MORE SUNSHINE

Yesterday I spent the day on the ski hill with friends and the sunny awesome weather made me really brave. I skiied the above and the below. I fell down a lot. But it was so much fun.
It was even more beautiful than Saturday. It's amazing what some blue sky and sunshine can do for the soul. Evidently, this is why so many people live in places like California.

But when the sun does come out here it's a step above the unbelievable it is anyhow.

CONFESSIONS OF THE SUN-STARVED

I knew it was supposed to be a sunny day, so I planned to get up early and skin up Big Mountain before running errands for Leanne's baby shower, and going to said baby shower. The first clue that I needed some sun was that I stuck with my plan and got up BEFORE the alarm, despite having thrown back a few beers last night. I couldn't wait.
As I drove up to Big Mountain I was almost frenzied. I said out loud "please sun hold tight I'm ALMOST THERE! DON'T GO ANYWHERE!" I was so scared the sun would decide it had enough already and leave me. I drove a little faster than I should have (or needed to) up the road and almost got goosebumps as I ascended in elevation and saw nothing but sparkly snow and bluebird sky.

Elated, I marched up the mountain. I chit chatted with the sun the whole way. I wonder if it visits rarely because I talk to it like a dog. "You're such a good sunshine..." Yes I'm sure it has to do with me. The entire hike up was pure bliss and I really didn't want it to end. This is unusual because skinning up the mountain is pretty laborious. I wore my heart rate monitor for the first time doing this and my average was about 30 bpm higher than when I run normally. It took me 80 minutes to get to the top, including stops for view-drinking and picture-taking. Others hiked past me like I was standing still. I guess I'm not really good/fast despite my heart rate. It's not a race of course. Anyhow, it was just so blissfully wonderful I had an ear-to-ear grin the entire time. And then whoooosh I skiied down and tried to hold on to the high as I headed to consumption junction for shower prep. The moral of the story is that I really needed some sun. I needed bluebird sky. I felt like junkie getting a much-needed fix. I think tomorrow's going to be this way too. I love you sun.

THE DEVIL'S BACKBONE AND SPRING FEVER

Photo lifted from blog of Jeffery Rogers from Oakland, CA, whose photos I've been drooling over all week. . . thanks JR from O and sorry I shamelessly stole this pic :-)

While the south has been pummeled (sp?) with unusual quantities of snow, we here in the great white north have received little snow and have instead enjoyed unseasonably warm temperatures. This is frustrating for someone with her first ski pass and love of snow. The snow is almost melted in town. I guess I'm still a runner deep down in my heart because I'm developing spring-fever and a longing for dry runnable trails. I've been sitting at work fantasizing about the Alpine 7 and Glacier NP. So, what's a girl to do but register for a race so that the longing can be channeled into some planning and preparation? I registered for the Devil's Backbone 50 near Bozeman. My goal is to finally, for the first time in awhile, be semi-serious about training properly. I know this isn't really the type of race where finish time will make logical sense or be comparable to anything else, but I want to be in shape for this and not dragging along at the back-of-the-pack like I normally do. I'm actually excited about the process of training again. I lost that but I think it's back. At least for now ;)

P.S. A sweet blog you should check out is Steve and Kathleen's. I've been "tagged" by them in some honorable bloggy way that I don't understand but am delighted by.

SKI TOURING IN BANFF

For the long weekend (yeah, for some reason we got President's Day off) I went to Banff to visit friends Keith and Leslie and get in some ski touring. I've been working hard this winter learning to ski for the very purpose of being able to ski tour.
On Saturday we did a 4 hour or so tour out of bounds at Sunshine. I quickly became frustrated by 1) how different powder skiing is and how I still had to make pizza turns and 2) how turning on ascents was still difficult for me. As Keith pointed out, I haven't ski toured since last year when I went with them, and this was my second time ever. . . but it seems like it will take a lifetime for me to aquire all the skills I need. I guess that's why they make life relatively long. So you can learn your skills.
The views were, of course, beautiful and it was a wonderful day. Keith and Leslie are patient and good teachers. I required extra patience due to how quickly I would get upset with myself for not magically being better.
On Sunday Leslie and Keith (along with a group of their friends) took me to Ptarmigan Valley near Lake Louise for a long long ski tour (6 hours?). This was fantastic though I had some blisters and was, again, frustrated early on. Once it became evident that the discomfort wouldn't increase, I was able to enjoy the experience for what it was -- fantastic filled with awesomeness. See all my pictures here.

More on the Grand Canyon

Doing a "rim-to-rim-to-rim" (R2R2R) run, or a variation thereof, is a hugely popular thing in the ultrarunning community it seems. So, I'll offer some thoughts that may or may not be helpful to someone planning a winter R2R2R or Grand Canyon trip. First though, a summary of the trip.

