4th Training Hike - Mt Hood Govenment Camp Trails March 14th, 2010

We just kept on having the best luck on our training hikes - not warm and sunny this time!! And that's very good because we went to the southern foothill of Mt. Hood for a round of snowshoeing on this hike. There were numerous trails that meandered around the town of Government Camp covered with a blanket of fresh snow. (Click on the map on the left for a blowup of the map.) A week ago, we were all worried that there might not be enough snow and that it was going to be a muddy and miserable experience!! The condition was a lot better than we could have ever hoped for. We were to start our hike at the very western end of the Crosstown Trail, follow it up to Glade Trail, and go as high as we could until noon when we stopped for lunch.






Mercifully, the trail started this time almost flat or with very little incline if any for the first 20 minutes or so until we took our quick gear check. From there on, it got steeper and steeper as we gained elevation. It gave us a nice way to warm up and to get used to walking with those plastic planks strapped on our feet.


Almost everybody was using MSR's snowshoes which were two pieces of plastic boards with crampon teeth on the bottom and a set of bindings on the top. I had used them few time this season and had been very pleased with how they performed. The only complaints I'd had with MSR's snowshoes so far were that the bindings were not as easy to operate as, say, Tubbs' and that those plastic planks made rather loud clop clop noise. The noise issue probably wouldn't have been much of anything if only few of us were using MSR's but, when that many people were stomping on them, it made it kind of hard to have conversations at times.


But then, one of our training hike leaders, Daniel, in front of the group maintained our pace just fast enough to keep us panting at all time and therefore not yakking whole a lot anyway. I could feel that my effort to bike everyday had started to pay off a little though. Despite the increase in my pack weight from 23 lbs last time to about 35 lbs this time, and even though I was still pushing myself pretty hard, I felt like my comfort and confidence level had gone up a notch or two since we started our training hikes. I have to remember to take the side shield off my glacier glasses before our next hike as they kept fogging up every time we stopped.


In the steeper section near the end of the uphill hike, I wanted to try to practice a little a climbing technique called rest step that would give the leg muscles a momentary relief each step while climbing. I wish I could find a video clip online to show what it looks like though. Put simply, the technique goes something like this: Take a step. Straighten that leg and lock the knee. As you move to take the next step, place the weight of your entire body on the locked bone structure of your back leg. As you swing your leg forward to take the next step relax the muscles in that leg. Though our faster pace made it a little difficult to do that, it seemed to have made the slug a bit less slug like once I got the rhythm down. I am hoping that they would teach us how to do this properly when we go back to Mt. Hood for our climbing clinic in April. I have always thought this was an easy yet very effective way to conserve energy. It could make our climbs a lot more enjoyable for everyone.


By the time we took our lunch break around noon, we had gone from 3,600' at the trail head to several hundred feet below the Timberline Lodge, about 5,200' or so. One of the training hike leaders said that that was the highest they've gone on any Mt. Hood training hike. We probably started around 10:15am so that was a pretty good pace considering we were snowshoeing. We picked relatively a flat spot off the side of the trail and started devouring our lunches. My standard meal had always consisted of salami, cheese, trail mix, and dried fruits since we started training. They always tasted ten times better in the woods but I think I will try to come up with a little more variations for the future hikes. TMI: I was reminded by the dark color of my pee that I needed to increase my water intake. It's so easy to slack off on hydrating on the trail. Not good. Steve, another training hike leader and also a physician, said that he would usually drink about 8 quarts of water on a day of hiking.



We probably scared the people at the restaurant when we showed up like a pack of wild animals drawn to the smell of a wounded prey with our fangs showing and our eyes glaring. It's funny that I had never noticed this place in Government Camp though. It's not like there were much other choices. In any event, we needed to replace the calories we had just burnt and that we did. I have a feeling we will be ready to eat our own guts and ask for seconds by the time our big days come.

3rd Training Hike - Mt. Hamilton Loop March 7th, 2010

This is getting almost unreal - great weather, sunny with scattered clouds, yet again - three weekends in a row!!! I thought this was the Northwest but we'd take all we could take!!


