Climbing Mount Whitney
I made it back home on Thursday. On the plane, I finished reading the appendices to the Tribal Leadership book I reviewed earlier this week. I didn’t get a chance to read my next book, One Best Hike: Mt. Whitney. I’d picked this up earlier in the week and, based on the table of contents, it certainly seem like it’ll give me a better idea of what to expect. There are segments dedicated to Precautions and Considerations, to Preparations and Planning, to the actual day of hike and how to set team expectations for all hikers in your group. Look for a review of this book in the near future.
I’d mentioned that my Friend, Christopher T., volunteered to come with me for the hike in 2012 and the climb in 2013. He’s an experienced climber, though new Southern California. After reading about the goals to hike and climb Mount Whitney, he researched the mountain and sent me this link to SummitPost.org that describes the trails and hikes to the Summit. This site puts the mountain in perspective for climbers and details the difficulty level of each of the trails. To be clear, Whitney Trail is a Class I hike. So, not very technical or difficult. However, given that we plan to do the 21 mile round–trip hike in one day, it’ll be strenuous on our lungs and legs. Suffice it to say, we have to have some stamina, especially more so than I have now.
I took Thursday partially off from the gym and walks. I didn’t have any energy after the trip and multiple meetings throughout the day. I got in some calisthenics work: pushups, pull-ups, jump-rope, jumping jacks, and run-in-place; all done in a half hour.
On Friday we took a 3.3-mile walk locally on some hills around the house. I took my day-pack filled to about 15 lbs. Ferchie joined me and the dogs for the walk. The dogs were panting 5 minutes into the walk, but they kept up with the our faster pace. We finished the walk in 50 minutes. For those interested, that’s a pace of 3.96 miles per hour.
Finally today, Scot T. and Ron T., the Mr. T’s, and I finished the week with the usual hour of racquetball. We got only two games in. I lost both games and smashed my right elbow against the wall, but we had a good time and played hard. I’m looking forward to next week’s game.
I spoke with the Mr. T’s today about joining me for the climb. There was a lot of hand wringing, then huffing and puffing, but we’ll likely have them in the team. After all, who can pass up on camping at high altitude and a long hike with training that only makes you healthier and stronger? Both of these guys are fantastic outdoorsmen. Scot taught me how to camp. I can’t imagine he would pass up on an opportunity to be one with nature.
I learned a good lesson this week. In general, If I wait to workout past 7 PM, I’ll just skip it. So, starting next week, as a rule of thumb, I will workout no later than 5:30 PM. Also, I’m looking forward to getting back into the P90X routine described earlier in the week.
Week 1 done! 51 weeks to the Summit!
What Do You Think?
Do you have any advice on how to better approach my training? Do you have any other thoughts to share? Feel free to comment below.