"Running" at 13,000'

Mount Audubon (13,223') and Paiute Peak (13,088'), Indian Peaks Wilderness

Chris's photos and Heart Rate Monitor plots

So the 800 pound gorilla of the Pikes Peak Ascent is getting closer and closer. Peter, Chris and I have been diligently training for what is undoubtedly going to be a king sufferfest and it has been going pretty well. I can now do 8+ mile trail runs with pretty significant grades without too much trouble. Of course, by "run" here I mean "purposefully walk" in most cases. Running purists may poo-poo my training methods and dock me style points for dropping to a walk when the grade gets steep, but I am much faster this way.

The one thing we haven't done so far is to train on a grade at high altitude. Mount Audubon is good training for this. It's similar grade (700 feet of gain per mile, Pikes is 450-850 ft/mile) and altitude (10,500' to 13,200') as Pikes on a similarly good trail although only a third the distance. My goal was a sub-2-hour ascent (2 mph average pace) but I hoped to maybe even break 1:30. Let's see what we could do!

We arrived at the Mitchell Lake TH at about 8:30 and divided up. The girls (Amy, Luna, and Eileen) were going to hike up toward Blue Lake for a photo safari while the boys (Peter, Chris and myself) would do the more overt suffering. We were carrying radios to coordinate things and call in a rescue if that became necessary. But that was about all we were carrying. In a lot of ways this was new intellectual territory for me; most of my alpine adventures feature heavy boots, hiking poles, big packs full of ropes, crampons, ice axes and such. Even in the summer, I'll at least bring a large knapsack with lunch, sturdy shoes, a raincoat, and a camera. On this trip, we wore sneakers, ephemeral running shorts, and super-minimalist camelback packs with water and a couple of energy gels. This is weird and unnerving for someone from the school of "Be Prepared".

Things started off well and we tried running the first half mile. As usual, I went out too fast at the beginning and quickly regretted it. We dropped to a light jog, then an intermittent jog/walk as we wound through tall spruces. After we broke out of the trees onto Audubon's huge east face, all running ceased. We power-walked up surprisingly rocky trail passing spectacular columbines and numerous hikers.

Chris on the summit.

By about 11,000' I was definitely feeling it. I tried a few running steps and quickly backed off. My walking pace was pretty fast and I could feel my heart and lungs pounding away at a borderline-alarming rate. Peter pulled ahead early but Chris and I kept up the pace behind pausing for breath occasionally and to talk to other hikers, including another few people training for Pikes.

At 12,500', the trail transitioned from flower-strewn tundra to rough talus and became ambiguous. There were cairns here and there and the trail was apparent enough up close, but we were moving fast enough that it became a matter of boulder hopping rather than hiking.

At last, just as my quads were making it clear that they couldn't take much more abuse, I crested the final rise to the summit. Peter had arrived a minute or two before me and Chris could be seen laboring up a few minutes behind. After we caught our breath, Chris checked the watch (we only had the one): 1:20! Wow! That's a 3 mph pace at 2100 ft/hour. Fast! With that kind of pace, we could (concievably) finish Pikes in under 4 hours! Of course, there is no way I could keep that pace up at this kind of altitude for three times the distance, but half of the PPA is below 10,500' where we'd started the day. Things were looking up.

We relaxed on the summit for twenty minutes enjoying the stupendous views and radioing down to the girls our good news. "Oh", said Amy, "should we turn around and meet you at the car?"

Paiute (left) and Toll (center) from the summit of Audubon.

No no no! We'd worked hard to gain elevation and weren't going to simply go back the way we came. The day was fine and it was still quite early. We scrambled west along the 3/4 mile ridge toward Paiute Peak on the Continental Divide. There was no running here or even power-walking; the descent to the 12,600' saddle was loose talus and any sort of speed would risk ankle breaking injuries or worse. From the saddle, we scrambled up a nice, narrow 3rd-class ridge to Paiute. Again, no running, but I was climbing hands-and-feet pretty hard along a very aesthetic ridge with steep drops to the lake-infested vallies below. I arrived on the summit about 5 minutes ahead of the others and enjoyed a new place with dramatic views on all sides.

Options: From here we could scramble down to Blue Lake and out via the trail, or we could try for Mt. Toll, the next peak south of Paiute along the Divide. The weather was looking somewhat less than ideal and we were pretty tired, so we decided to forego Toll for today. The scramble down to the Toll/Paiute saddle was pretty exciting and featured steep talus and occasional snow.

At great length, we descended to the top of a long snowfield with a good runout into the basin above Blue Lake. With proper boots and an ice axe, it would be a trivial glissade. Even sturdy shoes and a hiking pole would be okay. But running shoes were really not the right gear. I plunge-stepped down a few hundred feet before attempting a standing glissade. This was a bit dicey and I kept filling my uphill shoe with snow. Finally I just did a sitting glissade, prepared to flip over and self-arrest with my elbows if neccessary. Several hundred exhilarating vertical feet and some pretty impressive gluteal laccerations later, I arrived on the flats at speed, soaked from head to toe. But it certainly beat hiking down loose rock!

Ow! Ow! Ow! After the second glissade.

Chris grabbed a book-sized rock to serve as an axe (now there's a good idea!) and followed having much the same experience on the way down. Peter started from a good deal higher than the two of us and took the time to wrap his delicate nether regions with his windbreaker. Thus he came flying down the slope at great speed, in a cloud of snow, completely blind, and utterly soaked.

Back on level ground, we ran on snow (which is very much like being drunk), traversed a steep, boggy slope, and glissaded (standing this time) another snowfield down to Blue Lake. The lake was relatively crowded with hikers enjoying what is one of the best views in this part of Colorado. We jogged past feeling smug and tired, negotiating the patches of snow, deep mud, and startlingly rugged rocks along the trail. Everything was going well until about 1.5 miles from the car where Peter sprained his ankle. This slowed us down a bit, and we took the last mile or so much more gently.

It was a great trip (except for the laccerations and the sprained ankle). What started out as a trail run had ended up as a minor mountaineering adventure and perspective-changing experience. I bagged another summit and learned a new paradigm of summer mountain hiking; light is right, less is more! As to the "running", I'm convinced I'm not going to be doing much actual running on Pikes, but that I can sustain a pretty killer walking pace. My stated goal for Pikes is a 5 hour finish, but I'll be really happy if I can do it in 4:30. After this training run, I think this is entirely feasible.

Bring it on!!!

The Wilderness Journal

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