Snowboarding Forum - Snowboard Enthusiast Forums banner

2017 - goal and progress

6K views 52 replies 18 participants last post by  Donutz 
#1 · (Edited)
So 2017 is the year where I aim to tackle a long term goal: Finsteraarhorn.

Its north/west faces - as seen from our city:
(Finsteraarhorn is the one on the left; the big block in the middle you see is the Eiger North Face)

Close up:


The approach west face from frontal angle:


I see that peak each clear day in a distance and long for climbing it for some time now. It’s the highest peak in our canton (state) with 4'274m/14’022ft. Very remotely located; it takes a day hiking/skinning only to get to the foot of the mtn; there you sleep in a cabin to tackle the remaining 1250m/4’100ft the next day. Big parts of the ascent is glacier terrain, many steep slopes with hardpack/ice are to be expected.To get to the peak, climbing is involved.

Begun to prepare for this peak some time now. Measures like
- Quit Smoking which turned out very well, lungs have recovered surprisingly well from 25y of smoking +1 pack a day.
- Done mountaineering courses and picked up climbing again to get the necessary routine with all the glacier travel stuff from simple tasks like rappelling to crevasse rescue. Did some high alpine climbs in summer to check that fear of heights is not a problem even in exposed terrain. Should work. I’m still no friend of walking over swinging rope bridges :blink: but exposed ridges are fine.
- Considering the skinning/riding, the riding part doesn’t scare me, I'm somewhat confident that I can handle the terrain and I’m fairly certain that the Solution will get me down safely, I trust this board a lot. But skinning up in such terrain is a different animal. I’ve collected some experience skinning steep n icy terrain in Svalbard last season and recognized the limitation of soft boot splitboarding. Whole lot of additional energy is lost having to slam the edges into the icy slope compared to skiers. Crampons only partly helped. Got a AT boot set up meanwhile in the hope, that this will substantially improve the skinning part :hope:. Very curious to try it soon.

Main problem I see is the fitness level. Even though I've increase my overall fitness level quite a lot in recent years - 10y ago even a short 2000ft ascent was a big challenge - it's still not where it should be. From experience I know that meanwhile my legs can sustain a 5000ft ascent, but on lower altitude. Highest mtn I’ve ascended with a split so far was 11’220ft, but I had reached that one on the gums of my teeth. For the targeted peak, I must have more reserves, and not only legs but also arms to cope with the climb. I.e. I've got to get the fitness in advance and not thanks to the climb. Being an outdoor person, I gain my fitness doing all kinds of outdoor sports on a regular basis like horseriding, hiking, mountaineering, but all of them are leg/core dominant. Never done any real fitness workout. My arms are a joke. I don’t even manage one (1!) decent clean real push-up. Well... just do a workout! - you probably say. That’s the problem. I absolutely hate gyms, I hate to swim, yoga is boring, aerobics and all those fancy indoor workouts are meh... and if it’s meh, I won’t go. I’m not determined enough.

But... there’s hope. A colleague convinced me to accompany her to a fitness-boxing lesson yesterday and... wow, that was fun. Very pushing, very exhausting. And very interesting to see the reaction of my different muscles today: legs have a dusting of soreness, core as expected nothing (dressage horseriding makes for a very strong core, even though many ppl don’t believe this), but the upper arms? I can barely lift them today :laugh:. Subscribed to become member of the local boxing club - lol - and aim at going three times a week.

Sooo... I've 14 weeks left to prepare; wonder how long it takes till I manage my first real clean push-up :)
 
See less See more
4
#3 · (Edited)
so u summit and where exactly do you ride down?
Ah, posted the same face twice; corrected. One cannot ride all the mtn. Last part to the peak is pure climbing; one leaves the ski/board there.


Lol at the vid :D. I'll sure raise my fist in winner pose reaching the peak - if I'll ever be able to lift my arms again, that is :laugh:
 
#6 ·
Goal is to summit and to ride it :). Top part of the mtn is not rideable, but big part of it is. The dotted line in the pic indicates the climbing part.
Yeah, the split makes the approach to the mtn endurable. It can be done also purely as a hike/climb, but it's a loooong approach to the mtn by foot. Especially so if you got fresh snow. To skin is way more efficient. The tour takes three days: one to get to the foot of the mtn (long way along glaciers), one to summit the mtn itself, one to get out.
Oh yeah, absolutely with a guide. I'd never consider such a tour w/o a guide.
 
