Umstead Marathon - In!

Now to set goals...

Croatan 24 Hour Report

The inaugural Croatan 24 Hour Ultramarathon is in the books.  It was a great race put on by Brandon Wilson, his family and volunteers. 

I'll give the short stat summary here:  I finished with 53.07 miles (22nd out of the 63 that started), reaching 50 miles by 13.75 hours then crashing.  More on that below.  But to back up...

The run took place in the Croatan National Forest, just a couple miles north of the southern tip of Emerald Isle.  74 runners signed up, but only 63 started.  Rumor has it the other 11 got confused and headed to the Croatian National Forest near Zagreb.  The object was to run a loop (slightly less than 1.37 miles) as many times as possible.  It was a pleasant loop - mainly nicely packed dirt with a few wood and aluminum footbridges that spanned the salt marsh.  It was flat except for a couple bridges that gained 10-15 feet of elevation near the middle of the loop.  I can honestly say that the views varied enough (looking out over the waters and running through the woods) that I never got bored with the route.  

At the start point, they had a table of volunteers that registered every lap, an area where we could drop bags of spare clothes, shoes, cyanide tablets and other things you may want in a run like this.  Finally, and most importantly, they had a tent with refreshments (water, Gatorade, coffee, chips, bananas, etc).  The refreshment tent also served lunch (veggie burgers), dinner (pizza) and had hot snacks to deal with the cold night (even veggie broth).  There were lots of veggie options and I didn't have to dip into the bag of stuff I brought.

Me, the naive fool smiling before the run.

Now on to the race report.  I tried hard not to set a mileage target, but I would have been disappointed at less than 50.  Greater forces prevailed, however, and on the ride from the condo we rented to the trailhead, my asshole left brain concocted an 80 mile run plan - 20 laps in the first 6 hours, 20 laps in the next 8 hours and a final 20 laps in the final 10 hours.  My right brain - distracted by glimpses of the sun shining through the pines - went along with the plan.

It being the 237th birthday of the Marine Corps, and with many veterans taking part in the race, there was a birthday party (with cake!) before the race.  I missed most of it as my wife and I put up my tent in case I wanted to get a couple of hours of sleep in during the night.  We were off and running at 8am.  Veterans led the first lap, with Cheryl Yanek (trying to qualify for the Women's National 24-hour team) running ahead to try to hit 120 miles.

5 laps (6.85 miles), 1:16

The first lap went well.  On the second lap, the left side of my groin started to hurt.  My groin and I were very close during my teenage years, but it seems now was the time that it would exact its revenge for years of neglect.  This was short-lived, however, and by the fourth lap I was feeling good again, trying to take it slow and not exceed an 11-ish pace.  So far all was going well.

10 laps (13.7 miles), 2:33

Still on track, but unfortunately my weak October was already starting to rear its ugly head.  I felt a bit of tightness starting to creep in to my quads on the 10th lap.  Also, it was getting warm, and I was wasting time at my drop bag, making sure I kept drinking enough HEED and taking an Endurolyte cap every hour to keep the electrolytes up.

15 laps (20.55 miles), 4:06

I ran the first 10 laps at an 11:10 pace, but the feeling of an unquenchable thirst was already setting in, a most unwelcome feeling that I get all the time during long runs in the summer.  I hate this feeling, and didn't expect it with temperatures not going much above 70F.  I walked lap 14, giving me a 13:35 pace for the last 5 laps.  I was enjoying myself a bit more, though, talking with various people.  It will surprise nobody who has run an ultramarathon that everyone I spoke to was extremely friendly and supportive - from the slowest to the fastest folks out there.

20 laps (27.4 miles), 5:59

I just did an ultra marathon, but holy hell.  For some reason, this felt worse than the Umstead marathons I've run before.  I was sweating more than expected, and felt nauseous.  This feeling stuck with me for a couple hours, but I figured it was par for the course and I just had to deal with it.  I ate a lot, drank a lot of water and Gatorade and took some Endurolytes.

25 laps (34.24 miles), 7:59

Still on pace for the left brain 80 mile plan, but just barely, and I pretty much felt like shit the whole time.  The last five laps were done at a 17:40 pace.  I walked almost all of this, and started to realize how quickly stops at the drop bag add up.  My groin flared up on lap 24 when I started to try to run, so I felt like walking for awhile was my best option.  I probably wasted an average of 2-3 minutes each lap, eating, drinking, looking for something, etc.  I changed from my Nike Frees to some older, more cushioned shoes to make it easier on my feet during the walk around lap 22.  This was a mistake - I got a blister from the old shoes within 3 laps and changed back after 25.  I still had both my sense of humor and nausea at this point.  Usually my humor makes others nauseous so this seems fitting.  A cool breeze started to blow here, which was really welcomed.  I also saw the men/women being separated from the girls/boys here.  A handful of runners were still going at a pretty good clip and looked like they had just started.

33 laps (45.2 miles), 11:44

I didn't record the 30 lap time, mainly because cognitive function was starting to take a hit.  A lot happened during these 8 laps.  First, I was overjoyed to see Tiffany (my wife) at the close of lap 26.  She told me I looked good, and that she was going to run an errand and meet me in an hour.  The bout of nausea was subsiding and I was cooling off.  I walked the next couple of laps pretty quickly as darkness fell.  At the end of lap 29 I put on a long sleeve shirt, ate some pizza and walked a couple laps with Tiffany.  My legs hurt - but it was just muscle soreness - no joint pain.  At the end of lap 31, the muscle soreness subsided a little and the nausea was complete gone...I felt better than I had in probably 6 or 7 hours.  Tiffany left to go get some dinner.  It was cooling off quickly, so I switched into long pants and put on a fleece.  I felt so good that I ran considerable portions of laps 32 and 33.  This, I believe, was my downfall.  The soreness came back quickly, forcing me to walk.  While walking, the slight breeze was enough to evaporate the sweat and cause some pretty nasty chills.

37 laps (50.68 miles), 13:45

34-36 were hell.  Legs hurt.  Could. Not. Get. Warm.  I had long pants, two shirts, a fleece and a wool hat on.  It was only 40 degrees, but I was shivering.  Normally in 40 degree weather I run in shorts and a long sleeve shirt.  I tried drinking coffee, vegetable broth and eating, but nothing seemed to help.  This caused the nausea to return.  I have to thank Ray Krolewicz, a guy who's run countless ultras, for walking a lap or two with me here to take my mind off of things.  A really positive, energetic guy who put up 70+ miles at the age of 57.  He once held the 48 hour world record - but he'd never tell you this - I found this out from other runners.  Tiff rejoined me for lap 37, and I decided to take a break.  I was really worried about my temperature, and decided to forgo the tent for a warm night at the condo.

My wife was awesome here.  She had gone out an gotten Epsom salts for me to soak in, and they really felt great!  I still couldn't get warm in the bath, however, and crawled into bed, hoping to wake up at 3am and get some more miles.

Basically, at 3am I was still freezing, and could barely move my legs - in fact, I didn't feel warm again until late Sunday night.  To make a long story short, I got out of bed at 6:15, and it took me 45 minutes (!) to get dressed. I drove back to the race, realized I didn't get any photos the previous day, and hobbled around the loop for 45 minutes taking a few photos to tack on a bit more distance, finishing with 53.08 miles.  I'll take it for my first marathon+ distance.

Some views from the loop

Just to call out a couple of amazing performances:

The men's winner was a 22 year old (ex?) Marine, JJ Jehangir who logged over 109 miles!  Jason LeDoyen (candidate for World's Nicest Person), who I had the fortune to speak with a few times and lives in the Triangle, finished with over 100 miles.  Cheryl Yanek didn't reach 120, but fought through a rough race to finish first female with over 104 miles.  Wow.  And perhaps most impressive was Walt Esser, a 74-year-old who did over 80 (!!!!!!) miles.  Goddam.

