48

By the time you read this, I will have begun the biggest athletic adventure of my life. This post will self-publish at 5:00 AM on Saturday, July 26, about the same time that I'll be heading up the Signal Ridge Trail on Mount Carrigain. It's my declared intention to visit all 48 peaks over 4,000 feet in my home state as swiftly as possible. A team of family and friends will be monitoring my progress as well as providing food, road transportation, and moral support over the next three days. My plan is to stop the clock at the Mount Kinsman Trailhead sometime on Tuesday the 30th after covering nearly 200 miles, and 68,000 feet of elevation gain if everything goes according to plan. (Ha!)

I’m not the first person to pursue the Fastest Known Time (FKT) of the Four Thousand Footers. Others have blazed this trail before; the Fitch brothers, Ted "Cave Dog" Keizer, Tim Seaver, Sue "Stinkyfeet" Johnston, Cath Goodwin, my friend Ryan Welts, and Andrew "Traildog" Thompson. I've drawn years of inspiration from these people and now it's my turn to try and stand on their shoulders. I've researched and planned and trained enough that I'd like to think I'm going into this with open eyes despite the fact that it's far beyond anything else I've done. It's going to hurt and my resolve will be tested in ways I can’t yet appreciate. The lows will be low and the highs will be high. Failure is deliberately a possibility. 

So why do it? For one, I get to spend four days trying to break new ground in the mountains I love. The deeper answers are hard to articulate, but I will say this: I've collected an unusual set of skills and capabilities over the years as a hiker, climber, and runner. These mountains in particular have been burned into brain over the last twelve years and I strongly feel that I'm as qualified to do this as anyone has ever been. Simply put, I’m doing this because I want to and because I can.

Tim Seaver tells me that when he broke the record in 2003, he was sure it would be lowered again in short order, but attempts on his time have been few over the last decade. Just this summer, Andrew Thompson managed to trim 51 minutes off Tim's time, lowering the record to three days, fourteen hours, fifty-none minutes. Coincidentally, I feel like I’ve been on a collision course with the Four Thousand Footers record since 2003, I just didn’t know it for most of those years. Since the day I discovered a list of the Four-Thousand Footers in the back of an old copy of the AMC White Mountain Guide, I've been unable to sit still. The mountains got me off my sedentary ass and fundamentally changed me. They put me in control of my own life, and blessed me with new experiences I never would have imagined. This adventure will be another one of those experiences, succeed or fail, in a relationship with the Whites that will continue long after this is over.

The struggle itself toward the heights is enough to fill a man's heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy. - Albert Camus

Presidential Traverse 6/29/2014

A casual Presidential Traverse with a friend - in pictures.

Ascending Howker Ridge, the most aesthetic start to the Traverse in my opinion.

Mount Jefferson

Shoulder of Mount Clay

The Great Gulf - my favorite view in the Whites.

The Climb to the Clouds auto race was going on.

I imagine we were some of the few who'd appreciate all of the things in this picture.

Mount Washington summit

Mount Monroe

Looking back to Washington

Last view of the day - another favorite.

Data: http://www.strava.com/activities/159742242

Spring Training Part 2: Refocus

My ankle healed fast and I went from hobbling to some careful trail running within a week. Despite the initial swelling and bruising, I seem to have gotten off easy without substantially tearing anything. Being back on my feet helped my mental state immensely and I just kind of let go of the feelings I had for Massanutten; instead refocusing on the upcoming Manitou's Revenge in the Catskills and running in the mountains for it's own sake.

The mountains have held onto their snow cover longer than in recent years, so I stayed local for a while. I'm fortunate to have Bear Brook State Park in my backyard:

Boardwalk

Hedgehog Ledge Trail

Feedin' time

Southern White Mountain ranges tend to melt out earlier, so I paid a visit to the Squam Range:

North to Waterville Valley

Mount Morgan

South to the Lakes Region

 A favorite mountain running route of mine is the Mount Osceola from Waterville Valley, by way of Mount Tecumseh. It's a good twenty mile out & back trip with 8,000 feet of gain that's not too far of a drive. http://www.strava.com/activities/143238547

Old Man Winter Lingers...

