Buenas tardes from refugio "Altzomoni" at the feet of Ixtaccihuatl.
We are pre-packing as we speak for our move to high camp tomorrow. After our hike up "la Malinche" yesterday, we had an easy day today; on our drive to Amecameca, (Where we bought food for Ixta climb with the highlight being fresh handmade corn tortillas.) We were able to see our objective between the clouds from the road. The skies closed up and fog reigns now at our hut.
We'll keep you posted tomorrow of our progress. Best regards from 12,000'!!!
RMI Guides JJ Justman & Elias de Andres Martos
Hi everyone! Team Mexico finally checking in. Yesterday we had an epic day! The weather did not cooperate at all as it rained cats and dogs. However, our team toughed it out and we made the summit of La Malinche.
Today we are currently having a great breakfast and then we are off to our next objective, Ixta. Stay tuned to our progress. But for now we gotta go and dry out a few soggy boots!
RMI Guides JJ Justman & Elias de Andres Martos
OK! Here we go! The photo may be a bit fuzzy and who is that guy holding his hand up in the mirror? Well folks, the fall season in Mexico is under way.
The team is all here and we have all the typical characters...those individuals who love to travel internationally seeking a little bit of culture and a few high places.
Stay tuned to the blog because I can already tell with this team...we are going to have a lot of fun and a few stories to tell!!
RMI Guides JJ Justman and Elias de Andres Martos
For the last 2 years, my focus in my personal climbing has been climbing 8000m Himalayan peaks solo, without the aid of supplemental oxygen. My training program has to reflect the increased mental and physical strains that climbing in this style demands.
My training must change significantly depending on the season of my next expedition - spring versus autumn. The difference lies in what I have been doing already leading up to a climb. My summertime climbs working as a guide on Mt. Rainier are a fantastic aerobic base to train from since the terrain, techniques, and exertion mimic much of the climbing on 8000m peaks. Nothing beats the real thing for training. Since I have not been climbing Mt. Rainier weekly leading up to a Spring climb, I have to dedicate more training time to endurance workouts around my winter-time home in the Sierras. I find that my perceived fitness changes a lot between seasons; in the spring I am able to move faster but with less endurance, while in the autumn I feel a deep reservoir of endurance but a lack of speed.
I break my training into blocks of 10 days, rather than weeks, with each 10 day block building on the last in terms of intensity, distance, and strength. A sample 10 day block would look something like this (descriptions of each workout are below):
Spring Training
• 1 climb with a gain of 5,000’ or more (moving as fast as I can maintain for 2 hour stretches)
• 3 trail runs with a gains of 2,500’ +
• Multi-muscle lifting 2x
• Enduro lifting 1x
• Anaerobic Intervals: 8 intervals, 1x
• Rest day 2x
During the course of my total training program, I also include 2 single push 20+ hour ascents.
Autumn Training
• 2x Mt. Rainier summit climbs (18,000 – 27,000ft vertical gain total) (4 days total)
• Trail run 2x with 2500ft+ gain
• Multi-muscle lifting 1x
• Enduro lifting 1x
• Anaerobic intervals: 8 intervals, 1x
• Rest Day 1x
Similar to my Spring training program, during the summer months leading up to an Autumn climb, I include 4-5 Muir Snowfield “sprints” (goal of sub 2hrs). If I am not working on Mt. Rainier, I substitute another snow climb of a constant grade with gains of 4000 – 5000’.
Specific descriptions of each workout:Multi-muscle lifting: Clean and Jerk, Deadlifts, Power snatch (Olympic style lifting). I frequently add a Bosu ball (a squishy rubber half circle) into some of my lifting exercises for a balance component.
Enduro lifting: I think of this as anything I can do 15 to 20 reps of, whether push-ups, sit ups, pull-ups, excercises on a weight machine, barbell lifting or Olympic style lifting, and core exercises. My goal for lifting is not to bulk up, but to ensure I have a solid strength base.