In my preview, I outlined a few goals.  How did I match up?

 Complete at least 50 miles, with a stretch goal to keep moving the entire time  Win!  and Fail!

 Avoid bleeding due to chafing or falling  Body Glide was awesome.  Absolutely no chafing or bleeding.  Other than a couple water blisters, my skin was unscathed.  I do feel sorry for Tiffany who happened to walk into the room while I was applying Bodyglide to the area between my buttocks.  She was certainly most negatively affected by the race.  I don't think she's eaten since Saturday

 Hallucinate at least four times  Didn't happen.  Got too much sleep.

 Maintain fluency in English, mainly to complain about my self-inflicted situation  Check!

 Avoid sleeping  Epic fail.

 Remain married after my long-suffering wife supports me all night...despite smelling like a locker room, farting with reckless abandon and asking for favors with a whiny whiny voice  Tiffany was AWESOME!!!  Gave up her weekend to take care of me, and did a great job.  Very supportive, and even let me lounge around the house on Sunday evening nursing my legs.

 Count how many times I claim "I'll never do this again," then see how long until I sign up for another one of these.  Didn't happen.  At no point was I not having fun, even if I did feel like shit.  I'd love to do this race again next year.  I also realized that I will not be a regular ultramarathon runner for the next few years.  For me to be even half-way decent I'd have to take too much time away from family, work and other things I'm interested in.  I'd like to do one or so a year, though.

Croatan 24 Hour Preview

I run my first ultramarathon Saturday morning - the Croatan 24.  At least, I hope it will be an ultramarathon.  Training in July-September was great - 120-130 miles a month.  In October I dropped to 56 miles to conserve energy and gained 5 pounds to ensure a tight fit of my running shorts.  Everything's going according to plan.

Looking forward to it.  Training can really compete with family, work and other hobbies, so I'm not sure when I'll get a chance to do another one.  My goals are:

•  Complete at least 50 miles, with a stretch goal to keep moving the entire time
•  Avoid bleeding due to chafing or falling
•  Hallucinate at least four times
•  Maintain fluency in English, mainly to complain about my self-inflicted situation
•  Avoid sleeping
•  Remain married after my long-suffering wife supports me all night...despite smelling like a locker room, farting with reckless abandon and asking for favors with a whiny whiny voice
•  Count how many times I claim "I'll never do this again," then see how long until I sign up for another one of these

Wish me luck.

First Night Run

To prepare for my upcoming 24 hour run in November, I figured it was time for a night run to see how my body dealt with fatigue and running in little light. 

After work on Friday a couple of weeks ago, I went home, made dinner and packed some water and snacks.  At 10pm I left for a well-known park in the Raleigh area.  I planned to go for four hours, but cut it short after 13 miles due to a turned ankle.  There were pros and cons to doing the long run at night.

Pros:

This was a great twist on a long run and broke the recent monotony of long runs.

It cut into prime beer drinking time, so I felt great Saturday morning

I had the whole park to myself

Cons:

It's hard to tell debris from horse poop at night without a headlamp

Horsepoop on your shoes makes them slippery

It's hard to see ruts in the bridle paths due to recent heavy rains

When you step in these ruts you can twist your ankle pretty badly

Running on smelly twisted ankles sucks.

The Beer Mile

There's three posts I haven't got around to writing yet, but I got a really distracting e-mail from my college friend Luth today that pushed them all to the side.  The Beer Mile.  You simply run four quarter mile laps around a track.  Oh, and you have to drink a 12 oz can of beer (at least 5% alcohol by volume, thank you very much) before each lap.  Add a penalty lap (with no extra beer) for vomiting.

The world record is 5:09.  All I have to do is be able to chug the four beers in negative 82 seconds and the record is mine!

Recently, Olympian Nick Symmonds gave the record a shot.  Here's the link to the story.

