Mt Humphreys Triathlon with Sam (4-23-11) teaser report

Sam was passing through so we decided a mini-sufferfest was in order. We really wanted to test out the new pack-rafts, but I couldn't find any close by rivers that had good flows (I am not really tuned in to these things though, so maybe I missed something good). So we went with plan B - the Mt Humphreys Triathlon. This was entirely made up and involved biking from 7,000 feet in Flagstaff up to 9,500 feet at the ski area (about 14 miles) and then skinning up on skis as far as we could go (we really hoped there was enough snow left). Then on to the summit of Mt Humphreys at 12,637 ft. The reverse would be gravity assisted and hopefully a lot quicker and easier.

Sam preps his bike in the dark

We started at 6 am and made it up to the ski area in about 2.5 hours. Most of the snow was gone, but we only had to walk a few hundred yards to get onto a good patch. From there on up we had enough to skin up above the top of the lift (~11,500ft). The snow was pretty icy, and rather dirty in places. We hoped it would be a bit softer for the descent.

Sam skinning up

Once we stashed the ski gear it was a pain to traverse over to Humphreys but we did manage to tag another peak along the way. By the time we neared the summit the wind was really blowing. I don't know how hard, but I was unable to walk in a straight line at times and without ski poles I think we would have had to crawl. I am guessing somewhere around 60 mph for the gusts, maybe 70? When I turned into the wind it felt like sticking my head out of a car window on the freeway. We were very glad to have ski goggles on. Sam was hurting from the altitude (having recently been in North Dakota), but I was ok this trip. On the descent it started snowing/sleeting/mini-graupel. This was blowing up at us as we were near the ridge line. Once again we were glad for the goggles.

It was cold and windy, and Sam was feeling the altitude

Sam does a handstand in strong winds

We didn't have any fat pills, so we had to settle for beef and cheese sticks

Unfortunately things had cooled off and the snow was still pretty icy for the descent and for some reason my legs were really tired. Some of it was fun, but some was more of a chore threading my way between the rocks, trees, and grass. We had to dodge through the woods at one point which was a little exciting. Luckily it wasn't very steep there. The bike ride down from the ski area went quickly, although Sam went a lot slower the way his skis were strapped on his pack like an air-brake. We actually had a tail-wind for most of the rest of the way back to Flagstaff.

The total time was around 11.5 hours. We weren't hurrying at all on the transitions though.

Once again I'll try to post a more complete trip report soon, plus I think we might have enough video footage for a mini video.

Here is a link to the trip report page: http://www.electricant.net/grundyman/mthumptri2011.html


here is the video...

youtube Video of trip up Mount Humphreys, Arizona

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAgkd9K6Ii4

Grand Canyon Hike teaser report

On April 5th, 2011 I went for another annual Grand Canyon deathmarch. This time I heeded the parks warning and didn't hike all the way down to the river and back. Instead I hiked down the Hermit Trail to the Tonto Trail and then out to Plateau Point and up the Bright Angel Trail. Since the total was somewhere around a marathon, I don't think that is what the park service had in mind. I started hiking shortly after 5 am and finished just before 6 pm. Needless to say I was a bit sore and tired. I added up the mileages on a map I found and it came to 26.2 miles, but someone else reported it was 27 miles without the extra 1.4 miles out to Plateau Point. In any case it was a rather long way with at least 3500 feet of elevation loss and gain.

taking the shuttle bus in the morning

The weather was mostly excellent although it was quite cold waiting for the shuttle bus at 4:30 in the morning and things were a bit hotter than I'd have chosen a bit after noon, but all in all it was excellent.

Some of the Hermit Trail was in  pretty bad shape (because of rock fall?), but for the most part the trails were in good shape and easy to follow. I didn't have to deal with mules all day which was very nice, although they had still left their mark on the Bright Angel Trail.

I saw a lot of wildflowers, but the cacti hadn't really started blooming yet. I also saw lots of lizards including a collared lizard running on its hind legs and a bighorn sheep.

typical Tonto Trail scene

collared lizard

monument spire or something like that - only a 4 hour approach to this choss tower

bighorn sheep

nice overlook

sunset from the night before

As usual this is just a teaser report, and I hope to get a real trip report up soon.

here is a link to the Grand Canyon Hike trip report