Today I will make a second attempt at the Alpine Lakes Grand Tour. The route starts at Snoqualmie Pass (Snow Lake trail head) end ends near Leavenworth (Snow Lakes trail head on Icicle Creek road). The total distance is about 75mi (120km) with up to 25,000ft (7,620m) of elevation gain (EG).
Hoping to see some mountain goats in the Enchantments!
I will start from Snoqualmie Pass at around 2pm today (Fri, Oct 10, 2014). You can follow my progress here: http://bit.ly/AlpineLakesGrandTourII
I hope I will be able to go further than during my Sep 19 attempt.
This will be another solo and unsupported attempt, i.e., I’m carrying everything necessary to run for 75 miles in rugged and remote alpine terrain.
This time, I have enough batteries (well, I thought that last time too!) and a more realistic pace table (right!). Yet, the weather might become a serious issue:
What if it snows at higher elevations? What if constant rain soaks through all my layers and I become seriously hypothermic? Hypothermia happens very gradually and you lose your physical and mental abilities without necessarily realizing it. That makes it especially dangerous on solo adventures, far away from anything warm. You may simply not be able to warm yourself up anymore, even if you are still in a state that allows you to realize you are in serious trouble.
Suffering through extreme cold at 18,000ft on Pico de Orizaba.
To account for the likely inclement weather, I changed my start time to 2pm and also packed additional gear to protect me as much as possible from the elements.
Besides the weather, an additional challenge this time is the logistics: I won’t have someone to pick me up somewhere random if I have to bail out for whatever reason. My car will be parked in Leavenworth. Period. What could possibly go wrong? Do not fear!
“What you want is not in the comfort zone! You got to get out of the comfort zone to get what you want!”