My 2001 Colorado VacationI flew to Colorado from Florida (sea level) on June 26 to begin altitude acclimation. In the next 3 days, I climbed Mt. Evans, Yale, and Princeton, all over 14,000 ft. Then I took a day off to drive 500 miles to Hillsboro, NM for the Sawyer Mt. 27 mile trail race on July 1. I returned to Colorado on July 4 to climb Mt. La Plata, Huron, and Elbert, and run the Leadville Marathon on 4 consecutive days. Then I took a day off, climbed Mt. Sneffels on July 9, Dives-Little Giant (last 9 miles of the Hardrock 100 course) on July 10, Kendall Mt. on July 11, and then started my taper for the Hardrock 100 miler on Friday the 13'th. |
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After Hardrock, I returned to Florida July 17, then back to Colorado on Aug. 3. On Aug. 4 I climbed Quandary Peak to see how much altitude acclimation I had lost, and was pleased not to have any symptoms. Then I drove to Santa Fe for the 3 Peaks 18 mile race. I spent the next 2 days attempting to climb Ellingwood Point and Blanca, turned back by storms on the first day, then succeeding on the second in an 11 hour hike. Next day was Columbia and Harvard, then Shavano and Tabeguache in a snowstorm, and camping on Antero that night. Then I took a rest day at the Great Sand Dunes, and then spent the next 3 days camping in Crestone to climb Kit Carson, run the Crestone 13 miler, and climb Crestone Needle. Then I took 2 days off in Leadville and ran Nolan's 14, 11 14'ers in 64 hours. |
Matt Mahoney, matmahoney@yahoo.com