Pike's Peak Marathon

Well, I did it. I've wanted to do it for three years and it actually happened yesterday. I didn't think I was ready, but I actually felt pretty strong the whole race. I think the key was really just patience. Patience waiting in the bottle necked areas and conserving energy and patience with my tired legs the last two miles on the steep switchbacks. I couldn't have asked for better weather, so that helped a lot, too.

It's been only four weeks since the Half Ironman. I was hoping that my fitness from that race would really help me on Pike's. It turns out that it totally did. I was hopeful that in my Ironman training I could incorporate some hill climbing, but I really didn't do to my calf injury and the element of time. There was so much cycling I had to do, that when it came time for running I often just wanted to get it done. There were a couple of times I made it up high in July (Mount Audubon with Dan), but most of the training for Pike's came after Lake Stevens. I'm so grateful to Dan who ran with me 4 days on our vacation after the race so we got in something like 41 miles and 11,000' of climbing. That was huge! A week later I ran up to the Keyhole on Longs and then over to Battle Mountain, spent two hours on top of Evans with Amanda (great for acclimatizing!), and then ran up Buffalo Mountain on our anniversary. The third week I did Green Mountain after a day of CDE work in Denver, a lap and a half on South Arapahoe (mentally this was awesome training--and for the legs and lungs, too!), and South Boulder Peak with Dan. The week before the race I really took it easy with some swimming, biking, and a quick jaunt up Sanitas. Yesterday my legs felt good and I was ready to go!

I ran through Manitou Springs on the road. Then when we turned off onto the fire road I started hiking. It's just too steep to run efficiently. After the first aid station the two-mile narrow switchbacks begin. Three years ago I expended a lot of energy trying to pass people, but yesterday I resolved to just go with the flow. I settled into a slow pace, but it was good to wake up my climbing legs. People were super friendly and we had some good laughs on the way up. Around Bob's Road where the trail begins to open up (and descent a little bit!) I got some running in. I was nice to actually do some good 'ole trail running! From there to Barr Camp (7.5 miles in) it was a mix of hiking and running with a decent amount of room to pass if needed. Thank goodness for the restrooms and grapes at Barr Camp. They were a godsend twice! After Barr you begin get up into Krummolz and thinner air AND narrower trails. I couldn't believe the lines here--and people were going slower due to the elevation. I did do some passing here because I needed to. Soon, we popped up above treeline and the real fun began. At this point, people were really nice about letting me pass and we started seeing the leaders fly down the mountain (ok, the first couple of men we saw before treeline). Race rules require that uphill travelers step aside for those coming down, so there was plenty of opportunity for rest steps. As we got higher, the traffic jam got bigger. The 16 golden steps were a clusterf*** of runners going up and down. Though I made it to the top in 4:33 (10 minutes faster than 3 years ago), I seriously think I could have done it five minutes faster without all the traffic. Oh well. Patience. The weather was perfect. I didn't even need to put on gloves or a long sleeve shirt. Despite the thunderstorm off to the north, I couldn't have asked for better conditions.

At the summit I stretched for two minutes and then started down. It was so nice when people got out of the way for me! There was great comraderie the whole time up high--everyone was giving everyone encouragement. The trip to the treeline went pretty quickly and before I knew it I had the trail to myself. I keep getting lots of grapes at all the aid stations because they tasted so good and they had water in them. Barr Camp came up quicker than I expected (at mile 7.5). I made another pit stop and refilled my camelbak. I tried something new (which you're not supposed to do during a race, but it worked really well!) and put Nuun tablets in my camelbak for the last hour or so of the race. This really helped keep me in balance, that and the extra salt I added to my bag of pretzels! The cloud cover on the way down was AWESOME! It kept the temps a good 10-15 degrees cooler. After Barr Camp there were some uphills, believe it or not. I decided to walk these because they were really hard. The last couple of miles started to get to my knees, but I kept a slow pace and really kept watching my footing. This seemed to really help (today my knees don't feel bad at all!). The last mile and a quarter were on HARD pavement. Boy, I could really feel a difference from the tail at this point. We went back down the fire road and I realized just how steep it really was. The last half a mile I let it all out and just ran as fast as I could. I was ready for the race to be over and I wanted my finisher's shirt! The streets of Manitou were lined with people giving high fives and cheering for all the runners. A great atmosphere! I was so happy to cross the finish line, and do so so in relatively good shape. I hit all my goal times for the day and finished in 7:28:18. Today, I still can't believe I did it :-)

