Part III - The Lions

Three Iconic Hikes - One Day.... Part III - The Lions

• The Lions - 5,408 ft
• Distance: ~16km
• Elevation Gain: 4,500 ft
• Time: 5:39:00

Another 25 minute drive, two sandwiches, half a can of coke later and we were parked in Lions Bay at the trailhead for The Lions. I think we both knew this was where the work was going to truly start.

I had been envisioning this moment for a few weeks... I knew it might be REALLY hard to want to start The Lions after Black Tusk and The Chief. It wasn't as bad as I expected.

At this point we could feel things were going our way - the weather was great, we were ahead of schedule and there had been no issues thus far. We wanted to bag all three peaks and I, for one, will admit that anything less would have felt like a failure. I wouldn't have wanted to even talk about it... so silly, ridiculous in fact, but true.

We set out on the trail a lot quieter than on the day's previous missions. The first 40 minutes was sheer hell. It was a simple logging road... nothing technical, but it was steep, boring, and the rocks were a bit too large to get really good uphill traction. Hard work on the calves (or the calf in my case...)

Keith and I were pretty silent until we both admitted we were HATING this section. It was pure "work" - not satisfying, not interesting, just head down grinding. We didn't talk until we decided we had to take a picture of it just so we'd remember how bad it was..... we knew that it would look easy in the picture!

Finally, we got out of that section and our spirits lifted A LOT. The trail flattened for a km or so and we jogged it. It was amazing how a new surface (pine needles!) and a flatter pitch made all the difference to our emotions. I remember thinking that we were moving into a new phase of the day... the phase where you start to mentally pay for the effort expended. After 10 or 11 hours moods change for better or worse in an instant. This is a stage you don't get to training for olympic distance triathlon.

Soon enough, it got brutally difficult again. Massive rock fields to pick our way up, intensely steep trails... I felt like I stopped every 10 steps... probably did.

Mentally, I was in a work zone. I was actively trying not to think about anything but moving up the mountain. It was a struggle... I kept thinking about how far we had to go then getting mad at myself for having those very thoughts. As the exhaustion kept increasing I wondered what would happen if I cramped up or fell or, or, or...

It didn't help that on our way up we passed approximately 50 people coming down, and EVERY SINGLE ONE said:

"Late start today hey guys?"

or

"You guys aren't trying for the top are you?"

Apart from getting a tad annoying, it began to plant a seed of fear in my mind... were we crazy?

Eventually we got a glimpse of the peak and it looked 1,000 km away. I'm not kidding... it REALLY hurt to see how far we had to go. I wanted to poke my eyes out so I wouldn't look to the top again.

I kept telling myself not to look again. But all I could think about was the snapshot indelibly printed on my mind of that distant peak.

As I clambered over huge rocks, grabbing the odd tree to keep upright and carefully placing EVERY footstep, one after the other I started to assess my systems:

- Brain: Still functional. Not a lot of variety in my thoughts. More like chants. Short ones - the kind that take three or four steps. Repeat 3,000 times. Avoid thinking about how much is left... think about each step being one step closer. Annoyingly started singing that song "One step closer to you..."

- Balance: Deteriorating. With the muscle fatigue and mental exhaustion I was beginning to have little trips, little stumbles, momentary losses of balance. Not enough to fall, just enough to remind me to that I had to ratchet the focus up even more.

- Muscular: Not bad but my right quad was handling every large step - up and down. I tried to share the work when I could but it was too late to start asking for more from my weaker left leg and prosthesis - also many of the 1,000s of individual steps of this last climb were too technical (or just plain large) to use my left leg as the "go to" leg. Hence, my right quad was WORKED. To it's credit it kept going... thank goodness.

Unbelievably, after a lot more hard work we started to get close enough that I could look for the top again. It still looked a long way off though...

We arrived with about 50 minutes of daylight remaining and enjoyed the peak by ourselves. I have to say the peak came quicker than I expected. For LONG stretches I was sure we wouldn't make it. There was a point I said to Keith "We must have an hour left?" (Looking up at the peak...). It was about 15 minutes.

Keith on top of The Lions with Vancouver in the distant background.

I had said hours earlier that we just needed to get to the top of The Lions because we would, of course, be able to make it down. (Note: Later I realized this very thought has probably killed people on bigger tougher climbs. I think they call it "Summit Fever". Descending may be easier but you can still get lost, fall, meet a bear, bonk, get separated etc.)