This time, we gathered once again to hike Mt. Hamilton loop this time. The trail started out near Beacon Rock, another picturesque site along the Columbia River Gorge on Washington side, gradually northward for few miles until a couple of series of somewhat steep switch backs took us to the top of Mt. Hamilton concluding the 2000' vertical gain. From there, we'd take the path going around and down the back side of Mt. Hamilton rejoining the lower part of the trail we went up on earlier. All together the hike was about 9 miles but many of us thought it went quicker than we had thought.

I think there were few reasons why it seemed that way. For one thing, there were so many stunning sites along the trail that had gorgeous water fall views and expansive panorama of the Columbia Gorge, letting us take our minds off the strenuousness from time to time. Also, for me, hiking with the intermediate group rather than the fast group helped me tremendously to enjoy the hike better as it didn't feel like I was in a triathlon tryout.






Nevertheless, I felt like my heart was going to pop out of my rib cage for the first 10 to 20 minutes or so until the first gear check break. Then it would get a lot easier all of sudden. In fact, I am starting to think this might be my new normal pattern. My pack weight came in at about 23 lbs this time which felt very comfortable. Note to myself - I need to add back few more pounds though. These are training hikes after all. I'd also like to think that my effort to ride my bicycle to run errands, etc. for at least an hour or so each day for the week before contributed to making some of the difference.

I also have to credit Bob, our Training Hike Leader, who was very conscious about keeping the tab on how the group was doing and judiciously stopped the group for breaks not only as our chances to catch our breaths but also as opportunities for us to practice the basic skills like taking on and off our packs, temperature control through adding or removing layers, keeping our level of hydration in check, taking small calorie intakes through out the hike, and not sitting around too long, which all might sound simple but would be important when our big days came. During one of the breaks, Eva, another Training Hike Leader hiking in our group, gave us very helpful insights on energy boosting products available on the market and also on how to use our trecking poles.


I am starting to better shape my non-hike training stuff to fit my daily schedule. So far, I have come up with plans for two of the three parts, aerobic/anaerobic training, flexibility/core strength/balance training (also injury prevention), and strength training at least to start with.


As I mentioned earlier, I started using my bicycle to go everywhere as much as possible. This has saved me from having to set aside an hour or so every day just to do aerobic/anaerobic stuff by replacing some of the time I would otherwise spend in my car. The only minor draw back, I have come to be reminded, has been that the traffic law is somewhat optional in nature to some drivers and I'd best not get flattened if at all possible. On the very first day when I took out my bicycle out for a trial run, I narrowly escaped getting T-boned by a Fast-n-Furious who sped through a stop sign with a phone buried in his ear.


Regardless of the Reach The Summit program, yoga has become an important part of my daily life in the recent months. Yoga has really helped me develop my better flexibility, core strength, and balance that are important in preventing injuries, which is as important as getting fit - it would really s#$k if I had to abort my climb after all this. In fact, it got to the point where, if I did't get to do yoga for few days, I would almost feel like I hadn't washed my hair or something for a couple of days. Bicycling a half an hour each way to and from the yoga studio has also been an added bonus. (Who thought that would ever be considered a "bonus"?)


The part I need to weave into my program is the strength training. I am toying with the idea of checking out a climbing gym as a part of it. Based on my past history, I know that I wouldn't last very long if the activities were repetitive and boring so I need to do things that are actually fun and challenging at the same time. I think trying out sport climbing would fit that category well. It would also be something new for me to do since most of my past climbing experiences were in alpine settings when I was very young. (More about this later in my series, "Making of An Outdoor Geek".) Besides, it would be something similar to what we will be doing this summer. Can anybody give me a good input on sport climbing?


As always, getting to the top was a satisfying moment for all of us accomplishing another small step towards reaching our ultimate summits. The wind was surprisingly calm and we actually had to take off the layers we had just put on not too long before. We savored the moment in this amazing weather as we chewed our lunches. 15 minutes or so later, the "endurance" group was arriving and it was time for us to start descending after our kodak moments. It's funny that it seemed like it took longer to go down than to go up - looking at the map, that might have been actually the case, in distance at least.



