Good Luck on Stanley Mountain

 

August 20

This is our last big training day, and we picked another mountain relatively close to home.  There isn’t much time now before we head to Nepal and our team is feeling the pressure.  It’s a time for last minute purchases, gear sorting and packing and a bit more exercise to keep the body fit and ready for action.

The trail begins with a series of switchbacks through the forest and eventually to treeline while gaining elevation at a steady rate.  There’s a nice draw between an unnamed peak next to Vasquez and Stanley that we traverse while enjoying some late wildflowers and a flowing stream.  The steep climbing starts after the traverse, and we quickly gain elevation until reaching the ridge on another mostly sunny and windless day.  The weather gods really have shined on us this summer during all of our training days. 

 


The view from the summit is always nice, especially when you’re in a place that you know.  As we look around, we see many of our old friends and mountains that we’ve climbed over the years.  There’s a dozen or more we can see from here that we climbed while training for Manaslu.  What a privilege we have to live and play in such a beautiful place.

 


We don’t waste much time heading back down as it looks like clouds are building towards an afternoon rain.  We’ve had a great monsoon season this year which brings the landscape alive with green plants, wildflowers and my favorite, wild mushrooms.  I was hoping to find some tasty specimens in the woods as we hiked but didn’t expect the full buffet that we saw this day.  Collecting some on the way up and the rest on the way down, my pack ended up weighing more when I got back to the car then when we started.

 


Today is the last day for carrying my cast iron pot in the mountains, at least this year.  With 7.2 miles and 2,665 ft of elevation gain, it was a good effort.  I’ll get one more bike trainer workout and maybe hop on the treadmill again at Pipestone with the other heavy pack just for fun. 

 


Training is a huge part of the overall preparation required for any big event and it sort of becomes an event in itself.  Taking an hour or two every day and devoting it to preparing for a climb is a big commitment and I’m ready to move on to the main event.  We've been training for about 6 months now and the statistics have added up.  Here's a summary of my efforts:

 - Running, 73 Miles

 - Biking, 207 Miles

 - Hiking and Treadmill, 205.5 Miles

 - Elevation Gain, 78,097 Feet

 - Pushups, 6,165

 - Ab Crunches, 5,235

It's time to finish packing and head to Nepal....


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