The Hard Way

So today's workout was taking the hardway up Pinnacle Mountain. Not the difficult trail on the east side. I mean the hardest way possible. I am talking parking at the visitors center, and registering to climb. In itself a painful procedure. Then hiking over to the east trail and taking that until we get to the first rock buttress. Roping up and climbing that 5.0 choss pile until we run out of choss. Then we contour around to the South face and rope up for a decent pitch of 5.6 trad climbing. Then the scramble to the top, and the hike back to the car. Dave and I have been doing this since the winter. We call it "Alpine Training." In addition to 24HHH we are planning a trip to Colorado in August to climb the Elingwood Arete on Crestone Needle. It's about 2000 feet of climbing up an exposed arete that tops out over 14,000 feet. The hardest pitch is only 5.7, but it looks like good fun. So we are using Pinnacle Mountain to train on our multi-pitch-light-and-fast-hip-belay-simul-climbing techniques. And besides its a great way to pick up ticks! After the climb and hike I decided to go for a short bike ride for a little cross training. An hour on the river trail got me good and warmed up. The plan then, power mowing! Nothing breaks a sweat like mowing the lawn in the Arkansas sunshine. But alas, it clouded up and rained a little. Perhaps the lawn will have to wait...