Anaerobic Intervals: The goal is to get into my max heart rate zone for as long as I can handle (no more than 2 min, or the anaerobic component is lost). Techniques I “enjoy” are wind sprints, spinning machines, rowing machines or deadlifts. I find that I perform best coming off a solid 2 day rest.
Single Push Ascents: Within my training window I’ll try for a few 20+ hour, single push ascents. These provide a great training benchmark for my physical fitness, and help me build the mental fortitude that long 8000m summit days require
“Snowfield sprints”: I try to find easy to moderate snow climbs, so that the focus is on aerobic fitness and not technical proficiency. My goal is to either single push through the entire ascent or take quick 5 minute maintenance breaks every 2 hrs. I keep the stress high, near my aerobic threshold for the duration of the climb. My go-to choices have been Mt. Baldy outside of Los Angeles and the Muir Snowfield.
Maximizing my training gains:
First off, I have days that I don’t stick to the plan. It’s totally ok! There are days that I just curl up with a box of Cheez-its and watch Netflix. My mind and body need time to recover and its important that I listen to those signals. With a good day of rest, I head into my next workout ready to push until exhaustion!
My plan also has to incorporate the terrain that I have at my disposal. This requires shifting my exercises from the plan somewhat, still with the intention to accomplish the given task: trail runs and body weight exercises to replace lifting can still accomplish my goals of strength and balance training, and give my body new stresses. I try not to sweat missing a particular workout if the terrain simply is not conducive, and focus instead on what I can accomplish.
I change things up, and try to avoid too much of a routine. I know the ways I want to stress my body within this 10 day block but how I go about it changes regularly. For example, I keep a list of strength exercises I use on the wall as an easy way to - at a glance - select a new routine for the day.
Good training partners are essential: their routine will likely take my body out of any established routine I have created, and the extra motivation is invaluable. I add exercises I find fun and effective so that I have a broader program to pull from.
I pay special attention to my diet and nutrition during these intense training periods as well: what I eat can have a huge effect on my recovery and the gains I take away from training.
My plan is a constant work in progress, and is always shifting with the new demands that each new climb might bring. I try to take time after each climb to assess what worked and what didn’t so that my training is even more effective the next time around.
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Alex Barber is an associate guide at RMI Expeditions and splits his time between the beaches of Southern California and mountains around the world. Last Autumn, Alex made the summit of Cho Oyu, solo and without bottled oxygen. This past Spring, he made it to 7600m on Shishpangma's Inaki Route. He summited 8156m Manaslu on October 1st, for his third Himalayan climb.
Questions? Comments? Share your thoughts here on the RMI Blog!
Thank you Alex for sharing insight on your training plan. This is a Top-5 training advice article for mountaineering. I have received the RMI training blog in the three years and in many regards this was the most helpful. I have saved this one to refer to often. Thanks again.
Aerobic Base Training Aerobic Base Training is the foundation that the subsequent layers of your training will be built on. The first of the three standard phases of training, the goals of aerobic training are to increase muscle efficiency and endurance. During this building phase, your body develops its capillary network, delivering more blood (and oxygen) to your muscle fibers, minimizing lactate production, maximizing lactate disposal, and increasing mitochondrial density (which produces ATP to fuel your muscles).
Aerobic base training was initially pioneered by New Zealand running coach Arthur Lydiard1. In the 1960 and 1964 Olympic games, three of the athletes he coached combined for 6 medals, dominating the distance events. The world took notice, and soon some form of his theory of aerobic base training had become commonplace in nearly all endurance events. There were many misconceptions to his theory though that endured: namely that aerobic training involves lots of long slow miles, and nothing else. In reality, Lydiard typically included three workouts into his athletes base periods: long runs, shorter steady state runs at an increased effort, and fartlek type interval workouts.
