Mt-Afton/Mt green combo

Not really sure how today worked out. I was bummed about the weather and wondering what I would do. Talked to Joey and his group was going up mt-green. As I got to the pass the weather was better and I got excited. I punched a trail up to the ridge on Mt-Afton, it was so stormy and windy that I skied down 2500ft and re-used my skin track. By then the weather had gotten better and the summit was in the sun. So I booted to the top and skied the west face down to the lilly. With 7000ft in by 12 I was excited, I latched onto their skin track and followed it for 4600 feet to the top, meeting up with them near the summit for the ski down. The 5000ft descent of green is great and we did get some light at the top. Crusher of a traverse back to the parking lot and now I have to dream up tomorrows adventure. 21 thousand feet to go…

Superman… I am not

Something I know for sure is that I am not Superman. Lying in bed at 3 am, eyes burning from a little too much sun yesterday (not kryptonite), worrying about where to go today. My hip flexers, thighs and all parts of my body trying to convince my mind to take the day off. Aching and wondering why the hell I am doing this, I know that it is for the challenge. And if I was superman this would not be hard.

I remember an article from years ago calling me “neighbourhood superman”, it was exciting to think that maybe I was. But upon any bit of reflection its pretty clear I am not. Sure I push my body to the limit, have a stubbornness that drives me upwards, and optimism to have a lot of fun while I am doing it. but it is taxing. Especially at 38 when the body needs time to recover. With 33 thousand feet to go lots of people assume it will be easy for me. I have done 50 000 ft in a day so 33000 in 3 days should be easy. But when I did 50 grand I trained extensively for it, and had lots of rest and was in fighting shape. I didn’t have 23 days of hard core touring out of the last 28 days. Right now the 12 thousand foot day I did yesterday was excruciating, and tiring. Any time I sat down for a break, I desired to not get back up, to just sit there and enjoy. I have no top gear, I tried to race away from my friends for a quick lap, I put my head down and pushed hard. Breathing deep I focused on the skin track and “ran” up the hill. For 20 minutes I skinned and decided to look back and see how much advantage I had and how big and extra lap I should do. They were pretty much right behind me!!

I feel like I have denatured large days to the point where people think I am inhuman and that it’s really easy. Oh no big deal he just has to do 11 000 feet a day for the next three days. Sure that seems easy when you look at my numbers and see what I have done in the past but you also have to take into account what I have done in the past 28 days. A lot and its taking its toll. For sure I should be able to accomplish it, but its going to take a lot of sweating, swearing and swagger. (couldn’t help but alliterate, even if it doesn’t make sense)

So with no top gear, and many great zones visited I can’t decide where to go today. The weather looks not so great “Cloudy with 60 percent chance of showers. Risk of a thunderstorm late this afternoon.” Not only will visibility be bad but I have to worry about lightning!! I really need to be decisive right now and am waffling…..

(authors note: this was written at 5 am, forgive me for any ramblings and unclear thoughts)

hmmmmm

hmmmmm 5 days left pretty much 60 grand to go….. damn I thought I was going to get another day off… doesn’t look like it.

I just had a great couple of days up at Mica Heli, they were excited about my quest and thought they could help out by giving me a heli ride out in the morning and picking me up at night. So Aaron and I headed up for a couple of nights of 5 star accommodation and a heli drop or two.

It was wicked, there terrain is off the hook, impressive. The snow pack was a little touchy so I was only able to look and not touch, but that is fine. I managed two great days of powder skiing, with no access issues. Wake up to a great breakfast, hop in the helicopter and get landed on top of something, shred a run and then start touring. pretty cool. I skinned 12500ft the first day and just squeezed in 10 grand the next.

Access is the biggest hurdle to my goal right now. Well plus tired body, and mind.. but access takes up a lot of time. today i drove 45 km, sledded in 15 km and then started touring. So by the time my skins were on I had already been up 2.5 hours and most of it was spent getting to the trail head. the skiing today was ok, a little warm but still fun. I couldn’t break up into the alpine because there was windslab everywhere and it felt like the mountains were unsettled. But I kinda screwed myself because the runs were not that good so I was stuck in a boring ski zone and could just muster the energy to tour 10 grand.

5 more days, no sun in the forecast and lots of vert to go…..better put my head down and breathe.