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Heart rate monitors are a useful tool for planning, executing, and tracking your training. By tracking your heart rate throughout a workout, you can get a more accurate idea of the real intensity of the activity versus the perceived, and can adjust your current or future workouts to accordingly. Not all heart rate monitors are the same however, and they aren’t anything more than a tool to be more informed about the progression of your training. Smartphones can do almost everything now and indeed, some of the newest phones include a small finger scanner that can detect your heart rate. Watches have also evolved to track your heart rate from your wrist without the chest strap that used to be required, though the top models still use a chest strap, albeit with improved technology. The difference between the three styles really lies in the accuracy of the measurement. While it’s nifty to be able to see what your heart rate is on your phone, it can’t track your heart rate throughout a workout, only at discrete points in time when you choose to scan it and to be effective for training, it’s best to have a picture of what your heart rate looked like throughout the workout. Watches that measure your pulse through your wrist generally use reflected infrared or LED light to measure changes in the size of capillaries as an indication of a heartbeat. While these watches will track your heart rate throughout a workout, they tend to not be as accurate as the models that use a chest strap since you move and bounce while you exercise. Ultimately it offers only a rough picture of your pulse throughout. For an accurate idea of your training intensity, newer dedicated heart rate monitors with chest straps use conductive fabric and microprocessors that analyze your EKG, giving a detailed and accurate picture of your entire workout. What does using a heart rate monitor get you? First and foremost, a heart rate monitor gives you the ability to track your training more accurately. Heart rate monitors use versions of the 5 training zones that most athletes utilize, so you can begin to build an accurate picture of how much time you spend in each zone and how effective a given period, week, or workout might have been for you. A heart rate monitor can also help you to hit your target intensity zone for a given workout. This works in both directions; it can help you to tone it down on your long level 2 endurance training if you start to push a little hard, or it can let you know that you need to push even harder to make it to your target L4 zone on a set of intervals. Tracking your heart rate over a period of time can also give you a picture of your overall fitness. As your training pays off, your resting heart rate should drop, and you will find yourself covering more ground and going faster, but at the same intensity. Conversely, a sudden spike in your resting heart rate may indicate that your training load is adding up and that you need to focus a bit more on recovery. A heart rate monitor won’t make you fitter, but it can give you a lot of valuable information that allows you to create a more informed training plan. _____ Questions? Comments? Share your thoughts here on the RMI Blog!

Saturday June 13th 7:15 pm PT Today has been fantastic. We left 11 Camp early this morning and enjoyed perfect conditions and weather on our way up to 14 Camp. The team climbed very well and we were again treated to supreme hospitality by the other RMI teams at 14 Camp. Plenty of water and some pre-made tent platforms will make us soft if we aren't careful. Now for some well-deserved rest before dinner. Tomorrow we will handle some training and wish our friends good luck as they move into position for their time in the stratosphere. RMI Guide Jake Beren

On The Map

May 14, 2015, 1:45 am PT Greetings from Little Swiss camp! We're "off rappel" for the day... and what a day! Full alpine experience. We climbed the route "Lost Marsupial" on The Throne, one of the MEGA CLASSICS in the area. We had A BLAST and everybody did a great job, but also had the opportunity to experience what alpine climbing is all about. Splitter granite on the crux pitches, snow over the upward traverses in between, and getting out of our comfort zones by climbing with a pack and mountaineering boots. Big dinner followed upon arrival to camp, following the eight full length rappels that took us off the wall, and allowed us to beat the storm that now we are under. We will keep you posted on our upcoming objectives. Best that's from the promised land of climbing that is Alaska. RMI Guides Elias de Andres Martos, Sean Collon and team

Well...there's a first for everything. And going on 22 Aconcagua expeditions here, I had a first today. Our team awoke early, had a good breakfast and then we loaded our packs and made our way uphill. Everyone did a great job today and we are all well. Except...a little bit of windburn! Man o Man was it blowing strong today! The wind was so strong we were unable to make it to Camp 1 at 16,200 feet. Instead we thought wiser and we cached our gear lower at 15,700 feet. And the team did great! Adversity is part of every climbing adventure and we all handled it very very well. The winds are supposed to be close to the same so base camp is looking very appealing for tomorrow. Go Packers!! RMI Guide JJ Justman

Although we were excited and prepared to climb when we went to bed last night, the weather refused to cooperate with us. We woke up at midnight to hail and freezing rain, along with six inches of snow already on the ground. After two hours of watching the weather and hoping for improvement, we gave up and went back to bed. This morning the skies were scattered, but dry. After breakfast we were able to punch a path up to the base of the route. At points the snow was nearly waist deep. Most of the snow had come down from the face above and it felt like wading through Dip-n-Dots. We are back in camp now, resting and hoping for better weather in the morning. Thinking of our friends and family, RMI Guide Eric Frank and the Alpamayo Team

This is Zeb Blais checking in from the February Mexico Volcanoes climb. This morning we were greeted by the first rays of sun lighting Popocatepetl. We got a leisurely start to the day with a breakfast of huevos Mexicana. After breakfast we packed our gear and headed to the trailhead for our move to high camp on Ixta. The team did well and made it to high camp feeling good. After setting up tents, we spent the rest of the beautiful day relaxing in the sun. We wrapped up the day with a briefing on the climb ahead and a big dinner. Off to bed for now. We will check in from the summit. Adios. RMI Guide Zeb Blais

On The Map

Showers was the word of the day! That's all anyone could think about after such a great night of sleep, that and having not bathed in four days. After breakfast the team descended back down from Elbrus to our hotel in the Baksan valley via the 2 gondolas and single chair lift. The weather continues to be sunny and very warm here in Russia. Tonight we will have a celebratory dinner and I'm sure there will be a little sampling of the local Vodka too. Everyone is smiling.

