Monday, 09/19/11 Green Mountain in 1.24 miles

Up Front (kind of), Down Front (a little bit more)

2.99 miles RT/2,282 vert./58:32 (37:52up) 155 avg HR Garmin Data

For kicks and something a little different (and partially inspired by GZ's joking at the party last night about me liking the steep stuff), I just felt like hiking in the woods and was able to explore some new territory that I had not yet seen (much of it within shouting distance of the usual route).  Started up Amphitheater at a very easy jog/hike type of effort.  About 90 seconds or so before topping out on Amphi, I spotted a relatively clear way up the steep hillside to the left and started doing an ascending traverse in a SW direction.  Scampered over and around some large rocks, up a nice stable boulder field and eventually reconnected with the Saddle Rock Trail below the 1st Flatiron jct..  From there, I crossed the spring and immediately headed up the fall line toward the NE ridge trail.  This by far was the steepest climbing of the hike and I was wishing I had gloves and microspikes.  I could not even go up on my toes and had to cut the side edge of my shoe to not slip too much.

I continued up Greenman after NE for a few minutes, then after the "snow fence" and the two micro-switchbacks, I beelined for the summit, never crossing the trail again.  This was by far the worst section and I got pretty scraped up crawling up and over deadfall and through/under a lot of bushes (I also got completely covered in burrs which took some time to extract).  I was happy to see 1.24 miles on my watch, a full .76 less than the normal route.  I still think I could shave another .1 or so with some work, but I will at least wear gloves and maybe long sleeve/pants next time.

Descended standard NE ridge route.

Thinking about it a little more, this ascent was a little shorter than Sanitas with ~1,000 more vertical.  While on this hike/run, I kept thinking about the terrain that I love most and I narrowed it down to ~2,000-2,500 feet of vertical gain per mile (on a trail with good footing) is my absolute favorite.  I am still dreaming of a 5 mile long incline.