Harvard and Columbia

Ann and I drove to Buena Vista Saturday night so we could camp at the trailhead and get an early start in the morning. We found some pretty good pizza in town for dinner and then went to set up camp. Despite there being a lot of other cars and a lot of other campers, it was a quiet night. Of course, I didn't sleep much though. I don't know what it is about the first night in a tent. Had we camped another night, I would have been dead to the world for sure. Oh well.

Sunday morning we got up a bit after 4:00 and were hiking by 5:00. We knew the bottom part of the trail well, having been there in June. As we got to the Columbia cut-off trail the sun was lighting the way. However, today we continued on the Harvard trail to attempt Colorado's third highest peak. The trail was well-built and the scenery was beautiful. We hiked through some willows, reminiscent of Mount Bierstadt. Then the trail snaked through lots of rock. It seemed to go on forever, but finally after nearly 5 hours we were at the base of the summit block. After a couple of neat scrambling moves we were on top.

It was now 10:00 and clouds were starting to form in the Colorado blue skies. The route to Columbia was 2 miles away on top of a rocky ridge--a long way from treeline. We decided to hike down the ridge for 20 minutes and re-evaluate the weather and terrain.

Twenty minutes later we decided the best course of action was to turn around and descend. We were moving too slowly to safely traverse the ridge so we backtracked to the trail. Nine and a half hours we were at the car. Thought there were dark clouds all around, we never got rained on or hard thunder. Better safe than sorry!

Mount Antero

Yesterday I ran up Mount Antero, my 24th fourteener. It was an awesome day and I'm so glad I did it!

I set my alarm for 4:00, but for some reason I was wide awake at 2:30. I tried desperately to fall back asleep for some much needed rest, but it just didn't work. So at 3:40 I decided it was time to get the show on the road. I got dressed, ate a little breakfast, and was on my way to Buena Vista at 4.

The drive was uneventful, but the sunrise over South Park was amazing. It's so neat how just before dawn you start to see the outlines of the mountains and then they gradually become illuminated by the morning sun. After a quick stop in Fairplay, I made a beeline for the trailhead and parked the car at 7:00. I decided that I wanted to start at the lower trailhead at 9,400 feet rather than try to take the XTerra up the 4-wheel drive road at 10,800. First of all, I wanted the longer distance as a training run for September's Imogene Pass Run and secondly, I was worried about driving up a steep 4-wheel drive road on my own.

At 7:10 I hit the trail and was able to run very steadily the first three miles to the upper trailhead. The road was rocky and wet, but I was able to get a pretty good footing the whole way. The one downer was that it was pitched to the left the whole time, so my right leg was not so happy. I got a few knots in my calf that I had to keep stretching out. The road followed a gorgeous creek with light colored rocks. There were also aspen and pine trees that seemed to climb a mile up into the sky.

The upper trailhead allowed views of the surrounding peaks. They looked like giants from my vantage point and I wondered how I would ever make it to the top. I crossed the stream and continued on. The next mile or so continued along the creek and passed many small pullouts perfect for camping. About and hour and a half into my run, I saw the first people of my trip---a large party camping along the road. I quietly ran by, pretending I didn't see or smell their illegal campfire.

Soon I was finally at the treeline. I could see endless switchbacks snaking their way up the mountain. I didn't realize what a popular 4-wheel drive area this was. There was an extensive "trail" system and even well-marked maps displayed by the High Rockies Off Road Vehicle Club. At this point I ran into a hiker. This older gentlemen was dressed in jeans and nice cowboy boots. He told me he was a "digger" and that his ATV broke down so he was hiking back to "basecamp" to get a replacement part. Ok....fair enough. For a while after we passed I wondered if he really said "digger" and carried on up the switchbacks.

