When I worked as a guide in the late 1970-80s, you would go through a progression of activities getting people comfortable walking on a glacier with crampons, climbing moderately steep gullies, as well as learning how to self arrest. Yesterday, I spent an hour wandering around on the Whiteface terrain park, practicing those same skills, and making sure my crampons were well adjusted to my skimo boots. Hoping, to visit Mount Washington next week and climb one of the snow gullies on Boot Spur.
It was starting to feel like spring had finally come to the Adirondacks, but not quite yet. Its monday morning with snow flurries, and temperatures will remain in the twenties until Tuesday afternoon. A decent week of training, as I continued to transition into the 2026-27 training year. Last week I logged 13:45 hours of excersize, on a total of 139k (119k bike, 18k run, and 2k row), with just over 3500’ vertical gain. I also managed two strength sessions, a morning of riding lifts with my skimo race gear, a bit of stretching, and my first three short rides on the MTB.
I rode lifts yesterday at Whiteface with my skimo race gear. I snapped this picture as it my be the last ski of the season.
I was wondering, what would I want to do by way of celebration? Have a party with family and friends? A trip to a dream place I never got to visit, like the Himalayas? A present to myself of some high end gear - hot road bike or fancy skimo setup - which I could never rationally justify? No surprise, I think I would want to celebrate by climbing a mountain! Something I have not done: Shasta? Mt. Hunter? Mount Whitney? Frendo Spur? So, there are many factors to consider: for one, who would I go with? Me, and most of my contemporaries are in the - what I call - “almost a has been” category. Not exactly retired from climbing, but ghosts of what we once were. Which brings me to the conclusion of needing a guide to do this thing. Next, of course there is a serious need to evaluate my personal fitness, strength, and mobility. As a for instance, let’s take the Matterhorn as an example. I have always wanted to climb the north face. I have been to Zermatt probably a dozen times, climbing several great routes. On two occasions I was there to give the north face a go … heavy snowfall precluded both attempts. At 75 could I even make it up the standard route, the hornligrat? Really, I have no fucking idea, so a quick google search led me to the Matterhorn Fitness Test (google it) … who knew? After that, I would need to assess what level of rock climbing I would be comfortable with? Would a guide even be willing to take a 75 year old? How much would it cost? I’ll keep you updated on my evolving thoughts, and will certainly give the Matterhorn Fitness Test a shot, when I am next in Zermatt.
You can watch the fantastic video - Threshold - about Jessie Diggins on Peacock, and a Norwegian video about Klaebo - with subtitles - on Amazon Prime. I have been watching them peddling on my exercise bike while it’s been raining.
Of course, it’s all in the service of selling his exquisite black and white mountain landscape photography. BUT WELL WORTH A VISIT!
Also thinking of the Stratton Mountain Uphill, the Mount Mansfield Uphill, and possibly the Broken Arrow VK, or something in Europe!
David Hochschartner (Hock)
So, the volume is low, and I try to ski when I can. But, I do a bit of running, dust off the gravel bike, get back into a regular strength program, and hike trails that have dried out. Sometimes, I even pull out the shoes for a little easy bouldering. This past week I logged just over 12 hours, on 104k (88k bike, 11k run, and 5k ski), with 2500’ vertical gain. Going to the Yankee game with Len meant I had two rest days! However, I also alpine skied for two mornings, as well as doing one stretch and one strength session.
In the late 1970s, I became aware of this setup, as it was the standard issue binding for winter Colorado Outward Bound courses. The caveat was, that we could not use the lockdown mechanism - insurance only covered nordic skiing - and so we removed that portion of the bindings on our students skis. After teaching those courses, I bought myself a pair, and mounted them on an old pair of my dad’s Rossi Stratos. It was the perfect setup for approaching ice climbs, as it worked well with climbing boots, and was a heck of a lot faster than snowshoes.
The return of winter allowed some pretty decent skiing on Mount Van Hoevenberg. It is closed for the season, so they haven’t groomed in over a week but, as you can see, the coverage was pretty decent.
With snow on the ground Monday, and maybe a bit more to come on Tuesday/Wednesday; I thought it a good time to fire up the sauna. While there wasn’t enough snow to roll around in, I did manage to get a good rubdown with the snow, after each 15 minute session.
I hooked up with some college buddies at our annual Killington gathering: we watched some NCAA basketball, skinned some laps, drank a few beers, plus closer to home, I also enjoyed two mornings riding lifts at Whiteface. I logged just over 15 hours of exercise, on 98k (59k bike, 24k ski, and 5k row), with just under 5300’ vertical gain. Heck, I even did a stretching session last week.
David Hochschartner (Hock)
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