We congratulated ourselves afterwards at a bar/restaurant type near our meetup point with the highest caloric looking sandwiches we could find on our menus and generous pours of the locally brewed beverages for good measures.

1st Training Hike: Angel's Rest Feb 21, 2010

We did our very first training hike this past Sunday (2/21/10). It took place at Angel's Rest in the Columbia Gorge, OR which covered a relatively short distance of about 4 miles and roughly 1500' of elevation gain.

Altogether, about 30 Reach The Summit participants met up in a parking lot of a nearby grocery store at 7:45am to car-pool to the trail head. I was really looking forward to meeting the fellow climbers I will be training with for the next several months.

We couldn't have asked for better weather to kick off our training. CAVU (Clear And Visibility Unlimited) and the temperature was in the 30s in the morning but it warmed up to probably 60s. I knew it couldn't be this way on all of our hikes but I'd take all we could get!

We will be meeting up for a training hike almost every weekend around Portland, OR. All along the Columbia Gorge, there are numerous hiking trails of varying difficulties that are often associated with gorgeous waterfalls. We will be also hitting some of the trails in the Coastal Range as well as in Mt. Hood National Forest. Qualified mountaineering professionals will be providing us with hands-on training on mountain safety and proper alpine climbing techniques.

There were about 10 or so volunteer Training Hike Leaders and Assistants, of whom many of them were participating climbers themselves in the past. They had been training since November to be ready for our training and were trained in first aid. There were also a couple of medical professionals, just in case.

In the grocery store's parking lot, we split up into three groups: the fast group, the intermediate group, and the "endurance" group. I wanted to be in the intermediate group but, by the time I got there, there were way too many people in it so I chose to be in the fast group, knowing that I could always slip back into another group if necessary. (More on that little later..) One of our Training Hike Leaders, Eva, gave us a quick show-n-tell on how to select a backpack for those who had not gotten one yet and good tips on how to pack. Jennifer, the head of Reach The Summit program, nervously added that we were not to get too close the edge of the cliff when we got there. (...uh... sure, Jennifer..., right...) Now, we were all ready to go!!

Once we got to and gathered around the trail head, we set off for the hike. My group went first. Within no more than 10 minutes into the hike, I realized that I was waaaaaaaayyyy toooooo out of shape. I thought my heart was going to burst out of my rib cage by the time we took a small break about 15 minutes into the hike for a "gear check" where each of us took off a layer or two of clothings. This fact was accentuated by the fact that the rest of the people in my group were hiking as if it was just a saunter around a park. Something was definitely not right here.. Then, I realized why.. Most of them were carrying relatively light packs, while my pack weighed about 30lbs (The night before, I added some water containers to bring it up to this weight for training purpose.) Something to think about for the next hike..

After about 35 minutes into the hike, to my amazement, it got much easier all of sudden. It was as if the slope of the trail just disappeared. (No, I didn't dump the water..) Is this what they call a "zone"?? But then, now that I think about it, it's entirely possible that was a flat part of the trail.. Just before we got to the top of Angel's rest, we took another 10 minutes break. All along the trail, the gorgeous view of the Columbia Gorge would come into view from time to time. The visibility was truly amazing - it had to be at least 100 miles of clear view. When we reached the top, the "gorge wind" was so strong that we had to go over the leeward side of the ridge to take another break. From there, the top part of Mt. Adams was clearly visible. Awesome!!! Can't wait to climb it!!!!!

No hiking is complete without some proper beverage afterwards. The training supervisor directed us to one of the bar/restaurant types nearby for an optional "non-Reach The Summit" extra curricular activities, where we behaved accordingly..

This weekend, we will be doing it again around Multnomah Falls/Wahkeena Falls which are arguably some of the Portland's most scenic.. Stay tuned!!!