Mountains Upon Mountains

It seems that in our sport we spend more time running in the mountains than we do skiing -- and I certainly can't complain. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE to ski, but what better way to spend your time outside of the season than in the mountains? So, in this blog post, I'm going to give you all a quick look back at my summer in the mountains of the West as well as an insider's look at the infamous Schnell hill climb up Mt. Greylock. The 2015 race was held yesterday with impressive performances by many and large amounts of pain for all.

 From left to right: South, Middle and North Sister from the summit from of 9,175' Broken Top Mtn in Bend, OR (where I was living for the summer training with the Bend Endurance Academy).

 In July, we had a training camp in Trout Lake, WA and climbed Mt. Adams (12,281') on the final day of the camp. We departed at 5am, ascended 7000' in a near record time of 3 hours and 15 min and glacaded down (a combination of sliding on our shoes/butts) in 1:20, in time for an early lunch.

 South Sister peaks through the clouds as we stood on the summit of Middle Sister (10,047').

 The Crooked River winds its way through the impressive formations of Smith Rock outside of Bend. 

On the way home from Bend, I drove across the country with my friends Patrick Anderson (Williams '17, lacrosse team) and Asbjorn Eriknauer. Along the way, I fell in love with Jackson, WY and was lucky to fit in a quick sprint up the 12,804' Middle Teton -- one of the coolest climbs I have ever done. Here is a few of the Grand Teton from the summit.

THE 2015 SCHNELL: Men's Team Memories

I asked all of the boys for one sentence summarizing their reactions to the race, here they are:

Josh Harrington ('16): "It was kind of peaceful. When you're racing, you don't need to think about anything except what's right in front of you."

Evan Carr ('19): "The first climb up Prospect may have been the hardest part of the course, but the hurting didn't let up until the end."

Luke Costley ('17): "Its an epic race - the history of it, the difficulty, and the setting. Today lived up to the billing!"

Nick Gardiner ('19): "The hair flapping in my face cost me at least 35 minutes." (Note: Nick ran an impressive 58:22.00, almost good enough for the honor roll as a freshman, 35 minutes ahead would have been an impressive 28 minutes ahead of the current record -- look for big things out of Gardiner in the coming years.)

Hans Halvorsen ('17): "Besides Bud Fischer, [the Schnell is] probably the longest standing tradition with the ski team and it's fun to be part of such a challenging and rewarding history."

Eli Hoenig ('17): "I'd like to dedicate the race to our fans: Caitlyn, Jayvin, Rogan and Perry."

Braden Becker ('19): "Pretending to be sick is the best strategy for surprising your opponents."
And, "We need a team mascot, like a real one... maybe a goat? What do you guys think? We could name him Speeder."

Jack "Joey" Schrupp ('18): "I believe in two things: God and Perry Thomas."

Parting Shot: We missed our alums at the Schnell, especially Vanya Rybkin. The selfie below is me on the summit of Middle Teton in Vanya's, now famous, social media posture (please see Vanya's Facebook and instagram accounts for plentiful shots like this of him running in Chamonix this summer). Miss you Vanya.