Week Ending Jan 22

Mon - 3 miles (600') easy. Bench loop, home long. Snowy.

Tues - AM: 7.5 miles intervals. Met Jane's group on a very cold morning. With the ground covered in snow and ice and the thermometer reading 5 degrees, this one was just about stretching the legs and busting the holiday rust. Workout was cemetery 2x800, 2xmile, 2x800. Splits: 3:00, 2:49, 5:34, 5:33, 2:49, 2:46. 15 min w-u/c-d on either side.
PM: 7 miles (1,900') easy. Soderberg - Rock - Wathan - Spring Creek - Falls - home long. Felt super smooth aerobically, but sore in the usual places physically. Inch of snow over top of some good stretches of ice, interspersed with dirt and packed snow. Perfect conditions for old school Yaktrax, which people love to hate, but I quite like. In these conditions they are way better than a spiked traction device which are just annoying in mixed conditions.

Weds: 7 miles (1,900') easy. Soderberg - Rock - Wathan - Spring Creek - Falls - home long. Most of the snow from two days ago is essentially gone with the slightly warmer temps. Legs were heavy, but heart and lungs good.

Thurs - AM: 11 miles (1,500') hill tempo. HTH5MO&B. Felt like I went ten rounds with Tyson out there this morning. The wind was swirling like crazy and was highly unpredictable. Rounding the last east-side dam, a massive gust picked up a bunch of gravel and raked us like we'd just been shot in the face by Dick Cheney. That one stopped me and Scott in our tracks and had us whimpering and assuming the crouching position. I think that's the worst I've seen it up there on the ridge. But at least it wasn't too cold. Not surprisingly, performance coming back suffered, despite a pretty hard effort. 39:26 out, 31:26 back (7:00, 6:19, 6:28, 6:17, 5:19). One mile c-d.
PM: 7.5 miles easy with the FCTR crowd at Pineridge.

Fri: 7 miles (1,900') easy. Soderberg - Rock - Wathan - Spring Creek - Falls - home long. Tired of this wind, but as long as the mild temps stick around, I'll take it I guess.

Sat: 3 miles (1,600') hike. Alexander Mtn with Ryan.

Sun: 23.5 miles (3,500') long. Milner Mtn (6,881'), Bobcat Ridge, point 7,124' with Mike H.

Total: 76.5 miles (11,300')

A friend of mine pointed me in the direction of a website called Lists of John the other day. It's an invaluable resource for those into the fine art of peakbaggery, and while I'd visited it before I'd never really perused it fully. Aforementioned friend offered up a link to the 255 ranked peaks in Larimer County (where I reside), the simple act of which finds me getting a little obsessed.

Many of these 'peaks' are peaks in name only. To be ranked, a peak has to have a minimum of 300 feet of climb (or prominence) on any route from a higher peak (or sea level), a rule that means such elegant summits as Arthurs Rock and Comanche Peak are not ranked, but some random hillside above Horsetooth Reservoir is.

This all means that I find myself plotting to hike or run up totally unworthy hillsides simply to check off another ranked Larimer peak. By extension, however, this new-found obsession has also given me a much keener eye for the skyline around me. I see a peak that previously had been just another rise in the endless swell of rises that surround us here in Colorado and I want to know if it's named, what its prominence is and how I'm going to get up it.

I think I've become more familiar with the geography and topography of Larimer County in the last two weeks than I have in the last five years. And that's a good thing. I find myself plotting new routes and getting excited about totally random 8,000 foot peaks.

Anyway, enough of my peakbaggery babble.

What else? Well, we've recently secured a sponsorship from the fine folks at Cornerstone Mortgage Company (my own personal lender and all-around supporter of the Fort Collins running community) for the Quad Rock 50 in May, which now means that we're able to offer up a modest prize purse for the 50 mile race, in addition to some nice product prizes for age group winners (Pearl Izumi shoes for sure in the 50 and hopefully in the 25 too). We're also working on some really neat ideas for finishers' awards and hope to have an announcement on that soon.

I'm also excited about a new flavor of EFS Liquid Shot that Robert over at First Endurance has been working on. I sampled the Kona Mocha, as it will be called, on Sunday during my long run and really enjoyed it. Like all EFS Liquid Shot, the non-viscous nature of the gel means that it goes down easy, but best of all I really think they nailed the flavoring. The blend between coffee and chocolate doesn't leave that cloyingly sweet taste in your mouth; it just tastes good. I think this one is going to be popular. The planned launch date is March, I believe, so I'm really hoping that we'll have some to distribute at the Quad Rock in May.