After what seemed to be an eternity I got to the upper regions of the mountains. Here I saw my first ATV of the day (a friendly couple who I saw in the parking lot earlier) and continued on the southern side of the mountain. All the trip reports and trail guides I read said to stay on the road/trail, even when it looked like you could just slog up the scree, stay on the road. So, that's what I did. At one point I did cut a switchback because I thought the road was ending and the scree was super loose and steep. Thankfully, the road continued and I ran up a few more switchbacks. Suddenly, I came to a flat saddle between point 13800 and Mount Antero. The stone and sand were white and the road just ended. I looked to my right and saw a formidable ridge. I thought, "that can't be it, that looks crazy!" I took out my trail description and map and realized it was, in fact, the way to the summit. Gerry Roach described it as class 2 hiking, so I went on my way.

The ridge was actually not bad at all. There was a bit of a trail going through the really rocky part and it led pretty quickly the the summit hill. I scrambled up the talus and made it to the top in just under 3 hours---2:58! To my surprise there were 4 other people on top. A father and daughter and two guys from Germany (I think). It was beautiful on top, but already the clouds were building and I wanted to get down quickly since the treeline was probably an hour and a half away. They were all a bit surprised I had run from the lower trailhead.

I took a few pictures, texted Dan, ate a snack, and headed down. The switchbacks were fun to run and I made it to treeline in less than an hour. Here I started to see more ATVs and 4-wheel drive trucks. Actually, in all I saw 16 (and 2 marmots, 4 pikas, and countless chipmunks---I like counting things :-) People in the ATVs were telling me I was crazy, making them look bad, etc., etc. Pretty funny! Then, just minutes from the car I ran into my digger friend. Turns out he and his buddies dig for aquamarine on the other side of the mountain. Modern miners! Crazy! His friend was trying to get me to join them as they needed people with "my kind of stamina." I don't think so! I got to the car less than two hours after reaching the summit (1:52). What a great day!

Shavano & Tabeguache

On Wednesday, Maggie and I drove up to Buena Vista and camped at the Shavano trailhead. What a gorgeous place! We pitched our tent smack in the middle of an Aspen grove. There was some rain for about half an hour, but it was dry the rest of the evening and into the night. As we were hanging out after dinner, a 22-year-old rode his bike to the parking lot. To celebrate his recent birthday he had ridden from his home in Leadville (60 miles away) and planned to hike the mountain the next day. The poor guy was exhausted and in need of water. Fortunately, we were able to help out, since the nearest stream was a 45-minute hike up the trail. We hit the sack when the sun set to help us get an early start.

Thursday we woke up at 5:00 and were on the trail by 6:00. The trail climbed over 4000' up the east slopes of Shavano, a huge fourteener seen from Salida and Buena Vista. The morning was absolutely perfect. Cool, sunny, and cloudless! There weren't many other people on the trail. Two women from Boulder, a trail runner, and a big Boy Scout group (that started at 3:30!) were the only people we saw until our descent. We reached the summit of Shavano in three hours.

After the necessary pictures and snacks, we started our descent down the northwest ridge to Tabeguache (pronounced Tab-a-watch). Maggie wasn't feeling up to the full descent and subsequent ascent of the neighboring peak. I went on, tagged the summit, and met her back on the ridge in less than an hour. We then climbed to the top of Shavano (again!) before heading back down towards the car. Clouds were starting to form, but they weren't getting too big or too dark. We ran into our buddy from the night before---his legs were shot but he was still having a blast and moving upwards! We returned to the trailhead without incident 7 hours after we left. A great day!

Overall: 11.5 miles, 5400' gain, 7:00 hours

Mt Bierstadt with JJ

Laurel took JJ on his first 14er hike up Mt. Bierstadt. See more pics from JJ.

View of the Sawtooth from the start of the hike

Looking west from the start

JJ on the way up

JJ exploring the summit and start of the Sawtooth traverse

The Sawtooth

Looking far west from the summit

Looking back at the Sawtooth on the descent

Mt. Columbia

Ann and Laurel nearly summited Mt. Columbia.

Horrible scree slopes to the ridgeline

Birthday Peak off in the distance

On the way back down

Someone else's trip report on 14ers.com has a picture of Ann and Laurel on their descent (you can barely see them way off on the right edge of the photo).

