Mt. Rainier Solo June 2016 Trip Report

I was watching the videos from my GoPro last night and they are really good. I have to edit a movie for this trip. Which also means sorry, no video today.

I know that this seems spur of the moment, but I assure you, it had enough planning. It started back in Nepal, on the hike down from base camp. There was some talk among people about what to climb next, with one of my teammates wanting to go grab Denali while still acclimated. Nolan's 14 was in my mind much of the trip and when asked what was next I tried to describe it in a few sentences several times to my metric speaking teammates, but 14,000 feet doesn't sound as interesting when you are sitting in a tent at 17,000. Originally my plane tickets were to arrive home on Saturday, June 4th and I was going to return to work on Monday, June 6th. That leaves just enough time to decompress with my parents before returning to work. However, when we summited early and were back in Kathmandu so fast, I looked into getting my ticket changed, and for $250 I could move it up five days, which was worth it to me. So I reached the USA on Tuesday.

As I said when I announced I was going to Mt. Rainier, I could have gone back to work early, or spent more time decompressing at my parents, both of which are things that I might have done under different circumstances. In 2014 when the season was canceled I returned directly to work, nearly four weeks early, and on a Wednesday. After college semesters I always enjoyed the week or two of quiet and peace from going back to stay with my parents. So Tuesday I was scoping out possible flights to Seattle and looking at the weather. Wednesday I emailed the rangers for a solo permit, and after receiving it, booked a next day flight to Seattle. It wasn't cheap, but it wasn't expensive enough to deter me.

Thursday I drove to Chicago and boarded a direct flight to Seattle, which I was upgraded to first class! I just recently made United MileagePlus Gold status, which is pretty exciting. Pretty uneventful Thursday evening, I found a hotel near Seattle and went to sleep. Friday morning I stopped at the Tacoma REI, which is the smallest REI I have ever been in, and bought a few last minute food supplies and a map. The drive to the park was as clear as I have ever seen it.

Mt. Rainier on the Drive from Seattle

Mt. Rainier loomed in the distance, taunting me to come and run it.

The rangers were nice and got me set up with my permit. Turns out only 20-25 people solo Mt. Rainier a year and there happened to be four solo permits granted that weekend. I went for a short run  Friday night and then stayed at the little motel and cabins at the entrance to the park. My friends had reserved a room there back in May 2015 when we first attempted it, and while it isn't the cheapest place, it's nice and so conveniently located. I had enough of sleeping on the ground in April and May so I opted for the bed. Plus, cabin number 1 has a fireplace, which is awesome. Listening to a crackling fire is one of my favorite ways to fall asleep.

Token Park Gate Selfie at Dusk

Saturday I woke up at 2 AM. This is so funny to me, here I woke up at 2,000 feet above sea level, hours after many other people probably left for the actual summit. I felt like that high school kid that was actually going to be a professional athlete in five years, just showing up and winning the game for his team without all the effort. At 3:36 AM I left the pavement and headed up the snow. The snow was mush until about 8000 feet. That slowed me down. I was hoping that perhaps it would be frozen, or that the trail would be exposed so that I could move fast but it was not to be. However, once above 8000 feet the snow became frozen and I was able to move quickly.

At 4 miles and 2:18 after I started I passed through Camp Muir at 10,000 feet. I didn't even stop. I decided in advance that I would put on crampons when I felt I needed them. Well, the trail to Ingram Flats looked downright flat and easy so I didn't bother with crampons. At the rock ridge before Ingram Flats though I stopped and put my crampons on. At this point two guys carrying skis caught up with me, the first climbers I had seen all day, and it was around 6:30 AM. I caught them just past the camp there at 11,200 feet and then headed up Disappointment Cleaver. It was a bright sunny day and perfect weather. It seemed like a Colorado 14er in May.

At the top of the cleaver I started to pass people coming down. Quite a few people, maybe six were unroped, which I thought was crazy for that route if you had a partner. I mean, yes I was unroped, but the consequences of a fall up there would not be good for a soloist. Anyway, I marched up the rest of the mountain, stepping over a couple small crevasses and feeling very strong as everyone else I passed seemed to be having a harder go of it.

Summit Selfie

I made the summit 5:41 after starting at 9:17 AM, the perfect time of day to summit something. Great views, and plenty of daylight to descend. I stayed for only a few minutes then headed down.

Yep... Tights.