And now my Larimer peak completion list (seven non-ranked, so 231 ranked boys to go!):

# of Larimer County peaks completed: 31

Name	Elevation	Prominence	Counties	Quadrangle
Hagues Peak	13,560'	2,420'	Larimer	Trail Ridge
Ypsilon Mountain	13,514'	1,116'	Larimer	Trail Ridge
Fairchild Mountain	13,502'	922'	Larimer	Trail Ridge
Mummy Mountain	13,425'	485'	Larimer	Estes Park
McHenrys Peak	13,327'	907'	Grand & Larimer	McHenrys Peak
Taylor Peak	13,153'	413'	Grand & Larimer	McHenrys Peak
Chiquita, Mount	13,069'	283'	Larimer	Trail Ridge
Hallett Peak	12,713'	733'	Grand & Larimer	McHenrys Peak
Comanche Peak	12,709'	209'	Larimer	Comanche Peak
Dunraven, Mount	12,571'	231'	Larimer	Estes Park
Otis Peak	12,486'	426'	Larimer	McHenrys Peak
Chapin, Mount	12,454'	434'	Larimer	Trail Ridge
Flattop Mountain	12,324'	24'	Grand & Larimer	McHenrys Peak
Stormy Peaks	12,148'	488'	Larimer	Pingree Park
Dickinson, Mount	11,831'	171'	Larimer	Estes Park
Twin Sisters Peak East	11,428'	2,298'	Larimer	Longs Peak
Twin Sisters Peak West	11,413'	73'	Larimer	Longs Peak
Twin Sisters Mountain	11,384'	364'	Larimer	Longs Peak
Signal Mountain	11,262'	802'	Larimer	Pingree Park
Lookout Mountain	10,626'	406'	Larimer	Crystal Mountain
West White Pine Mountain	10,305'	1,445'	Larimer	Crystal Mountain
Deer Mountain	10,013'	1,073'	Larimer	Estes Park
Crosier Mountain	9,250'	1,270'	Larimer	Glen Haven
Sheep Mountain	8,450'	1,108'	Larimer	Drake
Palisade Mountain	8,264'	1,084'	Larimer	Drake
McConnel, Mount	8,020'	520'	Larimer	Big Narrows
Greyrock Mountain	7,613'	753'	Larimer	Poudre Park
Horsetooth Mountain	7,255'	595'	Larimer	Horsetooth Reservoir
Alexander Mountain	7,105'	605'	Larimer	Drake
Arthurs Rock	6,780'	80'	Larimer	Horsetooth Reservoir

Milner Mountain

6,881'

1,119'

Larimer

Masonville

Alexander Mountain

Alexander Mountain (right), the gateway to the Big Thompson Narrows.

Despite it's somewhat diminutive stature, Alexander Mountain (7,105') is a good challenge, with rewarding and unique views of some very familiar terrain from its summit.

If you've ever driven up Hwy 34 through the Narrows of the Big Thompson, then you've undoubtedly seen Alexander, but maybe never known it as such. Alexander Mountain is the first named mountain in the Big Thompson Canyon, but plays little brother to it's better-known neighbors. Both Round Mountain and Palisade Mountain can be seen from the top of Alexander, but neither of them offer the unique views of the Narrows and hogback foothills that their humble sibling does.

As you approach the mouth of the canyon, Alexander Mountain is easily recognizable from its sheer south face. The Big Thompson itself begins its journey from the peaks of Rocky Mountain National Park - viewable to the west from Alexander's summit.

Left to right: Stone, Meeker, Longs, Round.

There are a number of ways to get on top of the mountain, the most direct of which is to ascend a steep, brush-infested gully directly from the canyon floor, soon after Hwy 34 crosses the Big Thompson for the first time. From the summit, Ryan and I spied a longer, but more interesting route that would take you up from the jaws of the canyon on Alexander's long southeastern ridge.

The entry to the gully, right off the Big Thompson.

The southeast ridge of Alexander.

Soon after entering the gully, there is a large boulder plugging up the boxed-in route, which requires some class III maneuvering to get around. Once past the chockstone, it's time to fight with the rough brush that inhabits the dry creek bed.

Tiring of that game, Ryan and I cut a line to the western ridge of the gully and enjoyed some fun class III/IV climbing all the way to the top of a small point from where the best views on Alexander are available. The actual summit is a short hike north on the summit ridge in a forested area of little note.

Chockstone.

Brush, brush and more brush early on.

Out of the weeds...

...and on to some solid rock.

Anticlimactic summit.

After making the requisite summit tag, Ryan and I returned to the slightly lower point that we had gained from the ridge and enjoyed the awesome views for a while. 100 miles to the south, Pikes Peak was visible, with close-ups of Carter Lake, Longs Peak, Mount Meeker, and Round and Stone Mountains in the foreground. Off to the east, there were great views of the foothill hogbacks, including Devil's Backbone, the Bluesky Valley, Eden Valley Reservoir, Horsetooth and Milner Mountain. To the west were good views of the nicely painted Mummies and other RMNP peaks. But perhaps most impressive of all was the view down into the Big Thompson Narrows - a quite unique vantage point to be sure.

Eden Valley Reservoir

Horsetooth (left) & Milner Mountain (right)

Big Thompson Narrows, with hogbacks beyond.

Coming down, we forewent the rocky down-climbing, deciding instead to wage war against the mountain mahogany and other nasty creek brush.

With 20-30 minutes on top, we were up and down in about 2.5 hours. Total climb is in the 1,600 foot range and distance is probably no more than 3 miles. This one comes highly recommended.