EricK cruises up Iron Mountain in 2:15

AlanK · Post by **AlanK** » Sat Jun 12, 2010 5:09 pm

EricK is the son of AlanK, not an actual ID on this board. I was tempted to use the title “Father disowns son for ditching him on Iron Mountain”, but that would not be very accurate. Eric and I have hiked Iron Mountain together 8 times since he was 11 and both of us have been increasingly curious about what he could do if he took off up the mountain on his own, especially now that he is a college cross country champion.

Today was a perfect day for it because JayO was also on the hike, so Eric felt no guilt about leaving his poor old man slogging it out alone. It was also perfect because it was cloudy (at least below 4000 feet or so) and cool. I had told Jay we should pick a cool day in June and we managed to do that – temperatures were between 54 and 76 for the entire outing.

So, the three of us started off together at 6:15. Jay and I walked the whole thing and made the summit in 3:24, which I think is pretty respectable for two guys in their late 50s. Eric started running from the parking lot and we next saw him on the summit. Even though he was wearing boots and carrying 3 liters of water, he was not dawdling. I recall commenting to Jay when we hit 6000 feet that I hoped Eric was on top. He was, having hit the summit at 8:30 – 2:15:30 after starting out. So, Eric has done Iron Mountain 9 times now and still has a weakness for the place.

I know that some people prefer a “stop and smell the flowers” approach. There is room for discussion on that topic. However (a) we have smelled every flower on the Iron Mountain route many times and (b) no one can possibly fault another hiker for getting the job done quickly on that particular hike – “it feels good when I stop,”

I would not be surprised to learn of a Rick Kent Iron Mountain outing in the next couple of weeks.

Pictures

Post by **HikeUp** » Sat Jun 12, 2010 6:04 pm

Impressive, Eric! Cool beans.

mtnfox · Post by **mtnfox** » Sat Jun 12, 2010 6:05 pm

Crazy fast!

And excellent photos - looks like it was a superb day for it.

Ze Hiker · Post by **Ze Hiker** » Sat Jun 12, 2010 6:56 pm

awesome!

i'd love to follow EricK up Iron for as long as possible and see where he burns me out.

AlanK · Post by **AlanK** » Sat Jun 12, 2010 8:37 pm

Zé wrote:awesome!

i'd love to follow EricK up Iron for as long as possible and see where he burns me out.

I made it almost out of the parking lot.

EManBevHills · Post by **EManBevHills** » Sat Jun 12, 2010 9:24 pm

Awesome. Congrats, proud papa!

Yamaya · Post by **Yamaya** » Sun Jun 13, 2010 2:22 pm

true ironman!

Dave G · Post by **Dave G** » Sun Jun 13, 2010 7:51 pm

Hey Alan, I'll let others debate the flower-smelling dilemma; I just keep thinking about how much more I could get done in a day if I could travel as fast as Eric (or you!). Amazing!

Phil B · Post by **Phil B** » Sun Jun 13, 2010 8:30 pm

Hi Alan,

Your time was outstanding, I don't have words for Erik's time, I knew you guys were fast when you blew past me on Skyline a few weeks back, but 2hrs 15mints thats amazing, maybe Rick Kent has got some competion at last.

cheers

Phil

Post by **Taco** » Mon Jun 14, 2010 5:54 am

And that's just his first fast time. I'm sure he'll be even faster later on.

Good job, Eric!

lilbitmo · Post by **lilbitmo** » Mon Jun 14, 2010 11:58 am

That's an amazing time - must be an "Ultramarathoner" in the making.

Maybe do the PCT in 6 weeks?

mve · Post by **mve** » Wed Jun 23, 2010 12:07 pm

WOW impressive run!

AlanK · Post by **AlanK** » Wed Jun 23, 2010 2:05 pm

mve wrote:WOW impressive run!

He has come a long way from his first trip up Iron in 2001: