Abu Dhabi – ideal acclimatisation for Denali!

I am not doing Denali, but I have done a fair amount of training in DXB for ultras and mountaineering events. The UAE has great gyms fwiw. Good treadmills and stair mills at most gyms I’ve been too. Plus the strength workouts should be easy to accomplish in a gym. I have been up in the jebel jais but it gets wicked hot! Be aware and take LOTS of water. There’s not too much out there. Not sure where/how you’ll get a lot of sled workouts in but keep us posted as I could benefit from that in the future.

Matt, Glad to hear that you’re feeling the piggy bank for your 2023 climbing outings! Training for the sled pull in the gym is definitely more difficult but not impossible. For logistical reasons of boredom and not monopolizing the gym equipment for epic amount of time I typically don’t do it as a low intensity long duration endurance workout but more of a medium duration power endurance workout. Most big CrossFit style gyms will have a sled that they use for pushing and rope pulling workouts which you can load somewhat lightly with plates and clip into with your climbing harness or backpack. It’s important not to use one of the chest harnesses that sometimes is available on those gyms because the Point of attachment is much higher on your body and uses the muscles differently. I also tend not to have folks do the super heavy because that requires bending forward at the waist much more than is typical when you’re walking on the glacier with the sled. I treat this as a bit of an interval workout and have folks start with three sets of five minutes each walking back-and-forth in the gym dragging the sled, I would shoot for a mid zone three heart rate and rest about three minutes in between sets for a total of 15 minutes of load. If this goes well you can progress over a few workouts maxing out at about 10 minute intervals for a total of 30 minutes of load. Try and pull the sled while walking fairly upright in the same approximate position you would be walking up a low angle hill on the glacier and this will give all the muscles in the hips and glutes the same kind of load so they won’t be shocked when you get to Denali. The slow drag is definitely worth training so that you’re ready for the unusual way it pulls on you but the reality is a little bit of the training goes a long ways and as long as you’re basically strong and have decent aerobic fitness you won’t have any issues on the hill.

Yes assuming ME on tuesday then I would do this on Saturday and then do an additional 90-120 minutes zone 2 aerobic work as well.