October Skiing 10/29

I finally made it up to Alta to check out the new snow. The snow fell last weekend (10/25?), so by Friday it wasn't quite as good as I'm sure it was earlier in the week. Some snow makes you feel like a superstar and some makes you feel like you hardly know how to ski. The conditions were more like the latter than the former.

My intention was just to get out and skin a little bit, and just be out. My friend Tanner joined me for his first ever tour. We skied main baldy chute in pretty good conditions although it was all tracked out and some bumps were starting to form. Despite the early season conditions and marginal sun-baked snow, I think the hook is firmly set in him.

I'm still waiting to get my new boots and bindings. Who knows why a ski company doens't have all their product shipped by 10/1. ETA is mid-November.

Last week I ran about just over 40 miles with about 7-8k of vert and was able to get a few turns in too. Nothing too crazy. I'm starting to feel a little bit of fitness for the upcoming winter. I have 4 or maybe 5 races circled this winter. We'll see how it goes.

Superior at sunrise.



Tanner above snowbird looking down canyon.




Main Baldy entrance.

Coverage was better than I thought it would be.

Doldrums

still waiting.


Happier times.

I love the fall. It would be absolutely fine with me if the seasons were fall, winter, fall, winter, etc. Bypassing summer and spring. I've been logging some miles both trail running and trail riding to build some strength and endurance for winter.

In the past, the fall has been spent bouldering and sending routes. I haven't done any of that this year unfortunately. Other than at the Front, but that doesn't count.

You see, I've thrown a bunch of money down for light ski stuff to see what I can do at some rando races this winter. I feel a little like Nacho Libre. "Precious Father, why have you given me this desire to race and then made me such a stinky warrior?" I'm not expecting to be competitive in the races per se, I just want to see what I can do personally. Race against myself if you will. I'm not even that great of a skier, so why is it that every time I go run (BTW, when I run, my brain turns off. Simple arithmetic becomes difficult)I think of the new carbon boots or the 140 gram bindings that I'll have this winter? It's kind of retarded.

So, right now is the doldrums for me. I'm ready to start skiing. I'm still having fun running. As far as climbing goes, a few sport routes here and there are all I can muster. But let's get on with it already. Where's the snow?

Bairgutsman 2010 race report

Crazy Bob's Bairgutsman was today. The race has been run for 30 years, but still has a small race feel to it. Basically, it runs from the Mountain Road in Fruit Heights almost to the top of Francis Peak--a total vertical gain of over 5,600 feet in 5 miles. Upon reaching the top, the course goes down the service road to the Bountiful Peak turnoff where the finish line is. 10.56 miles total.

I was hoping to run a 2:15--an arbitrary number since this was my first year running the race, but 2:15 sounded like it would be a pretty (for me) respectable result. I was on pace for the first 3 miles, but miles 4 & 5 took me 30:42 and 31:55! I was trying to power hike with a purpose, but I was starting to get a bit more tired towards the end of the climb. I have never done any hiking like that before! Live and learn I guess.

I tried to get towards the front end of the race, because with 300 participants on narrow single track, I didn't want to get stuck behind the autobus on any of the climbs. Interestingly enough, I ended up being the slow one on the hike sections and got passed by 6 or 7 people on the climb.

Tangent: There were a couple of stud 13-15 year old kids that were running near my same pace. One kid tried an unannounced pass, wiped out, got up, ran about 200 more yards and then began throwing up all the water he'd been drinking. Have you ever seen anyone throw up? It's nasty! It was only water, but I forced myself not to look for fear of making my stomach do the same.

After what seemed like forever, I reached the top of the climb, shuffled past Paul Bunyan's golf balls, and tried to catch the person in front of me. We must have all been running at the same speed because I could never close the gap. I didn't pass and didn't get passed by anyone from the top of the climb to the finish line. In fact, most of the time, I couldn't even see anyone except for the long straightaways. I crossed the finish line at 2:29:03 in 28th place. I was the fourth place girl.

After I finished, had a chance to recharge etc., the 2:15 goal really was nagging at me because I knew that I lost tons of time on the last section of the climb. I want a rematch! Too bad they only run the race 1x a year. The winner this year knocked almost 10 minutes off the CR and covered the course in one hour and 50 minutes. This really was a neat event, with good energy.

