Mountain Preparation - Day 175 - The Final Day

Stay tuned in to this blog post throughout the day and night because video updates are going to be coming in as I finalize everything.

Well, my plan was to edit more prep videos on the drive to Colorado today (July 19), but it looks like all the footage didn’t copy to my iPad so I have nothing to edit. :( I’m sorry. I’ll make sure to post all of it when I get back as follow up videos.

Bug Protection

The question is, how to protect yourself from ticks, chiggers, and mosquitoes in the woods for 7 days? It would be heavy to carry that much bug spray with you so are there any alternatives?

Sawyer Permethrin Bug Repellent: https://amzn.to/2JO03vV

Mountain Preparation - Day 167 - T-minus 9 days

I want to give a big hello to anyone who just arrived here after watching the promo video I put out. I hope you enjoyed it. It was really fun making. I decided it would be a good time to spread the word about my little endeavor just as things are starting to heat up.

I got over my mini-crisis the other day thanks to some words of encouragement and a good night’s rest. Now I’m ready to finalize the organization of my gear, start washing clothes and laying things out to see what I actually have. Be watching here for a video specifically on my gear.

I also got some new food prep toys that I’m looking forward to trying out and making videos on.

Basically, don’t go anywhere. I may even end up updating a day’s blog after I post it just in case something new happens after I post it. I’ll make sure to put an -Updated- at the top or in the title if I decide to do that.

As far as training goes, I’m still on it, riding 15-20 miles a day and getting some 2 mile walks in as well. I’m going to continue to work hard this week and on Tuesday or Wednesday of next week, 4 days before I leave, I’ll start doing a recovery exercise plan so my legs are good and fresh by the weekend.

I made it for the video below so I might as well share it 😄

Mountain Preparation - Day 166 - Unable to Sleep

Last night I had a bit of an “OMG I’M ACTUALLY GOING TO BE DOING THIS THING AND I’M NOT READY AT ALL!” moment. ’Wait,’ I hear you saying, ‘shouldn’t you have gone already?’ Why yes, I was originally supposed to on my trip the last week of June so that I was climbing the Mount of the Holy Cross on or as close to my birthday as possible, however, this spring had exceptionally heavy snow falls, 130+% above normal and the melt off was slower than usual as well.

View fullsize

Weather on the Peak for the week of July 8th. - mountain-forecast.com

This means that even today, July 8th, there is still a good deal of snow on the mountain. Neither my climbing partner, Seth, nor I have snow climbing experience and we aren’t ready to learn just yet so we pushed our trip date back to July 19th - 26th to give the sun a few more weeks to do its work. I expect patches of the trail to still have snow, but they should be reasonably navigable or avoidable. Temperatures are in the low 40s on the peak and even today there is 1 inch of snow predicted.

View fullsize

The gear on the blue tarp is what I’m planning to go in my pack

The extra month of prep time has turned out to be a good thing, but with only 9 days left until we leave, I feel like I could use another month! I’ve been getting my gear together and have nearly all of it, but I am still missing a few things such as a lighter, maps, and contact solution. Despite having nearly everything in order, I am still very stressed over it all. Do I have too much? Do I have too little? Am I missing something?

I haven’t begun to buy, prepare, organize or weigh my food yet and that’s a big looming weight over my head. On top of that, it all has to some how fit in my pack.

Anyway, I felt the need to vlog about it last night so you get the chance to see my worry manifest for yourself as I have a mini breakdown at 1 a.m.. Get ready for a wave of posts and updates over these next 9 days as I finally reach the last stretch of this months long journey to climb a mountain.