Friday, 01/28/11 Filming for Dateline on Green Mountain

I woke up this morning and had an e-mail in my inbox from Aron, asking if I were interested in possibly making a cameo appearance as his real life running partner for a Dateline NBC/Tom Brokaw special to air in February.  I was of course eager to get out on such a nice day and at the very least, spectate and socialize.

Arrived at the Gregory TH around 11:20am and soon two big rental Yukon XLs pull in packed with camera gear, Aron, the producer, film guy and sound guy.  They got us mic'd up and we soon started up Gregory Canyon for some sunshine and dry trail.  They set up in several spots and had Aron and I run back and forth, having us just chat casually and act "normal" while they filmed. 

We went as far as the first steep rocky section, where they then filmed Aron run back and forth a few times.  Nothing too crazy exciting, but it was fun to see a $92,000 camera in action, fun to catch up with Aron and meet the film crew, but of course most fun to soak up the sun on a ~70 degree January day, where it was almost hot in the sun wearing a t-shirt and shorts.

As we were wrapping up, I got a call from Dave, who was on his way to the TH, so I joined him for a lap up/down Gregory/Ranger.  Dave is really fit right now (when is he not?) and I was sucking wind trying to keep up and maintain some exhaly conversation.  Eventually on the NW ridge below the flat spot, I cut the virtual tether and told him to keep on going, as I needed to walk a bit (I was defininitely pushing my achilles a bit beyond recovery pace).  We met on the summit and then cruised back down together, taking it easy on the slush and ice.

Conditions update:

The trail is mostly melted through Gregory, but there is still a fair amount of well packed snow/ice above.  Fortunately, it was warm and slushy enough that we were able to get by without traction (sketchy at times though on the down, studded shoe or spikes would be good from the cabin to the 4-way).  If it were colder, the upper section would become a bobsled run.

An awesome day to be out with great friends.

Splits:

Up: 40:47 (166 avg HR)
Down:  28:29 (139 avg HR)