[Steve House]

Steve House on October 1, 2018 at 2:00 pm · in reply to: Global Rescue & other international Insurance #13707

@naypista Don’t you have to be a member of the OeAV as well?

I am an American Alpine Club member and subscribe to the Global Rescue Service, I upgrade to a plan that allows me to be on trips as long as 90 days, which as I recall runs me a bit more that $200 per year. But! I have used it. The service was great. The rescue itself (from the climb to the ambulance) was free thanks to Parks Canada and Canadian taxpayers. The rest was covered by Global Rescue, including the medically-equipped jet ride to Oregon after about 8 days in the Critical Care Unit in Calgary.

It would be cool if someone did a cost-benefits comparison of these services. Buying insurance is always difficult because no two competitors sell exactly the same product…so you have to read the fine print. But it would be great to see something about this on here.

I know others have used “Diver Alert Network” for the repatriation insurance.
https://www.diversalertnetwork.org/

Here is an old Global Rescue story on my rescue:

https://www.globalrescue.com/partners/blog/detail/Climber-Steve-House-is-evacuated-by-Global-Rescue-after-falling-80-feet

[Steve House]

Steve House on September 24, 2018 at 1:35 pm · in reply to: food on a route #13594

I don’t have this set up anymore. Here is a sketch.

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[Steve House]

Steve House on September 9, 2018 at 12:31 pm · in reply to: Altitude and eye surgery; Lasik, PRK, or nothing? #13354

Hi Colin,
I had lasik in 2002 or 3. Best. Thing. Ever.

I had a minor correction, -1.75, no astigmastism, pretty straightforward near-sightedness. Every diagnosis is different, but i’m very glad I did it after years of contacts/glasses.

I don’t know if there is more data now on altitude issues, there may be a statistical difference, Mike and I are only 2 cases, but i’ve been really happy with the results.

I had to bow down to reading glasses just this past month, I’m 48 now.

[Steve House]

Steve House on August 28, 2018 at 2:22 am · in reply to: Ski, Climb, Run in the PNW: Annual Planning? #13153

Hi Strudell,
Honestly, you’re proposing un-realistic goals here. Here are my rule of thumb which I’ve relayed to many athletes such as yourself.
Realistically:
-One can increase their capacity in a particular sport ONLY WHEN they are focused only on that one sport.
-One may maintain their capacity in up to 2 sports.
-Trying to maintain capacity in 3 or more sports, especially disparate ones like rock climbing and running, leads to a decreased level in all sports.

As others have pointed out ski-touring/running in the winter, as described by Jakob, fit well together. You could increase your aerobic fitness throughout the winter for a good spring peak. BUT if you try to add in climbing, you can only expect to maintain your climbing and aerobic level, not increase either.

This is fundamentally part of the perception and mis-understanding about fitness in the outdoor sports communities that Scott and I set out to up-end with our book and this website. So I really appreciate your bringing it up. Yours (if I’ve understood your question correctly) is an extremely common mis-understanding.

[Steve House]

Steve House on August 28, 2018 at 2:01 am · in reply to: Perception of Effort; Uneven Leg Fatigue #13151

Ruy,
After I had recovered from some pretty bad injuries (many broken ribs, and displaced pelvic fracture) had healed enough to re-gain 90% of my mobility, I went to two separate people. One was a board-certified Orthopedic PT and the other was a Chiro with a sports-med specialty. I had each of them check my alignment (static and moving) evaluating running form as well as general movement patterns. Both had some nice little observations and tips that helped me get my correct form back. I believe this is very important in athletic longevity (no joints wearing oddly). My right side is still weaker both in strength and endurance terms, and will surely break down or get re-injured first, but I want to maximize my athletic longevity so it was really worth it to do this. We all have to try to do our best with what we have.

[Steve House]

Steve House on August 28, 2018 at 1:49 am · in reply to: Weather #13150

I went to college in Olympia Washington and we had a little noon running group M-T-W-T. The weather almost ALWAYS sucks in Olympia, so this was instructive. Knowing the others were going to suit up for a run EVEN when it was drizzling and 34 degrees F was a mighty strong motivator. Having a group to train with, or at least to meet for warm up and parts of the training, can be a real help.

I still use this strategy today. I don’t particularly like lifting weights. So I created a 7am, 2x/week strength training open group in my garage at home and I invite a few motivated folks that are also climbers or skiers. I usually have 5-6 standing invitations, organized by group text. Sometimes no one shows, sometimes it’s a full garage. But either way it forces me to make space in my schedule and show up. Once those two things are done, lifting the actual weights is relatively easy.

[Steve House]

Steve House on August 20, 2018 at 4:36 am · in reply to: ARC alternatives #11220

Hi Vik,
I wish I had a great answer for you, and this is a real problem if your gym is crowded. Lacking a magic-wand solution (or installing a treadwall in a private space) here are some options:
1) Try to do outside on the weekends, again going early/late to minimize conflicts. You’ll need a like-minded partner. This isn’t ideal since you should be doing these sessions multiple times per week.

2) Bouldering up and down routes, of course this has to be continuous and depending on the layout of the gym’s bouldering area may or may not be feasible. This has the advantage that you’re moving all the time and so you don’t necessarily dominate one problem. The hard part here is that you have to keep the problems easy enough that you can stay on the wall. I have a treadwall and a moonboard in my garage; a luxury, I know. But the treadwall is perfect for this. And when it gets too boring, I do use the moonboard, sticking to easy problems, dropping off and getting back on quickly and repeating the same problem multiple times, usually at least 4 times, sometimes 10. The problem is I get fatigued on that specific range of motion the problem requires, so it’s better to switch to another problem quickly. obvously a moonboard with the LED lights in key for this.