Each workout in the period accomplishes a specific purpose, with the overall goal being to maximize the aerobic energy system before moving on to anaerobic training. While long workouts accomplish the goals that we usually think of such as increasing blood flow and muscular efficiency, the steady state workout is designed to increase the aerobic threshold (the level of effort the body can exert while maintaining aerobic metabolism and not producing lactic acid), and the fartlek workout is designed to mix up the pace, letting the legs turn over more quickly to stimulate the muscle fibers in a different way and develop the neuromuscular system as well.
As mountaineers, these same principles and goals apply. During our base phase, our goal is to maximize the aerobic energy system, and so long workouts, shorter steady state workouts, and fartlek intervals will all help to build that strong foundation that the rest of our training will come to rest on. Into that mix, we can also add endurance strength (light weights, but lots of reps) and core strength workouts to start to build the well rounded fitness that is so essential for our sport! During the base building phase, higher intensity workouts should still be done at a moderate pace however, perhaps around 80-85% of your max heart rate, rather than a 100% all our effort. This pace will continue to develop your slow twitch muscle fibers while beginning to develop your fast twitch fibers as well. This has the added benefit of reducing the chance that you get injured as you move into more intense workouts during later phases of training.
Mt. Rainier may not be the Olympics, but we can certainly train like an Olympian, and that foundation laid now, will provide the support for a great climb on your next big objective!
Great to have a refresher on this as I up my training game. I remember reading Dr. Phil Maffetone and hearing tri-athlete Dave Scott preach these often forgotten fundamentals. Looking for a climb to do in the next 6-8 months. Dave
Posted by: David A. DePodwin on 2/22/2021 at 4:53 am
Please e-mail me another copy of the week 3 training schedule. Thanks
Alex called from the summit of Manaslu on October 1st 10:50 a.m. Nepali time (September 30th 10:32 pm PT)
"It was a really chilly morning. Keeping moving on the summit to keep my fingers and toes warm. There are some clouds starting to come in and it's starting to snow. Hoping to go all the way down to Basecamp today. Looking forward to some good food and a decent mattress. The pace was pretty grueling: Base to Camp 2 in 8 hours, Camp 3 to Camp 4 in 3 hours and 45 minutes, and Camp 4 to summit in just over 4 hours. I have the summit almost entirely to himself. Just one other climber up here. Pretty cool. Going to start making my way down. I'll check in when I hit base. Ciao."
Email from Alex received October 1st 8:25 pm Nepali time (7:40 a.m. PT)
I stood on the peak of Manaslu at 11am on October 1st! Funny thing is that exactly one year ago to the day I was at the summit of Cho Oyu.
Tired and cold, I just arrived back at Camp 3. I'm going to have something warm to drink and bundle up here for the night. I'll post something more descriptive tomorrow from Basecamp.
To those who have been following my trek, thanks for all your thoughts (and words) of encouragement.
RMI Guide Alex Barber
Alex B - CONGRATS!!!! My son Eric and I climbed Rainier with you in July, 2012. We’ve been excited and inspired to follow (and root you on, telepathically?) on your Himalayan adventure. Eric (without father) will climb Denali in May ‘15 with RMI. Hoping our mountain paths cross again. Best - Alex A
Posted by: Alex Alimanestianu on 10/2/2014 at 9:44 am
Alex. Congratulations getting to the summit. Particularly after having to retreat at first. And then to get it all together to try again. Lots of determination.
We launched for the north side of Volcan Llaima with overnight gear, optimism, and our fuel tanks filled to the brim with carne. Our send off from Malalcahuello was the asado of all asados: Chilean grass fed beef, homemade sausages, and lamb slow cooked over a wood fired grill masterfully by Sergio (our Chilean outfitter and owner of the lodge in Malalcahuello).
The wind was steady and the views nonexistent as we toured up an expansive lava field that just five years ago was flowing red. Above the monkey puzzle trees the wind was whipping, and feeling energetic we opted for the storm camping experience. We carved tent platforms into the leeward side of a small rock outcrop and proceeded to build Alaska style wind walls around our camp.
