DAY #5: rest day in the sierras

Reading, washing up, root beer floats, and emailing with wifi … probably a little stretching and easy cycling when it cools off. Tomorrow, hoping to go up to Tioga Pass, and do a little snow climbing.

DAY #4: end of a good week

Having a wonderful time in the Sierras, and the weather continues to be excellent, although a bit hot for my taste. I logged just under 13 hours, on 82k (43k bike and 39k run), with 3874’ vertical, and two stretching sessions.

Day #3: Twin Lakes

Another hot day, with two trail runs, but also an unusual heart rate spike as I had two weeks ago. DISTURBING.

Day #2: east side of sierras

Camping at Crags - elevation 2168m - just off Twin Lakes outside of Bridgeport. We had a relaxed morning. I was up reading at 5:30, then some stretching, and over to the store for tea, a breakfast burrito, and some wifi. Finished the morning with biking, reading, a short warmup walk with Mark, as well as a jog to the store and back for a root beer float. (Oh, and using the solar charger for my iPhone.)

Beautiful morning in the Sierras

Yesterday was a long travel day, but I managed a 40 minute jog when I got to Olympic Valley, and I managed to stay up with Mark - shooting the breeze - until 9:30.

Heading west … Albany-Dallas-Reno-Olympic Valley-East side Sierras

Yesterday was summery weather with clear skies and temperatures in the low 80s. Klink and I hiked up Baxter Mountain and then Owls Head in the morning. Afterwards, I packed feverishly for several hours, then dinner, goodbyes, and a drive to Albany to catch five hours of sleep at Klink’s house.

BLAST FROM THE PAST … a bit of Everest history

Yesterday, was the day - over a century ago - that Mallory and Irvine were last seen high on the slopes going for the summit.

Pictures from Irving’s 1940 book The Alps

While the New Hampshire AMC White Mountain Huts are still supplied by human power, not so in the Alps … helicopters.

On a different note, this functioned as a sort of recovery week, in that the gel injections added two rest days (to my normal Monday rest day) and so the total were modest. However, the gel injections are enabling me to workout virtual pain free and with greater mobility. Not sure how long it will last though, 6-8 weeks has been my experience.

That said, I logged just over 10 hours, on 105k (87k bike and 18k run), with just under 3200’ vertical gain, and I also managed two PT stretching sessions.

Looking to carve out some art time in the Sierras

I have little or no skill, but I do enjoy it. So hopefully, I will make time for some sketching, and maybe even a little watercolor painting.

Yikes … A Lot To Process: good news and bad

The good news is that after the gel/cortisone injections my knees feel much better. Even better, Dr Byrne says that with an early September knee surgery I could ski in January. So, I am all in for that as well as scheduling a late July August trip to Zermatt.

The bad news is that on Thursday afternoon my pulse sort of sky-rocketed on my warmup, and needless to say I cancelled the main afternoon event which was a 20k bike ride. Not much exercise since then because of knee injections, but my pulse remains to be somewhat elevated (as you can see below). More tomorrow when I resume training.

Celebrating Selden’s birthday

Selden had book group on June 3rd, so we celebrated yesterday. We opened a bottle of bubbly, then headed to town for a nice dinner. As per usual, her birthday list was books and tools.

Thoroughly enjoying The Gap Years

A consultant who retires at 60, decides to pick up where he left off decades ago … climbing in the Andes, Antarctica, Alaska, New England, and the Himalayas. I am a decade older than the author, however, unknowingly our paths have crossed. It’s well written, and quite engaging; highly recommended.

On a different note, as I try to stay connected to an adult lifetime of training, racing, climbing and skiing, I am dealing with the inevitable deterioration … tomorrow morning gel injections in both knees.

Setting Sun, Clouds, But Some Sunshine Poking Through



Adirondack Sky Center

I couldn’t make it last night. I have never been, but it’s on my hit list for this summer!

A fond memory from my first alpine climbing trip

In late July of 1978 I was camped on a pasture high above Zermatt. After a long approach and climb of the Triftigrat on the Breithorn, I was begrudging the final hike to my bivy site. But, then I saw this sight, a grandma lugging a huge load over to the hayrick, and realized that maybe I was a wimp!

I found this while perusing The Alps on Anna’s Archive, published in 1904, described by Sir Martin Conway and painted by A.D. McCormick.

Needless to say, you don’t see this type of scene anymore … alpine pastures are still grazed, but small tractors working on ski trails take the back-breaking work out of the task.

Knee injections June 5th … YAHOO!

Despite significant knee pain, and an increase in daily ibuprofen consummation, I had a good week of training. I logged 15 hours, on 151 kilometers (124 k bike, 23k run, 4k row), with 4225’ vertical gain, as well as two strength and stretching sessions. Starting to use my burly mountaineering boots for some sessions to be sure I won’t get blisters in the Sierras.

BLAST FROM THE PAST: tour ronde

In the winter of 1979, after a couple of wonderful climbs in Scotland, Jonathan Waterman and I got fed up with days of torrential rain and made an epic train journey to Chamonix.

Not having planned on the alps, we were under equipped - no skis or snowshoes and no heavy duty winter sleeping bags - which meant floundering in deep snow and cold night bivies in cable car stations, at well over 12,000’.

However, after lowering Waterman off the crux pitch from a Mjolnar ice tool (he had a broken crampon) I managed to lead us to the top. The route is direct and goes right through the black ice in the narrow part of the hourglass.

Nice hike up Mount Van Hoevenberg

Klink - a college buddy - came up from Saratoga to stretch his legs and chat about a trip to Switzerland. Clouds were moving in, but he got some nice pictures. Fond memories of climbs on the north face of Gothics.

Black flies are out and about!

Selden dressed to work in the garden.

Selden set up our deck for the summer …

And, we were treated to a delightful sunset.