RE: [Philmont]: Question on a fitness test for Philmont

We are fortunate here in the Portland Oregon area. We're close to the
Columbia River Gorge where we can backpack from nearly sea level to over
4000 feet in 4-7 miles. Some of the trail is good. some is difficult and
rough. Except for the altitude itself, we were able to replicate some of
the climbing and descending that we did at Philmont including some of the
steepness (both up and down). (we cerntainly replicated the rain!!!) It
made a difference both physically and mentally.
 
My other advisor, who grew up in Texas, joked about how when he first went
to Philmont as a kid in the early 70s that they did no shakedown hikes. In
later years they did pre-trek hikes but they couldn't get any elevation
beyond hiking up and down on and off ramps to the freeway. Even shakedown
hikes have their limitations!
 

Russ Garrett

Bullivant|Houser|Bailey PC

805 Broadway Street, Suite 400

Vancouver, WA 98660-3310

mailto:russ.garrett@bullivant.com <mailto:russ.garrett@bullivant.com>

direct dial: 360.737.3363 - fax: 360.695.8504

http://www.bullivant.com <http://www.bullivant.com/>

Seattle . Vancouver . Portland . Sacramento . San Francisco . Irvine . Las
Vegas

-----Original Message-----
From: Vannerson, William G. [mailto:WVannerson@foley.com]
Sent: Friday, September 24, 2004 9:26 AM
To: Multiple recipients of list philmont
Subject: RE: [Philmont]: Question on a fitness test for Philmont

This is not a direct response to the initial question, but I thought I'd
comment on physical conditioning based upon some difficulties I experienced
this summer on our trek.
 
I am a 46 year-old advisor and I started to prepare for our trek this summer
last fall. I set my exercise program and stuck with it where I was
exercising 4-5 days/week on the Stairmaster getting my heart rate up into
the target range for an hour. I also dropped weight to meet the guidelines,
but could have (should have) dropped more to be closer to the ideal range.
(Although I've never been in the ideal range even as a youth in good
condition, it's just not where my body wants to be). I cut back on coffee
and increased my water consumption. And my BP was in the ideal range, which
made my physician especially pleased.
 
But we did only a handful of warm-up hikes and none under conditions
comparable to Philmont. As a result, there were times when I struggled on
the trail and was one of the slowest members of the crew, but not always the
slowest. After I got back, I reread some trek reports on the web and
compared travel times between camps on our trek (#2) and discovered that we
were just a tad slower than some. I know there are experienced crews in peak
conditioning that would laugh at our times, but in retrospect we didn't fare
too badly for a inexperienced crew at Philmont for the first time.
 
A note on the mental aspect, it's true that the will to continue and to not
focus on adversity is the key. My worse day was the hike from Deer Lake to
Sawmill with a stop at Ute Gulch Commissary for our last food pickup. My
pack was at it's heaviest as my tent mate (my son) had to come off the trail
for a few days because of altitude sickness. So I was carrying the full
PhilTent plus most of the food for two people for the last 3-4 days. I did
dump some of the food items I knew neither of us were eating so far in the
swap box. But because we were not sure how soon he'd be back, I could only
leave 2 meals behind. Almost all of the crew gear was divided among the
rest of the crew members, but it was still a load.
 
Then we started the climb up Grouse and Sawmill Canyon. Not the steepest
trail we hiked, but moderately steep until the last when it does get real
steep with switchbacks. About a third of the way up I was hit with a lower
intestinal disorder that had me searching for the pilot-bombardiers in a
panic at both Lower and Upper Sawmill camps. Then somewhere above Upper
Sawmill I twisted the side of my ankle badly. I can't exactly recall when or
where it happened though. I think my mind went into a zone where I was just
focused on moving forward and getting to Sawmill as quickly as possible as
there were no suitable locations on that portion of the trail for a cat
hole. The last set of switchbacks were tough, especially because both my
ankle and stomach were pushing me to my limit, but there simply was no
stopping. We made it and I raced to the nearest Red Roof Inn. I rejoined my
crew in the shed next to the cabin where Toby had just started to instruct
how to reload rifle cartridges. He looked at me and said, "Are you okay? You
don't look so good." "No," I replied. But the Ammonium AD and the
Ibuprophen was starting to kick in and I downed a half liter of Gatorade so
I finely felt like I was going to feel better. And I did after a half hour
or so. Except the ankle felt worse even with the Ibuprophen. I think my mind
blocked out the ankle on the trail because I didn't think it was too bad
until I stopped hiking.
 
It was likely the toughest thing I have ever done physically. I was in good
enough shape to get through it. But would have suffered less if I were in
even better shape. It was a mental toughness that kicked in that saw me
through. You just get to a point where it's pointless to do anything but
continue so you suck it up and keep moving.
 
What I would do differently to better prepare myself?
 
1. Get my weight lower. I could have been another 5 lbs lighter, maybe even
more if I had really put my mind to it and committed myself as I should
have,
 
2. More warm up hikes under tough physical conditions. We did two weekends
plus a few of us also backpacked at Owasippe during summer camp. They were
good to get newbies used to their gear, but didn't prepare us for the
physical exertion we would face on the trail. One weekend we hiked 10 miles
at Devils Lake, WI. We did two up and down loops on the 500 foot bluffs and
felt pretty good about it. But most of the miles were on slight slops and
the climbs were a small portion of the overall hike. Instead, I wouldn't
worry about the mileage and have the crew simply hike up and down the bluffs
all morning long because there are point on the trail when you are hiking
uphill hour after hour. Then I'd find a rocky trail or dried up creek filled
with river rock and hike up and down that for a while to start toughening up
the ankles because the trails at Philmont are that rocky. Several of us hurt
our ankles even though we all had broken in boots. It was the side-to-side
rolling in particular that hot us as our conditioning trails forced mostly
front-to-back motion for our ankles.
 
BTW, I wrapped my ankle the rest of the trek and had only minor difficulty
and moderate pain. The hike from Sawmill to Websters Park had so tough
stretches, but I managed. My son rejoined us a few days later at Clarks Fork
on our way to Upper Clarks Fork and finished the trek with us, even though
he still had some lingering effects from the altitude sickness, an
accomplishment he will remember with pride for the rest of his life.

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"MMS <BHB>" made the following
 annotations on 09/24/2004 10:52:04 AM
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Received on Fri Sep 24 13:49:29 2004