Stumbled Up and Blown Down

I once again attacked my favorite mountain, Long Peak. This time I attacked it in the winter. Since all of my native Colorado climbing partners were busy I was fortunate enough to be joined by G my mountaineering partner from WPI. The plan was to ascend the north face. We brought ropes, a little gear, crampons and two ice axes/ice tools each.

We ate steak the night before in Loveland and drove up to the Long Peak Trailhead for a few hours of terrible sleep. It was great to catch up because G and I spent quite a few mountaineering Saturdays in New Hampshire going up and down the classic 5000 foot peaks. He also did a huge amount of work to get the ice axes manufactured. I would work with him again professionally any day and I would rope up with him any day as well.

before we went to sleep we agreed on a 1AM wake up time. At 1AM we agreed on a 2AM wake up time. At 2AM we started moving around, eating drinking, dressing, and by 3AM we were walking up the trail. We signed in at the register and started uphill. Within ten steps I was huffing and puffing. Going from 1000 feet to 9200 feet in 45 hours is a little quick. We slowed down and settled into a seemingly slow pace. However, we kept moving and soon enough were above treeline, well before the sun was up.

The wind was rather strong. Gusts were initially in the 30-40 mph range, which is not very challenging, but it gets your attention. Plus viewing the world with the light of a headlamp gives you a rather one dimensional view of the world. We kept moving and were continually losing the trail. I have hiked up and down that trail more than a dozen times, but in the snow and wind I felt like a total novice.

I tried to angle up toward the trail junction with Chasm Lake. However we never hit the trail junction on the way up. Under the assumption and feeling that we were moving like snails, and with at least one gust to about 60mph (the forecast said gusts to 80mph) we called it a day and started heading down.

As it happens we were nearly a mile farther up the trail that I thought. We were on the side of Mt. Lady Washington well above the trail junction. On the way down we ran into the trail that curves around to the gap and followed that down to the junction. We took a few minutes of a break there and this about describes the situation:

The Situation!

Okay, I can't torture you like that and leave you hanging so much. It wasn't as bad as Febuary 2006 on Mt. Adams with I. Windchill of -50F is so cold...

The Situation! With Less Drama. (By the way notice the nice boots!)

I took some video as well, which I will post when I have a little more time. I still have to go for a run and drive to Denver today. Anyway, the moral of the story is I have some amazing friends and going from 1000 feet to 12,200 feet or so in 48 hours is definitely possible with enough hydration and conditioning, but it is not recommended. Oh yes, I already knew that you can't walk in wind more than 50mph, but I'll repeat it for the benefit of others. 

It's Not Rocket Science: Week 24

What  a week! This week was the culmination of why I headed out west. That is to say, I "finished" what I set out to do... something, big.

The week started off in Leavenworth, Washington. After a late start the group was going to do another day of sport climbing. I really was not feeling like sport climbing. The two pitches I led on Saturday I had backed down from before I reached the anchor. To some large extent I was scared of falling. I just did not want to succeed on those climbs bad enough to keep going. That has kind of been a theme with me this summer. I have started up so many routes simply to end the route with a whole bunch of rappelling. The most recent Patagonia catalog was dedicated to failed climbs. That was a nice bit of motivation.

The way I view success and failure in mountaineering is a mixture of survival, experience, fear, accomplishment, and mental barriers. That is to say that while I have succeeded on so few routes this summer I have learned many things, which I will blog about over the next several months. The point is, making the top is only a small part of mountaineering.

Anyway, back to Sunday. I mentioned at breakfast that I was considering running The Enchantments, and they ended up talking me into it.

We all ate hamburgers at the Heidleburger Drive-In (it's a hamburger place) and someone mentioned that I should run the Wonderland Trail around Mt. Rainier. They mentioned that it was 90 miles so I answered that that was crazy. Then I could not stop thinking about it on the two hour drive back to Seattle. I decided on Monday after getting coffee from the first Starbucks that I would go for it. The first Starbuck is not cool by the way. It's a total tourist trap. Good coffee though... The weather was scheduled to cooperate for Tuesday and Wednesday and I wasn't terribly tired from The Enchantments so I went for the Wonderland Trail Tuesday morning. That trip report will be up tomorrow.