On this day Keith, our planner, had judged things quite perfectly though. We enjoyed the peak for about 5 minutes and headed right back down, covering a long section of difficult terrain before it got dark.

Video of the descent (Note: There is a swear word in this one, and for that Keith apologizes...)

Sunset on the descent:

Just prior to darkness falling we had a little 20 minute scare when we lost the trail. It was more annoying than anything, but with the sun going down we were searching pretty urgently.

Even with awesome headlamps, climbing down in the dark was quite a bit slower, and there were many more stumbles/trips and even a fall or two... nothing serious though as we were being uber-careful. It was on both of our minds that a broken ankle now would be really unfortunate.

Food was also on our minds and I can't recall ever being so focused on fast food.... It was extremely disturbing to me that not a single purveyor of cheeseburgers was located between The Lions and my home.

We finished with another BRUTALLY PAINFUL 40 mins on that stupid logging road. It was just as bad going down and it seemed to go on forever - like a movie that keeps having one more painful scene after another, when it should have ended an hour ago.

Conclusion:

Total Time: 14:23:00

Total Climbing Time: 12:57:00 (5:13, 2:06, 5:38)

Total Distance: ~53km (~30, 7, 16) (33 miles)

Total Elevation Gained: ~12,000 ft

Prior to the painful logging road Keith and I had plenty of time to analyze our day. From the decision a few days earlier to move the start time up by an hour, to the run down Black Tusk, we had ended up needing every advantage we got. There were so many things that could have gone wrong but didn't... It was the perfect day.

I was incredibly pumped. Overall it was definitely harder than I expected - my ability with my leg was put to the most extreme test it has seen yet. With fatigue, difficult terrain, darkness, snow, ice and plenty of loose rock I had come out in one piece and with a smile on my face.

For now I rank this as the most difficult thing I have done BY FAR. It will be interesting to see how it stacks up against other long events - like an Ironman. I have to believe this will match an Ironman for difficulty - it was longer in time (I hope!), and the terrain and ease of movement was WAY more difficult for my leg than riding a bike or running on pavement. Only one way to find out...

Over a week later I am still very proud of our achievement. The blisters have healed (mostly), the cuts are pretty much gone, and the muscles are back to normal (barely!) It took an entire week!

The reality of the accomplishment is just as good, if not better, than I hoped it would be when I dreamt up this thing! We are the only two people I know that have attempted this. Maybe one day someone else will... I hope so!

I'd like to thank Keith for everything he did - which was a lot. Planning, gear lists, photography, video, navigation, trail breaking... He was awesome! We never snapped at each other - not even on that b!tchy fire road!

Video after sundown... (a bit blair witch...)

Challenge complete!! 8:55 pm.

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Part II - The Chief

Three Iconic Hikes - One Day.... Part II - The Chief

• The Chief - 2,303 ft
• Distance Covered: ~7km
• Elevation Gain: approx. 2,000 ft
• Our Time: 2:06:00

After descending the 15km from Black Tusk we spent a few minutes in the parking lot assessing ourselves and the time. We felt good but knew there was a LONG way to go. We both stretched a bit and I looked over my leg... It was designed for running - not mountain climbing/hiking - it had performed well but had taken a beating.

Nevertheless, spirits were soaring at this point... we were 45 mins ahead of our schedule and feeling good. After a short drive (37km) during which we ate, drank, called our wives and reloaded our packs. We got out of the van at the base of The Chief.

The Chief is a popular climb for the people of Squamish and the whole Sea-to-Sky corridor - therefore it is pretty packed on a sunny Sunday afternoon. The crowds slowed us down a bit, but the Chief is no cake walk. I think I had already begun to look past it because of it's length (only 7km total) - that was a mistake - it is pretty much a vertical climb over odd angled rocks. Adding to the technical nature of the ascent was the fact I could definitely feel the Tusk in my legs. It was steep enough that I was using my hands with regularity, it took a lot of concentration to place my "foot" properly on each rock all the way to the top.

I felt BRUTALLY SLOW but... miraculously, we arrived at the top right on schedule. I thought I'd blown it with my turtle-like pace.

There are three peaks that make up The Chief - they are creatively named: First, Second and Third. Third is the highest, at 710m, and as such was our destination. I believe the view would be better at First or Second since they are at the top of the steep face overlooking Squamish - from the Third peak you are set back a bit.... it is still quite impressive though. The enormous rock slab makes a cool spot to stand and survey the surrounds. We did that for a few minutes then made tracks... we were on a schedule!

