Wanting to bag my first 14er over Thanksgiving.

[Monster5]

RyGuy's advice is spot on.

I've needed snowshoes on both Sherman and Quandary as early as November, but early season has been fairly tame the past several years. There's something like a 10% chance you'll need or want them depending on recent snow and traffic.

Partially due to Quandary being fairly beginner-friendly, it sees a disproportionate number of off-route incidents. Every once in awhile, someone descends some weird way and ventures into avy terrain. Namely, the east bowls and to a lesser degree, various south couloirs. These are avy spots that are incredibly easy to avoid if you stay on route, practice your navigation (including in crappy weather), and pay attention to the terrain.

Avoid red

Quandary.JPG (796.35 KiB) Viewed 3396 times

[mtree]

What others have already said.

The difference between summer and late November is the margin for error. Late November it gets mighty thin.

[crowdsurf]

In 2016, I ran a half marathon thinking that it would improve my mountain fitness at altitude. It actually was the worst choice I could have made. Steady state cardio ( for me ) is a completely different animal than climbing and hiking at lower oxygen concentrations.

To train for tougher 14ers, I have been doing sprinting and the Insanity videos ( an Andrew Hamilton recommendation ). I recommend doing intense training like boot camps and plyometric exercises. Jumping rope seems to strengthen my diaphragm muscle for intense breathing.

If you encounter deep snow, you will be using muscles in your hips and upper thighs like never before. Running helps for these but nothing is quite as exhausting as post-holing for extended periods. If you are in unconsolidated snow as can be common in Nov, snowshoes might not help. Winter hikes can be brutal at altitude. They are much harder than summer hikes.

[wanderlust073]

Running one half marathon may have made no difference, but extended endurance/steady-state training is far more applicable and beneficial to peak bagging (and mountain climbing) than exclusively training fast-twitch muscles via sprinting and HIIT. Your experience/comment is antithetical to every accepted training methodology relevant to the pursuit...

[crowdsurf]

Running one half marathon may have made no difference, but extended endurance/steady-state training is far more applicable and beneficial to peak bagging (and mountain climbing) than exclusively training fast-twitch muscles via sprinting and HIIT. Your experience/comment is antithetical to every accepted training methodology relevant to the pursuit...

Wanderlust, you should learn more about science and also read what is being posted before throwing out such large words that you probably skimmed from a Watchtower pamphlet on your doorstep. BTW, I didn't just run a half marathon once. I was continually training for extending running periods of 10+ miles. I also said that these exercise methods work best for ME!! Not everyone in the entire world.

Ever hear of VO2 max or blood oxygen saturation levels? HIIT and sprinting are some of the best ways to increase these parameters, well at least that's what the latest exercise science is telling us. But go head and listen to Wanderlust. He has done some pretty tough mountains. I started doing HIIT after hearing Hamilton recommend it for training. But hey, what has he done right?

Man... I swear. I knew some marathoner was going to get his panties in a bunch. I'm not sure why I even post here anymore.

[justiner]

HIT's great, but don't forget the base (or don't forget that someone that exposits about HIT may have had a massive built up of base beforehand).

[Monster5]

Man... I swear. I knew some marathoner was going to get his panties in a bunch. I'm not sure why I even post here anymore.

Are you, like, hulking out, dude?

We've got all sorts of recent training threads on here. Those have this debate hashed out pretty well.

[crowdsurf]

Man... I swear. I knew some marathoner was going to get his panties in a bunch. I'm not sure why I even post here anymore.

Are you, like, hulking out, dude?

You tell me. Your username is "monster" with a cookie getting his legs pulled off. Sounds pretty passive aggressive.

[Somewhat of a Prick]

I'm hulking out

[Monster5]

You tell me. Your username is "monster" with a cookie getting his legs pulled off. Sounds pretty passive aggressive.

Kids these days.

[12ersRule]

Man... I swear. I knew some marathoner was going to get his panties in a bunch. I'm not sure why I even post here anymore.

Endurance runners are definitely overly sensitive, but at least they aren't egomaniacs and drug cheats like road bikers are. They're the worst. They're corporate pimps (check out any cycling jersey) and all think they're God's gift to sport.

[LURE]

Endurance runners are definitely overly sensitive, but at least they aren't egomaniacs and drug cheats like road bikers are. They're the worst. They're corporate pimps (check out any cycling jersey) and all think they're God's gift to sport.

Preach.

I used to take part in the world of competitive road cycling. I sucked at it, it sucked. The culture was absolutely the most narcissistic, holier-than-thou, ass trap in the world. Kind of like fly fishing these days. Dark days in a dark place.

Now I just eat McDonalds, chew tobacco, and shoot guns.

I do still love to ride bikes tho.