It took me 3:02 to descend, reaching the parking lot not too long after noon. I took it easy and conservative on the way down, which is to say I kept it safe. Most mountaineering accidents happen on the way down, and soloing I feel the need to be extra cautious.

GPS Elevation Profile of  my Climb and Descent on Strava

After checking in with the ranger station at Paradise, I drove back to Tacoma. I spent some time reading and walking in Point Defiance Park, which is really nice. Then I went out to eat at Olive Garden, and slept in my "manager's special" minivan rental when I figured out how to put the seats down. After paying for two nights of hotels, and having to wake up at 4 AM, I wasn't about to pay for another partial night of hotel. It was a really good trip. Since attempting Mt. Rainier last year in May I have thought about doing the one day ascent often. It's really nice to check it off the wish list. Now I feel like my Mt. Rainier climbing is complete, I don't need to do it again. That being said, there are are few interesting things I would enjoy doing in the future if anyone wants to join me:

1. Liberty Ridge
2. A true speed ascent trying for the speed record of 3:51 (although I probably need to get better at skiing)
3. Willis Wall
4. Introducing new people to mountaineering by leading a trip
5. A winter ascent

Comparing Climates Across the USA

I'm suffering. It's hot and humid down here in Kansas next to the Oklahoma border. I found this interesting map a few months ago, I think someone tweeted a link, with average high temperatures by county across the US. Both links are the same link. It's interesting to move the sliders around.

So what is my ideal day? 40F in the morning and 70F in the afternoon. That's a pretty high temperature swing as most days have a 20F morning to afternoon temperature swing, not 30F. Now, saying I have an ideal day, I need to clarify, I like the variation of sweating in the summer and skiing in the winter, so I do like variation, but I could take my ideal day 10 months a year.

As I was playing with the climate graph, and thinking about how much I was suffering in the heat here in southern Kansas, I had the idea to compare Montgomery County, Kansas to Dubuque County, Iowa. Then I had the idea to compare them based on the clothing I would wear while running. What you end up with is the chart below.

Average High	Montgomery County Days	Dubuque County Days
9⁰F to 32⁰F	0	76
33⁰F to 49⁰F	79	64
50⁰F to 79⁰F	163	147
80⁰F to 108⁰F	123	78

It's organized by #1 weather you have to worry about snow and ice and slipping, #2 long pants and long sleeves but very comfortable, #3 shorts and short sleeves which is great, and #4 hot and slow. So as you can see I traded nearly 11 weeks of cold and snowy weather for an additional 45 days of weather that is hot enough to slow me down and deter me from moving any farther south. Plus, I gained nearly a month in the comfortable ranges. No place is perfect, and this list is only for average highs, not the lows or average temperatures. So we'll see. I have to finish suffering through these 123 days of heat before getting to the good eight months of the year. Hopefully I will remember to give a climate update in January, when the temperature to go running is amazing.

Independence: Week 2

It's still a bit of a whirlwind. I am learning new things quickly, figuring out where to run and shop, and adjusting to the heat. It's significant, the heat. It's not just the 90+F heat either, it's the 80+% humidity at the same time.

So why did I name my new series "Independence", aside from the obvious fact that's the town I'm living in?

Well, for starters now that I'm 30, I feel that I can't even pretend to be a kid any more. I mean, in your 20s you still count as young, but 30? People make a billion dollars by 30. Successful professional athletes retire by 30. Rock music stars overdose and die before they get to 30. It's like there is no pretending, no hiding, on do overs, this is your life. I'm an adult. Which means, at least in America, that I strive for independence. That means financial independence, it means living independently (like not in my parents house), and in my mind it means buying a house too. Those are all things I am working on, developing my independence.

It's also ironic and I find it funny because I don't think true independence really exists. I could say I am living independently hundreds of miles from my family, but I still talk to them often and I have all of the relationships with my coworkers and friends. Similarly, I strive for financial independence, from my parents I made it years ago, but ultimately we aim for the same thing from our employer (it's called retirement), where we are financially independent enough to do what we want when we want to. Yet, everyone has a boss, and to pretend that you are free from the constraints of the financial industry when you are financially independent is ridiculous. Analogously, I say I am striving for independence, but looking for a nice lady friend, it's a contradiction.

Work was good. I led a meeting with some international colleagues that I will be working closely with, and I had never been in a meeting with any of them before, and only previously met one in person. Other than that I'm learning the more detailed aspects of axles, which is why I came here.

