Spent a long weekend in Seattle helping Colette and Mike's folks celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary. We left Montana Thursday after work and got there on Friday, partied on Saturday, hiked up Mt Washington with 11 of us relatives - age 9 to 57 - on Sunday, then got down to business on Monday.

We picked up the group order we'd setup at Marmot Mountain Works:

• 5 pair of Purple Haze Overboots from Forty Below - checking the fit for them with our boots and crampons
• a couple of pair of booties
• Some fuel bottle boots and water bottle boots from 40 Below
• some crampons for Ann
• etc

Headed over to REI to snag a batch of ascenders we'd pre-ordered there, and otherwise donate more money to the gear gods.

We held Kevin Wright captive at the end of the day and shook him down for Denali details. He's a nephew who was on the West Buttress 2 summers ago, then again as a volunteer with the Park Service last summer when he summited AND traversed over and down the Muldrow. Got some great insights from him - he's probably thinking we're obsessing about this a bit much. Check him out to the right, showing off the advanced use of Duct Tape and ensolite for insulating the head of his ice axe to help prevent frostbite.

Started back to Montana Tuesday evening and made it home on Wednesday, witnessing some amazing dust storms in eastern Washington.

Here's a shot of recent items acquired in Seattle and through the mail in the ongoing gearfest -- overboots, ropes, mittens, ascenders, water bottle insulators, booties and on and on...

Took a day off from the hill climbing and put in some quality time stretching and following Dave's lead of situps, pushups, pullups and weights (Colette lent me two dumbells to work with so I didn't need to find rocks). The word is that Ann is doing situps with her 2-year old daughter along for the ride. It snowed here tonight.

Had a physical last week and got Acetazolamide (AKA Diamox) prescribed for the upper mountain. On trips in recent years I've learned that I start to get a little woozy at about 13,500 feet. I recall intense headaches on Denali hitting at about 15,000 feet back in 1978. The Doc prescribed a 15 day supply, suggesting I go on it the day we head above 13,500 and to keep it going for 2 days after descending below that. There seem to be different opinions about how to use this stuff so we'll see - but it IS great to have it in hand.

Mike rigged up a sled with some 1/2 inch PVC for testing on Electric Peak in January and it worked out really well for keeping control on the descent. We're planning on doing that on Denali. We're flying in to the mountain with Talkeetna Air Taxi and they have sleds at the Kahiltna air strip that we can use - and they've said we can drill them to set them up with Mike's rigging. I talked to them today and it's no big deal to fly our own sleds in if we wish - as long as we don't go over the 125 pound per person weight limit. We're talking about the $10 plastic little-kid sleds here. So now we're scheming on whether we'd do better to buy the sleds in Anchorage and rig them there so we don't have to haul a drill to the glacier and spend time setting them up there. Stay tuned. Check out Dave leading the prototype-sled off of Electric in January to the right.

Things are happening in OfficeZilla and, while there are a few flaky things and missing features, it's already helping to pull together and dial in the things we have to make happen.

I posted quite a few comments on the officezilla site tonight, including spread sheets with group equipment and a repair kit that everyone needs to have look over. Rested on Monday and rode 30 miles today. Knees are feeling a bit sore from the load carrying, but definitely stronger overall. Free weights, situps and pushups every other day should help with throwing packs around, moving snow blocks, and climbing out of holes. The weights really are 'free'. Quartzite river rock, gneiss and a cement trailer pad I scavenged from the neighboring lot.

Jasper and I hauled water to the Boulder in the early evening. Colette left her CamelBack pack here so I loaded it up in front with my hydration bladder and a little bit of HammerGel to see how it felt. I think it's a good idea tho it's a little constricting and makes me feel a little too "wrapped up" with that and a pack on. It may be the ticket though for making it easy to stay hydrated and energized.

The Boulder haul used to be a big deal. It's feeling pretty routine and a bit lame now - ESPECIALLY with Dave's 4,000 foot desert workouts. I made up for a bit by loading up 65 pounds. Ann had called earlier to say that she hauled to the Boulder this morning with Isabelle (2 year old) on her back.

Found a new hidden report on my gee-whiz watch (Suunto Advizor) - it's been logging elevation gain since late March. I'm at about 22,000 feet. I guess I'm learning that those types of metrics are a good motivator - I'm going to have to think about what I should set for a goal to add to that in the next month before kickoff.

Did some more work in Officezilla trying to nail some more things down.

