Putting skis away for the summer

All bagged up, and ready to be stored down at the Fossil Cabin.

Good start to the week

Halfway through this training week, and have logged good cycling miles (just under 100k) and good vertical (over 3100'). Feeling good, and one month out from knee injections, still keeping the pain at bay.

The "Old Man," (my dog Stash) is getting a bit creaky in the joints, and so I limit him to one workout a day.

Broken Arrow VK live streaming tomorrow

2025 Broken Arrow Skyrace Ascent Livestream Trailer youtube.com

A new FKT on Mont Blanc

https://www.planetmountain.com/en/news/alpinism/william-boffelli-sets-new-fkt-mont-blanc-4-hours-43-minutes-summit-back.html

Still on my bucket list

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5A6YPoPqYtU&pp=0gcJCf0Ao7VqN5tD

Goal this week is lots of time on the MTB

Saranac Lake Protest

On a different note, I had a good recovery week after 2+ weeks of very active outings in the Sierras, followed by a brutal 21 hour travel day home. My low key week, still netted 11:17 hours, with 146k (130k bike and 16k run) with almost 2000' vertical. In spite of almost a month hiatus, I also eased back into strength training, with one short session.

I should be ready to carry a full training load starting tomorrow.

First all-female Triple Crown

https://www.planetmountain.com/en/news/climbing/first-all-female-yosemite-triple-crown-completed-laura-pineau-kate-kelleghan.html

Sweat science books to read this summer

https://www.outsideonline.com/culture/books-media/sweat-science-summer-book-list-2025/

Almost back in the groove!

After two nights with a decent sleep, I am feeling better. Yesterday, I was able to manage a hike on the 1980 Olympic trails with Stash, and a short MTB ride.

The weather has been excellent thus far for my recovery week.

Three important metrics to track towards building endurance

https://fasterskier.com/2025/06/three-measures-of-endurance-performance/

Heading Home

Well, I got a shower this morning; Mark drove me to Reno; I hopped on a plane to Dallas, with a connection to Albany. I should get in around 11:40 (eastern), and should be home by 2am.

A great trip, with all activity taking place between 6-10,000' … a good altitude training block!

Another good week in the Sierras

The week was marked by a change of weather, with almost every afternoon bringing us a thunderstorm. Still, there was plenty of sun - time to play - and after storms abated, a wonderful dark, and starry sky.

I logged just under 13 hours, with 132k (101k bike and 22k run), on almost 4000' vertical. The high points of the week were logging more MTB time than at any point since last July, and logging another day of snow climbing. (It was great to pull out the ice axe and strap on crampons.)

Looking forward to going home, spending time with Selden and the dogs, on our Adirondack farm. Of course, I am also chomping at the bit to jump in a race, and take advange of my 2+ weeks of training at elevations between 6-10,000'.

Maybe it’s time for a shower

More snow climbing practice

I spent 90 minutes, cramponing on a 25-30 degree chute at Alpine Meadows ski area. Pretending I was going up and down the Breithorn. (I am not Iready for Shasta, or Rainier … Castor, Pollux, or Mt Hood might be feasible.)

Leaving the east side of the Sierras and heading back to Tahoe

A wonderful nine days based out of Twin Lakes campground.

Good start to second week

A potpourri of skinning, snow, climbing, MTB, and trail running.

A great first week in the Sierrras

A great time with Danny and Mark. They fished at Twin Lakes, while I logged 12.5 hours of exercise on 119k (84k bike, 30k run, and 3.5k ski), as well as two PT stretching sessions.

Sierras Day 2

A beautiful Lake Tahoe day, overnight low of 40 degrees, clear sky, sunny, and a high of 70 degrees go. Much of the day revolved around checking gear, planning the trip to the east side, and buying food for our camp at Twin Lakes, outside Bridgeport.

In between all that, I managed to do my traditional first run, up on the old western states trail. I also managed to spend some time biking on the single speed old cruiser, which I will bring to the east side. A bit of yoga (actually PT stretches), and then instead of skiing, I headed up to a snow gully to test drive crampons and ice axe fittings. Truth be told, I never made it to the snow line as the bushwhacking was brutal, but I did manage to blow of some carbon dioxide for an hour.

We had lunch with Danny at the Bridge-tender, and hope to be on the road by 9am today.

Day 1 in the Sierras

Actually, Mark picked me up in Reno at 3pm, and we were sitting on his deck in Squaw Valley by 4:30pm. A long - but not too difficult - travel day that started at 2:45am (eastern) and I managed to stay up until 9:30pm (pacific). Pizza and wine with Mark and Liz with lots of catching up to do.

As soon as I have had the obligatory three cups of tea, I'll had out on an easy morning shakeout run on the old western states trail. Later in the morning I'll be ski touring over at Alpine Meadows which is closed.

Browsing Roper’s Climbing Guide To Yosemite



Another book - well thumbed - which I recently pulled off the Fossil Cabin shelf.  