I ran 59 miles and bicycled 57 miles during the week, and the high temperatures were over 90 Fahrenheit six out of seven days, and only 89 on Saturday. The temperature alone is not so bad, but it's humid here, routinely 70+% in the two weeks I've been here, which makes any afternoon activity a sweat-fest.

Social activity has been up to my desires already. I went rock climbing Saturday afternoon. The rock was hot, the routes were difficult, and we sweat like crazy. I've been out to eat with coworkers (friends) a few times and been to a couple grill out events at people's houses. People are quite friendly and social and I can see already I will soon be turning down invitations to do this social thing or that social thing so that I can sleep and run more. That's kind of something I was famous for in Dubuque, not committing to social stuff.

That's about it for week two. Next week will be a little crazy as I go out to Colorado and try Nolan's 14. If anyone wants to join for all or part of it you are welcome, but fair warning, I'm not waiting for you if you can't keep up.

I Will Be Attempting Nolan's 14 July 2nd

Well, the title says it all. The plan is, leave Coffeyville/Independence after work Thursday and drive to Denver. I don't have a place to stay in Denver yet, so if anyone wants to offer a spot on the floor I will take it, although I will be arriving around midnight.

Friday morning my mom will arrive, and my sister flies into Denver, and perhaps we will meet up with another Iowa friend. We will pick up last minute supplies at REI in Denver or wherever we can find the stuff we are looking for. In the afternoon we will drive up I-70 in bumper to bumper traffic to Leadville. Maybe we will take 285 or another route if I-70 looks especially bad. Dinner will be had at Quincy's Friday night, and hopefully no one will have altitude sickness. We will sleep in Leadville or camp near there, I don't have a reservation yet, again if anyone has a spot on the floor for 3-4 people let me know.

Saturday we will wake up early and get breakfast at the Golden Burro (because it's the only breakfast place open at 6 AM in Leadville) and then around 7 AM or maybe a little later, head to the Fish Hatchery for me to start running 14 14,000 foot mountains.

Here is a good description of the route.

For sure there is a start and a finish, and at least four "aid stations" along the way, but we only have a two wheel drive vehicle, and the crux is definitely the six mountains from Huron to Yale. Which is another way of saying I haven't figured out how I am going to do those. I mean, I hope to sleep a couple hours both nights I will be out there. However, it's convenient to sleep at Winfield (which is really early) or Avalanche Gulch (which is really late) and not in between which is probably where I will be at midnight.

The goal is to finish as early as I can on July 4th, and then drive back to Kansas. This is kind of a must, turns out I am flying to Mexico for work on Tuesday, July 5th, fortunately in the afternoon.

Finally, here is the trip report from 2014 when I did part of the route as research for a serious attempt some time in the future. Also, the video at the bottom of that post is good, worth a watch.

A Huge Benefit of Primary Morning Workouts

So it's been hot here in Kansas, 90s and humid since I moved here ten days ago. It has quickly forced me to run in the mornings before work for my main workout of the day, because then it's only in the 70s. While it is tiring to wake up early I have quickly discovered a big benefit, doubling.

It is ideal to train twice per day instead of once per day, you can train at a much higher volume. In other words, there is more benefit to running 10 miles in the morning and four in the evening than only 10 miles in the morning. In the past my primary workout has always been in the afternoon, after work and before supper. Here's the thing, when I do my main workout for the day in the morning before work, what am I supposed to do after work? I haven't had cable or Internet for five years. I fill my time running, exercising, and cooking. Yes of course I watch movies on DVDs and spend time on the Internet on my phone, but not 5 pm to 9 pm every night. 

After getting home from work, I get a little bored, and go run, or more commonly because of the temperature, bicycle. So my volume is increasing quickly, this is a good thing.

Independence: Week 1

I thought for quite a while about what to name this, "Small Town Kansas", "I Live in Kansas", "Small  Town Living", "Back to Kansas", "Return to Kansas", but nothing struck me as really capturing the essence of this move the way I wanted. I wanted something that was an unambiguous fact, like "I Live in Iowa" was, and something that could not be taken negatively, as inevitably I will have some criticism of small town life. As a bonus, it's always nice if I can see some humor in the title, and it's late and I want to get this published, so I might save that description of what the word Independence means to me for next week, but superficially it means Independence, Kansas, where I am temporarily living until I buy a house, and I may buy a house here.

