TN50#40, What A Week! 04 October 2021
Hi Team,
Happy Monday and welcome to The Next 50 #40.
Last week I mentioned that a large portion of my First Principles Performance Family would be meeting me in Arizona, and I might share some pictures!
We met in Flagstaff on Tuesday, 28 September, elevation 6,900 feet.
Because everybody, save one, was coming from locations with elevations in the 10’s or 100’s of feet I gave them at least 8 hours to acclimate before we headed to even higher altitude (that was a joke).
The next morning, we were on the trail to Humphrey’s Peak before sunrise. Weather was a bit rougher than we anticipated, we were in the clouds with ice forming on the west side of the rocks as wind gusts were easily hitting 40 mph on top.
After our climb we focused on rehab, prehab, breath work and more cold exposure with the help of a big tub of ice water at the house.
Crossing the Grand Canyon from North to South requires staging near the north rim to allow for an early start. We staged at CLIFFDWELLERS, a great Motor Inn in the middle of nowhere. CLIFFDWELLERS was still 75-miles from the trailhead so we were up and moving by 0330 on Saturday morning.
The team started both hikes in the dark and we finished the Grand Canyon trek in the dark as well.
Stats from climbing Humphrey’s Peak and the Rim-to-Rim trek in the Grand Canyon:
- Miles walked: 35+
- Elevation gained: 7,723 ft.+
- Elevation lost: 9,126 ft.+
- Voluntary time in 35-degree Fahrenheit ice bath, minimum at least 5 minutes, maximum over 20 minutes
- Lessons learned: Many, some of which I’ll be sure to share in future installments of the TN50.
Have a good one, Alex
2022 Murph Count: 15
