Archive for the ‘Mountaineering’ Category

The Fig Adventure Race

Saturday, November 5th, 2011


On Saturday, I woke up at 4:45am Eastern Standard time.

Barry and I ate a simple breakfast while Ann and Jane cooked up eggs & more. At this hour, I just shove food down the hatch and hope it stays down! I can’t eat anything complicated-a little rice or a banana is sufficient.

Ann’s other drove us the 30 minutes to the race start, thank goodness! We were all much too groggy & pre-occupied with last minute race preparations.

Big Bone Lick State Park Rangers
Overall, I was very happy we worked so smoothly as a team. The hurdles we encountered were mostly caused by our lack of experience and I believe we were all very proud that we finished. It is definitely a challenging and serious undertaking to do the Fig!

Jane & Ann Study the Map Barry - One Tough Kayaker Ann, Our Expert Navigator Team Gets Checkpoint #5
We found out later that one team capsized in the river and became hypothermic, one gal broke her nose when she went over her handle bars, and one team did not finish because they got lost and had to walk back to an aid station-following railroad tracks.

Barry did crash his bicycle, but thank goodness he was okay enough to make it the last couple of miles to the finish. He’s one tough dude, that’s for sure!

Clare Kayaking on the Kentucky River
Thanks to my companions: Ann, Jane, and Barry. I will look back at my first Adventure Race with fond memories. Wobbly bacon, the repeated offerings of warm gloves, kayaking advice & help on the river, and the frequent stops to make our “bladders gladder”! What an amazing day!

James Peak (13,294 ft) – Day Hike

Sunday, September 11th, 2011

James Peak Topo
On Sunday, I led a CMC day hike up the gentle slopes of James Peak. It was a long end-of-summer day, but everybody had a great time. (more…)

Torreys Peak (14,267 ft) – Via Kelso Ridge

Saturday, September 10th, 2011


When Rick, Slava, and I pulled into the trailhead for Greys & Torreys on Friday, we were reticent. There had been 5 inches of new snow the night before; the first big significant dose of puffy stuff. We hoped there wouldn’t be any more that night. Especially since Rick & I were bivying! Slava (ever the gentleman) offered us space in his tent, if needed.

Questions bounced around over dinner, would we make the summit the next day? Or, would we have to back off due to premature winter conditions? How icy would the knife edge be? Should we have brought crampons? Winter boots? (more…)

North Table Mountain – Day Hike

Monday, September 5th, 2011

Crystal Ascending North Table Mountain Clare on North Table Mountain
Crystal and I hiked a very large loop up to the top of North Table Mountain and back. We hiked for about 5 hours. (more…)

Hagerman Peak – Day 2

Sunday, August 28th, 2011

Geneva Lake to Hagerman Peak TOPO

Hagerman South Face Elevation Profile
Saturday morning, we woke up at 5am. It was completely dark. We made some coffee and ate some food. Two hikers with headlamps passed our tents around 6am, I guessed on the way to do Snowmass (they were going the wrong direction for Hagerman). (more…)