Might be fun just to see what my time would be...

Hmm...

Unaka Mountain with the Boys

Over the last weekend of July, my son, dog and I decided to give my wife some peace and quiet for the weekend, so we headed out to the Tennessee/North Carolina border.  I had also been doing long runs in the 15-20 mile range over the last few weekends, so this was also a chance to give the legs an easy weekend.  

We piled in the car at 8am Saturday, drove west and by noon were turning off TN-395 to the Gravel Beauty Gap Road.  Of course we had to stop and snap a few photos at Beauty Gap before parking the car at a small pull-out and starting the hike.

Beauty Spot Gap on the NC/TN border

The hike up was pretty non-eventful, following the Appalachian Trail through the woods and up a few rocky ledges

Gus taking a break after an apparently exhausting initial quarter mile

Brogan and Gus after a brief steep rock section of the AT

until entering a quiet, gorgeous pine forest at the very top.  We stopped and had a snack

Near the summit of Unaka, admiring the tall pines

Another summit!

while Brogan enjoyed the novelty of having his left foot in North Carolina and his right foot in Tennessee.

Straddling North Carolina and Tennessee.  He's just as dorky as I am

We headed back down to the car, with an easy day under our belts - 3.1 miles round trip with just over 1000' of elevation gain.  We stopped for another small peak on the way to the Rock Creek Campground just off TN-395 where we spent the night.  We lucked out and ended up next to a great family that invited us over.  I chatted mostly with the grandfather, a local who grew up in Unicoi while Brogan played with two brothers that were 8 months older and younger than him.  They had so much fun they were up until 11pm before I finally got him to bed.

Waking Brogan up the next morning was tough after his late bedtime - I don't think he got out of the tent until 10am.    

Two reluctant risers

Gus went nutso as he tends to do, exhausting himself while the boys played with him.

A thoroughly exhausted dog - it's hard work running around with a leash in your mouth

At noon (and after some tears about leaving his new found friends), we moved to the trailhead for a hike to the Rock Creek waterfall.  This is a nice trail, wide and well maintained.

The Rock Creek Falls trail.  Note that Brogan is wearing the same clothes as the day before.  This is what happens when Mom isn't around...

The trail follows Rock Creek for most of its distance, and spices things up a bit with four easy stream crossings.  Well, easy if you have long legs.  Little ones need to take a little more care.

Negotiating a stream crossing

Proudly showing the stream he just crossed "without falling in once."

After about an hour and a half we reached the falls, which were pretty impressive - about 60' high.  I, being a dumbass, brought only my telephoto lens.  This made it impossible to get a good shot with the three of us in front of it with the self-timer, so you'll have to settle for Brogan in the frame to set the scale.

Brogan in front of the falls.

Brogan fell trying to reach the big ledge, which was not his favorite experience - the water was cold even in July.

Rock Creek Falls

The walk back down was uneventful, wrapping up a 4.4 mile, 1000' elevation gain day.  We found mountain laurel blossoms Brogan wanted to bring some home for his mom, and we did a good job keeping them alive until we arrived home that evening. 

Always thinking of his mom

Brogan was very enthusiastic about the waterfalls, so we'll have to work more of those in in the future.

Trip to the Alps

Note – this is a long, pretty dry report of a trip to bag peaks in Europe.  I always find these kind of reports helpful when planning hikes and climbs, so I’m trying to do my part to repay the community (wow, that sounds very arrogant).  No offense if you just want to scroll through the pictures.  I poached quite a few from Rob Woodall, who got better shots than I did in a number of places.

A few months ago I was informed I’d be in Germany for a weeklong meeting in June.  Once it became clear we weren’t going to be turning it into a family vacation, my thoughts turned to peakbagging.  I got in touch with Rob Woodall, a fell runner from England who has climbed on five continents, and Lee Newton, a Scot who has lived in Switzerland for the last five years.  The plan would be that I’d meet them in Switzerland with our primary objective being a two-day climb of Tödi (11,857’, P5151’), a peak in northeast Switzerland.  This was the primary target as it was one of the ultra-prominence peaks that neither Lee nor Rob had done.  We’d go for other objectives as time permitted.