My mile splits so I can compare against next year:

1 - 8:37
2 - 13:21
3 - 22:06
4 - 30:42
5 - 31:54
6 - 11:11
7 - 7:08
8 - 6:38
9 - 6:52
10 - 6:56

I guarantee there is 15 minutes in there somewhere that I can make up.

Full results here.

Can I make a suggestion?

Today's view.


I went running with the father/son combo of John & Greg yesterday. It wasn't light enough to run in the pines until 5:45 or so, so we started with some power walking out of the Upper Big Water Trailhead. Our plan was to head to Brighton where I would turn around & head home (17 miles) and Greg & John would continue on without me(43 miles).

As we picked our way up to the ridge in upper millcreek, Father offered, "Can I make a suggestion?" Son knew immediately that his Dad's suggestion was an alternative to the nice, clear trail that were were on. Without hesitation or even hearing what the suggestion was, son responded, "NO! We are not taking that goat trail!" Until that point I didn't realize that there must be a lot of history between those two and the nearby mountains they frequent. I could feel that Father loved being out there with Son. I need to have similar experiences with T as he gets older. The goat trail is exactly what father was suggesting by the way.

The Wasatch Front has been sweltering hot, with triple digits in the forecast for the first time of the year. However, at 9,800 feet it was a beautiful morning with temps in the 60-70 range. Ahhh. I'm afraid mid-day 70 won't be seen in the Valley until October.

6:00a sunrise at near the Canyons resort.


It is wildflower season in the high country.


Me with Father on my heels.


Stats: 17.5 miles
Elevation: 6,500 gain, 6,500 loss
Blisters: 2-One on each big toe.

Favorites

Coolest area?


High E. Pretty memorable exposure.

When I was younger, I climbed way more than I do/can today, but I don't have a very good record of anything that I've done because I never toted a camera and never wrote anything down. Enter this blog. I've tried to record a few things here and there that I'd like to remember or be able to look back on someday.

Anyways, the author of a blog I read recently posted his top 10 climbs. Many were impressive. It got me thinking if I have a top 10. I'm not sure. I've done a lot of rad climbs, and hope to do many more rad ones. I don't know if I could rank them, so I've just compiled a few of my favorites by grade. As the grades get harder, they have more bolts. :) Some are long, some are short. Some are recent ascents, some are from long ago. Also, easy trad routes are still quite memorable for me for several reasons, while easy sport fade quickly. Routes that were hard for me, or that had multiple attempts I remember well and have included some of them on my list. Anyways, here are a few:

5.6

Cat in the Hat (Red Rocks)
High Exposure (Gunks)

5.7

Snake Dike (Yosemite)
Jubilant Song (Red Rocks)
Celebration Wall (Red Rocks)
Bear's Reach (Lover's Leap)

5.8

Lowe Route (Lone Peak)
Pentapitch (LCC)

5.9

The Line (Lover's Leap)
The Coffin (LCC)
Gold Wall (Lone Peak)

5.10

East Buttress, El Cap (Yosemite)
Sons of Yesterday (Yosemite)
Serenity Cracks (Yosemite)
Mexican Crack (LCC)

5.11

Ananda (Ceuse)
Right Pile (BCC) (I know, super broken/chossy, but my first hard 5.11 made me feel proud)
License to Thrill (AF)

5.12

Don't tread on me (causey)
The abyss (AF)
Margarita (AF)
Oxygen? (AF)
Hierarchy (Causey)
Football (Maple Canyon)

5.13
Social Values (Causey) This took me many attempts.

There are many other cool routes that I haven't sent, so I didn't include those, but I hope to someday. The end.

Skimo

There are two types of people in life: 1) People who are gear junkies and 2) people who aren't. I am a #1. But I don't have enough money to have the nice stuff, so I make do with used stuff to fill out my quiver of stuff. Which brings me to skiing.

When we moved back to Utah from San Jose, I knew I wanted to start backcountry skiing. I was a latecomer to skiing. I didn't start until I was 23. And I only went 2x during the almost 3 years we lived in CA. In short, I didn't really know what I was doing or what type of touring gear to get. I settled on a cheap pair of 1st generation Bluehouse Districts and used Naxo bindings. Throw in some skins and some avy gear and I was off.

