Trip, race & hunt reports
For our 2-year anniversary earlier this month, Amanda and I headed to Aspen, the famous Colorado ski town with the outsized reputation (pop. 6700) that neither of us had before visited. Our primary goal was the Four Pass Loop, a classic 28-mile backpacking route through the Elk Mountains. Awesome weekend. Here are five reasons that it was,…
An assortment of takeaways from my Kings Canyon High Basin Route thru-hike earlier this month. They are mostly a reminder for me, but maybe they’ll have some value for you, too. If any prompt a question, leave a comment. Gear Pack weight. Take a handheld digital scale to the trailhead for a final weigh-in of all gear, supplies, and food. This…
Earlier this month I completed the Kings Canyon High Basin Route in its entirety, plus several more of its alternates and section-hike segments. All told, my 204-mile route featured 70,000 vertical feet of gain and 102 miles of off-trail travel, and I completed it in about 9.5 days. For much of the route, it was my second…
Last Saturday I kicked off my ultra racing season with the Dirty 30 in nearby Golden Gate Canyon State Park. Unofficially, the 31.8-mile course has 7,800 vertical feet of gain, with elevations ranging from 7,750 to 9,500 feet. For me, this race was a perfect season-opener. It was conveniently local. The late-May date guaranteed at…
Since the end of the Alaska-Yukon Expedition over four years ago, hundreds of times I’ve been asked, “So what’s your next big adventure?” Relative to what I had just done, and relative to some of my other big efforts like the Sea-to-Sea Route, Great Western Loop, or even Leadville 100, my answers always felt lame.…
Within minutes of entering Skinner Hut, I knew that the 10th Mountain Division Huts would revolutionize my winter recreation. Outside, it was nearly dark (at 4:30 pm!) and lightly snowing; temperatures were in the teens. But inside, my friend Dave and I had all the amenities of a home: solar-powered lights, gas-burning ranges, two wood-burning…
The starting line of last weekend’s The North Face 50 Mile Championship was a who’s-who of the ultra running scene, primarily domestic but with some international flavor, too. Some of the faces I knew from Boulder or past industry events like Galen Burrell, Sage Canady, Dave Mackey, and Jorge Maravilla. But others I knew only…
It almost certainly will not be another four years until I race again. But overtime my recollection of The North Face 50 Mile Championship will change: I’ll forget the finer details, and my reflections will be influenced by future developments and conversations. So my race report is meant to be as instructive to me as…
The two weeks before a big race can be challenging in the enforced inactivity. Between mid-October and mid-November I ran about 14 hours per week on average, but during my taper for The North Face Endurance Challenge 50 Mile Championship this weekend I’m running less than half that, creating a lot of free time. However, I have found it…
Before every high school cross-country and track meet, my coach Frank Mooney gave each runner an index card with a goal time and suggested splits written on it. A goal time was meant to be challenging but within reach on a good day, and the suggested splits helped us stay on track through the start,…