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Today we got a casual start with a two hour drive to the Torres del Paine National Park. On the way we saw 20+ guanacos, which is a wild cameloid, similar to a llama. As we got closer to the park, flamingos and rheas where sighted.

The weather was overcast but we got some views of the glaciers and rock towers that this area is known for. Our hike to Campamento Seron was 5.5 miles and consisted of nice trail and beautiful Patagonia scenery. The tall grasses, wind bent trees and milky emerald green rivers kept people taking photos and enjoying conversations. We are in camp for the night, music in the background, good food being prepared and a charcuterie board with a few bottles of Chilean red wine to kick this trip off right.

RMI Guide Mike King

One of the unique aspects of a Denali climb is that it is one of the few big mountain climbs in the world where you can’t hire someone to carry some of your gear. There are no porters, donkeys, yaks, or other pack animals. This means that once the plane drops us off at Kahiltna Base Camp at 7,600’, we have to find a way to move three weeks worth of expedition provisions and our gear up the glacier, and this necessitates each climber pulling a sled.

The use of sleds is unique to Denali and Vinson Massif, and is a component of the expedition that we often overlook when we are preparing. On Denali, we typically use sleds to 11,000’, or for the first 3-4 days. While this is a small component of the expedition, those first few days can leave climbers feeling exhausted and depleted, with the bulk of the climb still to come. Spending some time training with a sled in the lead up to an expedition could help ease this.

On the mountain, we use plastic expedition sleds, not unlike a kid’s sled that you might find at a hardware store, but with a bit more length for added volume and stability. A typical climber has between 40 and 50 pounds in their sled at the outset, and we rig the front of the sled with a trace that clips to a single loop of webbing tied around the climbers backpack, preferably threading through the slot that houses the hip belt, so that the load pulls from low on the pack, about even with the hip belt. This transmits the climber’s pull most efficiently, and keeps the climber in a more efficient alignment, pulling from the center of mass.

To prepare for sleds, try pulling a mock sled during a handful of your endurance workouts (over an hour or so) in the few months leading up to the expedition. Climbing with the sled behind you not only recruits different muscles and requires strength in different areas than climbing without, but requires that we alter some of our movement patterns a bit to remain efficient. The biggest pattern to change is the bread and butter of the mountaineer: the rest step. Efficient movement with a sled involves keeping the sled moving forward steadily. Each time it stops, we have to overcome inertia to get it moving forward again. Therefore, we want to keep our hips moving forward steadily (which is a change from the rest step). We can still get some rest in our legs with each step, by locking out the back leg as we step forward, moving that leg under our hips. Using the resistance of the sled for balance, we can allow our hips to slowly travel over our back leg toward the front, while still maintaining the moment of rest on the back leg. As the hips arrive over the front leg, step up and repeat.

Climbers have found a number of sled type devices to train with; the two most common are a car tire and a plastic sled loaded with some sort of weight (even the kids!). Plastic sleds slide on grass pretty well, while the car tire doesn’t slide as well and tends to add more resistance. Using the mock sled during some of your endurance workouts is most similar to what we’ll experience while climbing, but pulling a sled during an interval workout is also a creative way to add resistance and effort. Happy hauling!

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Questions? Comments? Share your thoughts here on the RMI blog!

From RMI Guide Hannah Smith: The Mt. Rainier summit is not guaranteed but the rising sun is. Gusty winds made for a high point at Ingraham Flats- short of the summit but still challenging.  Our team is packing up and heading downhill shortly.

From Dan May

At the beginning of April a crop of RMI guides including myself, Leif Bergstrom, Henry Coppolillo, Lacie Smith, Tatum Whatford, and George Hedreen, headed off to the Rocky Mountains of Colorado to work on honing our alpine guide skills with the help of the AMGA. We split our time between Boulder and Estes Park, Colorado while completing the Alpine Guide Course. Often in these courses, you are amongst colleagues spread across other guiding companies, however in this instance, we had the opportunity to work and learn together. Being able to sharpen our guiding skills in alpine terrain amongst our peers that we work with in the North Cascades, Denali, and South America was a great opportunity.

These courses offer us the chance to add additional tools to our ever-growing toolkit as guides while being reviewed, critiqued, and taught by the AMGA instructors. While romping around the Flat Irons, Eldorado Canyon, and Tyndall Gorge of Rocky Mountain National Park, we took turns climbing rock, ice, snow, and mixed routes while guiding each other through the terrain. These chances and skills as a guide are invaluable. It is easy to convince your friends to go climbing with you, but to convince your friends to let you guide them through peculiar terrain to practice your techniques and skill sets is another story.

At the end of the nine days, all RMI guides successfully completed the course and had a great time doing so. Now we are all turning our sights to Ashford and Mt. Rainier in preparation for another great summer of climbing.

A well crafted training plan is one that comprises multiple phases of training. Commonly called Periodized Training, this is the method of dividing your training program into phases in order to focus on different aspects of your training while effectively incorporating the needed rest and recovery.  Periodized training is effective because it is a strategic approach to training. If you try to focus on every aspects of your training all at once, you're likely to get injured or burn out. Much like building a house, the foundation must be laid before the walls can be put up and the interior finished. In the same manner, periodized training is focusing on different aspects of your training in a complementary manner, where each phase makes you stronger and more prepared for the next. 

Basic Training Phases

Phase 1: Building Base Fitness 

Your goal in this phase is to build your overall "base fitness." This entails improving your aerobic endurance, increasing strength and flexibility, and incorporating occasional interval work. This critical training phase focuses primarily on aerobic fitness. Aerobic training increases the amount of oxygen carried to the muscles, lowers the rate at which lactic acid is created and helps the body remove it more effectively, and increases the overall metabolic rate (1). Put simply, you are getting into good overall shape in order to prepare your body for the stresses of more intense and specific mountaineering training. 