The next morning was frigid. The sun came out and as we packed up our gear for the summit ascent, we had the feeling that everything was lining up. Almost. The nice springlike snow surface we'd skinned up the day before was now a skating rink. Our ski crampons, even under full body weight, were not biting into the ice. This was not the type of frozen snow that softens throughout the day.
About 600 vertical feet above camp it became apparent that the snow wasn't getting any better. Getting on the face above us - which Katy and I had learned the year before is deceptively enormous and quite steep at the top, was out of the question. Just climbing the 3,700' would require pitching out full rope lengths and building 40+ anchors.
We ripped our skins and skied east coast style "packed powder" (very loud turns) 1,000' down to a small sub peak to the east. Views across the way of Sierra Nevada rising above the beautiful Lago Conguillio (a huge lake) began to the open up. We cramponed to the summit of our mini peak, skied down, and as we contoured back to camp, the decision not to go higher on Llaima was further reinforced. The winds ramped up, and visibility dropped to ping-pong ball status. We packed up camp and skied down out of the clouds.
El Niño has had some influence on every one of our ski outings on this trip, whether providing powder turns in September, a deep snowpack and fantastic coverage... or a moist wind that turns a big beautiful face into a sheet of ice. We've had a blast every day of this trip, whether standing on summits, or touring in stormy weather.
Overused statement of the trip, uttered multiple times at the end of every ski day: "Well that was an adventure."
This is a truly amazing place to have skis on your feet.
RMI Guide Tyler Reid
Last time I posted I was waiting out bad weather at base camp. Prior to that, I stayed in camp 3 (22,300ft) for four and a half days. However, a good enough window for a no oxygen ascent never appeared.
On the 27th I dropped back down to Base camp and took a single day's rest. Today, the 29th, I went from base camp to Camp 3 in a single 8 hour push. I'm positioned again to take advantage of some "reasonably" stable weather. Tomorrow the 30th I hope to make Camp 4 and "fingers crossed" summit the 1st of October.
RMI Guide Alex Barber
Hey, This is Tyler with the Chilean Volcanoes crew. We are calling from the base of Volcán Llaima. We have had an interesting couple of days on the mountain, yesterday we camped above treeline. It was pretty windy and getting up there, but we were able to build a bomb proof camp. We woke up this morning to sunshine and potentially clearing skies which was a little bit of a tease. We got up the big face that we wanted to ski from the summit and it was pretty much a sheet of ice, which made it a no-go, and then the weather also closed in to sort of seal the deal that it wasn’t happening. We were able to ski nearby sub peak on the north peak, and now we are almost back to the trailhead.
We will head back to Temuco tonight and have our final night of the trip. We look forward to seeing everyone back home and we will send one more dispatch before the trip is over.
We will talk to you all soon, best from all of us.
RMI Guide Tyler Reid & Team.
Today marks the end of the 2014 Mt. Rainier Season. The final RMI Four and Five Day Summit Climbs Teams reached the summit around 7:30 am led by RMI Guides JJ Justman and Seth Waterfall.
The teams reported great route conditions, a beautiful day with clear skies and a fun climb. After spending some time on top they began their descent to Camp Muir and will continue down to Paradise later today.
Congratulations to today's Summit Climb teams! And a big THANK YOU to our amazing RMI Guides for a safe and successful 2014 season.
Nice achievement, congratulations.
I just wanted to know about current ebola situation and did U guys feel any special effects of that, in terms of special screenings etc. We are planning on doing this early next year. Any information is well appreciated and did the climbers take any special travel insurance and if yes, which one. Thanks in advance
Posted by: Rup on 11/20/2014 at 6:14 pm
Thanks for a great climb! All of the guides were amazing and we really lucked out with the weather.
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Thank you Alex for sharing insight on your training plan. This is a Top-5 training advice article for mountaineering. I have received the RMI training blog in the three years and in many regards this was the most helpful. I have saved this one to refer to often. Thanks again.
Posted by: TimR on 1/5/2015 at 4:29 am
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