Training is going well. Morning pulse is now below 50 for the first time. Carried 50 lbs of water to the top of Mt. Kimball, a stiff and rocky 4,000ft. 4 hours up and 2 down after dumping the water. I was having knee soreness that I think began 6 days ago on a run up and down Kimball. Having been up there several times recently I took a new route that was 'inspiring' with exposure and views to match. I tried the cytomax / gel combination and was amazed at how well it worked. Either the stuff really is magic, or I'm getting stronger. Either way it's all good. Of course I can't say how well I"d do on the stuff day after day. But breakfast and dinner should break the monotony and provide extra nutritional goodies that are lacking in test tube blends. Been working on the repair kit, and decided after seeing the contents of spendy versions at the outdoor shop that we could do better for considerably less by perusing the aisles of the hardware store. The outdoor shop variety of repair kits are so generalized about 50% of the stuff in them is not relevant for our purposes. However, reviewing the contents gave me good ideas of what to shop for tonight at Ace.

The shopping frenzy continues -- a bundle of pro-deal goods from Black Diamond was waiting for Colette when she got back to Tower Sunday morning. Two shiny new Beal Stinger dry ropes, a pair of Sabretooth Step-In Crampons, and I think she scored some gloves and mittens too.

Colette & I spent a few hours organizing thoughts and planning with Officezilla, an online project management tool. It's pretty robust - and free. Critical features it is missing are a feature to notify team members of new posts and/or the ability to "flag" new items that appear from one visit to the next. I'm hoping it will help to organize the chaos of the hundreds of emails we have otherwise been shooting back and forth, on dozens of topics, from Seattle to Tucson To Gardiner to Tower. It feels promising tho all personal and professional efforts with these online collaboration/project tools have failed misearably in the past. Check out a screen shot of one part of it below.

Ann came out early in the afternoon to show off a big and light aluminum pot that ought to provide a great one/two punch with that pressure cooker. We schemed on food and gear some (it never ends) and talked of potentail water haul/training trips.

Jasper and I ran up to the Corwin Overlook late in the day Sunday during an interval between snow and rain storms. I felt good going up but ran out of gas about halfway down the switchbacks, when I have been feeling strong in the past. Must have been what I didn't eat. Carried it on home to see how effective Cytomax is as a recovery drink. The results? I'm not always so great at being able to tell (how can I know how I would've felt without it?) but it probably helped.

• Duration: 1 hour 42 minutes
• Avg Heart Rate: 130 (it was 143 for the ascent)
• Max Heart Rate: 159
• Distance: about 6 mile round trip
• Ascent: 1,400 feet

Another shopping coup: My new sleeping bag arrived Monday morning. A North Face Tundra, rated at -20 (give or take, such things always depend on what you ate, your metabolism, etc etc). It's synthetic - I'm skittish about down on a long trip where things could get wetter over time. I Froogled it and found the best deal through MtGears.com.

 

OK, guess I'm the only one who hasn't checked in yet. So, here's what I've been up to. Changing my routine at the gym. More arobics, some leg work, not much upper body. Each weekend is a quick hike. Mt. Washington, Granite Peak, Mt Si. Usually with my trainer and wife, Deirdre. New AT boots finally arrived Friday, so I'll be able to get on the snow in the next couple of weeks. Looking forward to getting the fit right to avoid the pain. Still working on hydration technique. Difficult to decide where to hang the water bottles when you need to be fully mobile plus able to get to it easily. Too easy to just skip it if it's difficult to get to. Exploring best cell phone for use on mountain. Also trying to get a better handle on weather forcasting and information available on the mountain. Any suggestions will help. Not finding much in the way of good information sources. Still wrapping up final gear. Missed the REI 20% off deadline. Missed it last year, too. Darn. Have most of the group expenditure information so far. Includes ropes, tent, pressure cooker, scale, and the glacier flight deposit. We'll need to settle up with Bill and Colette, who have put up most of the up front capital. I think that's it. Checked in with my doc regarding Diamox. Should hear back tomorrow. We'll be getting together with Kevin Wright later in week to pick his brain about what we're missing. Can't wait. See you all soon.

Our planned all-day jaunt up Emigrant got downsized to an afternoon hike up Cinnabar Mountain today due to "adverse conditions". That would be rain, snow and wind.

We spent the morning doing fuel calculations, researching wilderness first aid kit content lists, setting-up a second attempt at a group/project management web-site and watching the snow line lower on Electric Peak.

