Reflecting on my 2020 Elevation Goals
Descending down to the still-frozen Yang Yang Lakes on day 1 of the Ptarmigan Traverse
In late December 2019, I found myself looking over my exercise/outdoor statistics. In May 2019, I’d gotten a Garmin fitness watch, and for the first time ever, I could really quantify my outdoor time. I could see, for instance, that in 2019 (from May to December), I had covered 1,100 miles (many of these bike commuting), spent 422 hours exercising, and had climbed up 160,000 ft.
After years of having trouble being deliberate about exercising, I’d finally done some serious work in 2019. To motivate myself to keep training, I set a goal.
I wanted to climb at least 365,000’ during 2020, averaging 1,000’ per day.
I wasn’t sure this goal was possible, but I figured I’d see what happened.
Why did I choose elevation as my primary goal? I love climbing up mountains, whether it’s trail running, mountaineering, rock climbing, or anything else. I love getting to the top of things. And I had some big goals for 2020. I wanted to summit Mount Rainier for the first time, and I ideally wanted to finish climbing the five volcanoes in Washington State. By the end of 2019, I’d already climbed Mt. St. Helens (in winter via Worm Flows) and Mt. Baker (via Easton), but the remaining three (Rainier, Glacier, and Adams) seemed like a huge push to finish in a season, considering it’d taken me years to do the first two. So I set my elevation goal, assuming that if I was on track to climb 365,000’ in a year, I’d probably be fit enough to get the volcanoes done. All I’d have to worry about was having the gear, partners, and the know-how.
2020 WA Heatmap. Lots of running in the Seattle area, lots of trips in the I-90 Corridor
Winter 2020
So on January 1st, I began meticulously logging my exercise. Every week, I logged my weekly hours exercised (by activity), my miles, and my elevation.
The year started out slowly, and for the first few weeks I was only logging a few thousand ft per week - nothing compared to the 7,000’ per week I’d need. But by the end of January and through February, I was skiing and trail running enough to hit my numbers. I even got to ski some couloirs I’d never imagined were possible for me. Becky and I also climbed Mt St Helens for my second time (12 miles, 5,800’).
From the alpine (Mt St Helens)
to endless stair walks around Seattle
Then COVID-19 hit, Seattle instituted a shelter-in-place, and all the public lands in Washington State closed. I could no longer go out and easily do a 4,000’ trail run. Instead, I could only run circles around my neighborhood. On these runs, I remembered that Seattle is super hilly, and I could link up staircases to get in big days of vert. Becky, Marc, and I did 3 big loops over the next few weeks (Queen Anne Loop - 18.4 miles and 4500’ of gain; Madrona Leschi Loop - 17.7 miles and 4,200’ of gain; and the Fremont Loop - 11.2 miles and 1,700’ of gain). But even these trips didn’t have enough gain to keep me on track unless I did them multiple times, which I wasn’t willing to do - too much pavement made my feet and knees hurt.
Spring
In late April, for my birthday, I decided to do a fitness benchmark, and planned a day where I’d lap the same hill in a Discovery Park (a nearby city park) until I’d climbed 10,000’. It took 11:55 hrs, and I was joined by Marc for the full thing, and Robby and Becky for smaller portions of the trip. This got my confidence up - I could already do a 10,000’ day if I was willing to slog it out. I figured this meant I could probably summit the volcanoes with a standard pack. Now all I needed to do was keep my strength up and wait for the shelter-in-place to end.
Look at all those laps - we did 33 laps on a half-mile long hill climb
Marc and I refuelling midway through the long ridiculous day
In early May, the restrictions began to ease, and I began getting out a lot more. Becky and I did a ridiculously windy two-night snow camping trip with unbelievable views.
I was trail running at least once a week, and climbing peaks almost every weekend. I churned through objectives, from skiing Lichtenberg Peak with Marc, to finally climbing the Brothers with Marc (a prominent peak on the western skyline from Seattle), to climbing Flyboys again with Marc (a 5.9 18 pitch sport climbing route). In mid-June, I benchmarked my fitness again by climbing two I-90 peaks - Granite and McClellan Butte - back to back, for a total of 19.8 miles, 8,200’ of gain, finished up in 8 hours. I knew I was fitter than I’d ever been, but I was still 3 weeks behind my elevation goal for the year, and I wasn’t sure it was going to be possible.
