BUY NOW FOR $69 This is the plan for expert back country skiers and ski mountaineers who seek out the steep lines on big mountains. This advanced level plan is intended primarily for skiers who will skin or climb to the top of their objective. It will also serve well for heli or lift-assisted skiers looking to improve their all mountain skiing. The plan is not for novices and assumes you have a solid physical conditioning, no current injuries and have been very active over the summer but are looking to put the final touches on your fitness during the…
Author: Uphill Athlete
This is how David Roeske became the fourth person ever to successfully climb Everest and another 8,000-meter peak, in his case Cho Oyu, without oxygen in the same season.Part One: Braving Hypoxia on Cho OyuDuring the long flight from New York to Doha, Qatar, I had time to reflect on the seriousness and uncertainty of the journey I was about to undertake. We were cruising along comfortably above 30,000 feet, just a bit higher than the summit of Everest. I shivered a little, not knowing what the next weeks might bring, what condition my body would be in on the…
This is how David Roeske prepared to climb two 8,000-meter peaks without oxygen in a stairwell at sea level.When I got back from Everest in 2013, I felt incredibly grateful and overwhelmed with my good fortune. The summit experience was powerful and transcendent for me, and I came back with a desire to share the inspiration I had found there. I also felt fortunate that my body had proven able to handle such a major leap in altitude from the levels I had previously climbed. In seizing the opportunity to go, I had accepted a substantial probability of having to…
It was high on the summit slopes of Mount Orizaba, during what felt like a complete crash, that I found myself reflecting on how I had become a mountain climber in the first place.Back in 2009, I had suffered a different kind of crash. I was just out of university, and in the throes of a demoralizing breakup after five years of a difficult and enduring relationship. I don’t want to get into too many details about what she did, what I did, what happened to make it all go wrong. I just want to say this: my confidence, my…
BUY NOW FOR $59 This 12 week training plan is ideal for the moderately active person planning a trek such as Everest Base camp or the Annapurna Circuit who lives and works in a city and/or is otherwise limited in their ability to hike outdoors on mountainous our even hilly terrain due to weather or locale. The exercises are meant to be done largely on the equipment available in most commercial and even some well equipped home gyms. So, access to a treadmill, stairclimber machine, stationary bike and rowing machine will be required.The only other special requirements will be a…
Sometime in the late ’90s I was approaching a grade 6 Canadian ice climb, Virtual Reality, with my climbing partner Joe Josephson. As we walked and talked, the subject of Nanga Parbat’s Rupal Face came up. I was the only one of us who had been to the Himalaya and I had seen the mythical “biggest wall in the world.” At the time the king line, the central pillar, was unclimbed and the famed 1970 route established by Reinhold and Gunther Messner and the Karl Herligkoffer–led expedition had not been repeated. Joe and I laughed about how awesome, and yet…
If you had told me when I was a kid that I would one day climb Mount Everest, I would not have believed you. Even though I grew up in Colorado, and my family and I spent a lot of time hiking in the mountains, I never thought real alpine climbing would become a part of my life. I remember often staring at a postcard of Everest that some family friends, development workers in Nepal, had sent me when I was a kid, thinking how incredible it would be to climb that incredible peak. But the idea that I might…
In this video tutorial, Scott Johnston discusses the purpose and process of doing muscular endurance (ME) workouts using a steep hill and a backpack weighted with water. This ME water carries video is complementary to the article "What is Muscular Endurance?" Scott offers great tips and technique for beginner to advanced athletes, honed by years of experience. Related Articles Aerobic Training Exercises for Muscular Endurance Strength Training Strength Training for the Mountain Athlete Aerobic Training What Is Muscular Endurance? Why Is It Important? How Do You Train It?
Why is that some alpinists can ascend 1,000 meters in an hour with a 15-kilogram pack when others struggle with 1,000 feet in an hour? What is it that confers this seemingly superhuman ability to cover vertical terrain? Simply put, it’s muscular endurance (ME), sometimes referred to as strength endurance. Muscular endurance training is of utmost importance to all athletes involved in cyclic sports (ones that use repetitive movements for locomotion) lasting over 30 seconds. Famed Russian coach and researcher Yuri Verkhoshansky was one of the first to explore and leverage this quality’s impact on sport performance. He defines ME…
In this Uphill Athlete video tutorial, Scott Johnston demonstrates a series of basic core exercises. This beginner progression is an excellent form of pre-conditioning for Scott’s Killer Core routine.Interested in learning more about developing strength for mountain sports? Check out "Strength Training for the Mountain Athlete."