Prepping for Denali: 3 months to go

Part four of my monthly countdown for Denali. I must admit, it’s getting harder to look back. Last week I was really surprised it’s less than two months before departure. I feel things are getting serious now. But still… what did I do last month in prepping for Denali?

Physical preparation

First some sad news.. The Be Your Best program has ended. Two months of an intensive program on Boot Camp helped me make a serious step forward. I’m a cyclist for over 25 years now, making my legs pretty strong. But thanks to the Boot Camp program I became much more of a multi sporter. My core stability increased dramatically, making me overall much stronger. I lost over 5kg of fat (which is pretty much for me!), but a did not loss any weight. Thus, extra muscle power!

The Boot Camp program had barely ended, before I left for a week. the Hiking Eifelsteig was good and great preparation. I already wrote quite extensive about that week!

And I would almost forget… I had another great two day hike on the Twentepad. This surely has been one of the most beautiful hikes I have done so far in the Netherlands!

Again, I have made some slight adjustments to my weekly training program. I’m still going Boot Camping once a week, just to keep my current level of strength. New on the program is a 2 hour+ hike with a 30kg packpack with stairs. Living in the Netherlands, without any hills or mountains, force you the be creative sometimes.

Equipment

Not too much news here. Most stuff in ready to go. Still some small additions.

	Haglofs Activities top. Actually, this is my second one. I love Haglofs because it just fits great. I love Merino, because it keeps me dry and warm.
	Haglofs Activities pants. I own some 10 years old Craft base layer pants. While walking the Twentepad, I decided I just don’t like the way they fit. So, time for replacement!

The expedition

Nothing new here! One thing left to do; booking a hotel in Anchorage. But plenty of time for that!

And now forward!

Yes! Let’s look forward! Spring is coming! I feel I want to get outside more and more; hike, cycle, etc. But, lets keep that for the next episode of prepping for Denali!

March 9, 2017March 9, 2017

6 days of the Eifelsteig

Last week we had the opportunity to hike six days of the Eifelsteig. The Eifelsteig is a 300 KM-trail from Aachen to Trier in Germany. It is one of the top-trails of Germany. And did it meet expectations? Yes! Most definitely!

The first time we heard of the Eifelsteig was about 4 years ago. We were on holiday in the Eifel and visited Manderscheid, a beautiful tiny village with a ruin of an ancient castle. We walked around the village through the woods. We noticed there were signs everywhere of the Eifelsteig. Back home, we found more info of the complete steig on their excellent homepage. At that point we decided we needed to hike this steig at least once!

6 days of the Eifelsteig

Since we only had 6 days, we did not have enough time to do the whole Eifelsteig at once. So, time for some decisions; what stages would be most interesting? One important thing was we needed to be able to get back to our starting point, where our car was. After studying the map for a while, we decided to depart from Gerolstein. Trier would be the end of our 6 days. Exactly 6 stages and the possibility the return to Gerolstein by train.

But not just hiking..

As you might know, I am preparing for something. Just hiking around in the Eifel for 6 days would not be enough to continue my preparations. Following this, we decided we where going to camp as much as possible. So, taking a tent, sleeping bags, food, stove and everything was an excellent way to train hiking with a 20kg+ rucksack.

The days

Hiking was great! The steig itself is very beautiful, I was surprised by the low amount KM’s we needed to walk over tarmac. Most paths lead through the forest. Views were stunning, and we fully enjoyed the (lack of) sounds in the forest. The Eifelsteig definitely met my expectations!

Was all great? Almost! In the end, we only camped two nights (Schalkemehren and Manderscheid), partly because of the rain. But mostly because campsites seem to be really rare at the Eifelsteig. Wild camping is forbidden in the Eifel, so we were reluctant to do this, even though I saw some really beautiful spots.

The summary, movie-style

During the hike I experimented somewhat with my freshly bought actioncam. I summarized the 6 days in a movie of over a little more than 120 seconds, see below. Enjoy!

February 23, 2017February 19, 2017

Prepping for Denali: 4 months to go

Part three of my monthly countdown for Denali. Read about what I did last month to get ready for my Denali expedition. Part three of the series: Prepping for Denali: 4 months to go.

Physical preparation

I’m definitely in a good program again! While last month I experienced training as hard, dark and wet, I currently enjoy my workouts a lot. I now have so many training options I can choose everyday what I want to do. This mostly results in the weekly program below:

Monday	Workout in the gym with run to the gym
Tuesday	Workout in the gym
Wednesday	Boot camp – Be Your Best
Thursday	Indoor climbing
Friday	Workout in the gym
Saturday	Part 1: Boot camp – Be Your Best Part 2: 3-hour – endurance bike ride
Sunday	Rest day/short run, depending on how I feel

The workouts in the gym are intense, but very good. In combination with the Be Your Best-program, my core stability has dramatically increased last month.

Overall, I feel my training is a lot more structured. I have been reading extensively in Training for the New Alpinism. The book is really helpful and confirms my current schedule isn’t that bad. At the same time, the book has plenty of tips and tricks to improve my program.

Another improvement is that I got a Polar M400 heart rate monitor. This device gives a lot of insight into my training intensity. Funny enough, I mostly learned my training sessions where to intense.

Last for now; I’m starting to hike more. After all, this is the real work. I hiked two days of the Twentepad (50km-walk in total) and am planning to do a part of the Eifelsteig next week.

Equipment

New items arrived!

	Little Hotties hand and feet warmers. Apparently the huge boots and mitts may not always be warm enough. In that case, these little hotties have to make sure warmth is where it should be!
	Ayacucho Army Cap, to protect my head from the sun, and make sure the sun won’t burn my face too much.
	Mountain Equipment Wet & Dry Bag 140L. To be honest, I got two of these now ;). Because I still have the option for a stopover in Iceland, I will bring some extra stuff (Tent, hiking shoes, etc). I can take up to 50kg in the plane. These bags should make this possible.
	Osprey Drysacks. Remember you needed something from your rucksack and you couldn’t find it until you took everything out? This is where these drysacks come in. They allow you to put some organisation into you rucksack. As a bonus, they will keep your stuff dry.. even after days of rain.
	Oakley Custom StraightLink. On Elbrus, I broke my sunglasses. I still believe there’s only one brand that makes really good sunglasses, so here are the new ones. They are custom-made, so do not match the image exactly!

One big item is still missing; the sleeping bag. I’m waiting for the new Mountain Equipment bag to become available.

The expedition

(Almost) everything is set and done! Flight tickets are booked, reservation for the Fireweed Station is done, snowshoes are hired. What’s left? Just my initial night in Anchorage. I still need to book a hotel for that night.

Iceland

I have been looking into making a stopover at Iceland for a while now. I believe Iceland is a very beautiful country, definitely worth a visit. But Iceland is (very!) expensive, and I do arrive a bit early in the hiking season for Iceland. This makes it unsure if all routes are open yet.

So I decided… not to make a decision yet! My flight tickets are flexible, allowing me to stay a week in Iceland on my return from Anchorage. If weather is good, and I still feel strong enough, I will make a stopover at Iceland and do the Laugavegur in 4 days.

That’s all for this episode of Prepping for Denali: 4 months to go. Keep coming back for updates on my preparation and stuff related to climbing Denali.