I think to enjoy the hike, up and down, and have a lunch on top, you'd want to allow 4-5 hours. We rushed (as much as we could) and it took just over 2 hours.

The way down was much easier... still very technical but a lot less stopping required - comparatively relaxing on the heart rate.

The Chief was by far the shortest, and in retrospect the easiest, but in no way was it easy. At the bottom we found that we had preserved our 45 minute cushion. We still felt pretty fresh and knew we were going for all three peaks.

Highlights: Getting to the top and realizing that it wasn't as slow as I thought. Getting back to the bottom and feeling good enough to go for the triple.

Some Video:

Part way up The Chief:

At the top of The Chief: (If you have very good eyes you can see Black Tusk in the distance off my right shoulder (:05 - :11)

Finished The Chief:

Tomorrow: Part III - The Lions

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Part I - Black Tusk

Three Iconic Hikes - One Day.... Part I - Black Tusk

• Black Tusk - 7,608 ft
• Distance Covered: ~30km
• Elevation Gain: approx. 5,000 ft
• Our Time: 5:13:00

Keith and I arrived in the Rubble Creek parking lot at about 6:15am... it was pitch black while we loaded our packs and got our headlamps adjusted. It was cold so we both opted for a light jackets/layers... (those stayed on for about 15 minutes then became extra, unnecessary weight... awesome.)

The hike starts out with a heavily forested section with switchbacks... the pitch doesn't look that steep but it all depends on your pace and ours felt fast to begin. (Thanks Keith!)

5 minutes in I was hurting... heart pounding, breathing heavy. I was worried that this "three peaks" idea was one of the worst I had ever come up with. Fortunately, my body settled in to the work and I started to feel much better before long... maybe just needed to wake up.

The sun was up at about the same time as we emerged from the forest onto a beautiful alpine meadow... things got flatter for a few kms and we were making great time. It was at about that time that we started to encounter snow and ice on the trail. It wasn't a big deal but we still had a long way to go and the presence of the white stuff was bound to slow us down a lot.

The snow was not part of our plan, but we handled it. It got a lot deeper as we climbed and became very challenging at times with my running leg which is the exact opposite of a snowshoe - it dives deep in the snow. It also has little to offer in the way of surface area so traction is sketchy on snow and ice.

For a while I was concerned the snow would make it impossible to reach the top, but once I realized we would get there I began to enjoy it... sure it was tough, but it made the last few sections so much more exciting. Looking back on the day and all three peaks, this was one of my very favourite parts.

Some video to give you an idea of the last few sections....

Our pace was WAY slower with the snow and therefore it felt pretty cold up near the top... by the time we got there we only wanted to stay long enough to snap a picture or two and head right back down.

The view of the lake and the surrounding mountains is pretty incredible. The pictures do a better job of depicting the alpine drama than my words.

Coming down was a blast! We started by snow running/skiing/slipping/falling down the top section. Then we ran the flat meadow section and almost all of the forest section. I'm not sure but we probably ran 12km or so on the way down to the parking lot.

This is an awesome day hike and I definitely want to go back and take it a little slower... enjoy the scenery and spend some time. I think allowing 7 or 8 hours would make a pretty great day with time to explore... we were rushing, and with the snow it took us 5:13. That put us ahead of our schedule by 45 minutes... that advantage would come in very handy by the time we found ourselves on The Lions watching the sun set!

Highlights: The peak in the snow - probably -3°c but sunny. Using Sharman's shirt to protect my bare leg and cut through the snow. Running down... we were fresh, feeling great and making good time.

More Photos:

Keith - and the other side of the Tusk

Myself - Tusk right behind me...

Keith - and the side we came up...

Video of us completing the Tusk...

TOMORROW: Part II - The Chief

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Black Tusk, The Chief, The Lions - 14.5 hours

Last Sunday a friend and I climbed Black Tusk, The Chief and The Lions in one day. 50km and over 12,000 ft of elevation gain.

The idea came to me about a year ago and never really left... not like some of the other crazy ideas I have had.

The 14.5 hour odyssey was BY FAR the hardest thing I have ever done. I am trying to put it into words for you all but it is taking longer than I expected - partially because I am still recovering.

There will be a full report with tons of pictures and video very soon!

Here is a shot of Keith and I on top of The Lions - our third peak of the day. We still had to descend and 2 hours of that descent would take place in the dark.

Can't wait to tell you all about it.... sorry for the teaser!

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