December « 2007 « www.arareko.net

Chilly weekend

So our idea (Gil’s & mine) was to climb 2 mountains for the weekend. So far, we managed to climb only one but spent a great time while in the process.

Friday night was about attempting to circumnavigate Nevado de Toluca’s crater. We bailed almost mid-way on the route; a giant dark cloud posed over the mountain, rising humidity and static electricity all over the place. The risk of being struck by a lightning was very high, so we opted to get down as fast as possible.

By Saturday afternoon, we drove all the way to Paso de Cortés and La Joya. We started climbing Iztaccíhuatl once the sun set, enjoying a night full of stars. Our plan was to hike all the way up to Ayoloco hut and sleep there but somehow we got lost in the way. The absence of moonlight made it difficult for us to find our way through the shortcut that links the Knees route with Ayoloco route. We found the trail after nearly 1 hour of scrambling through some rock walls above Alcalican gully and ended up bivouacking at some ledges near Cruz de Rosas.

All in all, we spent a great night at the ledges, cooking dinner, talking and staring at the beautiful star-filled sky. The moon came out a few hours before dawn; Gil suggested to continue hiking to the hut and then climb the glacier to the summit. It was so cold outside of my sleeping bag that I didn’t show too much enthusiasm about his idea. I opted to stay asleep until the sun started to rise the temperature.

At 8 a.m. we had a short breakfast, packed our things and continued our way up the mountain. 2 hours after, we were standing on the glacier. Despite its meltdown from the recent years, ice conditions for climbing were excellent, so we made it very quickly to the top of the mountain. We were at the mountain’s “belly” by 2 p.m., we were very happy of being there, the scenery was amazing as always.

We shoot a couple of pictures and then began the descent, a long way down was still ahead of us. After some hours of scrambling down the horrid Knees route, we got back to the car by 7 p.m. Another weekend in the mountains had just ended so we happily drove back to the city for a warm dinner, a well-deserved shower and our comfortable beds.

The rest of Iztaccíhuatl’s photos can be seen here.

Running in circles

Ok, I’m back on the trail. Tonight I went to the Sope track and ran a few laps on its short but slightly hilly course. After logging 20 km of trail I started to feel worthy of all the food I’ve had in the previous days

Now it’s time to keep up the pace and taper for the next big race.

Lazy mode

Sleep, eat, rest, eat more, watch your favorite TV show, eat again, sleep…

That has been my schedule for the last couple of days. No running, climbing or any physical and/or mental activity (if any) at all. What a change compared to previous weekends, huh?

Tips for Plantar fasciitis

Lisa Smith-Batchen posted some helpful notes and do-it-yourself treatments for Plantar fasciitis that I’ve previously found very useful on my own. Her notes can be used not only for treatment but for prevention too, they’re worth giving a read.

Her final advice must be used as a mantra: STRETCHING IS FOREVER!!!

Family trees

Octavio sent me the following cartoon. Has the Internet succumbed to the Dark Side?

Damn genealogy software…

Run, sleep & run again

A year of racing is now over, I ran my last 2 races this weekend and enjoyed them a lot.

In a last-minute decision during the week, I signed up for this year’s Carrera Nocturna and conservatively ran its 10 km course along UNAM’s streets for a “glorious” finish at the ’68 Olympic Stadium. I logged a moderate time of 56 mins 41 secs:

I went back home immediately after the race, took a shower, ate dinner and prepared my stuff for leaving very early this morning. I had to be at 8 a.m. in Paso de Cortés to run the 21.6 km loop course of Iztaccíhuatl’s Skymarathon.

After a brief sleep and a 2-hour drive, I arrived on time to Paso de Cortés (3,689 meters) and met up with Luis, Evelia and Guillermo; they got there a little bit earlier than me. We prepared our stuff and waited inside the car while the race started. At 10 a.m. the gun was fired and we ran our way up the mountain.

The first half of the course was completely uphill, with 7 km of runnable dirt road until La Joya, from where the real ascent in the mountain trail began. I reached the halfway point at Esperanza López Mateos (10.8 km, 4,817 meters) when the clock ticked 2 hours 40 minutes. I was really happy, the 1,128-meter run down the mountain was next.

The run down went so fast that all of a sudden I was back in Paso de Cortés crossing the finish line; I could barely enjoy my time up in the mountain, but well, this was not the exact purpose of the race. My total time for the roundtrip was 4 hours and 23 minutes.

Already at the finish were Luis, Guillermo and Evelia, who arrived 2nd in her category for women (oh yeah, the girl runs fast!). We celebrated our success with a couple of beers and quesadillas before the awards ceremony.

After a couple of hours of hanging around with many of the friendly (and drunk) characters in the place, we decided it was time to get back home, take a shower, eat more food and call it a great day

As usual, you can see the rest of the race pictures in my Flickr page.

The other side of the hill

Tonight I got a final run before next weekend’s races.

I live behind a big hill, isolated from the city’s noise and chaos. So everytime I want to have my dose of urban adventure, I must go out and jump to the other side of the it and into the asphalt jungle.

Today I ran a new 15 km course from here to my parents neighborhood and back. It was fun and easy to go down the hill, but coming back was a whole different story, hehe. I must have been a mountain goat in another life…

More oddities

Just for the record, Gunnar found out that Eugene Hutz could be Larry Wall‘s evil twin. What’s next?

The lonely ranger

Oh yeah, another busy weekend…

During the last week, we got a couple of really humid & cold days thus having some decent snow storms in the mountains. Yesterday was all about scrambling snowy 3rd & 4th class terrain at Nevado de Toluca.

I went alone and circumnavigated the volcano’s crater, logging a decent time of 4 hours & 30 minutes car-to-car (including a 30 min lunch break at the summit and a couple of stops to clip on and off my crampons). Nowadays, it’s very rare to see the mountain in “winter” conditions, so being in it while it’s covered in snow made the day even more beautiful.

For more the pictures of the climb, click here.

Today was about doing a bit of endurance climbing and a 10 km run, both at the University campus. All of my friends were busy with other stuff for this weekend so I had to stick with my regular training alone.

Fortunately, next weekend I’ll participate in a couple of races where good companions will share the road & trail with me

I’ll never know when…

Another song stuck in my head these days…

opeth – when

red sun rising somewhere through the dense fog
the portrait of the jaded dawn who had seen it all before

this day wept on my shoulders
still the same as yesterday
this path seems endless, body is numb
the soul has lost its flame
walking in familiar traces to find my way back home

so there i was
within the sobriety of the immortals
a semblance of supernatural winds passing through
the garden sighs, flowers die

the gate was closed that day, but i was bound to carry on
she could not see me through the windows
in dismay, strangest twist upon her lips
graven face, she said my name

once inside i heard whispers in the parlour
the gilded faces grin, aware of my final demise

and i cried, i knew she had lied
her obsession had died, it had died

when can i take you from this place?
when is the word but a sigh?
when is death our lone beholder?
when do we walk the final steps?
when can we scream instead of whisper?

when is the new beginning,
the end of this sad madrigal…