The rest of the week involved me driving 3000 miles from Seattle back east. Along the way I overnighted in Bozeman at a friend's house. That makes it five different friends houses on this road trip. Thank you awesome friends! I had coffee in the morning in Bozeman and interestingly enough I had as hard of a time finding parking on Main Street in Bozeman as I did in downtown San Francisco.

Saturday I spent part of the day looking at the Four Mile Canyon Fire, also known as the Boulder Fire. It was very surprising. The fire came within ten feet of burning houses at Gold Hill. While Gold Hill is only a 200 person town, anytime a a town burns it is devastating. It was strange to drive down the roads and see one house burned to the ground and the next house 30 feet away was fine. After seeing the destruction and ashes it scares me to think of being evacuated. When the fire department gives the order to evacuate the fire is still a mile or two away and everyone is in denial about their house being burnt. You could lose everything, or nothing.

Above is the Colorado Mountain Ranch. The main building on the right was saved but the rest of the ranch was pretty much destroyed. The red glass on the buses tail lights melted and ran down in gruesome trails. It was not a happy scene.

Running the Buchanan-Pawnee Passes Loop

It is officially 26.4 miles including 6700 feet of vertical elevation and two passes over 12,000 feet. The start is either the Mitchell Lake Trailhead or the Long Lake Trailhead. From there the trails allow a runner or hiker to link up Buchanan Pass to the North and Pawnee Pass to the South. The topo map and elevation graph give an indication of the seriousness. So here is the story...

I discovered this route in the spring. I have hiked in this area many times through my job at a camp a few miles north of Ward. Furthermore I see the peaks Sawtooth (just south of Buchanan Pass) and Audobon (right in between the two passes) on just about every run that I go on from the Peak to Peak highway to county roads 96 and 103 and the road to Jamestown. I decided early in the summer that I wanted to give it a try. However, I did not want to try it in a rainstorm. I only just decided the night before that I would actually do it. We had serious rain storms Wednesday and Thursday up here at 8800 feet so I was worried it would be bad weather and I would just end up gym climbing in Boulder on Saturday. Finally, Friday night I made the call that I would go and announced it on Facebook.

I have to work Saturday mornings so I worked to clean up our camp for the next week of campers. At 9 AM I was cleaning the kitchen counters. At 10 AM I was swinging a hammer trying to take nails out of boards. At 11 AM I was on my way to Brainard Lake. I had a bit of a late start. When I arrived they told me that there were no open parking spots at the Long Lake Trailhead or Mitchell Lake Trailhead so I had to park on the south side of Brainard Lake which added about a half mile each way to the trip. I had a park ranger snap a picture with my iPhone before I headed off. The time stamp for that picture is 11:19:43 AM 7/10/2010. Then I started the sufferfest.

The gear that I took for the adventure was: Mizuno Yellow lightweight trainers, Ironman Wigwam Socks, running shorts with mesh elastic waist pockets (I forgot the brand but they are great shorts), Joe Colton Off Road Run race t-shirt (I was seventh this year in the 15 mile race), Nike running hat, Tifosi sunglasses, two Ultimate Direction 20 oz water bottles, 3 oz Montbell Ultra light wind jacket (with full zip and hood), a tube of Cliff Shot Bloks margaherita flavor (200 calories), two GU gels (Espresso Love and Orange, 100 calories each), my iPhone and head phones, and the key to my van (seen behind me above).

It took me a little over five minutes to get to the road intersection of Mitchell and Long Lakes. Then I headed toward Coney Flats. The trail went above tree-line slightly was a a little rough then it dipped down and I had a nice two miles downhill at a nice grade. Between the cutoff to Coney Flats and Coney Flats I only saw one other person and he was doing a little running as well. I reached the entrance to the Indian Peaks Wilderness 1:12 after starting for about 7 miles at that point so I was doing around 10 minute miles.

