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- posted by Bill Wright @ Wednesday, April 28, 2010

 
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.
- posted by Bill Wright @ Sunday, July 26, 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.
- posted by Bill Wright @ Tuesday, July 14, 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.
- posted by Bill Wright @ Friday, July 03, 2009

 
TLPT: Green Mountain


I was shocked to see Jennifer, her friend, Adrian, and Greg all waiting at the Gregory Canyon Trailhead at 5:29 a.m. when I pulled in. I quickly explained the route and got the ladies and Adrian moving. As Greg and I prepared, up walks Peter. Either he's taller in the morning or I'm shorter, but he looked 6'5" and I think his legs were roughly twice as long as mine.

Greg started about 5-7 minutes after the first group and Peter started about 90 seconds after him. I used the facilities at the trailhead, got a drink, and gave chase roughly 1-2 minutes after Peter. I had promised to buy breakfast burritos for anyone who could come within ten minutes of Homie's time (41:20) and Greg had his eyes firmly set on this. Peter was intent on beating Homie's time.

I started my watch in the parking lot and gave chase. I ran for a bit, but soon turned to power hiking. I'd run whenever the angle allowed me to and hike everything else. I caught Adrian first and asked how far ahead Peter was. "Five minutes," he says. Five minutes!? That can't be right. Could it?

I next caught the ladies and once again they were not suffering like me. They were enjoying the hike. I should try that sometime... It does look like fun.

Next up was Greg, working hard, keeping his eye on the prize: sub 51:20. Visions of breakfast burritos were bouncing inside his head. I went on by but there as still no sign of Peter. Did that young kid get lost? Trip on the shorts he had dangling way below his waist and fall down the slope? I pressed on, but turned my attention to my watch now. I hadn't done this trail in a long time and didn't know what splits I needed.

Roughly ten minutes from the summit I finally caught a glimpse of Peter up ahead. He saw me as well and pushed the pace. Of course I wanted to catch him but, just like Dan last week, I could not. Peter topped out about a minute in front of me. I stopped my watch on the very highest point of the summit rock: 39:23. Peter probably did around 40 minutes flat. If that kid would train, he'd be a monster. All he's been doing lately is taking jumps on his BMX bike.

We waited on top for Greg, enjoying the perfect weather and outstanding views of the mountains to the west. Longs Peak looked impressive. That's our goal two months from now. When my watch showed 49 minutes, we started down, knowing that Greg was going to miss his goal. Less than a minute from the summit we ran into Greg and waited for him to tag the summit and join us for the descent.

A few minutes further down we ran into the ladies, doing great. We continued running down for quite a ways before catching up Adrian. He had a hard time limit and turned around after 65 minutes of hiking. We hiked the rest of the way down with him.

The roundtrip for this hike was just 4.1 miles and we climbed just over 2400 vertical feet. Longs Peak is roughly four times the distance and more than twice as much vertical feet. And the trailhead starts 1000 feet higher than the summit of Green Mountain. We'll be ready, though.
- posted by Bill Wright @ Monday, June 29, 2009

 
Tendril Training on Sanitas


I offered up a free breakfast to anyone who showed up this morning to hike up Mt. Sanitas...with one small catch: you had to beat me to the top. I was offering up head starts, though. A number of people seemed interested, but when 6:30 a.m. came and went and only Adrian and I were there, I wasn't shocked, but was a bit disappointed. I guess an Egg McMuffin just doesn't have the appeal that it used to. Maybe it's Boulder? I should have offered a fruit smoothie and a vegetarian, free-range, fair-trade bagel. I'm learning...

Adrian started up and I vowed to give him an 8-minute lead. I jogged back to the parking lot and used the bathroom, all the while scanning for later arrivals. Standing in the parking lot, I heard "Bill!" I looked high up the hill and there I spotted the Wrong Way Women: Patricia and Kristin. They had parked in the wrong location and started up a different trail, but they were on track now. I told them to get moving so that they could catch Adrian and that I'd give chase.

As I started back toward the trail, Greg came by in his hot red car (still his after everyone failed on the South Boulder Peak challenge two weeks ago). I met him in the lot and told him the bad news: "You're head start has been cut due to your tardy arrival!"

Greg started up 8 minutes after Adrian and I gave chase after another minute. I caught Greg in about 5 minutes. We were both hiking the steepest part. A few minutes later I ran down the ladies. I'm huffing and puffing and sweat is streaming down my face in rivers, and the chicks are smiling, look great, aren't sweating, chatting away - basically, they were "Not doing it right!" I mean, it looked like they were having a great time enjoying the morning. What's wrong with these two?

I moved slowly on by running my 20-minute/mile pace on a rare section that was runnable. I hike about two thirds to three quarters of this ascent and hike the rest. I caught and passed Adrian next, giving him an update on the late-comers to the morning hike.

I was hurting and fading as I neared the top when I spotted Dan Copelove ahead. He's a new, young guy in the firmware group, training for a marathon. I saw him running a few of the sections that were too steep for me to run. Needless to say, I didn't catch him. He was the first up, earning a not-so-coveted Egg McMuffin.

I started down the way I came to give others some encouragement. I soon found Greg, only a few minutes behind. Next was Adrian. Further down I asked a couple if they had seen two young women. At first they responded, "No", but on further thought corrected it to, "Oh, yes, they were sitting down taking a water break." Sitting down!!?? They are lucky I didn't witness such a travesty. I'm fine with proper hydration, as long as you can do on the move. I need to work on these two.

The chicks caught Adrain just before the top and then elbowed him aside so that they could beat him to the top. I hope Adrian appreciates the competitive spirt in our company.

We all hiked down together (except for Dan, who ran down) via the Valley Trail, making a loop out of the hike. Total time was around 80 minutes, 3.5 miles of hiking, 1200+ feet of vertical gain. Longs Peak is roughly equivalent to doing this loop four times. Next up: Green Mountain.

Oh, and I did offer to buy McMuffins for everyone...and only two people took me up on it: Greg and Dan.
- posted by Bill Wright @ Friday, June 26, 2009

 
Tendril Longs Peak Training Hike: Flagstaff


This morning Adrian and Jennifer showed up for a Tendril Longs Peak Training Hike (TLPTH). It was the first for both of them. We did the classic Flagstaff time-trial course and then looped it by coming down Gregory Canyon. Jennifer and I did 3-minute intervals on the way up. We'd run for 3 minutes and then rest while we waited for Adrian to catch up. Then we'd go again. It took us 41 minutes to get to the top. Here Jennifer turned around and ran back down while Adrian and I hiked the rest of the loop.

We met at 6 a.m. and were back at the cars by 7:30 a.m. The weather was perfect. It's mornings like these that convince you that getting up really earlier is worth it. I've attached the map of our hike and the elevation profile.

Next week we'll do Sanitas, I think, and save Green Mountain for the following week.
- posted by Bill Wright @ Thursday, June 18, 2009