Finally headed out in early afternoon for a 1600 foot hike up Cinnabar Mt. (the mountain behind Devil's Slide.)

I tried out my front-load hydration pack with a half-liter Platypus filled with water/hydration tube connected and a liter Platypus filled with Cytomax mixed with a 300 calorie solution. That bladder just had a pop-up nipple. We watched the clock and drank Cytomax and Hammer Gel/Water at 15-minute intervals. We had excellent results if we were to measure them in terms of urine output. I had equal input and output intervals the whole hike. Niftily handled with my Lady J. but I'm thinking I can back off the fluids a bit--at least at that activity level under those weather and altitude conditions.

I wore the heartrate monitor--Avg. Heart Rate 94, Max. Heart Rate 134--Sun turned to rain turned to snow as we neared the top. Tick Count--1 so far...

Colette

The Pressure Cooker Rocks!

Scored this vintage 3 Liter cooker at a 2nd hand store in Boze for $11.20.

It’s a bit heavier than cookers that REI had but REI only has a 2 liter cooker now and the 4 liter they had isn’t available now and it’s probably too big anyway.

We also scored an electronic scale at the 2nd hand store for $5.00 which will be perfect for bagging food. Check out the pic of the cooker on the scale at 3 lbs 11 oz.

AND that sucker cooked 4 cups of Basmati rice in 6 minutes last night – it was stunning….

Colette needed the rice for a pot luck so we wanted to shake the cooker down and see if 3 liters looked like it would cover our appetites when we were in full combat mode. It was encouraging. Four cups of rice with 6.5 cups of water and there was still room to spare in the pot. The rice was perfect and the cooker’s pretty easy to operate, with a little orientation and as long as we don’t screw up and ever go too light on the water it cleans up easily.

The guideline from NOLS Cookery is about 1 pound of dried food to feed 3 people at a meal. We’re going to mess with some more portions to build a comfort level, then see about bagging meals for 5 with noodles/rice/etc plus spices, dried veggies etc included so we can bust the bag open, dump it in the pot on a given night and chow down. Ann is getting a few Mountain House meals to supplement, especially for days, like summit day, when we may be a bit tired (ya think?) and need to eat ASAP.

Short run tonight - wanted to get back for the White House press conference. About 30 minutes with a bit of climbing and got the 2 dogs to heel nicely as we went. Max pulse of 156, average of 135.

Headed to Bozeman for an overdue physical. Got a prescription for Diamox to help with altitude challenges above 13,500 feet, the point at which past experience tells me I get a little woozy. The Doc set me up with 15 days worth - I hope that will cover it. I have no experience with it so am anxious to see if it helps (will I even know?). Picked up a used pressure cooker and kitchen scale at a 2nd Hand store that we'd set aside last week. Will try them out soon.

Ann, Colette and I - with a little help from Colleen, Ben, Isabelle, Jasper and Sula - roped up and played glacier travel for a lap around the pasture with a simulated crevasse fall at the porch. It was a good refresher/shake down. We went through the motions and set up a z-pulley. We'll do more. The kids and dogs did much to add the chaos. What fun - then we sat down to a great Easter dinner with friends.

Colette, the World's Best Dogs and I ran up past the 1,000 foot switchback to the Corwin overlook - gained about 1,350 feet in about 3 miles. A real huff and puffer again and a truly intimidating and worthy workout. Beautiful day - Happy Easter. Out for a little over a hour and a half. Average heart rate of 133, max of 167 on the kick for the finish line.

Ann, Colette, Bill and the dogs hauled water 1,250 feet up Dome Mountain. Gorgeous day - terrific views - it's not hardly right that we get to live here....

Ann and Bill took an all day trek up Electric Peak. Hit the false summit and skied/hiked down. Great test of the boots, the skis, the sports gel our stamina and our willpower - it's tough to leave up there -- it's so beautiful and dramatic. I was, of course, plugged in. The round trip was about 12 1/2 miles, we gained about 5,700 feet, we were out for 11 1/2 hours, my maximum heart rate was 154 and the average over that time was 114. A GREAT day on the hill.

Colette here - I ran up to the 1,000 foot switchback across the road to try out the heart rate monitor/altimeter gizzy. Was out for 70 minutes, ran up 1,000 feet, had a maximum heart rate of 154 and an average of 135. And great views all around.

