Putting the “fun” in functional fitness 2018, part 2

In the last post, I talked about tackling Mount Quandary, our first 14er. In this one, I’ll talk about our 8 mile hike and the thing I never thought I’d try – an adventure ropes course.

The Peaks Trail

Back in 2016, we stayed in Breckenridge and did about 2.75 miles of the Peaks Trail (5.5 mile round trip). That was pretty good for me at the time, since I really hadn’t tried hiking in a long time.

The start of the Peaks Trail is at the top of Ski Hill Road in Breckenridge. You can hike it all the way down into Frisco (nearly 8 miles one way) though we haven’t gone quite that far yet.

This time, I’m happy to say we made it a heck of a lot further. We went 4.25 miles one direction and then turned back, for a total of 8.5 miles. There was a lot more traffic on Saturday morning than when we went two years ago, including quite a few mountain bikers – most of them riding up from Frisco, hitting the end of the trail, and riding back again. But we also had some trail runners and a lot of casual hikers like ourselves.

We went another mile and a quarter past this sign, then turned back.

We hiked for about three hours total (90 minutes in before turning back) and made it a lot further than last time. I think we could have made it all the way down to Frisco – but we wouldn’t have wanted to hike back. 🙂

This was a heck of a lot easier than climbing the 14er earlier in the week, but I have to say I would not have ever seen myself attempting such a thing, let alone making it as far as we did, without crossfit behind me. So let’s call this functional fitness for the win!

Alpineer Challenge Course

What, you may ask, is an Alpineer Challenge Course? Well, it’s a ropes course at the top of the Epic Discovery complex that’s at Peak 8 at the top of the gondola from the town of Breckenridge. When we were there in 2016, they were just building the thing — but now it’s in full swing with an Alpine Slide, a roller coaster, zip lines, and a bunch of other activities.

Now, if you know me at all you know I’m not the most adventurous soul in the world. We hit Epic Discovery with my sister and nephew on Wednesday while we were in Breck and I was not sure what all I might be able to attempt, let alone conquer.

Getting ready for the roller coaster

We did the little roller coaster first. It wasn’t all that exciting, but AJ says I had the brake on the whole time so I slowed HER down. 🙂 It uses the same basic mechanics as the alpine slide – but you have two levers to pull to brake. I used them a lot apparently, since she told me I drove like an old farmer.

I’m not a fan of roller coasters, but this one was my speed, and therefore a bit boring. 🙂

From there, we headed to the Alpine Slide. I did the Alpine Slide when there was one in Colorado Springs, way back when I was a kid. I remember a picture with my sister and I and a bunch of my Mom’s family way back when. So it’s been more than 30 years since I’ve done one.

We had to ride a ski lift to the top. Having never been skiing (yes, a few of us “natives who don’t ski” do exist in Colorado), I’ve never attempted a ski lift.

Not so sure about getting off the ski lift, but I survived!

It was… an experience. I survived. A little rickety, but kind of fun. And then we grabbed our sleds for the slide and headed down the mountain.

Once I got going, I had a lot of fun and enjoyed the speed — until I hit the little girl who went before me pretty much slamming on the brakes the whole way. I kind of tapped her from behind, but only a little – and then we went really slowly down the track…

Don’t we look excited going slow? HA!

And then we headed up the mountain on another ski lift to get to the very top. It took us roughly to 12,000 feet.

This was a bit smoother ride on a larger contraption, so it was fine. 🙂

We did the little hike at the top and took some pictures, and then attempted the Alpineer Course. Essentially this is a ropes course with a few paths you can take with different obstacles. And it’s the last place you’d ever think to find me.

Funny enough, I think I tackled all but about three obstacles out of 15 — and I had fun. Yes, that’s the surprising part of the whole thing. (I even met the weight requirement – you had to be under 220, so thank you to the last nutrition challenge!)

AJ, Ev, and I bounced around up there doing things like tightrope walks, walking on beams, dealing with short rope swings, and more. It was a blast. And a LOT of work — my core and grip was pretty fried by the time I stopped.

Here are some pictures my sister took while we were bouncing around:

AJ did great!

Hi!

A bit wobbly in spots

As you can see, you are strapped into a harness and wearing a helmet, so even if you fall — you won’t fall far. AJ fell once on the log thing in the bottom right, but didn’t hurt herself much. Ev was the only one to attempt the floating “lillipads” and she made it a ways and turned back. But I think we all had a good time and will do it again. 🙂

Crazy to think we’d have fun on such a contraption – but hey. I was surprised and really enjoyed it. I don’t have much balance and was way wobbly on a few things but made it through. And if  *I* can do it – you probably can too. 🙂

We had a blast last week – with a mix of activities and downtime — so I can’t complain at all. 🙂

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So that’s it – the “fun” in functional fitness for this year. Next year maybe we’ll get to try and drop into a class at Breckenridge Crossfit. And maybe we’ll get to try paddle boarding as well. No ropes to hang onto when you fall in the water there. 🙂

A huge thank you to my wife and AJ, who encouraged me to do all these crazy things. And a big thank you to our crossfit community at Continuum, who have been a part of the journey that got me to the point where I would even attempt them.

