New Climber Prep

Info on gear, conditioning, and preparation for hiking/climbing.
Forum rules
  • This is a mountaineering forum, so please keep your posts on-topic. Posts do not all have to be related to the 14ers but should at least be mountaineering-related.
  • Personal attacks and confrontational behavior will result in removal from the forum at the discretion of the administrators.
  • Do not use this forum to advertise, sell photos or other products or promote a commercial website.
  • Posts will be removed at the discretion of the site administrator or moderator(s), including: Troll posts, posts pushing political views or religious beliefs, and posts with the purpose of instigating conflict within the forum.
For more details, please see the Terms of Use you agreed to when joining the forum.
User avatar
rob runkle
Posts: 804
Joined: 6/12/2006
14ers: 58  2 
13ers: 41
Trip Reports (48)
 

Re: New Climber Prep

Post by rob runkle »

My wife's name is Meg R. Cool!

The cardio is big in my opinion, but that is coming from a marathon runner, so I guess that is what I'm suppose to think. But, considering I do pretty well in the mountains, coming from Ohio, I must be at least partially right.

As for what you can do in the next 3 weeks, nothing. Don't stop what you are doing now, but anything over the next few weeks will not add any additional strength or endurance to your upcoming trip. You cannot teach your body anything new in 3 weeks.

Sounds like you have a pretty good base for the trip already though.

San Luis is a long hike. I would plan for 8-10 hours, maybe a bit more if you know that you are a generally slower hiker.

Probably the biggest key is going to be starting early. I love the idea of a 4 am start. Especially on a trail like San Luis, where is is flat for such a long start. But, at the latest, I would say 5 or 530 am. I'm not sure I could get rolling at 4 am. If you can get to the trailhead the day before and scout out the first few miles, it will help tremendously when you start the next morning via headlamp.
Meg_R
Posts: 3
Joined: 6/21/2016
Trip Reports (0)
 

Re: New Climber Prep

Post by Meg_R »

Thanks for all of the advice, guys.

My guy and I will be arriving to the TH the day before, hopefully late afternoon, and did plan on taking a nice hike through the TH and up for a few miles just to get an idea of direction. We were planning on packing out around 0530 at the latest but from the sounds of it we might want to leave a little earlier. I'm sure this will be an amazing experience for the both of us, and I appreciate everyone taking the time to help me out! Even the smallest advice helps!

My guy has been hunting Elk in Co. for the last 8 years, so is pretty comfortable when it comes to the terrain. We have the necessary gear and ambition, the only thing we don't have is the experience ;) I'll make sure to keep everyone updated on how it goes!

Thanks again!

Meg
Post Reply