The week started with Sunday in Dubuque. I went to church so that all of my friends could see that I was alive and healthy with all of my fingers. Then I finished packing and headed down to Kansas. So I work in Coffeyville, well, I work in the Coffeyville industrial park, which is outside of the city limits. It's a five minute drive from the city limits of Coffeyville, and 15 minutes from the city limits of Independence, so my coworkers are split somewhat between Coffeyville and Independence, with a number out in the country, and a few from places farther away, like Bartlesville, Oklahoma.

Monday dawned and I went into the office. The week was both slow, and a whirlwind. A number of people were traveling so there were some quick conversations as I tried to learn all I could. Tuesday we had a test failure. That's a big deal. Tests aren't supposed to fail. The test had been running for hundreds of hours and on the morning of my second day a test fails, and it's on "my" project. I put my in quotations because while it is part of my responsibility to solve the problem, it was my second day in the office down here and frankly there was so much I did not know, I was afraid to say much of anything. Of course, I never get into the specifics of work, but the failure does not seem to be as significant as initially feared, and should be a minimal setback.

I ran 62 miles last week, with one double. Not a big number, but higher than I expected. That's part of the reason I moved down here, fewer distractions and better ability to focus on my limited remaining competitive running career. We shall see if I was correct or naive.

Saturday I quit sweating 10 miles into my 16 mile long run, because it was in the upper 80 Fahrenheit and humid, at noon. A few miles later I found a gas station and had some water, but a bit of a scare none the less. I've quit sweating in hot weather a number of times, so it doesn't scare me too much, but it's a really good reminder that I need to be hydrated as much as I can, especially as the forecast has highs above 90 ever day for the next two weeks, and lows all above 68F.

Saturday afternoon I went down to Tulsa and did a little rock climbing, then some shopping for some new biking shorts, and I ended up buying running half tights, which have no padding, but are very light, and padding is really not necessary for rides under two hours. Then I went to Whole Paycheck... I mean Whole Foods for some grocery shopping that you don't get in a town of 9,000 people.

Full disclosure, I'm definitely in the honeymoon phase of moving down here to Independence and Coffeyville, so if I don't blog about it much now, it because first impressions are often wrong, and I'm apt to be more positive than reality, that's just the nature of the honeymoon phase.

Facebook friends, I posted the vast majority of my Everest 2016 pictures into an album on Facebook, feel free to go over there and check them out. Some are pretty good.

Finally, here is a photo of me on my 30th birthday at Everest basecamp, a small part of the motivation to name my new blog series "Independence".

30th Birthday Cake at Everest Basecamp

A Real Mountaineer

I brought a file to Nepal to sharpen my crampons at Everest base camp before the summit push. Crampons get dull when you walk over rocks, which isn't is a huge part of mountaineering, maybe 2-3% of the mileage on Mt. Everest, while you are wearing crampons. It's the kind of thing that builds up over time. Usually I use my crampons one day here, two days there, maybe three days in a week in Colorado. An expedition however involves a lot of days on the mountain, I spent 19 days, at least part of the day, above base camp on Everest 2016. Three of those were rest days at camp two, so not using crampons, but the other 16 had crampons, and I walked over rocks on every one of those days. Point being, bring a file because in that many days your crampons can get dull.

Jeans, Running Shoes, and a Down Jacket

So before the summit push, my first one, I got the file out and sharpened my rather dull crampons. I think I was the only person on our expedition that brought a file. Two people borrowed it to sharpen their crampons, and two others used it to take pictures, as if they were sharpening their almost new crampons. Several of my teammates, people who would be summiting Everest in a week and a half commented that I was "a real mountaineer" and I didn't know how to respond to that. It's Mt. Everest, the tallest mountain in the world. 1-2% of people that attempt it die. You had better know your gear and be prepared.

So I guess I'm a real mountaineer now. I suppose that means I can put red laces on my mountaineering boots now. Or perhaps it means I am doomed to be single for a long time. Or perhaps it means Mt. Everest was the 9th hardest thing I have ever done, we may never know.

So Good He Scares Me

It's comfortable to sit back. Not necessarily easy, as it requires a certain compromise, but given only two options of doing something intimidating versus not doing something intimidating, the not doing is easier. This blog post by Seth Godin pointed that out to me really well. It struck me in two different ways, both the impersonal task, and the personal.