Day 1 (June 15, 2012)

Day 1 travel - Kleinheubach to Aschaffenburg to Schwägalp

After the conclusion of my meeting on Thursday night, I woke up early and took a taxi to the town of Aschaffenburg, where I picked up my rental car.  After a few stall-outs I was reacquainted with manual transmission, and was soon heading south on the Autobahn.  The Germans may have gotten some things horribly wrong (Falco, lederhosen...and perhaps some other things I’m forgetting), but they certainly got the Autobahn right.  No slow driving in the left hand lane, no speed limits, well-maintained roads.  It was a blast – I even got my Toyota Auris over 120 mph!

After five hours of driving, I made it through Germany and into Switzerland, up a windy road to the charming hamlet of Schwägalp, which is little more than a cable car station and hotel.  This is the staging ground for summiting Säntis (8,209’, P6628’), another ultra-prominence peak.  The surroundings are what I’ve always associated with the alps: snow-capped, sharp grey peaks thrusting up through lush, impossibly green valleys.

Säntis from near the cable car station

I had planned on doing a snow climb of the peak, but it was 3pm at this point and I was worried the sun had softened the snow too much to make a good attempt by foot, so I took the easy way up – a $46(!) cable car ride to the top.  The views were spectacular despite the extensive development at the summit. 

There was a small geology museum, displays of equipment used in historic Himalayan expeditions, a gift shop and at least one restaurant.  After an hour or so at the summit, I rode the car back down and had a couple local beers at the hotel.  I then pulled into a far corner of the parking lot and went to sleep as soon as it got dark at 11pm.

One letter away from a very amusing sign - also describes the outcome if I had succumbed to temptation and abandoned my vegetarian diet on this trip.

Day 2 (June 16)

Day 2 travel

The sun woke me up at 5:15, and I headed back down the winding road to the Swiss highway.  My destination was the Heidilands rest area, which doesn’t sound very appealing.  This, however, is not your typical American rest area.  I knew there was a food court there, but was expecting greasy fast food.  Much to my surprise, there was fresh bread, salad, roasted vegetables and freshly made sandwiches all of high quality.  A glorious place, but this being Switzerland – very expensive.  I got there at 7:30 in the morning, and tried to call my night owl wife on the pay phone.  Unfortunately this appeared to be a rare night when she was asleep by 1:30 in the morning.  I killed four hours waiting for Lee and Rob by getting my glacier travel gear in order and reading a couple books I had on hand.

Upon arrival, the three of us sat down over lunch to make plans.  Unfortunately, the area had seen an unseasonable amount of late season snow the previous week, and the current high temperatures were causing rapid melting.  This meant significant avalanche danger on the routes up Tödi, so we reluctantly abandoned plans to climb it.  After some discussion we decided to do an afternoon climb of the Schwarzhorn (10,322’, P1999’) and make further plans that evening.

We had about a two hour drive to the Flüela Pass in eastern Switzerland, where the lushness turned to a barren blackness (hence the name Schwarzhorn).  The peak looked a little forbidding upon first glance

Schwarzhorn, our objective (from the Fluelapasse)

The trail began on bare ground, but was soon covered in snow, and we got our ice axes ready.

Lee near the start of the climb



Trail signs well buried in snow.  Evidence of recent snow avalanches are visible above Rob's shoulder (L).  Our path went up and to the right.


As we approached the snow climb, we saw evidence of multiple recent avalanches, confirming our decision to abandon plans for Tödi.

Most of the route was pretty straightforward, although we did have to hurry in places as the sun was warming the snow, releasing rockfall.  We were particularly speedy through this traverse:



Lee and I traversing under a rock face.  We moved quickly here as there was evidence of rockfall, but it wasn't too bad at all.  Photo by Rob Woodall.