A summary of the trip

I met Cheryl, my good friend from Chicago and 2 Jenns I've had the pleasure of knowing through running at the Las Vegas airport on Wedensday. One Jenn is preggo and was called "Pregolas" which made it easier to keep track of the Jenns. We went to Whole Paycheck and bought a ton of food and drove to the Grand Canyon.


It was fun driving over the Hoover Dam and generally enjoying a girly roadtrip replete with lots of snacks.

When we arrived we walked a short ways down the Bright Angel trail and were pretty silly excited. I wanted to just head down right there and then! Instead we packed up our stuff, made plans for the morning and tried to sleep. The first shuttle to the South Kaibab (or Kabob) trail left at 8:oo or so -- and we didn't want to go downhill on slippery snowy trail in the dark -- so we got a somewhat late start.

The run down to the river was pretty much awesome. I was completely "blissed out" as some say. The views, the light, the vibe and pretty much everything was fabulous. We hit Phantom Ranch and had coffee and snacks. The others wrote postcards -- they are carried out by mules. Cheryl was feeling awful due to the altitude but we made her press on anyhow. We hiked to Ribbon Falls, which is about 5.5-6 miles from Phantom Ranch. We turned around and headed out. We took the Bright Angel trail up, which is longer but less steep. It finishes right at the Bright Angel lodge, where we were staying. Good recommendation from superstar ultra runner Devon.

My favorite time to be out running is when dusk turns to night. It's the most peaceful and soul-warming feeling to me. Everything turned pink before turning to dark. We were treated with a full moon and hardly needed headlamps. Everything was perfect except Cheryl wasn't feeling great. In part, perhaps, because she was racing far ahead of us thinking she was slowing us down. Silly Cheryl!

After we finished we had beer and pizza and then crashed. Friday we headed to Vegas and so it stays in Vegas yadda yadda. My blackjack money stayed in Vegas at least.



OK, some thoughts:

The Grand Canyon in the winter

The Grand Canyon area was hit with a relatively big snow storm just prior to our arrival, so I'm not sure it's always so snowy. Nonetheless, the trails on the South Rim are so heavily travelled, even in the winter, that the snow is packed. Definitely glad I had traction. I used kahtoola microspikes, but the Jenns had YakTrax and those worked well too. We didn't make it far enough to find out, but we were told snow was waist high somewhere around Supai Tunnel (I think) on the North Rim. Obviously, a R2R2R would require postholing or worse. I'm not sure it would have been possible (or it would have been pretty dangerous if the snow was that deep). The entire North Rim is closed in the winter so it's not like you can drive over there or get food once at the North Rim. Just something to keep in mind.

The weather was absolutely awesome. It was 30s on the South Rim when we left, and warmish and sunny (50?) in the Canyon. We remarked often that we picked a great time of year to play in the Grand Canyon, even though a full R2R2R wasn't in the cards.

It's high(ish) altitude

I don't know the science behind it, but someone did tell me that some people can get altitude sickness at 5,000 feet. Different people are affected differently by elevation, and the South Rim is somewhere around 7,000 feet. Just another thing to keep in mind. The North Rim is closer to 9,000 feet, which is starting to approach "high" even for those who aren't sensitive. (Obviously having gobs of time to acclimate before setting off on an adventure is ideal for those who are sensitive to elevation, but who has that much time.)

Water

Given the cool temperatures, we didn't need as much water as one might need in the warmer months. There was water at the South Rim of course, Bright Angel campground, Phantom Ranch and at a Caretaker Cabin near Roaring Falls. You could do a R2R2R I think in cool temps in the winter, even with most of the normal water sources turned off for winter (assuming snow didn't stop you on the North Rim). I carried a 3L pack (GoLite Rush) and never came even close to running out of water. Always better to carry more than less of course, especially in the Grand Canyon.

If anyone has more specific questions, feel free to ask. I know that wasn't really very detailed.

GRAND CANYON

Last Thursday my friends Cheryl, Jenn and Jennifer joined me for a frolick in the Grand Canyon.
We ran down the South Kaibab trail, through Phantom Ranch to Ribbon Falls and back up the Bright Angel trail. We actually hiked more than ran -- completing somewhere in the 30 mile range -- and did it in a reasonable length of time considering our extroardinarily plentiful and leisurely breaks.

I think January is a good time to go though there is definitely snow. The South Rim trails are packed but we were told the North Rim would be impossibly snowy for us. There were reports of waist high snow 5 miles from hte North Rim. So really, a R2R2R was out of the question for us and we decided to just have fun and have a good day.


I will post more of a report when I settle down enough to organize my thoughts into coherent sentences. The upshot of it was that this was a sweet adventure. I had so much fun and am sort of feeling the post-awesome-time malaise that sets in after doing something really fabulous.