Biggest Challenge Faced on the 58

[Fletch Lives]

Fatigue.

[RETEP 1]

Still have Culebra and San Luis left... Ellingwood ridge was waaaay bigger than I anticipated although La Plata was a repeat. I went out one morning thinking it would be a 3-4 hour trip(despite all the warnings) and it ended up taking 6. I did it the same week as the Bells traverse and found that to be a little underwhelming.

[bergsteigen]

Uncontrolled exercise induced asthma, being an undiagnosed celiac, and finding partners were the cruxes for me finishing back in 2010.

When I moved to Colorado in ‘99, I went directly to EMS and bought a tent and the Gerry Roach map booklet for the 14ers (not the guidebook) with my first Grad school paycheck. I had gotten hooked on peaks, hiking in the Adirondacks in college, so I knew from the start that I was going to hike all of them. Back then 14ers.com looked more like my own website at the time, just a collection of photos from hikes. No forum, no checklists or anything. So in order to find a partner I volunteered on National Trails day and helped rebuild sections within Boulder OSMP. We started with easy peaks, but the asthma at altitude made every peak a serious struggle. I had to do meticulous planning before hand to make sure we started early enough so that I wouldn’t have to push my lungs so hard. I kept spreadsheets to track my pathetic speed on various slope angles. When that relationship/partnership ended at the start of the second season, I hiked a bunch solo, finally content to go my own speed without the glaring annoyance showing on a partners face that I was so slow.

After a hiatus in Alaska for 5 years, I came back to find that this website had grown up to what it is now. Finding partners was much easier, since more people were hiking the 14ers. Even started the Gurlz hikes with a group of other ladies who were sick and tired of hiking with boyfriends on the peaks, and all the negativity that came with that. But still the asthma persisted, and so did the nasty looks from boyfriends on how slow I was. Every single peak was, at best, Type II fun. I rarely looked like I was enjoying the experience, especially on the longer days. Before I finished, I had repeated half the 14ers for a boyfriend too, so I really added on to the misery of the experience, though I did my best to not show this, as much as possible. My body was really starting to fall apart by the end, and my finisher started with an asthma attack, and ended with me hyper extending my knee standing still. I thought my hiking life was fully over on my finisher, and that I’d likely never hike much ever again.

I had put off going to see a doctor, since I figured they would tell me to give it up, or just prescribe a bunch of drugs. But thankfully the PT showed me something I didn’t quite expect. She asked me to stand against the wall and lower myself on one leg. I couldn’t do it, I didn’t have strong enough leg muscles! What?!! After hiking all those 14ers, I was weak? It made no sense! A few months later I read a scientific book on Paleo, and I started to realize what had happened. With celiac, when you eat gluten, your body doesn’t absorb nutrients, so I was effectively malnourished. With every hike, my muscles were breaking down, but not rebuilding much. Starting in 2011 I went Paleo over the course of 3 months and immediately started to feel the results. I got stronger, faster and felt great *during* the hike. Hiking became Type I fun! Even the asthma slowly started to fade, and now only happens on rare occasions, usually from an allergic trigger or cold air. For a year or 2, I even enjoyed being much faster than most people on the trails! The peaks rolled under my feet or skis.Then the injuries happened. Hopefully I can get back to 2013 speed, that was fun! Though even as is, hiking and ski mountaineering is fun while I do it, and no where near the challenge I faced when I went through the list the first time.

Some people are lucky, and don’t have to overcome as many challenges to hike these peaks as others. I no longer have these obstacles, but I do remember what it was like.

[climbingcue]

Otina, that is a ton to overcome. Amazing work for sticking to it and figuring out the challenges you had to overcome.

I think for me it was just all the driving had to do for the peaks. I don’t mind driving, but 90% of my drives were alone. All my partners until this year are from the front range. I now have a great partner that only lives 30 miles away and we meet up to drive together at only 13 miles.

My 1st year out here I had trouble finding the right partners for my speed. I currently have 5 or 6 partners that go fast enough, I am so happy to have found them. They all make it a much better day.

Bill

[jmandersen86]

My biggest challenge in finishing:

Meme.jpg

Same!