I headed up to Buchanan Pass and after 15 minutes I had passed everyone else on the trail. I still haven't figured out the whole running uphill around 12,000 feet thing yet. I would run 20-50 meters then walk for that long and then do it again. I arrived at the top 2:06 after starting. I sat down for a few minutes to put on my wind shell and take a few pictures. The time stamp on the first picture is 1:28:39 7/10/2010 and on the second picture is 1:29:09 7/10/2010. My face about says it all.

At 2:08 (after I started) I started the run down. I didn't see any people for several miles running down and I was alone for about an hour and a half. When I finally saw some backpackers I asked if the trail to Pawnee Pass was ahead of me. The said it was but that kind of destroys my unassisted claim. I ended up taking all of the right trails with no one to help me but I kept asking along the way if I was on the right trail because I didn't carry a map.

At 3:20 (after I started) I hit the trail sign for the Cascade Creek Trail and I took a left. About this time I got really tired. I rarely run more than three hours and my body knows that so it was letting me know. On the uphill from the trail junction to the top of Pawness Pass I ate my four remaining Shot Bloks (out of six) and both of the gels. About half way up I took out the iPhone and put the head phones in and started listening to the Black Eyed Peas The E.N.D. album. I use some electric adrenaline sometimes to help me move faster. There was a lot of walking on this uphill section.

When I hit the next trail junction to Pawnee Pass I was comforted to see that someone before me had added some labels to the sign. They had added "Pawnee Lake" and "Pawnee Pass" with arrows. I was relieved to know that I was going the right direction as I was tripping all over the place at that point and my head was spinning a little. If you look on the lower left of the sign you can see the permanent marker "Pawnee Pass". The time stamp for this picture is 3:33:25 7/10/2010.

I headed up the final stretch, more walking than running.  I feel bad when I am out there trying to run and people see me walking. I feel like I am not trying hard enough. At this point I only had about six ounces of water left. I was already getting dehydrated. I put on my wind shell again when I went above tree-line because it was somewhat windy, maybe 20 mph winds. The trail was much better than I expected. Most of it is very run-able even going uphill. I had heard horror stories about how hard it was and it really was not terrible at all. Just before the top there is a small dihedral on the left side of the gully at a switchback and I stopped there to take pictures because the wind was picking up. This is the view looking up the last 50 vertical feet to Pawness Pass. The time stamp is 4:41:05 PM 7/10/2010.

I crested the top 5:23 after I started for a 2:03 ascent from the low point on the west side of the continental divide. The wind gusts were up around 40 mph. Very walkable but when I was up in the air running it would blow me around. From there it is a simple four miles down to the the pavement which I did rather quickly considering I was out of water and food. There was a moose down by Long Lake which the tourists pointed out to me but I have seen so many moose this summer that I didn't stop or take a picture. I hit the pavement three way intersection at 6:28:24 after I started running for a loop time of 6:23:14. I finished the last half mile back to my van for a total on the go time of 6:34:11 and what I will call 27.4 miles. A very long day.

What would I do differently in the future? I would have liked to take more water, or maybe taken some energy drink like G2 gatorade. I was quite dehydrated when I got down. I think I took a good amount of food. It was only 400 calories but I think that more really would not have done much for me. I tried to get several of my friends to hang out on top of the passes to video tape me coming up and over but it seems that no one wanted to hike out a few miles. Also, now that I am familiar with the route I would not need to ask directions and that would save me some time. That is to say that going under six hours would not be very hard but getting under five hours would be difficult, at least for me.

What's next for me? I want to get up the Casual Route on Longs Peak again, free climbing the whole thing this time. There is also talk of a run at the Colorado Trail in August (500 miles, current speed record: eight days 12 hours). I also want to debut at the marathon this fall. I am not sure what will happen but I am sure that anything I do will have all of my energy. That definitely includes whatever employment I have as well as my physical recreation.

