which means they turned around early since we were back at the trailhead by 7:13 a.m. Sheri and I took is easy on the descent while Peter ran ahead. Yet we arrived before him. Why? He got lost and showed up a few minutes after us. Hmmm, maybe the only way to beat him is to give him faulty directions... I'm going to try that next time.
The roundtrip on this is a mere 4.8 miles, though it does involve 2750 feet of climbing.
Friday, July 03, 2009
Twin Sisters
The Twin Sisters is a mountain across from Longs Peak that rises to around 11,500 feet. I had never climbed it before. Mark Oveson and his son Jacob picked me up at my work at 5 a.m. this morning and we drove up to the trailhead.
We started up the trail and I asked Mark if we were hiking it or running it. He said "I think we should trot." So I did.
The weather was overcast and threatening, but it never did anything more than a slight spitting on the summit. It was good running conditions. I ran 95% of the trail to the summit and topped out in 55:50. Mark and Jacob topped out in just under 1hr02m. After I topped out, I came down to meet those two and then went back up.
We ran the entire way down at a casual pace with me leading. With about a mile to go Jacob took a nasty fall. He smashed his knees and banged his chest very hard. We took 5 minutes or so for Jacob to gather himself and recover. He's a tough kid, but he'll be feeling that one for awhile.
We did the roundtrip in 1h49m and I was back at work by 9 a.m.
