[at-l] at-l Digest, Vol 2, Issue 49

[Walter Cobbs]

JPL, Sloetoe
 The following link may prove useful for gaining perspective of what you
contemplate:
*Western States 100* Mile Endurance Run <http://www.ws100.com/>  .
Completion of this race in 24 h merits a trophy silver belt buckle.
Competitors are weighed at interval check points and eliminated for
dehydration or bad condition.  Crosses two ranges of the Sierras, altitude
is an issue, as is total vertical.  The Northville-Placid Trail, about 120
mi, has also been run as a single-day endurance event, altitude not much an
issue and little vertical.
Walt


On 10/30/07,
>
>
> --- JPL <jplynch at crosslink.net> wrote:
>
> > Has anyone ever done a non-stop of about 100 miles
> > on the AT hiking day and night?
> >
> ### I doubt that more than a handful have "hiked" a
> hundred miles in 24 hours, unsupported. First off, to
> hike the distance means a pace of 14:24/mile. If you
> slow down to 2 miles an hour on an uphill, you've got
> to crack it down to 8:00 or 10:00/mile to make up for
> it. Thusly, 24 hours in a hundred mile race is a fair
> time. (Oh, and that's with fairly massive support --
> no food or water carried except for immediate
> consumption, changes of clothing/SOCKS available, etc.
> etc.) Around this time of year, David Horton usually
> arrives in the Fontana area with some "Special Idiot"
> friends to run/hike over to Davenport, about 70-80
> miles, unsupported except for Newfound Gap, usually in
> about 28-30 hours. That's one hardy standard. Some
> others recently (last 18 months?) sought to hike
> Shenandoah in 24 hours, but with substantial support
> (I think). Ice/sneaux usually play nasty with these
> efforts.
>
> Anywho, going it unsupported would be a pretty big
> deal. In my dreams, I'd think about that.....
>
> waysloetoe
>
> "Any idiot can run a marathon, but it takes a special
> kind of idiot to run an ultra." Alan Cabelly
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 3
> Date: Tue, 30 Oct 2007 10:21:26 -0700 (PDT)
> From: Sloetoe <sloetoe at yahoo.com>
> Subject: Re: [at-l] Trail conditions November through December?
> To: Patrick <meta474 at gmail.com>, at-l at backcountry.net
> Message-ID: <375733.38305.qm at web35202.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
>
> --- Patrick <meta474 at gmail.com> wrote:
> > ... I'm not squeamish, I've done a section
> > of the CDT in May (near Grand Lake, CO) and I
> > handled the snow all
> > right. So a few inches isn't going to bother me, as
> > long as it's not
> > deeper than eight or nine inches I should be fine
> > without snowshoes.
>
> ### I hiked out of Fontana a couple of years ago with
> 12-18" of wet/melting oatmeal sneaux on the ground,
> 18"-24" in the (limited) drifts. I was pretty worried,
> and considered taking the shoes (which I'd packed into
> the car). I was amazed at how easy the going was,
> making Wesser/Nantahala in no time. (AND had the
> way-fun opportunity to hike the last 8 downhill miles
> at night {the whole world's aglow} with these big,
> massive 12 foot long steps through the sneaux, like
> Paul Bunyan bopping over the foothills. THAT was fun.)
>
> ### I think poles (which I rarely carry) and the
> non-crusted conditions helped massively, but no matter
> the conditions, hiking downhill can be so speedy as to
> be fun.
>
> sneauxtoe
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 4
> Date: Tue, 30 Oct 2007 13:33:52 -0400
> From: "JPL" <jplynch at crosslink.net>
> Subject: Re: [at-l] hike-a-hundred Re: Trail conditions November
>        through December?
> To: "Sloetoe" <sloetoe at yahoo.com>, "Felix J" <athiker at smithville.net>,
>        "Patrick" <meta474 at gmail.com>
> Cc: at-l at backcountry.net
> Message-ID: <005d01c81b1b$0a624b20$3328d64a at jamesix0meflbp>
> Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1";
>        reply-type=original
>
> Thanks for the note.
> Wasn't really thinking of doing it in 24 hours; or any sort of competitive
> race situation.  Just a nice hike.  At a nominal 2 mph pace, 100 miles
> would
> be  about 48-50 hours.  Some place like Shenandoah, where you pass
> facilities every so often would lessen the need for support.  Other places
> on the AT would probably require caches.   And you'd probably need a
> couple
> of nighttime caches even so.
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Sloetoe" <sloetoe at yahoo.com>
> To: "JPL" <jplynch at crosslink.net>; "Felix J" <athiker at smithville.net>;
> "Patrick" <meta474 at gmail.com>
> Cc: <at-l at backcountry.net>
> Sent: Tuesday, October 30, 2007 1:09 PM
> Subject: hike-a-hundred Re: [at-l] Trail conditions November through
> December?
>
>
> --- JPL <jplynch at crosslink.net> wrote:
>
> > Has anyone ever done a non-stop of about 100 miles
> > on the AT hiking day and night?
> >
> ### I doubt that more than a handful have "hiked" a
> hundred miles in 24 hours, unsupported. First off, to
> hike the distance means a pace of 14:24/mile. If you
> slow down to 2 miles an hour on an uphill, you've got
> to crack it down to 8:00 or 10:00/mile to make up for
> it. Thusly, 24 hours in a hundred mile race is a fair
> time. (Oh, and that's with fairly massive support --
> no food or water carried except for immediate
> consumption, changes of clothing/SOCKS available, etc.
> etc.) Around this time of year, David Horton usually
> arrives in the Fontana area with some "Special Idiot"
> friends to run/hike over to Davenport, about 70-80
> miles, unsupported except for Newfound Gap, usually in
> about 28-30 hours. That's one hardy standard. Some
> others recently (last 18 months?) sought to hike
> Shenandoah in 24 hours, but with substantial support
> (I think). Ice/sneaux usually play nasty with these
> efforts.
>
> Anywho, going it unsupported would be a pretty big
> deal. In my dreams, I'd think about that.....
>
> waysloetoe
>
>
>
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