{"id":4766,"date":"2018-10-22T10:07:50","date_gmt":"2018-10-22T17:07:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.christofteuscher.com\/aagaa\/?p=4766"},"modified":"2022-09-08T09:38:11","modified_gmt":"2022-09-08T16:38:11","slug":"news-grand-canyon-r2r2r2r2r2r2r2r2r-attempt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/christofteuscher.com\/aagaa\/news-grand-canyon-r2r2r2r2r2r2r2r2r-attempt\/","title":{"rendered":"NEWS: Grand Canyon R2R2R2R2R2R2R2R2R Attempt"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\r\n Update<\/strong><\/span>: I was able to complete 8 Grand Canyon crossings in 58:11<\/a>. See report for more details<\/a>.\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\n

O<\/span>n Wed, Oct 24, 2018, I will start for a solo attempt to cross the Grand Canyon eight (8) times:\u00a0R2R2R2R2R2R2R2R2R. Or in other words: a quadruple double-crossing. To the best of my knowledge, this has never been attempted. There may be a (good) reason for that. I guess I’ll find out.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Pain and fun as a function of the number of Grand Canyon crossings. Some eggs were hurt in the process, but I made a decent scramble with the remains.<\/p><\/div>\n

A single south-to-north rim-to-rim crossing on the Kaibab trail is 21 miles long with about 6,000ft of elevation gain. Going the opposite way results in about 5,000ft of elevation gain only (= one Mt. Defiance climb<\/a>). 8 crossings thus add up to 168 miles with about 44,000ft of elevation gain. Elevation-gain-wise, that is roughly equivalent to climbing Mt. Hood 8 times or Mt. Everest 4 times (from the base camp). Distance-wise, it would be about 24 Hoods or 14 Everests.<\/p>\n

Compared to Tor des G\u00e9ants<\/a> and other fairly normal challenges<\/a> I’ve successfully survived, this new challenge looks pretty reasonable. Yet, the canyon comes with additional difficulties: for example, during my first (and so far last)\u00a0rim-to-rim-to-rim crossing in 2014<\/a>, when I was training for my first 100mi race, the many steps on the trail\u2014so I hypothesize\u2014nuked my IT band and I ended up injured for weeks. But perhaps I was also not quite ready for this type of load on my body because I had only started the whole running thing 10 months ago.<\/p>\n

From the 2014 double-crossing<\/a> I still clearly remember one thing: I would never ever have wanted to turn around and do another double. Let alone a 3rd<\/sup> or 4th<\/sup> time. It totally beats me how I came up with this 8 crossings idea. I was possibly lured into this evil trap simply because I was intrigued by the many Rs.<\/p>\n

[pullquote]I was possibly lured into this evil trap simply because I was intrigued by the many Rs.[\/pullquote]<\/p>\n

This will be a supported attempt, because, well, I’m getting old, feeble, and lazy. Since you can’t drive all the way to the South Kaibab trailhead, super-spouse and team psychologist Dr. Ursina Teuscher<\/a> will be on 24h duty to meet me there by bike with well-needed supplies after each double crossing\u2014well, assuming there will be more than one. In the likely case I’ll have to sleep for longer than just a trail nap, I will try to do that at the bottom of the canyon where it will be hopefully a little warm(er) and cozier than anywhere else. Temps are supposed to be around freezing at night on the rims.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And if you wondered: yes, the <\/span>30,000ft sextuple Defiance\u00a0record<\/a> was part of a key training block for this Grand Canyon madness, which is itself training for, well, stay tuned…<\/span><\/p>\n

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8 Grand Canyon crossings = 168 miles with about 44,000ft of elevation gain. What am I going to do in the afternoon?<\/p><\/div>\n

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How do 8 Grand Canyon crossings compare to climbing Mt. Everest from the base camp? Ok, well, thankfully the Grand Canyon only goes up to 8,300ish feet at the north rim.<\/p><\/div>\n

Current Grand Canyon Records<\/h3>\n

The Grand Canyon is clearly a competitive stomping ground, as you can see from the list of major crossing records below.\u00a0A complete and up-to-date list of all Grand Canyon records can be found at\u00a0https:\/\/fastestknowntime.com\/route\/grand-canyon-crossings-az<\/a>.<\/p>\n

At my age, there is no way I can compete with speed, but I can still compete with craziness.<\/p>\n

Tracking<\/h3>\n

You can track me in the embedded map below or go to\u00a0http:\/\/bit.ly\/R2R2R2R2R2R2R2R2R<\/a>.<\/p>\n

If SpotWalla is not working for some reason, try the direct SPOT page:\u00a0http:\/\/share.findmespot.com\/shared\/faces\/viewspots.jsp?glId=0CHt4dj5I9Zg2NnFz97gqWyNkU2u1nrKr<\/a><\/p>\n

The planned start is on Wed, Oct 24, 2018, possibly around 4am. I will start\/finish at the South Kaibab trailhead and follow the South\/North Kaibab trail because that is the shortest and the traditional route for records.\u00a0Note that tracking does not always work reliably in the canyon. We may post updates on Twitter<\/a> and Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n