RE: [Philmont]: How tough is it?

> From: Joseph Jansen
> A lot depends on your itinerary.
>
> Philmont labels different itineraries according to difficulty level.
>
For us, Philmont is a piece of cake. For many other crews we see there,
it is a different story. We are used to week long backpacks in the High
Sierras (we do it every summer), so we carry more food (no pickups, so
we need a whole week) at higher elevations and go further with more change
in elevation. Compared to that, Philmont is not really a challenge.
We do the High Sierras for the views, Philmont is for a party (i.e. the
camp programs) and some almost as great views.

Our experience, however, tells us that no matter how hard it is, if you
take it slow enough you will make it (presuming health problems like
severe altitude sickness don't occur, and Philmont isn't high enough
for that). We have one adult who always goes very slow, but he never
fails to get there, and isn't all that tired when he does, it just takes
him forever.

On our prep this weekend, we had to follow a bushwhacked trail straight
up the side of a mountain at over 9000 feet in snow. Took us 3.5 hours
to go that last half mile. But we still made it.

Regards
Don Roberts
Philtrek 05 808-K I2
ps: I use trekking poles, won't leave home without them.

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Received on Wed Jun 1 12:50:41 2005