Huzzah!

 

Putting the “fun” in functional fitness 2018, part 1

Last week we enjoyed some time in the mountains around Breckenridge. We had every intention of hitting CrossFit Breckenridge while we were there and trying out paddle boarding, but didn’t manage to do either. Instead we enjoyed a few other activities. We hiked a 14er, did a ropes course at about 12,000 feet, and did over an 8 mile hike.

I’m going to break this into a series to talk about a few things because I got a little wordy in spots. 🙂

Mount Quandary

Let’s start with the 14er. We hiked to Quandary Peak from the Quandary Peak trail head not far from Hoosier Pass, just a few miles south of Breckenridge on Colorado 9.

I stopped not far from here (picture from 14ers)

We set out from the trail head about 6:50am in the middle of the week. It was a Thursday and there weren’t all that many folks out. We had beautiful weather that morning, but it changed quickly a few hours later. Though every resource we found seems to claim the trail is between 6 and 7 miles long to the top and back down, it felt much longer – we all felt like it was closer to 10-12 miles round trip. Maybe it is 6 miles “as the crow flies,” but Ev’s Fitbit begged to differ. 🙂

Though I’ve been told I’ve done a 14er as a child, I have no memory of it — so I’m counting this one as my first attempt. The trail started about 10,850 feet and the top is at 14,265 feet. And though my wife and daughter made it to the top, I stopped about an hour (and several false peaks) before them when my mind and body were telling me that I needed to halt there. I listened.

Climbing up the trail before we hit treeline

So I didn’t make it to 14k. I think I stopped somewhere around 13k and that was pretty good for me.

The trail itself was a challenge, easier at the bottom through the trees and then working through boulder fields and scree above treeline to get to the top. None of us were wearing hiking boots, just sneakers – so that was entertaining. We were never in much danger of falling, at least until the rain hit us going back down.

I stayed in a gorgeous field at 13,000 feet and waited for Ev & AJ to finish their ascent and return back down. I was upset with myself for bailing on the hike to the top, but really enjoyed my 2.5 hours in that field. I sat not far off the trail and though there were people hiking up and down, I had several stretches of 10 minutes or more where I was undisturbed – almost zen-like.

Looking down towards Alma

I watched clouds pass as shadows on distant hillsides, with a view down one side into the valley just south of Breckenridge and a view down the valley just south of Hoosier Pass on the way down to Alma. Those same clouds billowed and built into fantastic thunderheads and carved wisps of wind and water.

I watched pika (small tailless rodents that live up there) scurry across the rocks to find tufts of grass and enjoy frantic meals literally chewing their way through the scenery. At one point, the wind shifted and I was upwind enough that I had a furry friend snack within a few feet of where I was sitting. I came to enjoy their little high-pitched barks across the rocks as they announced themselves to one another.

Looking back towards Breckenridge

I listened to the passers-by, the wind, the flies, and the bees bounding across the field. The buzzing of people, insects, and breeze never really stopped. People of all sorts, young and old, chatted their way up and down the terrain as they hit the section of trail I sat beside. Many conversations drifted to and fro, carried on the wind. And I was only rarely bothered by an errant fly or bee buzzing along their way. I was just another part of the landscape to them.

I saw several spiders crawling between and under rocks, doing their best to snack on the smaller insects they may be able to catch. Some of them appeared quite hearty, so I suspect their dining options were plentiful.

Lots of these little pika scurrying around

And I enjoyed it all.

I even enjoyed it when the rain blew in, and then a bit of hail. Small pebbles of ice blew through a few times, but nothing damaging or particularly dangerous. I was warm when the sun came out and cold when it went away, but not uncomfortably so. I think if it had been much worse I might have felt differently, but it was a pleasant change as I passed the time.

I did move further down the trail at one point to get out of the wind, but not too far. And I knew when my family made it to the top and started their descent.

It really was a marvelous way to spend a couple of hours. I joke about it being zen-like but I felt more at peace there than I have in quite a while. I’ll attribute that to the view at elevation, not the lack of oxygen at altitude. 🙂

My brave wife and daughter made it all the way to the top!

We were all exhausted when we went back down the mountain. We slipped and scrambled across wet rocks in a few places, but for the most part we focused just on getting down safely. It took a bit more than 7 hours round trip from start to finish, and that was plenty.

Never in a million years did I think I would ever attempt such a thing as to climb a mountain. Crossfit gave me the ability to give it a shot. And continued growth in confidence of my own physical abilities got me pretty close this time.

I’m not sure I’ll try another one for a while – but knowing my family it’s probably in the cards at some point!

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Next time, I’ll talk about the ropes course. A definite first for me. 🙂