Mt. Massive physical challenge becomes 17th 14er

Last Friday Tim, Brian, Trey and I headed south from Boulder towards Leadville after work with hopes of hiking Mt. Massive's standard trail, the East Slopes route. Massive is the 3rd highest peak in the lower 48, below only Mt. Whitney in CA and CO's highpoint, Elbert (Massive's neighbor to the south). Given our time constraints, logistics, etc. Massive seemed like a good choice. On the drive down we worked our way backwards from a hard deadline of 4pm return to Boulder after hiking to determine we needed to be back to the trailhead by 1pm at the very latest. With 7 miles of hiking each way to cover, we needed to start as early as possible and run whatever portions of the trail that we could. With that in mind, I left the boots in the car and opted to go as light as possible, with trail running shoes at the ready. Having never run a long distance at 10,000' or 13,000' of elevation, I was curious to see what my legs and lungs were capable of. I have been running/riding/training much more this year than previous summers, so my legs and lungs are probably in the best shape of my life, which gave me a glimmer of hope. I thought it would be possible, but still realized this was not going to be like any other 14er I had attempted before. A new spin on the same old thing, if you will... making class I and class II hiking a bit more interesting... It was going to be a physical challenge and a race against the clock. We found a nice campsight within a mile of the trailhead and set the alarm for 5am.

At 6:05 we set out from the trailhead on the Colorado Trail at approx. 10,100' of elevation. I had to stop almost immediately for my morning ritual... bummer. I guess it's good that I have a body you could just about set your watch to for certain biological actions, but this was a bit annoying to say the least. Once I caught up to the group again, we began trail running. In hindsight, I think the first mile is the steepest of the 7 miles, which is bizarre given the Colorado Trail is usually gentle and flat. This did not bode well for my chances of keeping up with the group. Luckily, however, after the first mile the trail flattens or even descends, so I took advantage of that wherever possible. Despite the downhill/flat, those first 3 miles gain roughly 1,000' of elevation. I was very relieved to come upon creek crossings which ostensibly mark miles 2 and 3, and made it to mile 3 in about 55 minutes, apparently only just a few minutes behind the rest of the group. It generally takes my body much longer to get warmed up than Trey, Tim and Brian, so I was happy to have not slowed them down too much at that point.

We took a quick break for breakfast and then continued another minute or two to the split where we left the Colorado Trail. From there the trail becomes a soft dirt/pine needle mix for a few minutes until you reach treeline and find a soft muddy trail weaving through willows up to Point 12,466' that marks the final shelf, beyond which the Massive trail becomes a fairly steady grade up to the saddle at 14,000'. We took breaks every once in a while to eat and apply sunscreen, but we were all happy to find the trail fairly soft and consistent - i.e. able to be run on the way down. I was also happy to discover what time it was every time we stopped... I kept thinking it would be an hour or more later than what Trey told me, so I was happy to hear we were on pace to make our 1pm cutoff. At roughly 13,500' I began to feel the effects of altitude in the way of slightly sore legs (from the trail running) and typical shortness of breath. The sight of the other 3 guys ahead of me pushed me on, quicker than I would have normally gone without time constraints or faster party members. Altitude didn't slow me down too badly, and I was on the summit at 9:30. That was definitely my earliest 14er summit yet. I was happy to have done the first 7 miles in 3:30 including all breaks, and felt very confident we could make it down in time even if only walking.

I didn't stay on the summit very long despite perfect weather. At 9:45 we turned around towards the saddle, where we hoped to start running from. I don't know exactly what happened, but I stopped to tie my shoe in preparation for running and all of the sudden could not see anybody else in the group. Eager to catch up, I took off, discovering that perhaps trail running 14er descents is the best way to do them... my knees felt great, and it was simply a matter of letting my legs do what they wanted to do without halting momentum. I had only to spot my next foot plant, and the rest was fairly natural. My legs and lungs felt great when I finally caught up to Trey and Tim, who had stopped to wait for me at treeline. We all commented that the trail was really good for running, and noted that although there were some uphill stretches in the trees below us, the soft trail would be very manageable for the last 3 miles. With 11 miles on my legs already, I definitely began to tire, and was forced to walk some sections - even downhill - in the last two miles. I knew Brian was way ahead of me, though, and would be ready to hit the road as soon as possible to prevent arriving at DIA late. I kept this in my mind, and walked as little as possible. There came a point where walking hurt as bad or worse than running, so I just kept running. By that point it was as much of a mental challenge to push on, so I was happy (in a slightly sadistic way) to get to the point where my mind forced my body to go beyond typical limits... good practice for the future, I think.

After being flagged down by a guy who had questions about the trail (hoping to make my same trip on his own tomorrow) just a few hundred yards short of the trailhead, I made it back from the summit in 2 hours flat. All told, I had gone 14 miles in 5 hours and 45 minutes, including bathroom/food/summit/blister maintenance breaks. For comparison, it took me 11 and a half hours to hike the 15 miles that Longs Peak required a few summers ago. Needless to say, I was happy with the performance. We dunked our feet in the river by the trailhead and were on the road before noon, a full hour ahead of schedule. While I still don't consider myself a good runner, I feel like my legs are getting stronger and know for certain that my lungs are continuing to get into better shape. Here's hoping that trend continues in preparation for the next physical challenge...

The few pictures I did get are available at
http://www.flickr.com/photos/brett_burch/sets/72157624417086953. Enjoy.