Running In the Mountains

I have run somewhere over 15,000 miles in my life. In all of that time the only people that have asked if I need a ride are people I know. That was until last Tuesday. It was raining and some guy I had never met outside the village of Ward, Colorado was driving by and offered me a ride. I refused because I wanted to be out there running. Then again on Sunday it was epicing (think rain and snow in decent amounts, but in June above 9000 feet of elevation)  outside and again I was offered a ride near Ward. The point is, for whatever reason people up here, at least a percentage are very friendly.

When I lived in Kansas I was routinely offered rides by my friends in our small town. The last six years I have been living in a very different environment. Hundreds of cars rumbled past without saying a word. I was never offered rides. The occasional whistle, shout to put on a shirt, "run Forrest run", honking horns, and a smattering of profanity were just part of the game.

Up here I wave to most of the locals. They offer me rides. Bicyclists and I wave or give encouragement to each other. Locals on the side of the road say "hi" and the moose don't charge at me. I can't say that it's better than running in a city with predictable weather, sidewalks, water fountains to refill my water bottle, and an endless number of different loops instead of only three roads. However, the traffic is low, the people are nice, and the scenery is just fantastic. 

Cresting the hill on the road from Jamestown to the Peak to Peak and seeing Audobon and Sawtooth there under a light blue sky is just amazing. No tree covered hill or barren field compares to a steep partly snow covered mountain less than ten miles away.

Pictures of Colorado Life

A friend recently asked for pictures of what I was up to. So without further ado here is a sampling of what I have been up to in pictures.

My desk and procrastination/fox/deer/inspiration window:

So technically, I have a corner office with windows (one of my life dreams = done):

The neighbors are always walking through our yard:

I have to cross the highway on most runs (that's Bergen Peak 9,708ft and a 12 mile run):

View on the way back of the trails I hit up once or twice a day (usually less snow):

My friends walking around frozen Echo lake:

Mt. Evans and Bierstadt from Echo lake at 10,800 feet:

Sometimes it's a little cold on my morning runs and ice freezes on my face:
A backcountry ski trip up to Lake Mary with two of my roomates and my roomate's dog that decided to kill and eat a live Camelbak:

I'm taking it to 300,000 miles:

Obviously there is more. However, I try not to be too revealing about my friends on my blog so I haven't posted their faces. Also, when I'm doing most of the fun stuff I don't stop to take pictures. If you want to see more you should move out or at least come for a visit. Colorado! (Someone should pay me to advertise for this state...)

Forget Layering!

The wisdom of the ages says, "wear a whole bunch of different layers in the winter to keep you warm. If it gets too hot take one off, if it is cold put another one on." Well, I'm here to tell you forget that because it is inefficient. Oh it does work, sort of. I'll explain...

Layering as it is practiced by all of the people I know who use it consists of 1-3 layers of light long sleeve silk or polypropylene or capilene. Think Under Armor type of shirts, except a little bit more loose in general. Then these people wear 1-2 layers of heavy insulation like wool or fleece. They cover that up with 1-2 layers of wind/water resistant jackets or pull overs. That's a great combination if you plan on standing around all day. However, if you plan on doing something physical and generating heat you are going to sweat, even if the windchill is below zero.

How can I blast a time tested system? How can I say that it is not the best cold weather clothing system? Experience. Nearly every time I go on a winter hike or cold weather outing with less experienced people we have to stop in the first twenty minutes and they take off clothing.

I do not know the name of the person who coined the name "action suit" but I discovered it on my own in New Hampshire's mountains and with a little help from friendly corporate softshell advertising. It works like this: wear one combination of clothing that consists of relatively few layers and commit to wearing them all day long even if it gets hot. Those layers hopefully have venting zippers and hoods so that you can cool off while working hard. Then have one (just one) layer that you put on when you stop to rest or cook or belay. This is generally a belay parka and puff pants.

