9x Dog Mountain

[tschalpi]

Turns out my "9x climb record" lasted for about a day ! Scott Martin completed 10 climbs on Sunday. Wow, amazing, congrats!! Check it out: https://www.facebook.com/cavemanrun/pos ... 7680732961

GPS track: https://www.gaiagps.com/public/0jDVqyv95AocxkUoEypm8h1N

[Felipe]

That is an awesome uber-achievement! When I lived and worked in Hood River, Dog Mountain and Mt. Defiance were my go-to fitness hikes. My best Dog time parking-to-summit was 57 minutes. I called it fast hiking: strap on a small pack with only water and essentials, and go for it at the fastest non-running pace I could sustain. There were plenty of persons running the trail back then (1990), but I hadn't the knees for it. As Mt. Defiance went, my best fast-hike was 2 hours, 10 minutes, parking to summit. I thought I was a stud until I ran into this Portland doctor who was running to the summit in less than half that time. Nine times deserves a genuine congratulations! I can only speculate the calorie burn for that, but I'd say you earned eating an entire x-large pizza and still be hungry. If you have the legs and knees for it, it's wonderful fitness work so keep up the superb work and I'll look forward to your reports.

I am curious if you might be training for the Western States or other ultra-backcountry race?

[Felipe]

Im glad hearing of others out there "fitness" hiking! Its one of the many great attributes of hiking. While one might hike for the ambiance and connecting with nature, another might hike for fitness goals and endurance conditioning. There's something for everyone out there. I'm much older and slower nowadays, bit I gladly recall memories of those days when I could march up Gorge hikes for superb conditioning. Fast hiking with a light pack kept me in better shape than swimming, running, or biking did.

These recent accomplishments reminded me of something worthy of mention, and relative to the topic. The guy I'd always heard about was this ER doc from Portland -- Dr. Steve Boyer. He's done some work with PMR and others. Not sure if he's still out there climbing / hiking, but he was the guy to beat. His most remarkable feat was he biked from Portland to Govt. Camp, climbed Mt. Hood, and cycled back to Portland. All in ~ 10 hours. His record climb from Timberline to Mt. Hood summit was 2 hours, 6 minutes:

http://www.pmru.org/common/pdf/safetyed ... equire.pdf

Dr. Steve Boyer speaks with particular expertise on the subject of energy and respiratory requirments in aerobic mountaineering. Currently a Portland emergency room physician, Dr. Boyer is also an accomplished climber and athlete. He has participated in 3 Mt. Everest expeditions and has summited Annapurna via the South Face route. Dr. Boyer has set several speed records for Mt. Hood climbs (round trip from: Portland, bike/climb - 10:16; Government Camp - 3:14; Timberline Lodge - 2:06) and in 1992 was nationally-ranked in several Masters Track and Field steeplechase events (1st in the 3000m event.) We are proud to claim Dr. Boyer as a Portland Mountain Rescue alumnus.

[Chip Down]

Well, as long as we're telling stories, I ran into a guy at the top of Mt Hamilton a few months back, who arrived at the summit looking like it wasn't his first rodeo. I asked for his time, assuming he was watching it. Something like 45 minutes. Doesn't sound all that amazing, until you add in the fact that it was icy/snowy, and several people were expressing anxiety about how sketchy the route was that day. He was super humble about it. He seemed equally impressed that I had come up much slower, but off-trail the entire way. I think we were equally impressed with each other, in totally different ways.

Angels Rest used to be a common training hike for me after I got off work in Troutdale, but my best time was about 0:34. Devils Rest too, but I don't think I ever managed < 1:00 on that. I'll blame the heavy mountaineering boots I wore...yeah, that must be it