On the impersonal side, I just climbed Mt. Everest, and moved to rural Kansas. Talk about back to back "scary" things. Both things offer intimidation, risks, and the chance that I would "fail". How one defines failure varies. As a note, fear, and scared are not the same things, being scared might be defined as letting fear drive the decision to avoid a risk, where as fear might be described as the acknowledgement of risk. In other words, on Mt. Everest there were many things I was afraid of, but I never felt scared.

Today though I want to talk about the personal side. When a person is intimidating, and I'm not even talking dating, which is a whole other topic. In 2009 I met Gerlinde Kaltenbruner in Pakistan, I was starstruck, same when I initially met Melissa Arnot in 2014. Two people with reputations that far preceded them. It is the same in the engineering world. Some people have so much experience and knowledge, I (and admit it, we) feel stupid asking every question that comes to mind, which is ridiculous. Although, I will say that how a person responds to questions does impact our willingness to ask more questions. If a person is made to feel the question is stupid, he or she is less likely to ask questions in the future. That is a big part of the reason I am down here in Kansas. My new immediate coworkers know stuff I don't understand. Plus, they seem very willing to teach. I could have continued to fumble my way through understanding all of this, in other words, sit back, or I could dive into a situation that scares me. I took the plunge and it's only beginning.

The First Day

I am living here in Kansas!? Today was my first day in the office down here. It went really well, certainly a lot of introductions and interruptions, and that is to be expected. It's hot and humid down here, definitely the humidity will take some time to get used to, especially since it wasn't actually that hot today. The next few days will get into the upper 90s, and get humid.

So I'm living in Independence, Kansas for the time being. The plan is to buy an actual house, I will write about my motivations for that eventually. I'm renting a room for now, with two of my coworkers in the house, so we are on the same schedule. 

Well, I know I haven't written much the last week, but I was busy and living my life takes precedence over blogging about it. Good night.

I Live in Iowa: Week 251

This was an incredibly busy week! I thought it might be, but it surpassed my expectations. It started at 3:30 AM Sunday in Seattle when I woke up in my rented minivan because I was tired of paying for hotels. Then a nice flight to Chicago, and three hours of driving to get back to Dubuque. Only a few people knew I was in town so it ended up being one of two nights in the whole seven day week I ate supper at my apartment.

Monday was my first day back at work and I made it through about 400 emails in between telling various people about Mt. Everest. I went out to eat with a coworker and friend for supper.

Tuesday I woke up at 5 AM to get dressed and catch a carpool to Waterloo, Iowa for a drivetrain conference at work, and it was 13 hours between the time and left at 6 AM and 7 PM when we returned. A quick run and supper, and a visit to a friend's house and it was 9:30 and I was tired.

Wednesday was day two of the conference in Waterloo and then in the evening I bicycled 50 miles at 20 miles an hour with a large group. We had a burrito after, so another night eating out.

Thursday I slept in. I couldn't help it, I was doing a lot. Not to mention doing Mt. Rainier last weekend, which I still need to write a trip report about. I managed to get in a nice run on Thursday, more than 25 minutes. We went out to eat again, because of the rain our boat trip on the river was canceled. It's worth mentioning all of these events involved different people. There is some overlap, but quite a few  different individuals.

Friday was another day in the Dubuque office. I finished going through my 800 emails. Then we went rock climbing at Pictured Rocks State park after work near Monticello, Iowa. I decided then, on the spur of the moment to do a bicycle ride the next day, so...

Saturday came at 4:30 AM to get ready to bicycle 100 miles, which is 16 more than all the previous rides I had done this year combined. It went really well, I ended up leading our group of 4-6 people for maybe 50-70 miles of the trip because I was not doing the two day option. We averaged 17.3 mph, which is quite fast considering the hills, we regularly were doing 19-20 on the flats. I had my last supper in town, with friends, and then off to sleep.

My Sleep this Past Week

Next week, Kansas!

I'm Taking a Rest Day

I came home from work today, Monday, and started eating, and an hour later, on my fourth snack food, decided I wasn't going to run today. Tiredness is a funny thing or an interesting thing. When I made it over 13,000 feet on Mt. Rainier Saturday I was tired. Not the tired from having just done six miles and 8000 vertical feet of elevation gain, but a deeper tired, similar to when I have been training (running) a large volume for weeks or months. It's like my body wants to eat and sleep, and that's about it.

