unFit-a-Bit?

The summit of Pico Veleta, Spain’s fourth highest mountain

I’m standing about 100 vertical feet below the summit of Pico Veleta.  That’s what I have left after over four hours of painfully deliberate hiking.  It’s been an extremely slow slog up the mountain.  The snow capped Sierra Nevadas dominate Granada’s horizon and the summit of Veleta is perhaps its most iconic feature.  At 11,213 ft, Veleta is the 4^th highest mountain in Spain.  It’s a short drive from Granada, where my wife and I have been staying for the past three weeks.  So far it’s been a challenging climb.  My last alpine style climb was 9 years ago in Washington’s North Cascades.  It is clear that in the past 9 years I have gotten both a lot older and forgotten a fair amount about the challenges that come with an alpine climb where you are using crampons and walking on snow and ice.

My guide has been very patient with me.  Sara is a young woman from Slovenia with a medical degree. But as she tells it, she can make more money working as a mountain guide than as a doctor.  I’m reassured that I have an extra margin for safety with her medical background.  Beyond the medical benefits, Sara turns out to be an excellent guide.  Accurately assessing that I am no longer a young buck, she adjusts the pace of the climb accordingly.

My CalTopo hiking app tells me that the total climb is only about 7 miles round trip but the kicker is that there is about 3,300 vertical feet of elevation gain.  That works out to almost 1,000 vertical ft ascended for every mile walked and you are starting at around 8,000 ft elevation where the air is already a little thin.  It’s hard work.  When I was on the Pacific Crest Trail 2 years ago, I might climb 5,000 vertical feet over 15 to 20 miles in a single day.  This past Fall I did a series of state highpoints involving vertical elevation gains of 3,000+ ft , all without any real trauma. But that was on dirt and rock, with firm footing and a more modest angle of ascent.  An alpine climb, as I apparently forgot, makes things much more difficult.

The Sierra Nevadas recently got a fresh dump of snow and the entire trail is completely covered.  Snow depth varies.  Sometimes you are using your crampons just to get traction on a sheet of ice.  But at other times, you hit a soft spot and your foot suddenly drops in anywhere from 6” to 12″ before you can take your next step.  You’re never quite sure what each step is going to be like.  It makes for slow going and a lot of extra work.  As the climb progresses, my pace drops and time starts to slip away.  I am concerned about having enough time to get up and then down off the mountain. 

Ed Viesturs, one of America’s most prominent high altitude climbers, has famously said “Getting to the top is optional, getting down is mandatory”.  Veleta is not anywhere close to being a high altitude technical climb but Viesturs’ quote still applies and I wonder as I near the summit if I have left enough in my tank for the return trip.  I’ve done a crappy job bringing food for this climb – lots of protein bars.  For a climb like this you need a steady diet of simple sugars to fuel your muscles.  It becomes a war of attrition and my pace slows even further. 

Near the top, Veleta gets very steep.  CalTopo shows the angle of inclination for the entire route.  A section I just finished turned out to have a 55 deg angle.  That’s impossibly steep and I question CalTopo’s accuracy but still… To get up such a slope you are constantly doing switchbacks, climbing in a zig zag fashion.  The angle eventually moderates but my muscles are demanding more sugar and I don’t have much to give them.  They are really pissed and make no bones about telling me so.

In many ways, the day has been spectacular.  We hit the perfect weather window.  The temperature is in the upper 20s, the winds are modest, the sky is clear.  Periodically I look back and see the city of Granada spread out at my feet.  It is an odd reversal in perspective.  Yesterday I was having a croissant and a café con leche in a downtown restaurant, staring up at the Sierras and the prominent face of Veleta.  Now I am up there looking down, no doubt, on a bunch of Granadians having coffee.  Maybe they are looking up at Veleta?

As we get to the last stage of the climb, with about 300 vertical feet left to go, the wind picks up, gusting to 35 mph and the temperature drops.  All of a sudden it is pretty darn cold and I need to brace myself as we continue to switchback up the slope.  And then, I am almost there, 100 vertical feet short.  I look up and see that Sara is standing on the summit waiting for me.  I’m sure she had plans for the evening and thought it might begin a bit sooner than it now will.  Painfully slowly I drag my butt up the last incline and make it to the top.  We take the obligatory summit photos.  The scenery at the top reminds me of why I do this.  I am in a place of remarkable, rugged, beauty.

After a few minutes of rest, we now have Ed Viesturs’ mandatory part of the climb and so we turn around and start heading down.  With an adrenaline surge coming from getting to the top, the way down goes a lot more smoothly and we make it back in about half the time. 

In one sense, Veleta was a test.  This summer I am planning another alpine climb, Gannett Peak, in Wyoming.  Mindful of my age and some recent health issues I wondered if I had bit off way more than I could chew with my plans for Gannett.  When we get back to the parking lot and are loading our gear in Sara’s car I check my FitBit watch.  What does it think I did today?  40,334 steps, 274 floors ascended, 5,960 calories burned and 911 (yes, 911) out of a target of 22 “zone minutes” (whatever that means).  This is no guarantee of success on Gannett but perhaps I have a fighting chance. As long as I bring along some M&Ms.