Colette and I had one of those unavoidable appointment/chore days in town (Bozeman). Following Mike's lead we scored some large duffles (36 x 18 x 18 inches) at Target that should make fine sled bags. The Target duffle is branded "Greatland Outdoors" but I can't find their duffles anywhere on the web. At $19.99 we came out of that much better than we thought we would. Bob Wards had a similar sized demo duffle by Outdoor Products, but none in stock, and the prices were pretty high. We checked Campmor later and they sell an Outdoor Products duffle that is 42 x 18 x 18 for $21.99 plus shipping. Looks like a good choice as well.

We also found a used pressure cooker in a 2nd hand store that looks pretty promising. It's a 3 liter cooker, the gasket and valve look in good shape and it weighs 3 pounds 11 ounces. At $14.00 the price is right. I became a fan of pressure cookers in the mountains - especially at altitude - back in my NOLS days. They cook faster and thus save time AND fuel - which translates into carrying less weight over a long trip. We used a light aluminum one that can no longer be found - and mine has long since worn out. REI sells a 2 liter pressure cooker at 2 lbs 5 oz, and last winter they had a 4 liter that is sold out. We're not totally sure that 3 liters will be big enough to feed the group out of one pot once our appetites ramp up on the trip, but it may be. The currently unavailable 4 liter cooker that REI carried weighs 3 lbs 5 oz.

Change of scene - hauled water up Dome Mountain a bit tonight. Jasper and I pushed a bit over 1,000 vertical on a beautiful evening. Great views back towards yesterday's route on Sheep Mountain as well as Cinnabar Mt, Electric Peak and the Yellowstone River running through it all.

• Duration: 1 hour 16 minutes
• Max Heart Rate: 141
• Avg Heart Rate: 112
• Ascent: 1,130

Scoped food some more, and a pressure cooker - which would theoretically allow us to pack less fuel AND to cook much faster, especially at altitude. We also need to buy a couple of new ropes - we'll be 2 rope teams: one with 3 people and one with 2.

Dave's going to put together the perfect repair kit - duct tape, steel wool, screws, wire, leatherman-type tool, etc. Colette is assembling a first-aid kit, working to get prescriptions for a few items that we'll want to have along, just in case.

Put in 10 easy miles on the bike Saturday, then was inspired to get off the couch today by David's 5,000 foot climb/cactus face-plant story. Jasper and I had grand ambitions of putting in 5,000 vertical on Sheep Mountain but lost momentum when post holing through heavy wet snow after 3,000. A stunning day turned a little sour up there as well - but not the downpour that blessed Tucson.

Ann stopped by and we schemed a bit on sleds, crampons, sled bags (she scored a great one at 2nd Wind Sports), food etc.

Much to do yet but we're closing in...

Gonna love this extra daylight in the evenings - and those days are quickly getting longer still in Alaska.

the view from 7,200 feet this morning - click for a larger image
Electric Peak on the left - Devil's Slide in the middle - Dome Mountain on the right

a panorama from 8,100 feet on the way down - storm moving in
this is a 4.7 mb Quick-Time file

Rode 30 mountain bike miles with Russ today in Tucson Mountain Park under brooding and moody skies. Lightning flickered in the distance periodically, and at one point we rode in a direction specifically to get out from under a particularly dark and threatening cloud. At the far end of the loop it caught us. Deciding to turn around and head home on the highway, we hiked a short distance cross country to the road. Just then a tremendous down pour commenced with lightning and thunder close by. As we stood on the shoulder 10 miles from town soaked and getting wetter, Russ suggested we might ride back a few miles to the Desert Museum and call his wife. But, at that instant a driverless black SUV with tinted windows and glowering head lights rounded the corner. The front license plate read, and I'm not making this up... "No Snivling". End of discussion.

Yooooooooooooowch.....

The cactus event made us all cringe - here's hoping it wasn't as bad as it sounds.

