Ooooow

Yesterday after strolling along the Wards Ferry trail (16 km return), I did my Stronglifts workout. Today, as most days, my muscles are tired and sore, and I have that (what has come to seem normal), low-grade fatigue.

Unlike other weight training programs where you do the same exercises day after day, Stronglifts never gets easier (the weight always goes up) Additionally, the exercises are complex, requiring activation of most major muscle groups, so you always feel it the day(s) after and your body never gets used to the training.

I'm now squatting 117 pounds (not quite my body weight), pressing pressing 62 pounds, deadlifting 112 pounds, rowing and benching 87 pounds. According to the Crossfit standards I'm in the intermediate category for everything but the deadlift where I am merely a novice. 

 Doug playing around with some pull-ups on a hike

Wandering Along Wards Ferry Trail

I had hopes of climbing today but it was wet, cold and rainy in the morning, so, rather than spend a single other day cooped up in the house, I hiked along the Wards Ferry trail from Rover Creek to near Glade. This newish (last 8 years or so) trail follows an historic wagon road route used to ferry supplies to mines in the late 1800's.

I walked this trail with my Mum back in, I think, 2003 when it was relatively new and again in 2008. We never got as far as Glade but probably got about half-way along. When we first hiked it, the bridge over Rover Creek was very rickety and we forded Rover Creek instead of using the bridge. The second time, I am pretty sure we used the bridge, which had been substantially improved.

Today I thought my Mum wouldn't have liked the bridge at all as it was slippery and has deteriorated to the point that one of the logs is quite wobbly. Fording Rover Creek would have been out as it was running high and fast. 

 

Bridge over Rover Creek

May 1

Pretty obvious, today is May 1, but, it is also the day we wanted to have our house listed for sale, and, as of 2.00 pm, the Doghouse is officially on the market.

May is spring. The creeks on our property are running high, the trees are leafing out with that bright, brilliant and beautiful fresh green they get in spring. Momma deer and her three fawns are frequent visitors. I walked up Copper Mountain FSR this afternoon and, in the hour I had for walking, I did not reach the snowline, which has crept up above 1000 metres (the elevation I got to).

Lots of changes, all good. 

Bridge over Stock Spring

Snow Pickets: Protection or Peril

I am constantly amazed at how many trip reports I see where folks are placing snow pickets vertically (or slightly off vertical) in winter snowpacks. A snow picket placed vertically in anything other than well settled neve snow is basically useless, unless you think that getting brained on the head by the thing as it flies by with great velocity upon inevitable failure is useful.

About the only thing I can see that saves these folks from inescapable calamity is that they are climbing moderate snow routes in snow that takes good steps. Conditions under which only the truly incompetent could fall or, upon falling, go far.

If that vertically placed picket takes anything less than 10 to 15 over the shoulder strikes with a hammer to place, it is not a piece of protection, it's a potential hazard.

What's most bizarre about this practice is that pickets come with this information printed in big black letters on the side, making these folks both incompetent and illiterate.

Need hard data to accept this premise, take a glance at any of these test results:

• The original NZ paper here;
• Scary low force high velocity failures here;
• These guys didn't even test vertical pickets knowing how useless they are. 

Years ago, on a ski-mountaineering trip in the Waddington Range, a friend of ours swore up and down that his pickets were bomber.  We challenging him to build his best anchor, then proceeded to demolish it, with the characteristic vigor of abrupt picket failure, by taking a simple sliding fall on a 30 degree snow slope.  A bomb maybe, bomber no.

"Blah, blah, blah, vertical pickets are worthless"

Conventional Nutrition is Killing You

After years of suffering through hypoglycemic attacks, poor energy, long recovery times, and, most annoying of all, having to eat every two hours, I am happy to have completely given up conventional nutrition, which I have come to realize is all so much garbage founded, not on science, but on big-Farma.

Although, Rob Wolf's "Paleo Solution" book made the New York Times best-seller list, eating Paleo is still considered out there by most people, and main-stream dietary advice continues to advise people to most of their calories from toxic grains.

Eating Paleo, however, is a lot like Crossfit, most people won't even give the Paleo diet a trial. Which is strange to me, because, unlike Crossfit, eating Paleo isn't really that hard. True, you'll have to give up that junky breakfast cereal you eat and, all those baked goods, but, isn't getting stronger, feeling better, leaning out, improving your performance, and protecting your long term health worth a few sacrifices. Apparently not. 

Bacon and Eggs for breakfast before a day of ski touring

Opportunity Whispers, Can You Hear It?

Seize every opportunity along the way, for how sad it would be if the road you chose became the road not taken.  Robert Brault.

Some friends of mine did the Wapta Traverse over Easter. They spent six days on the route, had perfect weather and sound stability. When I read their trip report, I felt, half guilty, half incredulous: "That's all?"

They are all ten years younger than me, the weather was perfect, the stability was good, they had excessive amounts of time and they managed to climb two peaks. That's it, two peaks. Both are passed on the traverse route and each require only an extra 300 metres of elevation gain.

Of course, in climbing, skiing and mountaineering, we all choose how hard we want to push ourselves and how much we want to accomplish. It's exactly that freedom that continues to engage us in these pursuits year after year. Presumably, my friends achieved all they wanted to achieve and are happy with their accomplishments.  However, I couldn't help but think of opportunity lost for want of a little more effort. 

Doug on the summit of Mount Goethe in the California Sierras

Training

Since Monday, every day this week has been spent getting our house ready for sale. I haven't been out to the mountains to ski or climb, which, for someone addicted to mountain sports, is mentally challenging. Instead of climbing or skiing, I've been working out hard - which, is easy to do in a relatively short time period if you choose the right work-out. Getting blasted in my work-outs has kept me sane.

Right now I'm doing some hard strength training with Stronglifts. Climbing season, however, is also approaching (or here if you aren't fixated on getting your house on the market) so I'm also climbing on my indoor wall and doing HIT strips. Still gotta get my endorphin buzz, so most days I also do a short Crossfit type WOD - usually an adaptation of the days WOD focusing on power and core work.

As I'm not doing long endurance days in the mountains, I'm also experimenting with intermittent fasting.  Something that is not nearly so difficult as it sounds, and, which sure frees up time that would be spent either preparing or eating food.

Of course, all this means my muscles are sore everyday and I have a generalized low level muscular fatigue. But, to quote Nietzshe, "What doesn't kill us makes us stronger."

Bouldering on our home climbing wall