In this fifty year old guidebook, there were more than two dozen routes that I had done; however that is not all the routes I have done in Yosemite!  That number does not include Tuolumne routes, nor does it include newer routes which were found in the more modern guidebooks. 

Of those routes, for many different reasons, the following are the most memorable:

• Reed pinnacle direct
• Moby Dick
• The Nutcracker
• Arrowhead arete
• Church bowl Terrace
• Bishops Terrace
• Bishops balcony
• Royal arches
• Washington column south face
• Monday morning slab
• Middle cathedral East buttress
• Middle cathedral north buttress

On a different note, in spite of the knee injections I managed a pretty good week of training. I logged 14.5 hours of exercise with 157 kilometers (126k bike and 31k run), with almost 3700'.  I also did one strength workout, and because of all the rain, only managed one MTB session. 

Getting ready for the Sierras

Today I am doing final tune-up workouts, packing, and driving down to the Albany airport. I fly out tomorrow morning at 5am, and arrive in Reno at 2pm. Should be some snow to ski on.

Tomorrow ZEGAMA … first of the iconic European mountain trail races

Streaming on the GTWS YouTube channel

https://www.irunfar.com/how-to-win-the-zegama-marathon-studying-race-strategy-from-the-data

Skiing The Line … the Teton Enduro Traverse

An amazing ski mountaineering route, well worth a quick read.

https://americanalpineclub.org/news/2025/5/19/the-enduro-traverse?mc_cid=5cd617c6f2&mc_eid=86a36fe15d

Skimo season is over but I am bringing skis to the Sierras

A quick video recap of Mezzalama 2025 one of the late April grand course races. 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=80-2zIJ6ycQ

Browsing books at the Fossil Cabin

Given my knee injections, I needed to take it very easy the past two days. So, I grabbed this book off the shelf to thumb through.  In the 1960s and 1970s his cartoons appeared frequently in Summit, Mountain Gazette, and The British Mountain magazine, not to mention the underground, gunks based Vulgarian Digest.  He was also the illustrator for both of the Royal Robbins Rockcraft books.  He had his drawing pen on the pulse of the various trends in our climbing culture. 

As for my knees it's early days, but I seem to be getting some immediate pain relief … Hope it takes me through the Sierras.

New ski record on Mont Blanc

A great short video. 



https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ILvQ8-YSHRg

College reunion

Last year was my 50th college reunion - the biggie - but this year was the big reunion for some of my slightly younger buddies. So, this past weekend I had a good time reconnecting with some guys that I haven't seen in over 60 years.

On a different note, despite reunion events, I managed a good week of training. I logged just under 15 hours, on 186k (160k bike and 26k run), with just over 4100' vertical.

2026 World Cup Finals coming to Lake Placid



Longest MTB ride in this young season

Felt good, wonderful time with Ted, and many excellent views. Hoping to do a metric century on the MTB at the Prouty in July.

More hiking and mountain biking …

With the return of nice weather; however I pushed things a little too hard, and have a slight hamstring pull.

Lactic Acid … what you know and don’t know

Quite a bit of this is a recycling of the early chapters of his book Endure.  That said, it is interesting stuff, and while he ties it in to the recently popular use of baking soda to enhance performance … he doesn't really give it a thumbs up or down. Worth reading.

https://www.outsideonline.com/health/training-performance/lactic-acid-muscle-fatigue/

Two modest runs and two modest MTB rides today

YAHOO: Another Spectacular Day

Last week was a wet one, and while I made the best of it, I was disappointed to only get out on the MTB twice. That said, it was a productive week of training, as I start to get ready for my trip to the east side of the Sierras.

I logged 15:18 hours, on 163k (128k bike and 35k run), with 4405' vertical, and one strength workout. This week will be drier and warmer, so I anticipate more time on the MTB, and am also looking at seeing old friends at the college reunion.

Mother’s Day

YAHOO … finally a spectacularly beautiful day.

I took Selden and Alison out to the Grand Adirondack Hotel for a big breakfast. Then came home for an easy run, before I met Lindsay Putnam - former NCS teacher - for a 25k gravel ride. After which, I had a short cool down run with Stash.

Sitting inside, waiting for Selden to finish mowing the pasture. Then it will be time for some bubbly prosecco.

Mountains And Painters

I just pulled this interesting anthology off my shelf; published in 1966, I opened it to one of the final essays, written in 1928 by Katherine Chorley. It's been ages since I have dipped into this collection of climbing literature.

An engaging article, whose thesis is that JMW Turner came the nearest to depicting on canvas what it actually feels like to be among mountain landscape. Of course, after that article I re-read an all-time classic by Tom Patey, about the first ascent of Zero Gully on Ben Nevis.

THE HUT TRAVERSE In Winter … a new FKT

A short film, well worth viewing.

 https://youtu.be/_q7S2SH0v-8?si=olzALREg3LkBat0T

Selden’s morning chores

Just a few of her chores include: moving the electric fences so the sheep have fresh grass to feed on. Replacing divots that were torn up from this winter's snow plowing. Finally, making sure that all the chickens and geese get back in the barn.