Sula sympathisizes, having had a recent run-in with barbed wire

Today was a good training day. 5000ft up, 5000ft down. There were several inches of snow from last night on Mt. Kimball, which made me feel just a little less silly hiking up the last several hundred feet in AT boots and crampons. I only wore the boots and crampons for about 20 minutes as a test. I'm having issues with this set-up in that the bail of the crampon fits snug against the toe welt of a plastic mountaineering boot, but there's a small gap between the bail and a flush fit with the toe of the AT boot. When the crampon gets twisted as when only one edge clings to a rock, flex in the crampon allows the bail to shift slightly. The crampon never popped off, but the flex was disconcerting. The bushwhack home took a toll on my bare legs, but was largely worth it as I came across a fantastic section of slickrock wash flowing heavily from the melting snow. After enjoying the warm rock and cascading falls I scrambled back up to the trail. I stumbled on the way up and fell face first into a prickly pear cactus. Yikes!!! Where's the love? Sunglasses and a quick turn of the head made a potentially very serious injury just a bother. I pulled out dozens of spines by feel, but couldn't get the really small ones (appropriately named glocks). They lodged in my outer ear, cheek, jaw and neck. The big ones were easy to extricate, the small ones would have to wait. And no, I wasn't about to turn the other cheek. At home, with tweezers, they came out more painfully than they went in. yah, Ouch!!!

Eric - Cool Works tech wizard - successfully tested a way for us to update this Blog from the mountain via cell phone. The magic happens through the services of a site called AudBlog. Cell phone coverage is possible on the higher elevations of Denali so we hope to check in a time or two from the climb.

Eric also got inspired and couldn't stop himself from mocking up a logo:

T Shirt anyone?

Now I'm the one who can't help myself - an outfit called CafePress makes it really easy to slap any graphic you want on things so I noodled Eric's logo onto some things. If anyone is truly interested have at it - we aren't looking to raise money here - they aren't marked up - it's just us fooling around.

Colette and I hauled about 50 pounds each up 1,000 feet in the late afternoon with the help of Jasper and Sula. Felt good. We ARE getting stronger. And we certainly know this trail well...

Colette had the day off and we spent some time working over the food and fuel details and shot a message out to the group. She schemed on some more gear possibilities - the shopping frenzy continues. Starting to feel the time pressure but we're still in good shape.

Jasper and I ran (more of a shuffle I spose - but not a walk darn it) to a new high point - with a great view - putting in 53 uphill minutes of panting after work yesterday. Gained about 1,250 feet and had an average heart rate going up of 146. The overall average was 139 and I'm SORE today. If it hurts it must be good for you right?

• Duration: 1 hour 34 minutes
• Average Heart Rate: 139
• Maximum Heart Rate: 163
• Ascent: 1,250 feet

What are those dogs doing in our $500 tent??!! Wandered up to "the boulder" last night with Colleen. No clue about my heart rate, but I am sure it was very high and healthy. Colleen enjoyed herself and kept commenting on how beautiful it is. There are probably worse places to drag water up a hill. Wore the ski boots because it makes me suffer more and I am assuming that is a good thing. At least my feet are safe from ticks, which is not true for the rest of my body. Tics are everywhere. I've started carrying the water back down so that my pack stays ready to go. Must eliminate any and all delay tactics or easy reasons to avoid getting out. Still have a way to go to meet my physical fitness goals. On the bright side, I am in peak shopping form. I am sure my heart rate has hit 130 from the adreneline rush that accompanies chasing that elusive great deal down devious search engine pathways. The fluffy pile in the office continues to grow. Buy on!

Yesterday monring Russ and I rode 33 miles on the roads through Tucson Mtn park. On the way home Russ punished me on the climb up the steep side of Gates pass inducing a call to Earl from the top.

With Bill, Ann and Colette as inspiration I loaded up a pack and took to watering the highest saguaro cactus in the sonoran life zone. Uphill for 45 minutes, down in less than half that time, skipping without the weight. No rattlers, gila monsters or wood ticks today!

Took the day off yesterday from training - work got in the way. Still working to orchestrate a group gear order to try to save a few bucks and make sure we get a good fit with some overboots.

And in checking on Luanne Freer's website, we got a wakeup call on the potential of altitude related problems. Luanne is a medical doctor running a clinic of sorts at Everest Base Camp. Dr. Freer also has worked closely with the medical service in Yellowstone for years and Colette, as a Yellowstone ranger and park medic, has worked with her over that time.

The news at Basecampmd from yesterday was that a 22 year old courier for a company in Kathmandu died of altitude related problems that started when he flew to 13,000 feet in one day.

Colette, with her medical skills, is a critical member of our team. The rest of us are trying to bone up on altitude related problems as well as other first aid issues should we have a crises. Mike and I took an excellent Wilderness First Aid course from the Wilderness Medicine Institute this winter and learned a few things we hope we won't need. Now if I could just remember it all...

Colette spent some time with Luanne last month before she headed to Everest and got some tips on what to bring in our first aid kit as well as what we can do, proactively, to better prepare for the altitude. Her website is a great resource for digging in deeper.