[rui.jm.silva]

I’ve been doing the 24 week Expeditionary Mountaineering Training Plan in order to prepare for Denali in May 2018.
I noticed the training plan has some water carrying exercises, but I was wondering if there are any specific routines in order to prepare for sled hauling.
Should I do some sled pulls as a complement of the plan? Or should I trust that, when the time comes, I’ll be able to support the loads (backpack + sled)?

Topic

[Anonymous]

Anonymous on February 9, 2018 at 6:11 pm #8058

Since this plan is written more generically for big mountains, few of which require dragging a sled, that type of training is omitted. You can substitute some heavy sled dragging for the weighted carries. Keep in mind that most people find the most taxing day of a conventional West Buttress climb (as opposed to the alternative we present in Training for the New Alpinism) to be the move from 14k to 17.5k. There is no sled dragging on that day but some steep climbing with a heavy pack that is the crux for many. Many a summit attempt have been lost due the exertion needed on that day.

So bear that in mind and then add the sled drags. We’ve had folks tell us about dragging stacks of tires and even little lawn tractors. Do this like a muscular endurance workout. So several pulls of 3-5 minutes each with 1 minute rest between each pull. The speed should be slow and the resistance high for these.

Scott

[Henryhampton]

Henryhampton on January 19, 2020 at 4:31 pm #36537

Thanks for that,, One more thing Scott. On weighted climb workouts it would seem that a fully loaded pack,, bulky like, would be nest rather than the weight vests I see out there.. Center of Gravity and core etc.. you think that makes a difference?