Turkey Day Hike

So after spending this Thanksgiving down in Methuen at my Uncle Al and Aunt Betty's we went for a 2 night backpack in the White's near the Pemi.  My Father and his friend Strad have had a tradition of hiking every year after Thanksgiving.  I have spent many years hiking Monadnock or some other small peak after the holiday.  This year my wife and I decided to step it up a notch and go out for the weekend.

We were going to do the Mt. Hancock trail but the parking lot was not plowed and there was about 4 inches of slush and we ( I mean me) got the car stuck trying to get into the lot.  I should have just swallowed my pride and forgot the fact that I used to go and get into bad roads with 4 wheel drive for a living.  Maybe it was because all the foresters would have laughed at me if I turned around instead of trying to gun it into the snowbank to get through.  I am not sure. 

I ended up having to kick the snow out under the tires and make steph drive while I pushed the front end back.  We ended up at the Lincoln Woods Parking lot and just on a whim we started hiking in with really no plan.  As we were hiking we decided on Mt Flume since steph had not done it and it was the shorter of three options.  We camped out about 2 miles in on the Osseo trail in some slightly dense beech stands which definitely had a good mast year.  I was seeing empty pods all over the place and no nuts....

Day two we hiked up Mt Flume and it was almost 45 degrees. We took a self portrait on top. I was surprised how mild the temps were. As we were hiking up it occurred to us that this would actually be the last peak on the great circle trail run that I am thinking of. I snapped a picture of steph nearing the summit.

 

On Sunday we hiked out in the morning and when we were driving back home I could see a red jacket/blob of someone climbing Whitney Gilman Ridge.  I love that climb but there is no way that I would put myself there in late November.  This year I took some guy that I had never met before with almost no climbing experience up it and I can remember freezing in the wind on a 60 degree day as he struggled trying to pull a fixed piece of gear out for ten minutes trying to take apart his belay.  I figured he would have guessed that a rusty stemmed cam was not mine but he was a little new to it all I think.  I cannot imagine being up there without a lot of experience under my belt in the winter. Even though it was 50 degrees it had to be cold for that guy in the red jacket. As we were driving home Steph suggested that we round out the weekend and get limber by going to a bikram yoga class so we did that on sunday evening. It was nice to do that after sleeping on partly slushy snow and roots where our tent was for two nights.  

Hepatitus Send

So this weekend I was with my parents and I got out for about 30 minutes of bouldering during the day at Hammond Pond.  Normally I try to get in hours or more but I guess that I have underestimated what can be done in 30 minutes or less when it comes to bouldering and running.  It was a really good session.

I ended up sending this project that I have had on my radar and wanted for a long time called Hepatitis.  It is an Old Henry Barber Line that he gave a rating of 5.12 back when people were climbing in hiking boots and there was not any sticky rubber.  It now has a rating of V5 under the the Vermin scale.  In Mass there is a rich history of small boulders and short 30 foot routes and their first ascents. Some of the lines although really short are a neat place to spend a couple minutes or hours on when you are in the Boston area.  I would not travel here just for them but feel that it is a good place to get a proud line in.  Since Hammond Pond is near my parents house where I grew up I have been looking at this line for almost 10 years.  It is a thin seam that has little crimps along the seam and a few jugs near the top.  As you go out the seam the feet get progressively worse and you really have to concentrate on footwork and core tension to stick on the wall. It was a good send.

Chipping away at each goal one chunk at a time

The last three weekends I have found myself out working away at the goals.  Three weekends ago it was a long trail run with a large elevation change. Last weekend it was leading a crack climb that I had never heard anyone tell me anything about and never climbed before on sight.  This weekend it was going out with a crowd and getting 4 laps in on a hard overhanging 5.10 for endurance and many others on some moderates to round out the day while also being in a good positive atmosphere. I put a list of mega goals over my desk at work that I want to do. My coworkers immediately started making comical remarks about how they were going to add things to my list like have 10 children or win the baby making race.  It just made me want to train harder but I am sure that after my next week of travel there will be something added to my list when I come back.  I feel like the process of adding things to a list on paper and making goals is an important one.  I tried to put some thought into things and I came up with one non climbing goal that is called the great circle.  33 miles of trail running over rocky terrain and 8000 feet of vertical gain in the white mountains of NH. Other goals include things like El Capitan and climbing 5.12 or 5.13. 

 I find myself wondering if it is possible for me to get some of these goals and I think that for each goal I am going to have to start small.  With the example of the great circle, the current Richmond hill run has about 800 feet of vertical gain so that is about one tenth of what is needed and it is in 20 percent more miles at seven miles and this run has been hard for me.  I am not even sure how to step it up enough to get to that level. 


Three weekends ago I did the Mt. Hunger to White Rocks trail run which is 7 miles with 2000 feet of vertical gain. For this run I averaged 18 minutes a mile because the uphill portion and scrambling on the rocks and ice at the top slowed me down and I just couldn't sustain the heart rate.  I found myself saying well if this were the great circle I would have to do better because 18 minutes a mile at 33 miles is about 10 hours and that is longer than I think I could sustain myself.  maybe if I can get it to 12 minutes a mile or less would make it 6 hours and 45 minutes or less.   So that is the goal.  After doing the short loop and being really happy I found myself thinking of all the other trail runs that I would want to do as training for the loops.  There is one loop at work that during lunch I am just going to have to run it fast because it is over 1000 feet of gain and like 7 miles.  If I can get up to getting this one in 60 minutes I will be happy.  If I can get it in 49 minutes I feel like someone should be giving me a medal. 


This weekend my wife and I went out climbing with a friend named Zack that was a really good time.  It had been a while since I was out with someone who needed some watching to make sure that the belay was solid and that some techniques were foreign to.  I forgot how much just being at the crag and watching people climbing can be fun and I had a good time explaining some techniques and going from there. We ended up adding a fourth to our group at the cliff when my coworkers husband showed up at the crag to get a couple of burns in before going back home to the kids. It was good.  I forgot how simple it can be to just be out there with friend in the woods and to just be there. I ended up getting in four burns on a 5.10a that is steep and pumpy that was good for me to remember overhangs and keep the technique up.


This next weekend I will be at home with the parents and it is close to some great bouldering on pudding-stone which after years of looking at climbing magazine pictures makes me think that it is a mini cobble canyon. I have never been to cobble canyon but I am sure that I will make it there some day and I will be ready.  I have two V4s that I have been trying for years that I want to get this weekend. One of them is a Henry Barber line called hepatitis that is really not my style of a climb but is really aesthetic for a short route.  I am hoping to get it because it would be a breakthrough to get it.  Each time that I have been home recently I have tried it and got one hold farther.  It is also one of those routes that I have never seen anyone try so every year as my technique has improved I have tried new things and got farther with no beta from others and no help.  I think I have only had a spotter there once.  If I do start getting the topout I am going to make my dad or mom come out and belay me.