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(Laurel) Let me fill in some more details: Ann and I started at the standard trailhead at 7:00am. The first two miles snaked up along a creek and got us to the middle of a huge bowl amongst the surrounding peaks. The trail was very moderate, but over 50-downed trees certainly added to the adventure. I think we add another half mile going around, under and over them! We passed the camping area where many parties stay to launch an early start.

At this point, we were looking for a turn-off that would take us up the west slopes of Columbia. Now, most people follow the main trail to Harvard and then walk the 13,000ft ridge over to Columbia and then descend the slopes. However, being that we were driving from Boulder and it was our first 14er of the season, we wanted to go with the 10-mile option rather than the 12-14 mile one. So, up the trail we went. About fifteen minutes later we found a very distinct trail that sent off to the east. It snaked through some other campsites, but then popped us out onto the western flanks. We followed some cairns and a path up a descent scree slope. Then, the slope got steeper and the scree got looser and looser. It truly felt that for every step we took forward, we slid back two feet. I decided to go explore a rocky outcropping to the right to see if it was any more stable. It turned out it was, and Ann followed me up.

At this point, we got on the grassy west slopes. We took some bearings and decided to change our descent route so we could stay off the loose crap. We followed the slopes to the ridge that appeared to have a great line to the top. Now, this all sounds pretty easy and straightforward, but I assure you, it was anything but. The wind was blowing a steady 20-25 mph and there were stronger gusts. Since the time we left the shelter of the main trail, we were completely out in the open. Secondly, the cairns and the path disappeared. We were navigating our route by the map, our surroundings, and what we knew of the supposed trail. Fortunately, the weather (aside from the wind) was clear and we weren't being threatened by thunderstorms. We continued to crawl up the ridge for over two hours. At that point, we wanted to know if what we saw as the summit was the true summit or a false one. Once again, I scrambled up above Ann to see what I could. Our summit was false and the true one was another 500' vertical above. We had had it. The wind, the slow progress up the scree, and the route finding did us in. We decided to turn back.

A huge success of the day, though, was our teamwork and route-finding. We were able to get down the nicer slopes (there was still some loose scree lower down, but nothing like the ascent) and find our way back to the trail with our excellent skills. We were very grateful to get back on solid ground again. It's always a bummer when you spend a whole day driving and hiking to not summit your goal, but it was definitely the best choice that day. Next time, Columbia!

Grays and Torreys

Laurel ran Grays and Torreys peaks (14ers) with her friends Maggie and Rebekah.

(Laurel) Some more detail: I decided I wanted to run a fourteener (or two) for my birthday. Yes, it's a crazy idea, but why shouldn't I combine two of my favorite things--summitting high mountains and trail running. Fortunately, I was able to recruit two friends. Rebekah is a two-time Boston Marathoner, but new to trail running. Maggie is a seasoned trail runner and we've run together a few times before.

We left southern Boulder at 6:30 and drove up to Idaho Springs. I maneuvered the XTerra adroitly up the 4-wheel drive road to the trailhead. We stepped on the trail at exactly 8:00 and started running. It was a gorgeous, bluebird day and there were only a couple of other parties on the trail. Unfortunately, Maggie was having some GI issues early on, so we split up (against my better judgement, but we put together an excellent plan that I felt comfortable with). Rebekah and I made for the summit. There was some snow covering the trail above 12,000ft, but it was very soft and easily runnable. We headed for Torreys Peak first, and hiked up the steep, rocky slopes. The summit was breath-taking (ha, ha!). It was calm, clear, and we could see for miles around.

After a few minutes, we headed over to Grays. Here, the wind was blowing straight at us and it had frozen the snow on the trail. We put on microspikes and easily hiked to the summit. However, this one was COLD and WINDY. We stayed for a minute or two and quickly began our descent. After about 15 minutes we got out of the wind and enjoyed the rest of the way down. Maggie was at the car sunning herself on a grassy patch reading a book. We wished we had brought a picnic, it was such a perfect day. Overall: 8 miles, 3600ft, 1:56 to Torreys, 3:56 overall.