About to ski Lichtenberg
Descending off the Brothers
Summer
Then the glorious summer of 2020 truly began. I realize that summer 2020 was difficult for everyone - myself included, as I was laid off from my long-time job at REI in mid-July - and I don’t mean to minimize any of the difficulties that anyone faced. But as an alpinist, I had a perfect summer. For 14 weeks straight, I averaged 12,000’ per week. One week I even did 17,000’, thanks to Glacier Peak + Forbidden. And while my body felt somewhat beat up all the time, I didn’t have any injuries, which feels pretty incredible.
Some of the highlights:
Week 24 - Skied the SW Chutes of Adams with Marc on the Summer Solstice in a day (8,500’ of gain, 1 day)
Week 25 - Completed the Ptarmigan Traverse with Robby over 4 days and almost summited Dome Peak before we were weathered off (44 miles, 14,000’ over 4 days)
Week 26 - Solo trail-running linkup of Mt Hinman and Mt Daniel via the Waptus Lake, base camping with Deb (27 miles, 9,500’ of gain, 1 day)
Week 28/29 - Climbed Mount Rainier via the Kautz route and descended the Disappointment Cleaver route (18.5 miles, 9,800’ of gain, 3 days)
Week 30 - Climbed Mount Rainier via the Emmons route(20 miles, 10,800’ of gain, 3 days)
Week 31 - Climbed the NW Corner of North Early Winter Spire - trad 5.9, 4 pitches (5.5 miles, 2,100, 1 day)
Week 33 - Solo trail ran the Devil’s Dome Loop in a day (42.6 miles, 11,000’ of gain, 1 day)
Also Week 33 - Climbed Mount Sahale with Becky (14 miles, 5,200’, 1 day)
Week 35 - Climbed Glacier Peak in one day and bivvied on the summit of my final WA volcano, then descended the next day (37 miles, 11,800’, 2 days)
Also Week 35 - Climbed Mount Forbidden via the 5.7 West Ridge (8.5 miles, 5,500', 2 days)
Week 36 - Partially off-trail backpacking trip to Butterfly Cirque, Louis Creek Valley, and Spider Gap (52 miles, 15,000’ of gain, 4 days)
Fall
Before I knew it, it was mid-September. The summer was done. Becky and I made plans to go east for part of the fall, and visited Yellowstone and the Tetons on the drive out, where we hiked Paintbrush to Cascade Canyon Loop in the Tetons (20.4 miles, 4,700’).
Becky descending from Paintbrush Pass
When Becky and I arrived in Maine, the fall was well on its way, and we lived in a beautiful cabin by a lake for a month.
While we were there, we were able to do some gnarly trips in the White Mountains:
Hiked Pemi Loop in a Day w/ Becky (30.5 miles, 10,600’) - Week 40
Hiked Northern Presidentials Loop w/ Becky (17.6 miles, 7,900’) - Week 42
Hiked a snowy Southern Presidentials Loop w/ Becky, Toby, and Smythe (10.2 miles, 4000’) - Week 43
Then we headed back west to Seattle when tragedy struck and my poor car blew a headgasket. We managed to limp home, but we had no way to get to the mountains. So I spent several weeks trying to get any gains at all in the city. Becky and I got out twice, borrowed Marc’s car, and climbed Mount Dickerman (8 miles, 3,900’) and Mount Hood via the Old Chute (7 miles, 5,300’) but otherwise, those weeks were pretty slow. I resorted to running stairs again to try to meet my weekly goals.
Descending off Dickerman
Climbing up the Hogsback on Hood
Back to Winter
The end of the year was creeping up, and I was around 10,000’ short. So in Week 52, only days before the end of the year, I borrowed another car and headed out to do the Issy 50k - an informal 50k that summits four peaks in the North Bend area and runs the trails between them, climbing 13,500’ over 13:55 hrs. I surpassed 365,000’ for the year a third of the way through the route, and ended up well over my goal. Suddenly I was done!
View from the summit of Teneriffe (the second of four summits of the day) with Rainier visible on the horizon
Final Stats of 2020
1,421 miles hiked, run, or skied
731:52 hours of exercise
380,620’ of gain
Exercised 241/365 days
Longest Distance in a Day = 42.6 miles on Solo Devil’s Dome Loop (11,000’ of gain, 14hrs55m)
Most Gain in a Day = 13,500’ on the Issy Alps 50k (32.83 miles, 13h56m)
Most Hours Moving Consecutively = 19h55m on Pemi Loop in a Day w/ Becky (30.5 miles, 10,600’ of gain)
Elevation per month (Blue line = 2019, Black Line = 2020, Green Line = 2021)
Partners
This goal wouldn’t have been possible without my spectacular partners! This year wasn’t a year to find new partners, but I was lucky enough to already have a solid group of people who were willing to go on ridiculous trips. I’m counting a partner as anyone who did an exercise with me that gained more than a few hundred feet.