My preferred system which I have now used in three states, two countries, and three time zones, hiking, ice climbing, skiing, bicycling in the winter, and up to 23,000 feet is this:

• A full body softshell bib made by Ragged Mountain that I bought used that they don't make any more. Mine has two chest pockets, leg zippers to chinch it or loose it near your ankles, a half moon zipper for using "the loo", and a two way zipper in the front so I can zip the bottom part open if I have to go or zip the top part open if I am too hot. Here is a similar suit that is twice the price of what I paid.
• The Patagonia R1 Hoody! I think I average blogging about this once every two months. Anyway it is an extremely breathable yet insulated hoody with a half zipper and partial face mask. It also has hand extensions with thumb holes. The nice thing is that if it really warms up I can unzip the chest and take the hood off and vent a lot of heat. As some of my videos in Pakistan in the tents at camp two and three show. I even have a spare that still has the tags in case they quit making it. This and the bibs make up the core of my system.
• A pair of gloves. Always a pair of gloves they are light and do wonders to keep your hands a little warm and out of the wind. The actual gloves vary based on the temperature, wind and activity. I have four different pairs that I rotate through depending on the activity. Although I am not an expert on gloves and I can't wait to have $160 to drop on a pair of nice insulated leather ones...
• Depending on the temperature I will either wear running shorts, half tights, or thick full length 2008 Patagonia nordic skiing tights that they don't make any more under the bibs.
• If it is cold I will wear a long sleeve under the R1 Hoody. I have two Nike long sleeve shirts that are really light and fit very nicely. I also have some compression tops similar to Under Armor but I usually feel my motion is restricted when I wear those.
• Occasionally I wear my Mountain Hardware Alchemy jacket over the bibs when it is cold and windy. More often than not though it is too warm. This is a tried and true jacket that has been around for ten years and will probably be here another ten.
• When the temperature is too warm for my parka I carry a three ounce 2007 Marmot Ion jacket. It's mostly wind proof and water proof. I will start sweating when I wear it most of the time but it really keeps the wind off and is absolutely worth the three ounces of weight. I carry this in the summer rock climbing and cycling too. Basically it's the one thing that is guaranteed to be in my pack on any trip in any season.
• For a belay/rest/cooking parka I have a Mountain Hardware Sub Zero Hooded Jacket. It is not the warmest parka out on the market but has always been plenty warm up to 7000 meters. I like it because the waist cut is a little higher than many jackets so I can get to my harness. It also has a ton of pockets including an inside pocket big enough for a one liter Nalgene or thermos. It also has an insulated hood which is a must.
• I have a pair of Mountain Hardware Compressor pants which are synthetic and again not the warmest insulating pants on the market. They have full side zips so I can put them on while standing and wearing crampons without lifting my feet off the ground. One note on why I have so much Mountain Hardware stuff is that the stuff just fits me really well. The sleeves are the right length for me.
• A pair of thick mittens. I don't always carry these for skiing or short hikes but anything more than a few hours or in serious weather will see a pair of either Outdoor Research Alti Mitts or Valandre Oural (down) mittens in my pack because I like my fingers.
• When it is really cold I wear the Outdoor Research Gorilla balaclava. It is very warm and windproof and can be worn with my goggles or with my sun glasses.

I will skip the discussion on footwear because that could take up a whole post. So that is my action suit. You can see that in general there are not many layers, just several functional layers with hoods and chest zippers so that I can air condition myself or turn up the heat. Is there room for improvement? Yeah, any clothing system will vary based on the weather and more importantly in my case the budget. This system and these articles of clothing have served me very well so far so I do not expect any big changes to my system in the next few years.

One last comment I have is about hoods. When it comes to winter clothing hoods are a must. You can put it on or take it off in several seconds and you do not have to worry about putting it in a pocket or your backpack. You lose a lot of heat through your head. Protecting your neck and head from the wind and cold can keep in a lot of heat. This is again why the R1 Hoody is so amazing. When fully zipped up only my nose and eyes are exposed. When unzipped my chest, head and neck are all exposed and I cool off rather quickly.