We are in a routine... hitting our stride and finding a groove. It felt perfectly normal to wake up at 14,000 ft., pack the bags, guzzle the hot drinks, look each other in the eye for signs of a rough night due to tummy or altitude trouble, fight over who-ordered-what, eat breakfast and hit the trail in the midst of gargantuan mountains and outrageous vistas. The trek to Lobuche began as an easy stroll up the broad valley that Pheriche sits in. Tawoche and Cholatse seemed to grow bigger and steeper, forming an impenetrable wall to our left. Pocalde and its many rock summits formed a corresponding barrier on our right. We merged into the flow of yak and trekker traffic for a time until the route steepened and narrowed. At that point, we began to pass numerous teams and individuals stopping to catch their breath. Rather than giving in to the temptation to pause every few steps, I urged Erica to treat the hills we were climbing as prep for the Khumbu Icefall. We certainly won't have the option there to pause in dangerous places just because our legs and lungs get tired. Erica has climbed a few good mountains and she understood the challenge I was putting to her. It was time for us to distinguish ourselves from trekkers and walkers and hikers, and to operate more like mountain climbers. Mountain climbers who actually would not have too many more practice stretches before things get serious above basecamp. The rest of our own team was on about the same game plan. We gathered to check on one another at Thukla... or Dhukla, as you may prefer. In fact, the sign there says "Thukla+Dhukla." At any rate, there are just two teahouses at Dhukla and we sat outside one, sipping hot lemon drinks and chatting with some of the folks we've shared the trail with for several days. There are gigantic hills of rough rock piled near Dhukla, which are actually the terminal moraine of the Khumbu Glacier. After our break, as we climbed up a long and steady hill to 16,000 ft., we were finding our way to the lateral moraines of the Khumbu... the glacier that will essentially be our home for the next seven weeks. We came out onto level ground at Thok La, a pass of some significance and reverence for climbers. There are dozens of stone monuments, or chortens, at Thok La for dead climbing partners... fathers... brothers... sons, teammates and friends. Some of the chortens are elaborate, with engraved and polished brass. Others have chiseled stone tablets eroded and difficult to read after decades in the wind and driven snow. Some are for famous Western climbers, some are for anonymous Sherpas. It always seems appropriate to pause at Thok La in order to walk among the chortens and to appreciate the dangers we will subject ourselves to. And for some of us, it is an important chance to remember friends who didn't make it home. Thok La is also a natural boundary between the inhabited valleys below and the vast and marginally hospitable world of rock and ice above. It took our team no more than an hour to cover the easy ground into Lobuche from the pass. The trail followed a stream which, I explained to those around me, would normally be a sizable frozen flow at this time of year. I was struck by how little water was in the stream. There was virtually no ice and no snow on the hills forming the moraine. Just as many Sherpas had already explained, the winter was strangely devoid of precipitation and we were seeing confirmation of that. We'd lost our view of several of the familiar peaks of the past week, but we'd gained unimpeded vistas of new and important ones. Pumori, Lingtren and Khumbutse, which tower over Everest Basecamp, only two short days' walk away. And Changtse, Everest's north peak, was visible over in Tibet. The Lobuche Peaks (East and West) crowd the immediate view to the west now and Nuptse's crazy spiderweb wall of dikes fills the east. We are in yet another comfy teahouse, the "Eco Lodge," unpacking a few bags and getting settled for two nights and some more of that good old-fashioned acclimatization. The afternoon clouds have come over and it seems a good time for a nap.

Wednesday, June 12, 2024 - 2:13 pm PT

Stuck at Basecamp

Today was going to be the day, the start of the trip. The launching point of our grand adventure. We were ready. We had practiced our ice axe arrest, learned how to rig our sleds, and relearned how to use the bathrooms here. The CMCs. We went to bed anxious, ready, and excited. But that’s when the snow started, and kept going. We were socked in a cloud with no sign of any mountains around us and no viable window for a move to our next camp. So we sat and sat and drank coffee waiting for our time to come. When the sun finally showed itself, it was just too warm (I know, shocker) to head out. The biggest crevasses on our climb form on the lower Kahiltna and with the mushy snow from the strong sun/ warming temps plus the variable weather, we stayed at Basecamp. We’ll try again tomorrow to get to the base of Ski Hill, our Camp 1.

Wish us luck!

RMI Guide Dominic Cifelli

It was still pretty clear that we were going to sit today, the winds were ripping around up high like a school of minnows, darting in all directions. Camp, however, had finally calmed, the snow had stopped, and it was shaping up to be a sunny day. The sun eventually evaded the clouds up high and broke free thawing our tents and bodies. The rest of the day we stored up heat in our body batteries, basked in that orange orb, and rested. The forecast is looking better going forward, so we hope to be taking the next steps in the next few days. Until then, we'll continue basking in our high altitude solarium.

RMI Guide Pete Van Deventer