After an easy climb up the snow bowl, we gained the summit ridge.  From here it was a mix of scrambling and easy snow climbing to the top.  The only annoyance was the soupy snow that the sun had melted, making for slow going.

Looking up the summit ridge at Rob and Lee.

View down the summit ridge.  Photo by Rob Woodall.

At the summit we were treated to fantastic views of the eastern Swiss alps.  The recent snows were still plainly visible.  With little wind and great weather we lingered on the summit and had a snack as Rob and Lee tried to identify all the big peaks.

Summit views

The descent was uneventful, except for a minor fall I had on a traverse – my rusty self-arrest skills were still good enough to stop the little slide.  We plunge-stepped our way back down quickly, making it back to the trailhead in about a quarter of the time it took us to ascend.  Total stats for this were pretty tame: 4.4 miles roundtrip with 2640’ of elevation gain.  The snow slowed us down quite a bit – we took 4 hours and 25 minutes to go up and down.

Afterwards we checked into the bunkhouse at the Flüela Pass just near the trailhead, and had dinner at the small café.  My resolve as a vegetarian was put to the test – some delicious meat dinners were on the menu, while I had one option – spätzle with cheese with the typical central European meat substitute – the fried egg.  I had no problems downing it along with a beer.  Over dinner, we discussed plans for the next day and decided on a morning hike of Kuhgrat (6,965’, P2234’), the only mountain with 2000’ of prominence in Liechtenstein followed by a hike up to the Douglasshütte in Austria to put us in position for a snow climb of Schesaplana (9,728’, P2710’) the following day.  This being Switzerland, my simple dinner in a simple café was $25, thank you very much.

Our lodging for the night

We washed up in the bathroom of the bunkhouse and went to sleep about 10:30 in anticipation of a pretty full day.

Day 3 (June 17)

“It’s 6:15, gentlemen.”  We all had overslept our alarms, and Lee had luckily kept that to a minimum.  We were up quickly, I shoved some bread and cheese in my mouth, and began the one hour drive to the trailhead.  We parked near some houses then took a faint trail (a euphemism for being lost) that went within 8 or 10 feet of many houses as we passed them.

Nice view from near the start of our hike

After a few minutes we hit the main trail.  Cows stubbornly blocked the way.  Yep, this is the Alps

Enough cowbell

After a short bit of walking we started to get some views of the surroundings.  The trail is essentially cut into the side of the mountain, affording great views of the valley below.  The Rhine, one of Europe’s major rivers, looks pretty humble near its source, and it’s hard to believe it helped cut through the mountain ranges here. 

The "mighty" Rhine

Part of the trail.  Note the bridge to the far right of the picture

The trail is pretty exposed – in some areas a careless fall would have been...um...interesting, and with pebbly rocks littering the ground, it was necessary to pay attention and use the hand cables when available.  I was a bit surprised, and happy, to see a family with their 8-year-old making their way up this trail.  Good to see evidence of at least one family that doesn't shield their child from all potential danger at any cost.

With care, the walk was uneventful, except in a 20’ snow-covered tract of the trail that was consistently getting hit by minor rockfall – not enough to damage from the impact but enough to knock you off your feet and send you on a long fall.  We took turns quickly crossing this area, and were soon near the summit ridge.  At this point, the hot sun was baking us, and we welcomed the intermittent clouds coming up from the valley below that delivered cool, moist air.

The Kuhgrat summit is barely visible through the cloud in the upper right.  You can also see the trail leading up.

We reached the summit, 3.3 miles after leaving the trailhead.  Views were spectacular in all directions.

The trail continued along this ridge

Kuhgrat ridge with our trail.

Views from the summit ridge with Lee in the foreground

I listened to Lee converse with the locals, stuffed some more food in my face, then we headed back down.

I'm technically a sückafool but I went right anyway

Care was again required on the descent, especially near the melting snow that was releasing even more rock.