The Unemployment Chronicles: Week 4

This was what I will consider a good week. In the world of job hunting I filled out about 15 applications. I also made a phone call to a local staffing agency who I thought was an aerospace heat treating company and while it was kind of vague I am pretty sure they invited me in for an interview. (I realized that staffing agencies may also be hurting because fewer companies are hiring.) I think that this coming week I will make a lot more calls to several companies. People seem a lot more accommodating on the phone than in an email. However, I have not yet hit up the big three aerospace companies yet this year because I am waiting for two people to return my resume critiqued. I want to make sure that when I make the first or second impression (depending on the person and the company) that they like me!

I checked for local part time jobs in town a little but there really isn't much available. It seems that here there are lots of people that work those "part time" jobs as a career. Perhaps it is to go to the mountains more or to have less responsibility. Whatever the case it is a more competitive market than I anticipated.

Job hunting is like persistence hunting. That is hunting when you physically run down an animal. You head out looking for an animal. Then you see a heard and decide you want one specific animal. So you (and your friends) chase after it. However it might not be the right animal or easiest to catch so you set off after another animal. Eventually you figure out which one you want and keep chasing it. The problem is that when you start you don't know how long you are going to have to run. It could be ten miles, it could be a marathon it could be longer than a marathon. It is the same with job hunting: you take a few steps forward but you don't know how long until you get a job.

On the financial side of things: I bought two books and a new pair of running shoes. I also went grocery shopping and bought a mocha one morning. I did not go out to eat, which is good, and I did not buy any gear despite going to the REI flagship store in Denver. So the week was a loss but not terribly so. This coming week I have bills to pay so it will be a bigger loss.

On the "leisure time" side of thing: I ran 102 miles. 28 miles at 5000 ft the rest at 7400-8400 feet. I also had two good workouts. So in terms of running it was a good week. But running does not pay my bills. I also played too many hours of video games. What counts as too many? More than three hours in a week.

Since coming to Colorado last Sunday I have not yet climbed a mountain, gone rock or ice climbing, gone skiing, gone biking, or met up with any of my Colorado friends from 2008 and before. Kind of strange. I come here for the mountains yet I just run circles around them instead of climb up them.

How to Acclimate: For Athletes (Part 2 of 2)

In the first part of this series I mentioned a few ways that people could adjust to higher altitude. Today I will suggest some details that help the process move along.

When I say athletes I only mean people doing something physical. That could be a few days of hiking or skiing it doesn't have to be a competitive sport. In my experience at altitude people can often react very negatively to the change in altitude. In fact the only place I have seen people throw up is after the first day of backpacking when they ascended too fast. So all of the suggestions from yesterday stand. Just because you think you are trained better than an average person doesn't mean you can ascend faster. So here are some additional recommendations.

1. Be patient. It takes three weeks before your body produces the extra red blood cells to allow you to transport the limited oxygen. I believe there are other changes as well that occur within the first month so it is important to remember that just because you feel better on day four than day two doesn't mean you are acclimated yet.
2. Don't compare the quality of a workout directly to the same one performed at sea level. In 2002 I was hiking up the north ridge of Mt. Elbert. There is a plateau at about 13,500 feet that is nearly flat and about half of a mile long. It took me an entire hour to walk that half mile. At sea level I could probably crawl a half mile in an hour. What I'm saying is that that half mile at 13,500 feet is not the same as a mile at 500 feet. Comparisons can be made to workouts at altitude and those at sea level but that comparison should also rely on how the workout felt, if it was harder, easier or about the same as something at a lower altitude. Then it is up to the athlete to decide if it felt better or worse, as in where is an ideal training location.
3. Get your rest! Recovery is harder at altitude because there is not enough oxygen to use for repairing your body. After exercise there are micro-tears in your muscles and they heal faster when there is more oxygen available.
4. Eat! I think that it just takes more calories to sustain life at higher altitudes than it does at lower altitudes. This could be because you heart and lungs are working harder to keep you alive. So you may need to consume some extra calories, or end up losing weight.