The snowbasin winter xterra had a ski mountaineering race for $30, so I decided to enter and see what it was about what with me being a skier who now travels uphill under his own power. I showed up and it was very apparent that I was toast before the race started. My gear: 187cm 105mm waisted skis, heavy bindings, nordica beast boots and wall to wall nylon skins. Each foot must have had 10+ pounds of ski gear attached. Needless to say, I wasn't fast. I started out at the back of the pack and stayed there the whole race. Skinny greyhounds in spandex race suits, these telemark looking tiny green boots, and skis that were as thick and as heavy as a pringle or so it seemed. "One of these things...."



I was quickly hypoxic after the gun went off and tried to just keep a pace that I could sustain for a while. At the top of the first lung-bursting hill, and I remember not knowing how to fold them very fast (I'd been out maybe 10 times when I never felt rushed.) and laid them out in the snow stick side up while I tightened my boots. The volunteers must have been wondering what the heck I was doing.

On the second descent, I guess I was so tired that I forgot to buckle my boots. By then, the fastest guys were on my tail after finishing their 3rd climb on the longer course. I didn't make them crash, but I was definitely in their way as I chattered down the hill in unbuckled boots. Man was I slow!

Anyways, long story short it was a horrorfest for me. But I loved it. I knew that I had found something unique and awesome in the sport of ski mountaineering. I think I was crosseyed for 4 hours after that race. I did some serious research and learned that I wished I had a mentor when I got into BC skiing--my stuff was just too heavy for what I really wanted to do. But I couldn't just scrap all of this stuff so what to do?

Fast forward 18 months and I am now the proud owner of some racing gear.

The gear for 2010-2011:

Ski Trab Duo Sint Aero skis (used) 965g per ski (borrowed pic)


Ski Trab race bindings (discounted) 140g per binding

Dynafit TLT 5 Mountain (still need to buy) 1120g per boot (borrowed pic)

100% mohair trab skins (discounted & no pic)

Not the lightest stuff out there, but this is what I could get in my price range. Now I have to see what I can really do now that I've cut my gear weight by about 60%.

Wish me luck!

Wasatch 17

Jami is a runner. She is motivated by running fast. Me? I'm a sorta runner. I am motivated by--well, I'm not sure yet. Maybe endorphins or maybe suffering? But I like it.

For some unknown reason, I've wanted to do the Wasatch 100. It is really impressive that people can run that far over such difficult terrain. It is all very inspiring to me. Maybe sometime I'll try it. MAYBE. I've had a lot of fun trail running the last couple of years and this year I decided it would be fun to run the race course in manageable 20-25 mile chunks just as a litmus test to see how tough I am and whether or not I could pull something like that off if I wanted to.

I have always been a very recreational runner, but with my new renewed interest in ski touring, I thought running would be a good way to get stronger for my winter activities. Also, it provides a good opportunity to do some recon and see if there are good ski lines to be had.

At any rate, I started at East Mountain Wilderness Park at 5a after stashing my bike at the bottom of Bair Canyon and headed off. The Great Western Trail is awesome. It climbs and climbs and climbs with views of the valley the whole way. Everyone once in a while I'd look down and notice that I was gaining altitude. It was awesome seeing the sunrise and mountain shadows stretch across the valley as the sun did it morning yawns before doing its business in scorching the desert earth.

Up at 9k feet, spring is just starting it seems. Buds were starting to appear and grasses peeking up out of the thawing dirt. I picked my way over the trail below Thurston Peak. I detoured up to the top of Thurston Peak(highest point in Davis County) to check out the view. I took a minute to stuff some snow into my camelbak as I was already running low on water and headed back down to catch the trail again.

Proof that I made it to the top.


View looking South from Thurston.



Eventually I ended up at the top of Bair Canyon and it was time to tenderize my quads and blow out my knees by dropping approximately 5,000 feet in 4 miles. Ouch! Picked up the bike at the bottom and rode back to the trail head to get the car. All in all a fun day.

Stats according to Garmin:

Ascent: 7,316
Descent: 7,427
Miles covered: 17 running, 5 on a bike.
Time: 4:30. Someone else go run it and tell me if I'm fast or slow.