Phase 2: Introduce Mountaineering Specific Training 

This phase focuses on maintaining endurance and aerobic fitness while improving speed and strength by introducing more interval training and mountaineering specific training. Begin incorporating interval sessions into your training to increase your aerobic capacity and and broaden your range of comfort at various effort levels. Make your workouts more mountaineering specific with hikes and climbs with moderate weight in your pack. This phase is beginning to hone your fitness to the demands of mountaineering. 

Phase 3: Tailor Training Specifically for the Climb Ahead

In the final phase you are training specifically for the climb ahead. Try and train on terrain similar in steepness and difficulty to the mountain in terms of vertical change, weight in your pack, and length of days. Find training hikes with the vertical change that is similar to the amount of vertical change on your climb. Stack long workout days back to back to mimic the challenges of multi-day climbs. Train and with a pack weight mimicking what you will be carrying on the mountain and incorporate interval sessions to boost your anaerobic threshold.  Remember to dramatically dial down your training in the final week or so before the climb. This process, called "tapering", gives you the needed time to rest and recover from your final training push. The last thing you want to do is show up at the base of a mountain exhausted and worn out. 

Applying Phased Training

Pull out a calendar and mark down the date of your upcoming climb. You have every day between today and the start of your climb to build your fitness. Divide this time into three phases. Your current fitness level and the amount of time between now and your next climb will determine the length and focus of each phase. As you hone in on your different phases, also reflect back on your past climbs and training to determine what areas of focus (flexibility, balance, speed, etc.) to incorporate into the more mountaineering specific training phases. Find out more about specific training routines with RMI's Mountaineering Fitness and Training resources. We strongly encourage you to work with a trainer or fitness coach to help you map out this process and provided the specific routines and exercises for you. 

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(1: "Train Smart This Winter: Base Training Basics", Active.com)

Questions? Comments? Share your thoughts here on the RMI Blog!

Between training and the climb itself, climbers spend a lot of time with a pack on their backs. Somewhat of a necessary evil, the goal is to make your pack carry comfortably and efficiently so that it doesn’t work against you. A few tips that will result in a more enjoyable pack to carry:

1. Minimize dead space in the pack

2. Try to fit everything (except the ice axe) inside the pack

3. Keep the mass of the pack close to your body

4. Frequently adjust the straps to carry the load more comfortably

5. Have a system 

Minimizing dead space in the pack will help the pack ride in a more balanced way, and allow you to fit everything inside. A big factor that creates dead space is too many stuff sacks packed together. Round or barrel shaped stuff sacks don’t nest together well, instead leaving large gaps between them (like a cup full of marbles). To minimize this effect, try to limit the number of stuff sacks you use. A compression stuff sack for your sleeping bag is important, as it dramatically reduces the volume of the sleeping bag, but most of the other items can be packed loose, without stuff sacks. The down parka and spare insulating layers do a great job of packing around the sleeping bag to fill any spaces. Some guides go so far as to pack their pack partway, and then (taking care not to crush anything breakable) insert their foot into the pack and squish everything down to squeeze out all of the air. In addition, if climbers have packs with dedicated sleeping bag compartments, I often recommend that they detach the shelf that separates the compartment from the main pack, and treat the pack as one large tube. Sleeping bag compartments tend to create dead space where we want it least, right near the center of mass of our bodies.

Minimize the number of items that are attached to the outside of the pack. The ice axe generally has a dedicated attachment point (the ice axe loops), and is really the only exception to this rule. The rest of our equipment should fit inside the pack. With a little bit of thought, items that seem to take up a lot of space can be packed more efficiently. For example, by stuffing the helmet with extra socks and food before packing it, the volume of the helmet itself becomes very little. Crampons can be put together so that the tines cover each other, and they too can be placed in the pack. Items clipped to the outside of the pack tend to swing, get damaged, and make a ruckus. By minimizing the number of items clipped to the outside of the pack, your pack will carry more comfortably and with less noise!

In general when you are packing, place items that you won’t need or use that stretch to the bottom of the pack, while items that you would like to keep handy (food, sunscreen, etc) stay near the top. Additionally, place heavier items closer to the back panel of the pack, keeping them nearer your center of mass.

There is no perfect fit for a pack, and comfort and fit of your pack will change throughout the course of a climb or training session. In general, try to carry the majority of the weight on your hips. When putting on a pack, hitch the pack up higher on your back than it will ride, and cinch down the waist strap. Then tighten the shoulder straps until they just make contact with your shoulders. Next, lightly tighten the load lifter straps on the shoulder straps and waist belt. This helps to pull the weight of the pack in closer to your back and helps with balance. Lastly, constantly adjust throughout the day as discomforts arise!

Have a system to your pack so that you have a good idea where each item is. This will save you time and frustration throughout the climb, if you can reach straight to a warmer pair of gloves for example, rather than unpack most of your pack each time you need an item. With a well-organized system, you will spend more time at each break resting and recovering, and less time digging for items in your pack. With a little bit of time and practice your pack won’t be such a burden and your training sessions, and ultimately the climb, will be more enjoyable!

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Pete Van Deventer is a senior guide at RMI Expeditions. A former collegiate nordic skier, Pete climbs and guides around the world, from the Andes to Alaska. Read about Pete's recent sailing and ski mountaineering trip to Norway's Lofoten Islands on the RMI Blog.

Questions? Comments? Share your thoughts here on the RMI Blog!