Pretty simple and pretty effective.

How to Acclimate: In General (Part 1 of 2)

I am beginning the fifth extended period (more than six weeks) at altitude (above 6000 feet) in my life and I realized that many of the challenges that once plagued me are no longer issues because I have experience to understand the acclimatization process. So here are a number of things you can do to ease the stress of going to a higher altitude.

1. Do aerobic exercise before you get to altitude. Any amount of aerobic exercise you can do will be beneficial but a month or more will really help. I find running to be a really good conditioning exercise. Biking and swimming also help and cross country skiing if you have it available. This enables your body to transport oxygen better than someone who does not do aerobic exercise.
2. Drink water! Most of the altitude sickness problems that myself and my friends have had I would trace to dehydration. You are breathing out more water in the dry air as well as sweat evaporating off of your body so you will not realize how much water you need to drink. The few headaches I have had at altitude all cleared up by drinking more.
3. Ascend slowly. The traditional method is no more than an average of 1000 feet or 300 meters per day above 8000 feet or 2500 meters. By giving yourself an extra day to adjust to a moderate altitude before going to a higher altitude you can mitigate the drastic changes of a large altitude ascent.

Those are the most basic recommendations for adjusting to a higher altitude. Tomorrow I will address several of the finer points of adjusting to altitude.

The Unemployment Chronicles: Week 3

The view on Interstate 90 Wednesday before they closed it down for two days.

In the job hunting escapade: the week started off with me emailing several people in my WPI life that have been influential asking for introductions to people in the Denver metro area that might be looking for employees or know people looking for employees. Well I completely struck out with one of them and only hit a grounder to get on first with the other one. Not exactly the home run I was looking for. I spent the later half of the week snowed in in Minnesota away from internet access, besides my phone. So I applied for zero jobs online. However, due to the world being small I am following up with another friend for a possible introduction to a person that can probably help find me a job. As far as actually applying for jobs and such the week was more or less a wash. However, I am now in Colorado and I have thought up a few other contacts which I will pursue in the next week.

It's a scary thing. Being unemployed. In fact in the next week I am going to start searching out jobs that I can do until I land that engineering job with a fat salary. Well, a salary big enough to pay my loans. Honestly any engineering job that I could land I would be happy for. I'd even be happy with an internship right now. I'd even be happy for the next month if I could just sharpen cross cut saws or use one of my other skills. When you have a future be it another semester, a job lined up, or even just work on Monday you have this peace (and possibly ignorance) instead of this anxiety.

On a somewhat unrelated note I started coaching my first athlete, and he is going to pay me! While this is not the job I am looking for and it won't even cover one of my bills each month it is something which is better than nothing.

In the rest of my life (what is not getting me a job): I ran a meager 83 miles but had a good workout and took a day off to drive 13 hours across the country. I finally painted my political theory. Besides the 120 dollars I spent driving 1300 miles I didn't spend really any money which is always a good thing.

Where to live and start my company?

My Abaqus simulations have been running for 17 hours and should finish soon. That gives me free time to discuss places I want to live and start my company. Yes, I have decided to start a company even though I have no investors now. I'm just going to do it. What am I going to sell? Well, I'll start with ice axes and carabiners, then add climbing harnesses, gloves, pants, and running shorts. After that I'll make whatever I need. Those are all products where I've looked at what's available and thought I could make a product that would appeal to people more. Anyway the towns:

I like to run, a lot. I want to take a serious shot at making the olympic marathon trials for 2012 and 2016 and realistically there are two towns that have the coaches, athletes and support to make that a possibility for me sooner rather than later: Eugene, OR and Boulder, CO.

I like to rock climb, ice climb, ski, and just get out in the mountains. There are several towns around the country where you can get your fill of mountains and socialize (learn from) some of the best climbers in the world: North Conway, NH, Jackson Hole, WY, Boulder, CO, Seattle, WA, Salt Lake City, UT, and maybe Berkley, CA (I don't know enough about California to know which town would be best for mountaineers).

