AR Ramblings

Matt mentioned in a blog post that he estimated the total elevation gain of the BMT to be around 50,000 feet.  That is a big number.  Spreading it across almost 300 miles helps, but that is still a hell of a lot of climbing.

Today, it occurred to me that the KML file I used to create my GPS tracking map also contained elevation for each of the points.  I hacked up a quick script to parse all 12,000+ data points and add up the cumulative gain.  After triple-checking the logic in my script, I felt this really, really terrible sinking feeling in my gut.  I just stared at the screen in disbelief.

:~/Desktop/BMT$ ./calc_elevation.pl
Total gain = 22325.804708 meters : 73247.3908856141 feet

In my past experience, GPS units have had notoriously large margins of error when it comes to elevation readings.  I can only hope that a little bit of that error is inflating the result.  If not, this might take a little longer than I have originally estimated!

Matt posted up his incredibly light, home-made kit over at his blog.

See below for my slightly heavier commercial one. (listed top to bottom, and left to right)

• compass + maps (TI Ocoee, GSMNP) + BMT databook
• 13L Ultra-Sil dry sack
• Patagonia R1 fleece pullover
• thermal hat
• 1 extra socks
• lightweight hammock – for comfy sleeping
• Salomon Raid 30 backpack w/
  • SPOT GPS tracker
  • Ultimate Direction water bladder w/Sawyer inline water filter and CamelBak bite valve – carrying a 128oz bladder, but will probably only ever fill it halfway.
  • Photon Micro-light – emergency light source attached to backpack shoulder strap; good for replacing headlamp batteries in the middle of the night
  • 2x 20 oz. water bottles – one for drink mixes and one for filling the bladder
  • mini-biner + masons twine – for bear bag / food hanging kit (not sure if I’ll use this, but it weighs next to nothing)
  • folding knife w/ whistle attached – the whistle is yellow and makes it easier to find the black knife if I drop it.
• Petzl Myo XP headlamp w/lithium batteries (3 sets) – lithiums are not recommended by Petzl, but I’ve never had issues.  I usually only run low or medium brightness, though, never on high.
• Medkit / toiletries  (see below for contents)
• waterproof notepad & pencil
• GoLite Poncho/Tarp – shelter & rain gear combined

• space blanket
• ClO2 water purification – backup, in case the filter clogs
• antihistimine
• ibuprophen
• anti-diarrhoeal
• sunscreen
• tweezers
• needle
• gauze pad, gauze wrap, tape
• lighter
• cover roll & Leukotape (good for blisters)
• alcohol swaps
• antibacterial ointment
• toothbrush
• Sportslick – for chaffing
• emerg fire starter (cotton ball + petroleum jelly)
• garbage bag (multiple uses)
• bug spray

• HeadSweats visor
• GoLite shorts
• Capilene T-shirt
• Brooks Racer ST shoes
• Sunnto Vector watch

TOTAL WEIGHT: approximately 7 lbs.  (including ~0.5 lb for the SPOT tracker)

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I just finished packing food for the BMT speedpacking adventure and the stats are in: 12.5 pounds and 21,000 calories.  That only works out to 1,680 calories per pound, which is a little lower than I was hoping, but I know that I have some quality stuff in there, and more importantly, stuff that I know I will still want be able to eat after several strenuous days on the trail.

Almost 40% of my calories will be coming from the new Caffe Latte flavored Perpetuem.  Yes, it REALLY is that good!

The rest of the calories will be comprised of various solid foods and a few bars.  I tried to strike a balance between finding items with relatively high-quality ingredients and tastyness, but with tastyness receiving a slightly higher priority.  The average intensity of this effort will be much lower than most other events, so I should be able to digest foods that just wouldn’t work for something shorter (24-48hrs).

I briefly considered an all liquid nutrition plan, but I could be out there for up to a week and prefer to supplement with solid foods during really long efforts.

Here is a list of what is in the bags, for those who are interested:

• Caffe Latte Perpetuem (the most important of all!)
• Organic Toaster pastries (aka pop-tarts)
• Bear Naked granola
• Snyders multigrain pretzel sticks
• Snyders pretzel pieces (BBQ flavored)
• Trail mix (whole grain wheat thins, raw almonds, cranberries)
• pre-cooked bacon (2 pkgs)
• freeze-dried pastas (3 pkgs)
• a few slices of bread
• Bear Valley MealPack (natural energy bars)
• Kashi cereal bars
• Genisoy protein bars
• Luna bars
• Ginger chews (spicy apple flavored)

I’m working on finalizing my gear and supplies for the upcoming BMT fastpack.  After the first round, my pack weighs 6.5 pounds.  This includes the pack itself, shelter, rain gear, warm clothing, med kit & emergency supplies, tolietries, water filter, headlamp with extra batteries, bear bag kit, and (of course) map and compass.  This does not include the SPOT GPS tracker that I will be renting (+ 0.5 lb), water, or food.  I’m tentatively estimating 12 lbs of food at the start, which I think will be in the neighborhood of 22-24,000 calories.  Food packing will be this weekend, however.

This seems like a very reasonable base weight for a 300 mile backcountry fastpack, but I’m still wondering if there is anything I can safely cut out.  Plus, I’m sure I’ve forgotten something that will need to be added.

It seems like this adventure has snuck up on me!  Less than 10 days and counting!..with plenty more packing and planning, and thinking about packing, and re-packing, and re-thinking the planning. Rinse and repeat 10 times.  Whew, I’m tired already.

I decided to go scouting potential climbing areas around John Rock this afternoon. I was hoping to find a ledge of some sort that would have easy (3rd class or less) access to the top and be a good location for covering ropes skills such as rappelling with some folks from the Triangle-AR/Trailblazers Adventure Racing Club. By the time I got away from work and drove to the parking area, I only had about 90 minutes of daylight for scouting.

I started by going almost directly south and bushwhacked straight up the hill. It had rained recently and the wet leaves required the use of both hands and feet in places to get up the steep slope. Ten to fifteen minutes later I had managed to get to the base of the rock. I decided to check out the right (west) side first. It was fairly easy contouring around the mountain most of the way, but occasionally I did have to scramble and bushwhack through some thick stuff. I saw a couple of bolted climbs. They looked kinda mossy and had lichen on them. They definitely hadn’t seen too many recent ascents. One even had some old, homemade hangers on it. Cool, but scary! I saw a few possible trad routes, but everything looked runout. The eyebrows looked flaring and not very deep. It was cloudy and getting kinda dark though, so I may have missed a few possible placements while scouting from the ground.

Before it got completely dark, I was hoping to backtrack and get around to the other side. The cliff face appeared to fade out for a short distance and I was forced to go down a little bit to find a path through the thick brush. Unfortunately for me, the brush just seemed to get thicker the further I went. I haven’t been in rhodo hell this thick in a long time. I’m talking about throw-all-your-body-weight-down-the-hill-and-hope-you-break-through thick. I spent what seemed like an eternity doing this until it turned into a boulder field as well. The brush and leaves were covering big holes between the boulders, and my technique of throwing by body weight now had the potential of breaking a leg. Oh, the joys of bushwhacking in the Pisgah forest. Eventually I thought I saw the cliff reappear and could just make out a waterfall through the branches. A few more minutes of uphill bushwhacking and I managed to find a clearing near the base. The view of the waterfall was worth it.

By now, it was getting too dark to continue scouting, so I pushed, slid, fell, and fought the bush back to the fireroad at the bottom. I didn’t accomplish my goal, but found a very scenic view and had a chance to explore an area I hadn’t seen before. I guess we’ll just do the ropes stuff at Looking Glass. It’s not that much farther anyway.