EISPIRATEN

Big Iron - 11/10/07

My 4th time on Big Iron.

I was hoping to break 3 hours to the summit (a goal I failed to achieve on my last attempt). Since I wasn't slacking off last time I knew it wouldn't be easy. I forgot to bring my stats from the last attempts so I couldn't gauge how I was doing. As a result I simply pushed relentlessly hoping I could shave off 10 minutes.

This time I clocked in at 2 hrs 37 mins from car to summit. Roundtrip time was 4 hrs 42 mins. Apparently I had been pushing harder than I realized.

On the way down I met a group coming up. We spoke just briefly before I continued on down. I ran out of water not far below the summit but with only another 30 or 40 minutes left this wasn't too much of a concern.

Afterwards I took an hour or so to recover. I then drove over to the Baldy Village and started hiking up the Bear Canyon trail. Somehow I never quite seemed to get around to doing Lookout Moutain. I had just enough time left to squeeze it in. This added an additional 10 miles and 2800 ft of gain to my stats for the day and was just enough to give me 10,000 ft of gain and 24 miles of distance. A satisfying burger and beer at the Baldy Lodge finished the day.

Photos: Iron & Lookout - 11/10/07

-Rick

Sweet!

- Smiley the Clown (not really)

Rick, how do you move so quickly on loose soil without eating it/tripping?

Congrats, that's a fast time!

I love reading your trip reports and viewing the pictures you take. Congratulations on another successful adventure - I admire your drive. Sometimes, however, I wish you could leave out the personal fast time stuff and "one liter of water" comments - if you want to compete, there are plenty of races.

Got it. I'll pare it down.

I already commented on the first post I saw on Rick's latest Iron Mountain hike. I enjoy hearing details of some of the fast times people, including Rick, achieve on various hikes. I don't think we're not talking about racing -- there are plenty of places to discuss that. But it's nice to know what people can do -- and have done.

In all fairness, several of us tend to goad Rick into commenting on his water use -- or lack of it. I like to take plenty of water, but I use considerably less than a lot of people I read about. Then I see Rick's posts and I feel like a Sparkletts truck. I am surely not interested in competing with respect to water use but, again, I enjoy hearing about how many miles, and thousands of feet of elevation gain, Rick can squeeze out of a few drops.

I was obviously a bit obsessed with this one. I'm not generally the fastest on level and downhill terrain. During the last Sierra Challenge I was constantly frustrated that I often had trouble keeping up with the long legged sprinters. I'd like to think that my shorter legs and light weight give me an advantage on steeper terrain but I'm not really sure if that's the case or not. The one and only time I was first to summit during a Sierra Challenge was on Cardinal Mountain whose steep trail reminded me of Iron Mountain.

Taco:

Careful footwork is the key. In the steep parts I look for any little rock or nub embedded in the trail that will give me a footing. This is harder on the way down but I did slip and fall on my ass once. I also use my hands from time to time. Some of those bushes provide a nice hold to pull yourself up.

Rick -- it's good to know that you get obsessed occasionally.

Hey, Rick, congrats on a great summit of Big Iron. BTW, I always enjoy all your photos of summit registers and appreciate that you take so many photos.

I think some of your photos are looking into Coldwater Canyon and perhaps some are of Big Horn Ridge. I don't know if you'd have time, but any further captioning of photos of the above areas would be wonderfully received. Some of us have been batting around crazy ideas of doing Baldy via Big Horn Ridge.

[mother hen mode]
So, regarding the water consumption thing. My dad was really big on low water consumption/low water carry. It worked really well for him for a lot of years, but later in life (50's) he started getting kidney stones. The MD felt that his years of low hydration were probably the primary causing factor.

I'm not a doc, and I dunno what your physiology is doing. Just putting that out there. My dad's first attack was when he was out on a backpack. He was completely debilitated. Fortunately, he wasn't hiking alone, and his hiking partner was able to hike out to a spot where he called SAR on a cell phone. He got air lifted out and was fine. Scared the piss (pun intended) out of him though. He'd never had a stone before and thought he was going to die.
[/mother hen mode]

Correct about the photos. I've been following the Big Horn Ridge thread with some interest since I at one time had considered it as well. I got to see it from 3 different perspectives on Saturday: From the Heaton Flat trail, from the Glendora Ridge, and from Lookout Mountain. The upper half looks to be no problem. The lower half however looks appalling due to heavy brush. However one attacks it I think will be a struggle. I couldn't really see any obvious weakness. I also took some photos of both Coldwater and Cattle canyons. I may try to caption some of them if I have time.

I know what you're saying about the water deal and that is a fear of mine. I only push it when necessary which fortunately doesn't happen that often. Much of the time I'm in the Sierras where water is plentiful.