Mount Yale

On Monday we were up at 4:30 again. We threw everything in the car and were hiking before dawn. The first mile of the trail was wide and fairly easy to navigate by moonlight. We only needed our headlamps to read the trail junction signs.

We passed a father-daughter pair and then a group of 14 hiking-camp kids from Massachusetts. The trail was very well constructed and easy to follow (we learned later that it was brand new!). As we got up to about 13,000ft we ran into a single hiker who had summited early enough to see the sunrise -— very cool!

We reached the summit at 8:00 and had it to ourselves for nearly half an hour. It was another gorgeous morning, made even more special by our solitude. Other parties started to make it up, so we headed back down. We passed the kids and wished them luck in summiting. I wonder if they actually made it up -- some of them didn't look too good.

Around 11:00 am we got back to the car and then headed into town for brunch. Dan had a huge omelet and I had the best French toast ever! You really can't beat real food! We were back in Boulder at 3:00 and then I went to class at 5:00. It was a long night discussing school law, but well worth the early morning!

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From the summit we had great views of some of the mountains we climbed to the North. Use the scrollbar below to view the entire panorama, or click for a larger view:

Huron (Take 2)

Saturday evening we were both bummed that we hadn't reached the summit of Huron. Due to its remote location, I was not looking forward to making a return trip. After some debate and discussion, we decided to give it another try. However, we didn't want to hike the same trail we had just come down.

We turned to Dan's original plan of following a jeep road to the peak's north ridge. Along this ridge were several summits we could tag en route to Huron. We didn't want to be shut out due to the weather again, so we planned for a very early start. We moved the Xterra to the base of the road and set up the big tent, which felt luxurious after a night in the backpacking tent.

We got up at 4:30 and were on the trail before dawn. The full moon lit our way up the old Jeep road that we followed to the beautiful basin of Lulu Creek. From here we spotted a good route to the ridge. There were tons of columbines, which we were very careful not to step on.

Once we obtained the ridge, we actually traveled back towards the jeep road to summit Middle Mountain and Cross Mountain. From Cross we could see the town of Winfield that we hiked and then drove through yesterday.

Winfield

Laurel hiking down Cross Mountain. From front to back, the peaks are Middle Mountain, Point 13,462, Browns Peak, and Huron Peak.

We retraced our steps back to Middle and then headed towards the unnamed point on the ridge leading to Browns Peak. There was actually another small bump on the way as we scrambled to the top of Point 13,462. We were surprised to find a summit register up there. It was deposited a month earlier and already three other hikers had signed it.

Then it was on to Browns. We replaced the old tattered summit register. Unfortunately, the ink had dried up in the pen we brought, and the pen that was already in the register tube was busted. Hopefully the next person can leave a pen or pencil.

The ridge got rockier between Browns and Huron. Dan was completely in his element and I was a bit exposure-shy. It actually wasn't too bad and the talus was fairly climbable.

We summited another unnamed peak (Point 13,518) just for fun, and then it was finally on to Huron! We hiked the last 600 vertical feet quickly and reached the summit at 10:30. It was a gorgeous morning and the top was crowded. There was an 80-year-old man from Germany who reached the top shortly after we did. Most impressive!

Our respite was short, as clouds were already building around us. We hiked back on the Huron Superhighway for about 1,500 vertical feet, only retracing about half a mile of the trail we had hiked down yesterday. Dan wanted to find an old Jeep road marked on the map that would get us back to where we started in the morning. We navigated along the northwest slopes of Huron until the clouds got dark and we felt some rain.

At this point I was getting really nervous about still being above treeline, so we dropped down a couple of hundred feet into the trees to have some protection from potential lightning. Quite unexpectedly, we found a very old faint trail that led us all the way back to our original Jeep road. The weather held above us for the rest of the afternoon and the trees offered some shade from the hot sun. We returned to the tent around 2:00 after summiting 7 different peaks.

We took a nice nap and then contemplated our next move. We were both tired of backpacking food and there weren't any other peaks in the neighborhood that we were interested in, so we decided to pack up and head to Buena Vista for real food. We found a great Mexican place that served us despite our appearance after 3 days in the mountains. After picking up some additional provisions we headed to Mount Yale, found the trailhead, and set up camp at the neighboring campground.