Here are the partners I got out with 5 or more times:
Becky - 45 days out
I’m endlessly impressed by Becky’s stoke and ability to pick up new skills so quickly. And I’m somewhat bewildered about why she’s still willing to go on trips with me when so many turn into sufferfests. But I’m also so grateful that she’s willing, because this year, we got out on so many incredible trips, including 5 nights spent winter camping, summiting Rainier via the Emmons, climbing Sahale, and a series of ridiculous trips in the Whites including one 19h55m day of hiking, plus many more. (For those who don’t know us, Becky is my outdoors and romantic partner).
Cooking a feast before attempting Adams the next day
Marc - 17 days out
This number feels low to me, but since our trips were almost always heinously intense long days out, I think that accounts for the disparity. Marc is the reason why I’m a mountaineer - when I moved to Seattle, he first opened my eyes to mountaineering, climbed my first volcano w/ me (Helens), and since then, has been a wonderful adventure partner. We’ve workshopped so many skills together and I am hugely grateful to him. This year we skied Adams, climbed the Brothers, Rainier, and Glacier, did Flyboys, and ticked off so many of my bucket-list trips.
In the horribly brushy Bachelor Creek drainage
Robby - 9 days out
One of Robby and my first days out together was in October 2011, when he told me he could teach me to lead sport. Halfway up the pitch, as he yelled confusing instructions, I realized he was not a good teacher. But I survived, and we’ve been pushing the boundaries of what a “fun trip” is ever since. From floating on pool-toys down rivers in Utah to a 28 day Grand Canyon trip, we’ve spent a lot of incredible time adventuring together. This summer, we completed the Ptarmigan Traverse and climbed Forbidden via the West Ridge, both of which were big objectives that we couldn’t have done even a few years ago. I’m really thankful that we’ve been able to keep improving our skills and getting out together for so many years!
Deb and her adventure van Wes
Mommabear/Deb - 7 days out
My mother is the reason I love the outdoors. Ever since I was born, we’ve been going on hikes, then escalating to backpacking, then climbing trips, and now she’s even been on a few alpine trips! I’m hugely inspired by her independence and willingness to push herself in the outdoors, and I was fortunate enough to be able to go on some short trips with her this year, including a beautiful trip out to Waptus Lake.
Toby, looking a little rowdy after having been up for an ungodly number of hours
Toby - 5 days out
When in 2018, Marc first told me we were going to go skiing with his brother-in-law, I assumed Toby would be a gumbie. Which he was, because he was splitboarding at that time (though he’s since reformed). And to be clear, I shouldn’t have been judging, because I was also a gumbie back then. But since that first trip, I quickly realized that Toby is a phenomenal partner whose capacity for happy suffering is as high as my own. He moved to Germany a few years ago, and now lives in the Northeast, but happened to be in Seattle for a week this summer, so Becky and I managed to summit Rainier via the Emmons route with him! Who knows when or what we’ll climb together next, but I’m looking forward to it!
My sun+wind-blasted face after 4 days on the Ptarmigan looking vaguely sad/worried about how tired I am
Did I learn anything from this ridiculous goal?
Having a goal definitely inspired me to exercise more regularly than I’ve ever exercised before.
While I worked as an Americorps member for much of the year, I only worked 4 days a week during that time, which gave me 3 days a week to go on adventures. And being laid off by REI in July gave me even more free time. I wish that my finances had been a bit more secure, but I’m so thankful that I was able to do so much this year.
My biggest issue through the summer was a lack of solid nutrition - I didn’t know how to get enough food in my body to fuel how hard I was going. I was burning thousands of calories per day, and I’m still not totally sure how to fuel for that.
I also could have been more proactive with preventative strengthening in the spring, though I was lucky enough to avoid any real injuries. I’m currently working on preventative strengthening for 2021.
Vertical gain is an illusion.
Goals for 2021
Try to do more vert than last year.
Do a 60+ mile day. Ideally 100 miles, though this might be dumb.
Do more than 20,000’ of gain in a single push (it’s ok if it takes more than 24 hrs).
Shark Fin Camp on Rainier