Plaza Norte in Lima

Well we had three flights, some long layovers, and 24 hours of travel to get to Lima at 5am this morning. We had breakfast and hung out in the airport for a couple of hours, and then took a taxi to the main bus terminal. Our Cruz del Sur bus to Huaraz arrives in another hour. We will arrive in Huaraz around dinner time.

Heading to Peru

La Casa de Zarela, Cordillera Blanca, and the Cordillera Huayhuash, here we come!

Last Adirondack Trail Run With My Dog

Stash and I went out for 45 minutes; in less than 24 hours I will be flying to Peru. My next runs will be between 10-14,000' chasing my daughter around the Cordillera Blanca.

48 hours until we blast off for Peru

I good morning workout - 50 minutes of yoga and ergometer - followed by a 75 minute afternoon run. The rest of the day was all about signing things, making a new email account, and disengaging from things for retirement.

Dreaming of Chamonix

Selden's sister and her husband are antique postcard dealers, and so many years ago for Christmas and my birthday, they started my postcard collection. The collection consists of one part Adirondack Mountain postcards, one part Bavarian Mountains, and then one part devoted to the postcards of the Swiss and French Alps. Over the years, as a result of their business interests they have always kept an eye out to add to my collection. Flipping through my collection last evening, the antique postcards of the Mont Blanc region caught my eye.

In three days I fly to Lima for a month in the Cordillera Blanca, and then to Geneva for a month in Chamonix.

Lucy’s training

Earlier this week, Lucy's biathlon training group, as well as the best older juniors in New England (REG ... regional elite group as identified by the US team) had an uphill time trial. The results are below.

The course was devised about a decade ago by Tim Burke, the retired World Championship, silver medalist biathlete. The course uses service dirt roads on Whiteface, and is 2.5k long with an elevation gain of about 1500'. Lucy had the fifth fastest time, and was tops in her training group, which included a 2018 Olympian.

Thursday's morning workout included an easy 30 minute jog followed by 90 minutes in the weight room. The afternoon workout was a hard classic double pole interval workout and shooting at the jumps ... pictures below.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK ... a physiology haiku

Michael Joyner, the Mayo Clinic physiologist and human performance expert, once asked to distill all the research on athletic performance coined an answer as a haiku:

Run a lot of miles
Some faster than your race pace
Rest once in a while.

Take a few minutes to read this excellent summary of the research literature by Alex Hutchinson ...

https://www.outsideonline.com/2398833/training-distribution-study

BLAST FROM THE PAST ... 1969 long island champions

I wish I could have been at the reunion, but I will be there next year. We were undefeated, and I believe we were probably the best team in the country.

More about Himalayan glacier melt

An important essay about this recent research study.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/spy-satellite-images-reveal-how-climate-change-is-rapidly-melting-the-himalayan-glaciers/amp

Next week in Peru

The draft itinerary I shared with my daughter is enclosed below. The annotation is to let her know that there will be ample opportunities for her to put the pedal to the metal, while dad is hiking at a modest pace.

Easy recovery from four hard days of travel

A productive four days on the road, but wow it has left me tired as hell.  However, it was a great way to relax and stretch out those tight muscles from too much time driving. 

Another spectacular Adirondack sunset

Beautiful Boulder on my run

The days of maniacal scouting and scrubbing boulders is clearly past. However, I have spotted some gems on my frequent trail running routes. For instance, there is this perfect finger crack just waiting to be cleaned on the Jackrabbit trail. I suspect there is no way my creaky body would be able to get off the ground, let alone climb it ... still, maybe I will come out with a brush this fall.

Himalayan glaciers melting much faster than predicted

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jun/19/himalayan-glacier-melting-doubled-since-2000-scientists-reveal

More Lucy biathlon ...

Today, on my way home from work I stopped across the street to see how her intervals were going. She feels fitter than other years, and is hoping her shooting continues to improve. Lucy is on target 7; Maddie the Olympian on 6; Kelly a multiple world junior team member on 5; and best buddy Nina, and recent Harvard graduate on target 4.

The things you find when you clean your desk out after 20 years

After our snowiest Adirondack winter in 2001 one of our teachers did the first tele-descent of the Direct Route on the NCS Main Building.

Some good vertical this weekend

Mountain Journal’s continuing essay of 365 days of wildlife and nature art

https://mountainjournal.org/nature-and-wildlife-explored-through-art

BLAST FROM THE PAST ... Catherine Destivelle

Possibly the best female alpinist ever, in this short video Catherine Destivelle, talks about her 1994, solo ascent of the Bonatti Route on the Matterhorn in winter.  This is an extremely serious route, and it was the first time it had been repeated after Bonatti's first ascent in 1965.

https://www.planetmountain.com/webtv/eng/scheda.php?idFilm=666&bck=1

First On The Rope ... and other climbing novels

I came across this essay and so pulled out my very old, and battered, copy published by Ace Books. This excellent review by Dennis Gray, and each of the other novels he talks about  - all in my library - are well worth reading. 

http://footlesscrow.blogspot.com/2019/06/first-on-ropereviewed.html

Lucy’s biathlon workout

Most often, an interval workout like this (repetitions of four minutes fast, and two minutes active recovery) would be done as “combos,” rollerskiing in combination with shooting. However, yesterday her four person training group did a slow fire, accuracy test, called a 30-30. The athlete shoots thirty prone targets and thirty standing targets, with rests and breaks. A traditional paper target with scoring centered around a ten-point bullseye is used.

A benchmark for an international, World Cup level biathlete, is at least a total score of 500. Yesterday Maddie - a 2018 Olympian and one of the team's best shooters - scored a 503. Lucy and the other lesser experienced college girls were in the 300s. An encouraging point for Lucy though, was a prone score of 240 which is close to that international benchmark ... now she just needs to get that standing straightened out!

She is prepping for the Summer nationals on August 17 and 18 in Jericho, Vermont.

Kilian Jornet ... the man, the myth, the legend

Watch this 20 second video of one of his recent "runs."

https://www.instagram.com/p/BylDcfDHCmB/

More thoughts about the Cordillera Blanca

Lucy and I leave for Peru on July 4th. After 3-4 different day trips we will head into the Ishinca valley for three days. We will stay at the Refugio - full service as per the Alps - and then run/hike up to the Ishinca glacier, and on our last day hike up to the Urus glacier, before we hike back to the road in Pashpa. The Refugio is at 14,500' and both glaciers are at just under 17,000'.

Jon, Larry Robjent, and I spent a week camping here in 2006, with our arriero and cook, Oscar.

Running the Tahoe 200

Excellent video. Wonderful footage of the Sierras and the Tahoe Rim Trail.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQSiygnDm-U

Increasing the vertical ... getting ready for the Cordillera Blanca and Chamonix

I had a nine-hour car trip which I broke up with a stop at Sandy's Books and Bakery, as well as some hiking on Whaleback Ski Area on the return trip. I also picked up some ticks on the hike.

Planning another day-hike in the Cordillera Blanca

The run/hike to Laguna Shallap is a 17k out-and-back route which Lucy and I might do after a couple of days of acclimatization. 

The 1921, 1922, and 1924 Everest expeditions ... it has always been deadly

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/04/world/asia/mount-everest-deaths-history-photos.html?smtyp=cur&smid=tw-nytimes

Another good issue of Alpinist magazine

Laguna Wilcacocha ... our first acclimatization run

The morning after we arrive in Huaraz, Lucy and I will plan to do an 8k run in the  Cordillera Negra. A relatively gentle hike, but it gains almost 2000' and tops out over 12,000.  Of course, the out and back trail continues so maybe Lucy will go further!