An exposed section of the trail, made trivial by the hand cables.  Photo by Rob Woodall

Views were also nice on the way down (duh)

Views on the way down.  Photos by Rob Woodall.

We were back at the car after a 6.6 mile hike with just under 3000’ of elevation gain.  It took us 4 hours and 40 minutes, quite a bit slower than expected. 

As we prepared to drive to our next objective, I “pulled a Shannon.”  I took my ice axe out of the car for some reason and forgot to put it back before driving off.  Oops.  A nice $70 mistake.  I hope the Liechtensteinians enjoy it.

We stopped for lunch and confirmed plans for Schesaplana.  After a long, winding drive up a very narrow paved road we reached the parking area.  A cable car ascended to our destination, the Douglashütte, but we just missed the last car up at 5pm.  Instead, we had an steep 1 mile hike up to the top.

Our path up to the Douglasshütte, crossing a couple small snowfields.  Photo by Rob Woodall 

The Douglasshütte is situated on the Lunersee, an absolutely spectacular lake at about 6500’.  A great set-up, with a shower and nice beds.  I got a shower, had a couple beers in the dining hall (where the hut warden told us that most of his customers are people who take the cable car up, get drunk at the outdoor café and head back down the cable car), and the three of us went to bed.  It being early in the season, we had a 12 bunk room to ourselves.

Stunning views from the hut.  Photo by Rob Woodall

Day 4 (June 18)

Day 4 travel

We woke up at 5am, just around sunrise.  We wanted to get up and down before the snow got too soft, but didn’t want to mess with headlamps. 

The well kept bunk room at the Douglasshutte

We were out the door by 5:45 or so.  The first mile or so was on dry trail, and we took our time taking in the magnificent scenery as the sun rose and lit up the snow-covered peaks.

Lee and Rob on the trail as the sun rises

Alpenglow

It didn’t get cold enough overnight to freeze the snow, so we climbed without crampons to the higher hut (the Totalphütte), which we reached after two and a half hours.

The Totalphutte at about 7260'

The hut was staffed; some folks had stayed there to have a faster summit day.  Here we took a short rest, took in the views, and put on our crampons for the steeper terrain ahead.  At this point, we also noticed a lenticular cloud, a harbinger of bad weather, forming in the distance.  The weather wasn’t supposed to turn bad until the evening, but we kept an eye on things anyway.

Lenticular cloud looming over our route

We left the hut on a nice gentle traverse of an easy snow slope before we turned towards the summit and things got steeper. 

The sun felt this hot when the wind died down.

Rob ascending the first snow bowl

Lee and I taking a break after a steep bit.  Photo by Rob Woodall

After steep climbs up a couple of snow bowls, we pushed our way through the snow-corniced summit ridge, where we were greeting with a cold, biting wind.

View down the summit ridge after coming through the cornice

View up the summit ridge.  I think Rob got me taking the picture above this one.

I instantly put on another layer of clothing, and tried to hide behind a short rock wall at the summit.  Not much helped, so after 10 minutes taking pictures and exploring the summit, we headed back down.

The early descent was slightly nerve-wracking.  In the mere 45 minutes since we ascended through the corniced ridge, the sun had softened the snow considerably.  Lee took the lead on the descent, having trouble getting good footholds.  The snow would fall out from under his feet as he tried to kick steps. 

Lee trying to get enough purchase to begin the downclimb.  Photo by Rob Woodall

Lee kicking steps in the very soft snow - not fun.  Photo by Rob Woodall

The slope was probably a 45 degree angle here, and the snow was probably too soft for a self-arrest, meaning a nice long fall if he left his feet.  Eventually he found some firmer snow, and I followed down, kicking firmer steps…although I also experience snow slabs falling from under my feet.  I had to rely on my borrowed ice axe on a couple of occasions before finding solid footholds.  This difficulty only lasted for about 20 vertical feet and we were back on firmer snow.  We had a pretty uneventful descent, making good time plunge-stepping down soft snow.  We did have some concern for those coming up later – it was already 11am and the snow was only going to get softer.