Neat view into the heart of the Pemi from Osceola

Tripyramids from Osceola

Mighty Mount Tecumseh's Summit

 Then, feeling rather adventurous, I devised a 40+ mile, 17000' gain route to enchain most of the peaks in the Pemi. Things didn't go as planned and I ended up cutting the route short to about 31 miles with only 12000' gain. http://www.strava.com/activities/148399406

Fog and rain on Franconia Ridge

Descending Lincoln Slide

The sun finally comes out on South Twin

North Twin

Zealand

Birch glades on the abandoned Hale Fire Warden's Trail

My family was out of of town, so I decided to make a full weekend of it. Sunday brought a fun run on Mount Washington, with a side trip to Mount Isolation.  http://www.strava.com/activities/148399403

Lakes of the Clouds

Atop Mt. Monroe

Pepperoni on Mount Isolation

A brave bird

The Davis Path

Tuckerman Ravine

Mt. Washington

The new diesel Cog. This one doesn't set the grass on fire.

The Great Gulf

Whether this will influence my performance at Manitou's, I don't know. I've certainly enjoyed myself enough that I'm tempted to just not bother with formal races sometimes. From what I understand, Manitou's will be the first true mountain 50 miler in the East. It's what a race on the Hut Traverse would be like if we could have such nice things. Normally you'd have to go to Pyrenees of the Alps for something like that because so much of the best American terrain is off limits. On top of that, it appears that the field is quite stacked this year; Mikhaylov, Nephew, Welts, Wellford, Ruseiki, all names with strong results and FKTs associated with them. Even in a race that suits my strengths I'm going to have an uphill battle competitively.

Racing the Sun - AMC Huts Traverse - 6/16/2012

Gain is the name of the game. With the Hardrock 100 only four short weeks away, my training is going well but needs to be capped off with a couple long days in the mountains with plenty of power hiking. Running around town on lunch break or spending all day zooming around Bear Brook State Park is all well and good, but there's no substitute for specific training. While I could just run repeats up and down Mount Madison, racking up elevation gain 4,000 feet at a time, actually traveling somewhere is much more fulfilling (and the reason I like to do this stuff in the first place). The Hut Traverse, running East-West across the White Mountains for about 50 miles and 17,000 feet of gain, fit the bill perfectly. You can read more about the route here, here and here. While the variation I chose is considered to be the slightly easier "minimal" route, I find that it's the much more aesthetic of the two and I don't feel the need to include Pinkham Notch Visitor Center as a hut. Seriously, why would I spend less time above treeline in exchange for Pinkham, which has powerlines and a parking lot? Sounds like a raw deal to me.

So with the route chosen, I decided to make things a little more interesting. On my previous traverse back in 2010, I started at 2 am (in the dark) and took almost 17 hours to finish. Around these parts in June, the day is about 15 hours long. Why not start at Carter Notch Hut at dawn and race the sun West to Lonesome Lake Hut, trying to finish before sundown? This would allow me to start later (and get more sleep) as well do all of my running on the rocky trails in the daylight. Perfect! With a favorable forecast and a suitably novel plan, my weekend was set.

After a restful night under the stars, I set off on the Nineteen Mile Brook Trail to Carter Notch at 2:35 am, being careful to hike at an easy pace and save energy. It's always kind of cool being in the woods at this time of day; things are very quiet and I have the trail to myself. The sky begins to lighten and I'm left wondering why the birds seem to sing the most at dawn; I don't really notice them as much during the day or in the evening. After reaching the hut I lingered around for a little while, listening to the mice scurry about while a couple Appalachian Trail thru-hikers snored on the floor. I had intended to start at 5, but by 4:30 it was light enough to see well, so I signed the guest book and quietly slipped out the door.

The run back down to Route 16 passed by in a brisk 40 minutes and I was soon jogging up the Great Gulf Trail. This time around I decided to take the Madison Gulf Trail, which is very steep and winds its way up a drainage filled with boulders as big as trucks, then over a few third-class scrambles to emerge above treeline in the col between Mounts Madison and Adams. I took a second to look back toward Carter Notch, where I started, just right of the sign:

I hit Madison Hut at 2:23:36 (1:43:44 from Route 16), signed in and topped off my water. Whatever was being served for breakfast smelled really good, but I needed to boogie onward.