Rick,

Nice accomplishment on Iron Mountain. I usually have a quizzical look at supersonic hiking times just for the sake of moving fast, but for Iron Mountain, to be honest, I am not sure of what the attraction is of Iron, if not the personal challenge.

I was hoping you would take out the Big Horn ridge so I could say I knew it could be done 8) and just read about it... thanks for the photos, lets see if someone doesnt take out this ridge soon!

That's all it is -- a challenge. It's just a tough hike and unfortunately there's not much to photograph.

I don't think I'm going to be the first to tackle Big Horn ridge. Perhaps if there were some interesting class 4 climbing in there my attitude would change but it looks more like the mother of all bushwhacks to me. I too look forward to reading a trip report. Good luck fearless adventurers!

AW wrote:Nice accomplishment on Iron Mountain. I usually have a quizzical look at supersonic hiking times just for the sake of moving fast, but for Iron Mountain, to be honest, I am not sure of what the attraction is of Iron, if not the personal challenge.

I can certainly understand that statement. However, I really like Iron Mt. Maybe it's a personal mental deficiency.

Of course, I do admit to being conscious of times on that hike, especially the ascent, so maybe you have a point, even in my case.

Thanks Rick. I wish I had your footwork... I'm not the most coordinated dude.

AlanK wrote: I really like Iron Mt. Maybe it's a personal mental deficiency.

Mental deficiency? Don't be so hard on yourself, Alan. I'm sure it's just an iron deficiency.

Maybe he has an Iron Will?

ugh...

Hikin_Jim wrote:

AlanK wrote: I really like Iron Mt. Maybe it's a personal mental deficiency.

Mental deficiency? Don't be so hard on yourself, Alan. I'm sure it's just an iron deficiency.

Not bad, Jim!

Here's what I hope it isn't:

Nature Genetics 28, 299 - 300 (2001)
Iron on the brain
Tracey A. Rouault
Cell Biology and Metabolism Branch, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA.

Accumulations of iron are often detected in the brains of people suffering from neurodegenerative diseases. But it is often not known whether such accumulations contribute directly to disease progression. The identification of the genes mutated in two such disorders suggests that errors in iron metabolism do indeed have a key role.

AlanK wrote:neurodegenerative diseases

Maybe this discussion should move to the "Why do you hike" thread.

HikeUp wrote:Maybe this discussion should move to the "Why do you hike" thread.

Good point. Unfortunately, in my case it would expose my contradictions. I already gave what I thought was a pretty good justification for hiking based on solid state physics.

Rick Kent wrote:Correct about the photos. I've been following the Big Horn Ridge thread with some interest since I at one time had considered it as well. I got to see it from 3 different perspectives on Saturday: From the Heaton Flat trail, from the Glendora Ridge, and from Lookout Mountain. The upper half looks to be no problem. The lower half however looks appalling due to heavy brush. However one attacks it I think will be a struggle. I couldn't really see any obvious weakness. I also took some photos of both Coldwater and Cattle canyons. I may try to caption some of them if I have time.

Thanks for adding the captions Rick. Great recon photos from both sides of Big Horn Ridge. I'll put down my thoughts on accessing the ridge in the Big Horn Thread later.

Ditto on the thanks for the captions. Photo IMG_6435.JPG appears to be the ridge that runs just north of Fossil Canyon which was one of the routes we were looking at.

Ugh. Lots of nasty brush.

I believe that's correct. Looks fun doesn't it? Someday that overgrown ridge will burn. Then it will be a whole different story.

Uh, sure.

Seriously though, that brush doesn't look like much fun. I'll have to take a look in person some time. I do recall from the last time over there on the HF trail that the brush is bad.

The good news is that the Fossil Can. N ridge does look doable in terms of grade and navigability, and then BHR above it (above point 6388), reaally doesn't look that bad. The trick is just to get to point 6388. (Oh, is that all?)

Perhaps successive waves of lopper wielding scouting trips? Geez, what am I thinking? Now who has the mental deficiency?

Rick Kent wrote:I believe that's correct. Looks fun doesn't it? Someday that overgrown ridge will burn. Then it will be a whole different story.

Heh. I'll admit to thinking it, but I didn't want to say it.

Thanks for the photos of BHR, as said. It looks good.

Well, congratulations, Rick.

You were definitely a camel in a prior life!

Good job Rick!

Photo ID: 89831. You noted: "Timber Mountain?" I believe that is a nice photo of all three T's. From left to right: Thunder, Telegraph. and then Timber with Icehouse Canyon below.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

Yes, wasn't quite sure at the time but those are the three T's.

Congrats Rick!


We'll have to setup a webcam on you and relay the world's first live online Rick Kent narrated peaksprint session ..

He219 wrote:We'll have to setup a webcam on you and relay the world's first live online Rick Kent narrated peaksprint session ..

I'd like to see you find a webcam with a frame rate faster than Rick's manual photo acquisition rate!