Some people are probably laughing or crying right now reading this. As if climbing a mountain, the weekend after a successful 8000 meter mountain expedition, wasn't enough, that's when I realize I am tired. So I'm taking a rest day. My coach hasn't sent me a schedule yet so I don't have any workouts to miss yet. It's a good reminder that we need recovery, despite how I may act and describe the ninth hardest experience in my life, that's still pretty hard.

Crevasse crossing in the Khumbu ice fall.

More Everest Videos

I'm running out of blog titles for events that seem pretty minor for me. This first video was taken on the south col May 13th just before we headed down and my teammates were on their way to the summit. I really need to talk about this first summit push more, but there are a lot of emotions in it and I don't want to say something in frustration So I need more time to calm down before writing about it.

This second video was taken at camp 2 in the cook tent. I spent a fair amount of time in the camp 2 cook tent because it was usually warmer, there were always people there, and the cooks woke up earlier than everyone else, as I sometimes did.

On a separate note, I'm leaving Paradise super early tomorrow morning to do a one day solo climb of Mt. Rainier. Fun fact, only 20-25 people solo Rainier every year. I didn't think it was that rare. Doing it in one day is more common with many people just resting at camp Muir for a few hours. I feel a little embarrassed doing this. I mean, I just climbed Mt. Everest, and it's not enough? I have to go find another mountain to do, almost immediately? So we'll see, the weather forecast is great for tomorrow! The climbers parking lot is full, so it may be a little crowded, but that's okay with me because it's a lot easier to pass people on the Disappointment Cleaver route than on the fixed lines on Everest. Plus, if I run into any issues, more people are around to help.

I'm Climbing Mt. Rainier!

Umm... talk about last minute planning. Some people might be wondering, 'you climbed Mt. Everest, don't you want to settle back into work and your normal life as soon as possible?' Yes, that is something I look forward to, however, circumstances lined up so that I have another smaller opportunity and I would like to pursue that. Which is to say, for the next two months, I am well acclimated to anything that we have in the lower 48 states in the USA, so going to 14,000 feet will be no problem. Also, I had originally planned to return to work on Monday, June 6th. So when I returned a few days early to the USA it seemed either return to work a few days early, lay around at my parents house, my house, or visit relatives, or the third option, go do a speed ascent on a 14,000 foot mountain, particularly the biggest baddest 14er in the lower 48: Mt. Rainier.

Rarely is it done as a one day climb because it involves nearly 9,000 vertical feet of ascent from the parking lot to the summit, but it is possible. I think I can do it in around eight hours round trip, let's say 7-10 hours for the likely range.

Mt. Rainier Summit Photo September 11th, 2015

So I fly out this afternoon, will pick up some last minute supplies and my permit Friday, and spend Saturday morning trying to speed climb Mt. Rainier. Yes I will be taking my Delorme InReach, a rope, ice screw, and even a small down jacket in case I don't have as good of weather as predicted. I will be back in Dubuque on Sunday afternoon and then work on Monday as originally planned.

View from South Summit and Back Home

The video today is from near the south summit of Mt. Everest, I'm not sure on the exact time or elevation, but it had to be above 28,000 feet, probably around 28,500. This is the best video image quality I have from high on the mountain. Again it's short, but that's just because Tshering Sherpa was stopped to talk to one of Asian Trekking's other Sherpas on the way up so I just had a brief minute to take a video.

Well, I'm back in the USA! My parents picked me up in Chicago yesterday, we drove back to Sheboygan Falls and had lunch along the way, then I promptly went to bed, for about 16 hours. I didn't really get any sleep on the flights, but the good news is I think I am all caught up and will not have major jet lag the next week. 

View from Camp 3 on Lhotse Face

I heard people liked the picture I posted last week of me descending the ice fall, well, here is one taken before Andy zoomed the camera in to show where I was in more context.

Zoomed Out View Descending the Khumbu Ice Fall

Finally, I don't think I said anything during the expedition, but after my first rotation on the mountain I had some moderately serious blisters on my shins from my 8000 meter boots. The problem was I wore tights under my socks and they overlapped with the tongue on my boots and rubbed quite a bit. The solution was to just leave the tights unzipped on my lower shins and then just bunched up above the top of the boot. I never had a problem getting cold or anything despite how shoddy it looked when I would get dressed.

My legs after the first rotation on the mountain.

For the second rotation I taped my legs and for the third and fourth (my two summit pushes) I didn't need to cover up or care for my legs with anything, although I still have a faint mark on my right leg from the poor choice of layering.