We haven’t received any hate-mail from climbing gym managers yet but I’m sure it’s only a matter of time!

Good luck.
Steve

[Steve House]

Steve House on August 7, 2018 at 4:56 am · in reply to: Training for altitude #11092

Training, Oxygen Systems, and Hypoxic Tents

[Steve House]

Steve House on August 7, 2018 at 3:08 am · in reply to: Transition period strength traiing #11091

Awestib-
You are forgetting one thing: The training effect. You will become fitter as you progress which means the workouts will take less time and you’ll be stronger-easily able to do this routine after 2-3 weeks.

You’re mentally holding yourself back. My advice is to trust the process–and try. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised as I’ve seen this happen many times. The exact ‘rate’ of adaptation will vary, some may need 2 weeks, some may need 4, but I would wager that if you do 1x general strength routine 2x/week for three weeks that you’ll handily complete 2x of the same routine in a reasonable time on week 4.

Happy Training.
Steve

[Steve House]

Steve House on June 28, 2018 at 6:11 am · in reply to: Recruitment fingerboarding #10563

Adam is right, use a counterweight to remove body weight until the point you can do the hang for the required time. You could theoretically use a foot on a step, but that is not very measurable so it’s hard to progress the resistance.

TSS: For fingerboard sessions there is not much global training effect, meaning the rest of your body isn’t affected much. So I generally don’t bother assigning a TSS. I just mark it as done. The training effect, and tracking of that effect, is more accurately done in your log/record of weight used.

Let us know if you have any more questions. Good luck!

[Steve House]

Steve House on June 25, 2018 at 6:50 am · in reply to: How much time /week /day for 12 week Freeride Training Plan #10481

Hi Vasja,
The plan starts with 7 hours per week and peaks not that much higher, with 8 hours per week. This is because this plan focuses on gym workouts and musuclar endurance.

As for cycling. This article is targeting to ski mountaineering racers, but it holds true for all skiers, cycling isn’t an ideal modality.

Off-Season Base Building for the Skimo Season

If you really want to use cycling as a training modality within this plan you’ll need to double all the durations. So a 1 hour Aerobic Capacity workout done on foot has to become 2 hours on the bike. The bike is just too efficient, and the movement (pedaling in a small circle) too different from what the legs must do while skiing.

Hope that helps. Best of luck.

[Steve House]

Steve House on June 25, 2018 at 6:42 am · in reply to: Building the Base and ADS #10480

@kcory If you go out of zone you will only prolonging your pain/embarassment. Keep it slow and what you’ll notice is that the length of time it takes you to hit that ‘drift’ will be longer and longer. It’s actually a good thing to pay attention to and I think you’ll find it quite motivating to see that duration extend, and soon after that point your Aerobic Threshold HR will start to migrate north. Keep at it! You’re on the right track.

[Steve House]

Steve House on June 18, 2018 at 8:03 am · in reply to: Do you count descending? #10344

Seth,
TO answer your example-question: For a 2 hour workout like this I would break it down as follows:
15 min slow warm up (zone 1)
1-1:15 up
30-45 min down.

The time ranges would depend on the terrain and speed of descent. Don’t worry about being over-precise here. The important thing is doing the workout and if it ends up being 1:45 or 2:15, it’s not the end of the world and the exact optimal amount is really hard to pinpoint unless you’re working with a coach, then that’s their job and their judgements are based on loads of experience, which provides them with a good feel for what the right volume is. Get within 10% + or – and you’ll be doing super well.

[Steve House]

Steve House on May 29, 2018 at 3:08 am · in reply to: Hydration strategies #10090

Hi George,
I would second what @scottsemple says but add that while de-hydration itself is probably not trainable, the body certainly is trainable. Meaning that the fitter you become the less of every fuel you seem to need.

I’m a big advocate of not carrying much water or food weight if I know I’m fit enough to complete the climb/run/tour on what I carry on-board. I do ‘camel-up’ to a certain extent (not so much as to risk discomfort) but I expect to drink more before and after a workout or climb/run/tour that I would ‘like’ to. For most days out I train without carrying any water unless it’s really hot. For a full day out I never carry more than a liter and often, especially in winter, I carry a half-liter of tea that gets me through the day.

I did write more extensively about this in the New Alpinism book. I feel we’ve been marketed to by hydration-bladder-pack-companies (especially) and the whole ‘hydrate or die’ thing is a much better marketing slogan than it is real-world advice.

To Scott’s point, when I’ve been out ski touring and mountaineering with Kilian, I feel like I’m over-eating and over-hydrating compared to what he–as a much fitter athlete than I am–seem to need.

Experiment and see what you really need. Then work towards reducing that.

[Steve House]

Steve House on May 22, 2018 at 10:00 am · in reply to: Strength to Weight Ratio Optimization #10006

Josh-
Different training methods that led to the weight gains. Chad was, for some reason i don’t know, power-lifting and his hypertrophy/muscle growth was additional fibers put on through lifting to failure… and that gain came over a short time frame, a matter of months.

When I went up in weight it was while using the methods we talk about in our book. I never did any hypertrophy training at all. And the weight gain was very gradual, probably over 5+ years, and after that peak of fitness I’ve never been so heavy again. I was 168 at peak fitness by every measure especially the subjective-feel. Right now I’m 155 and not even in the same realm of fit as I was in 04/05/06/07/08. Through all the time I was very low body-fat 6-7% when tested. To be totally honest I don’t understand exactly why I got heavier over that period but since my performance by every measure kept going up I didn’t worry about it.

So to answer your question, don’t think too much about your weight unless it’s an obvious problem in the sense that you need to loose some. But if you feel you’re generally close to your ideal weight, follow the training, let your body be shaped by it, and as long as your performance by both subjective and objective measures is increasing, then you’re golden. Hope that helps.
Steve