We reached the hut (total climb stats: 8.5 miles with about 4600’ of elevation gain), and after a quick coffee, we took the cable car down – Lee needed to get back home to Basel, and Rob and I were planning on another summit before I dropped him at the Zürich airport that evening and we wanted to save time.  The cable car was only about 6 euro (Austria is much cheaper than Switzerland), we got to the parking lot, transferred Rob’s gear to my car, and parted ways with Lee. 

Rob and I had an hour drive to the Itonskopf (6,854’, P2001’) trailhead located in Bartholomäberg, Austria.  We parked near a “gästhaus,” (probably legally) at 2:00 with roughly 5 hours to make it up and down with time to spare to make Rob’s flight.  It was hot – about 85ºF – and I was glad to exchange my 4 pound mountaineering boots for my running shoes.

We set a pretty aggressive pace on the ascent – about 3.5 miles per hour while gaining elevation quickly.  I was soon very hot, pouring sweat in running shorts and a short-sleeve shirt.  Rob had on long sleeves and pants, and looked like he was out for a Sunday stroll.  I knew he was very fit, but not how fit – three weeks later he would run a 48 mile, 17,000’ elevation gain circuit in England in well under 12 hours!(!)  

Anyhow, we ascended through some nice pastoral scenery, looking very fondly upon any shade we came across.

Views during the ascent of Itonskopf.  Photos by Rob Woodall

We had our first sight of the summit after about 90 minutes – it looked quite daunting.  We didn’t have much information on this peak, and I was hoping not to have to scramble up the ridge in front of us.

Initial glimpse (top), followed by a closer look at the summit.  Good to see the trail snaking around to an easier ascent.  Photos by Rob Woodall

As we got closer, we encountered some annoying patches of snow and slippery grass, but eventually made it to the summit.  Rob reckoned the trail went around the mountain for an easier ascent.  As I was catching up he bounded forward like a gazelle to check out the route ahead – and he was right.  A path ascended the peak, although the pebbly ground made hand cables necessary on parts of the ascent.

The views from the summit were spectacular, and there was a nice breeze to cool us off.   We took our time up here.

Some great summit views

Some initial care was required on the descent,

Descending in my stylish outfit.  Photo by Rob Woodall

and once on solid ground we jogged a good portion of the way back to the car, cooling off our heads in a spring-fed watering trough for the livestock in the area.  Stats:  7.7 miles, 3,215’ elevation gain, 3 hours and 26 minutes.

After a one hour drive to drop Rob at the Zürich airport, I stopped at a gas station to fuel up, spend my last Swiss francs on much needed food, and began the drive north back to Frankfurt.  I planned to stop at a hotel along the way, but waited too long.  The only place I could find off the road was €110, and I didn’t want to spend that for about five hours’ sleep.  I finally ended up driving the whole five hours back to the Frankfurt area, where I pulled into a rest area and slept – completely exhausted after a full 21 hour day.

Day 5 (June 19)

Final day travel

At 6am, the sun woke me up again.  I took a much-needed shower (only €2!) at the rest area, and drove towards Großer Feldberg (2,884’, P2185), a hill north of Frankfurt, before flying home.  The scenery was a lot different than what I encountered the last four days, but with time to kill I walked around, had a coffee and bought a souvenir for my five-year old son.  It was a horn, which was sure to be a hit because it a) made noise and b) could be used to tease our dog.

Views from summit and surrounding areas

I drove an hour to the airport, excited to get back home to my family after such a successful trip. 

Thanks to Lee for all of the planning and to both Rob and Lee for making plans to join me on a central European peakbagging trip.

Most of all, thanks to my wife, for holding down the fort for the 11 days I was gone and for putting up with my silly hobby.  I realize I’m lucky to have a spouse that encourages me to pursue an activity that brings me so much joy.