Huron Peak (almost)

Given how bad the "trail" was descending Missouri Mountain yesterday -- basically nonexistent -- we were concerned about ascending Huron today. Our backup plan, if we couldn't find (or hike) the trail, was to exit via the 4wd road and hopefully be able to cross the creek at some point.

Fortunately we found the "trail". On the Trails Illustrated map, this trail was drawn with the same thickness and line style as all the others, so we had assumed it would actually be like the others -- well defined. Nope.

First problem was finding the trailhead. It was supposed to be at the end of the 4wd road but somehow we missed it. No problem, we navigated through the woods to the north end of the lake where the trail crosses the "intermittent stream" (as described on the map).

Just before reaching the stream we saw a small aspen grove that had been broken in half like a bunch of toothpicks. The upper parts of the trees were scattered 100 feet away. Our first thought was that a tornado touched down. Rare at that elevation, but there was a funnel cloud near Mt. Massive last June.

Later we realized that an avalanche had slid down a slope on the other side of the creek, crossed the creek, and slammed into the aspens. It must have been this winter because the aspens looked freshly broken. And it must have been a HUGE avalanche. There were even snow deposits remaining that probably otherwise would not have been where they were. You can see the avalanche path in a picture from yesterday and a close up from today:

Further up on the mountain we saw more evidence of the avalanche; the stump this tree was plucked from was nowhere in sight:

Back to the "intermittent creek". Once we saw it, we figured that "intermittent" referred to the wintertime when the stream is covered in snow. It was not an easy crossing! The current was strong, the creek was wide, the algae-covered rocks were slippery, and we were boot-deep or more in places. I had better luck than Laurel with my gaiters -- she had to wring out her socks and boots on the other side. My socks were pretty wet too.

Once across the stream we headed south for a short while on what looked like a trail (it even had horseshoe tracks) before realizing the map showed the trail heading north. Indeed it did, and then switchbacked up and around the avalanche slope. Avalanches are most common on slopes with angles between 30 and 45 degrees, and I would guess this hill was on the higher end of that range. Fortunately it was vegetated, so the footing was more secure than yesterday's similarly-steep slope. On the other hand, it was quite vegetated, so it was difficult to hike in some places and in other places we lost the trail entirely.

Aspen thrive in the wake of an avalanche; the density and maturity of unbroken aspen further up on the slope hinted that the most recent avalanche may have only taken out the lower half of the slope, or else the bed of the avalanche was 15' off the ground.

Past the avy slope we navigated around a horn of rock cliffs, through a bog (I took one step in boot-deep mud!), and up a meadow. Since crossing the stream, the trail was so faint that we were only sure we were on it half the time.

The next challenge: a scree/boulder field. Fortunately not as steep as yesterday's. At this point we were starting to see some weather come in. Today was supposed to be better than yesterday, but our forecast was necessarily over a day old at that point and it didn't look like that was the case.

The rock slope flattened out for a while and then we had a decision to make. The map showed the "trail" ascending a steep scree field to the south, up to a saddle. But once on that saddle, it appeared it would be impossible to follow the ridge west to the main ridge of the mountain without some technical climbing. It seemed like the better way up was to continue west up the north end of a steep grassy hill to a secondary plateau, then somewhat southwest up to a different saddle. We did exactly that without any trouble at all.

With all the difficulties of the day, it was after 11am by the time we reached that saddle. The clouds had formed quite well by that point, so even though the summit of Huron was "only" 0.6 miles and 600 vertical feet away, we decided to bail. We headed directly towards a switchback on the main hiking trail, hiking across a slope of moderately sized rocks and a small snow slope. About halfway across it started raining lightly which made the rocks nice and slick.

Lots of challenges today, but we had a good time working them out. The remainder of the day was relatively uneventful -- we hiked down the trail for a few miles and then a few more miles along the road to get back to where we had parked.

As for the map -- it has quite a few strikes against it now: two trails drawn in the wrong locations, a raging "intermittent stream", and minor trails drawn with no distinction from major trails. Still, they are fairly good maps, but I think we've learned not to trust them exclusively and to check other sources next time.