As you can see Boulder shows up on both lists. I've been there a dozen or so times and I love it. They have committed runners (I said hi to Jenny Barringer on a long run once) and they have hardcore climbers (just go into Neptune Mountaineering). Additionally, Boulder is close to Denver and all of the amenities that go with big cities yet it is not very big. Some mountain towns are a little isolated. I also do some road biking and a number of professional cyclists live there.

No town is perfect. Boulder is not a cheap place to live. Apparently it can get competitive there because everyone is a competitive athlete and wants to stand out. Constant competition is not always a good thing. However, I found in the short time that I have spent there that most people are pretty positive toward others in their chosen sport.

Changing subjects, this is my 100th blog post. Where will I be at 200? What about 1000?

Longs Peak is my Favorite Mountain

For anyone that has ever tried to climb Longs or even just looked at it they realize it is an impressive mountain. (Although when I saw it last week after staring at K2 for a month I laughed at how small it looked from Estes Park.) There is no easy route. The class 3 Keyhole route is so slick that your hands just slip off and your shoes don't stick. I don't like the Keyhole now that I've gone down it three times. It's too much of a risk. The east face of Longs is where all the fun is at. The Diamond is this 1500 foot face that is nearly vertical, and overhanging in places. While this is a shorter big wall there is no route on it easier than 5.10a. There are however routes to the south of the Diamond that are low fifth class, with lots of exposure so they are great training climbs as well as culminations of training as well. That is one thing that is so great about climbing is that each route teaches something and each route is an accomplishment.

For more information about this great mountain:
Mountain Project has mostly hard technical climbs.
Summitpost has mostly the easier technical routes and the scrambles.

The Diamond from the base of Lambs Slide.


I have attempted Longs six times:
North Face (5.4) June 2004: backed off due to steep rock, inexperience, and lack of equipment
Keyhole (3) June 2006: eight hours round trip solo sumitting at 6 AM
Kiener's (5.4) July 2008: ended up doing Alexander's Chimney with the M4 finish wearing just boots and we had frozen hands from the waterfall, turned back at broadway
Casual Route (5.10a) August 2008: I planned ahead so much for this climb it went really well, except for summitting at 5:30 PM, 20:15 it remains my longest day to date in the mountains
Kiener's (5.4) August 2009: solo attempt turned around just below broadway due to wind and clouds, it started raining when I got to the trailhead
Kiener's (5.4) August 2009: success after doing two of the wrong pitches that felt like a 5.8 and a 5.6 and summitting at 4:15 PM

Back from Colorado

I had a fantastic last six days. I got to see the grandparents on both sides on the way out and back. Then I spent fours days hammering my body in Rocky Mountain National park. I spent the first day on Longs retreating from 12,500 feet due to weather, the second day I ran Chaquita (13,070) and Yipsilon (13,500) seven miles round trip in 2:43 running the flats and downhills, the third day I ran Flattop Mountain (12,400?) 8.8 miles 2,500 feet of elevation round trip in 2:02 then I went down to the glacier gorge trailhead and went up and back to Mills Lake to scout out glacier gorge. It was round about 16 miles 3,500 feet of elevation in only 4:30. Then Sunday Josh and I met up and climbed Kiener's on Longs Peak (14,200) and despite taking the harder route on two pitches and wasting an extra hour each time we did it car to car in 14:50. Next time I do that route it will definitely be under 12 hours.

Great trip four days, four summits, 48 miles, 13,000 feet of elevation gain and loss, and I got to hang out with a bunch of my friends from Colorado.

My Pakistan Trip Report is Up!

It's posted on Summitpost. Read my tale here. Now there is a lot missing, and there aren't many pictures so I apologize in advance. If anyone has any questions just post a comment, preferably on my blog. 

Well, I'm off to Colorado for a few days to run up some 13 and 14,000 foot mountains then I will head back to Massachusetts and school. I imagine I'll be back in Worcester by the 14th. Maybe earlier.