Hardrock 100 KT (Kamm Traverse) to Chapman Gulch

(over Grant-Swamp pass)

Kamm Traverse 11.5mi
09:47-09:49 2 minutes in the aid station (2:00)

I arrived at KT and had the most wonderful Quesadilla. I think I had a couple pieces of fruit and some potato chips too while the aid station crew filled my bottles (I had a zip-lock bag with more maltodextrin in it for the aid stations that didn’t have drop bags.) I said ‘Thank You’ to everybody as I left (“sixty, that’s six-zero, OUT”) and started up the traverse named after Ulli Kamm (quite a character to hang out with if you very get a chance, a I did at Across The Years once. I guess 10 Hardrock finishes were enough for him…I hope to finish as many before too many years pass…) I caught up with Roger Ackerman, who was looking in better shape this year to finish. Last year I was with Roger and his pacer Howie Stern at Virginius Pass but it was not Roger’s day. This year he shined (and beat me to Silverton, too!) Howie was in the race this year and, of course, was already way ahead of both of us. Once the trail entered the trees I saw Bill Losey emptying his shoes along the trail. Once I arrived at the Ice Lake creek crossing, Bill was right behind me. In fact, he passed me crossing the creek (and so did Rodger Wrublik, the last time I would see him.) It is a steep climb after the creek as you start your way up toward Grant-Swamp pass.

Eventually I came to a rough-looking Chris Twiggs, who mentioned that his stomach was not doing so well. I wished him well, knowing that he would work his way through it (he lives in Florida and had managed to finish the last three years) and continued climbing. Before long, David caught up and I tried to stick with him. He is a strong climber; even though he was injured. He managed to scrounge a couple of trekking poles for the race to help his bad knee and he was cruising. I couldn’t keep up but his plan was to wait for Michelle at the top of each climb knowing that she would probably beat him down the next descent. They followed this pattern for quite a while.

One trick that some of us use in a race with all the climbing that Hardrock has, it to put the visor of your hat down so you can’t see how much climbing you have left, and just keep cranking the legs. Of course you have to stop every now and then to take in the awesome scenery and maybe a photograph or two.

I kept steady all the way to the top of Grant-Swamp pass and didn’t even notice what everybody was looking at – a Mountain Goat.

It was just like the one in the slide that John Cappis had put into the long course briefing on Wednesday. I had seen photos of these magnificent beasts before but believe me, nothing compares to seeing one up close and in person. I wanted to stay far enough away in case he wanted a handout, but mostly in case he wanted to butt heads (I have a hard head but didn’t want to compare it with his…) I saw Fred Ecks at the pass (the last time I would see him) and Rodger (also the last time I would see him as he cruised down the snow fields down Swamp Canyon toward Chapman aid station.) It was on this stretch somewhere, either climbing or just over the pass that some Frank Zappa song or other popped into my head. Fortunately I can’t remember, as it continued throughout the race; it did keep my mind off the distance I still had to cover. After a while traversing the snow and boulder fields, I finally arrived at the ‘trail’ – an old Jeep road which leads all the way down to the Chapman Gulch aid station (the first ‘drop bag’ aid station in this direction.) Somewhere on the way down, there was a note attached to a rock (or was it a branch of a twig…I can’t quite remember now) that said that the Chapman aid station was moved something like .4 miles further than it was supposed to have been. Uh-oh, I hope I have enough water in my two bottles! I crossed the stream where there was a small footbridge, at least there was last year. This year, you guessed it, another soak-your-feet stream crossing. One thing I did discover, though, is that wet feet aren’t so bad as long as they stay cool. Once you have hot wet feet, look out! Oh well, at least I have a chance to let my feet dry a little while on the road to the new aid station location. Actually, it worked out well since the climb over Oscar’s pass is long and brutal (and normally very hot.) so the closer I was, the better off I would be as far as water went.