The next stretch on the Northern Presidentials is my favorite part, so I stopped now and again for a few pictures. The view to the north from Thunderstorm Junction:

The Gulfside Trail stretches ahead from cairn to cairn to Mount Washington - my route will then follow the descending ridgeline to the right:

The Cog Railway leading away towards Washington's summit:

Adams and Madison framed by the trestle - what a gorgeous day to be out!

My next stop, Lakes of the Clouds Hut (reached at 4:11:42 elapsed, 1:48:06 from Madison), seen below Mount Monroe in the left side of the picture. My final destination for the day is beyond the high point (Mount Lafayette) on the horizon, with many peaks, ridges, and valleys to cross in between:

The Westside Trail is always a pleasure and makes for some mighty fine runnin'.

At 5:18:37 I reached Mitzpah Hut, back below treeline, in 1:06:55 from Lakes.

Dropping down into Crawford Notch, I could see that I was on a pretty good pace with 5:52:43 elapsed and 34:06 from Mitzpah. While this is roughly the halfway point by distance, it certainly isn't by time. There are several big climbs and many miles of tough trail left go and I think the second half of the Hut Traverse is the harder section.

My roadside stash of goodies  - a smorgasbord of tooth decay!

Just like last time, the steep climb over the Willey Range was a hands-on-knees struggle in the heat of the day. I'd developed a bit of a headache and a couple times was reduced to leaning against a tree while my head spun. Finally cresting over the top of the ridge by Mount Tom, I could switch back to a run down the A-Z Trail and over its rotting bog bridges. It looks like they're planning to replace these soon, as a pile of chopper-delivered lumber was waiting off to the side.

I reached Zealand Hut, with it's nicely framed porch-view, in 7:29:40 and 1:36:57 from Crawford Notch:

The Twinway is another tough section for me and it took 1:26:05 to reach the trail junction on Mount Guyot, in 8:55:45 total time. I stopped for a quick picture of Galehead Hut from South Twin Mountain's summit. I'll need to navigate the tortured ridgeline over Mounts Garfiled (center-right) and Lafayette (center-left):

I finally arrived at Galehead in 9:51:44 and 55:59 from Guyot, quite a bit slower than when I run this section on a Pemi Loop. It was mid afternoon by now, hot and humid, my still head hurt, and I was losing focus enough that fooling around with the camera felt like a good idea:

The view from on top of Mount Garfield, sizing up the route to Lafayette across Garfield Ridge, the trail I love to hate:

Only a steady stream of sugar, salt, and water kept me moving up the last big climb to the crowded summit of Lafayette. Luckily, there was a cool breeze and I started to feel a bit better. Looking back to the East, I'd come so far I couldn't see where I started. Mount Washington was now in the clouds on the horizon:

And looking ahead to the West, over Greenleaf Hut (12:41:27 elapsed, 2:49:43 from Galehead), to my final destination at Lonesome Lake:

I plummeted down the Old Bridle Path, navigating around scrambly ledges and the Levis-and-Reebok-crowd alike, forgetting to hit the split button on my watch as I crossed under the highway in Franconia Notch. By this time it was quite obvious that I'd have no trouble getting to the last hut before sundown, but if I kept pushing I should be able to come in under 14 hours. That seemed like a good goal to focus on, so I alternated between running and hiking on the last section of trail, with a final sprint to reach Lonesome Lake Hut in 1:11:49 from Greenleaf. My final time was 13:53:16, a new personal best by almost 3 hours!

The Lonesome Lake Hut croo was busy preparing dinner and generously offered me a hot heaping helping of turkey and vegetables with a half loaf of bread that I ate so fast I got an upset stomach from not chewing enough. I ended up getting so wrapped up in eating and thinking back on the day that I forgot to take a finishing picture, or any pictures since Lafayette for that matter. After walking back down to the highway, my wife picked me up and we were able to begin the long, tired process of retrieving my car and ammo box before the drive home.

So, I ended up getting exactly what I wanted out of the day. It's one hell of a feeling standing on an open summit and knowing that the horizon is within reach, and a fix I keep coming back for. Additionally, the run was a fun way to engage with the mountains that are a huge part of my life - as well as great preparation and a confidence booster for Hardrock. I'm not too sore and should be able to continue training hard for another week before tapering for the race.