#7 ·
looks like you have your work cut out for you ... good luck :)

one thing about climbing that i picked up from the small amount of indoor bouldering that i did was that it was all about the legs/core. almost all of the high level climbers put it as follows : which is stronger, arms or legs? use the ones that are strongest ... in other words you are mostly pushing with your legs and rarely, if ever, using your arms to pull your full weight up unassisted (the exception is doing some hairy dynos like these... but i seriously doubt that will be something you encounter on this sort of climb).
 
#11 ·
Good luck Neni and HAVE FUN! I've been saying this a lot lately, but that's probably due to some personal issues of mine. I totally get tackling a big challenge, as long as there's some fun involved as well.

What's the base camp cabin like? I'd almost be inclined to go for a few nights and attempt the summit on the second or third day at the cabin. Give yourself a bit to acclimatize to the atmosphere. Of course I'm not experienced, so I have no idea if the body can acclimatize in that short period of time.

Also I want to echo what HTFU said. Climbing really is more about body positioning and keeping your mass over your foot holds. I've done some outdoor, and a lot of indoor climbing. With one decent foothold you could stand there all day, trying to hold on with your hands you'll tire out in minutes. I still think the boxing gym is a great idea, but hopefully on your actual assent your arms won't be an issue.

Can't wait to hear the trip report and see the pics! :grin:
 
#13 ·
What's the base camp cabin like? I'd almost be inclined to go for a few nights and attempt the summit on the second or third day at the cabin. Give yourself a bit to acclimatize to the atmosphere. Of course I'm not experienced, so I have no idea if the body can acclimatize in that short period of time.
pout makes a good point..........maybe not for acclimatization......but you can rest from the previous days effort......allows for a bigger weather window.......and an early to bed, early to rise start........rehydration........'course you have to factor in the extra expense of a down day with a guide........
 
#17 ·
My goal for 2017. Finally conquer this f'ing bunny hill!!!!



jk

My goal is pretty sad compared to Neni's haha. I wanna land a 180 bro!!!!

Neni you are awesome and on a whole other level of snowboarding, great job and good luck. Please follow all avy safety precautions etc, we have lost too many awesome people in the backcountry. Be Safe and have fun.
 
#18 ·
My goal is pretty sad compared to Neni's haha. I wanna land a 180 bro!!!!
Ha! That's my goal for this year too. I've been snowboarding for 25 odd years, but in a couple weeks at Kicking Horse I'm going to tell my instructor I want to nail 360s by the end of the week.

Nothing wrong with working on carving, bumps, etc. etc., but I want to spin like the kids these days! lol
 
#20 ·
Hey, progressing nicely on your way to Elbrus, eh? :wink:

Seriously though, that looks like one tough peak to scale over 3 days. Impressive goal. Good luck with it.

As for the workouts, cardio is going to be your friend at that altitude. And while there're plenty of different ways to build upper body strength, sorry to say but I found no real substitute for pull ups and push ups. Been doing indoor climbing all through the last year (my daughter got me into it) and as much as I hate structured gym workouts too, there came a moment when I realized that without regular weight training and pull ups I'm just not gaining enough upper body strength to progress where I want to be.

I still can't bring myself to go to a conventional gym, I just have a pull up bar and a set of weights at home. Pretty low tech, but I've been doing it daily and have some serious muscle to show for it.

And yeah, in ice climbing you need your arms and upper back just as much as legs. Here's a pic from my last week's BC trip. We did a fair amount of roping on that one and I was pleasantly surprised how much I gained in strength and endurance in the last year compared to how I knew myself to have been before.

 
#23 · (Edited)
Hey, progressing nicely on your way to Elbrus, eh? :wink:
Ha, so far quite on schedule; still some time till I turn 40 ;)

As for the workouts, cardio is going to be your friend at that altitude. And while there're plenty of different ways to build upper body strength, sorry to say but I found no real substitute for pull ups and push ups. Been doing indoor climbing all through the last year (my daughter got me into it) and as much as I hate structured gym workouts too, there came a moment when I realized that without regular weight training and pull ups I'm just not gaining enough upper body strength to progress where I want to be.

I still can't bring myself to go to a conventional gym, I just have a pull up bar and a set of weights at home. Pretty low tech, but I've been doing it daily and have some serious muscle to show for it.
Not sure if this counts as "cardio" (I'm not familiar with terms n exercises)... the first half hour at the fitness boxing workout was pretty demanding cos it were non-stop alternating serie of run-at-place (knees high, fast pace; or on toes w low bent knees a.s.o), mixed with series of 20 push-ups (well, for me on the knees) or sit-ups n holding positions. The funny thing: if I had to do this at home, I wouldn't manage as much as I did when someone is screaming at you in drill voice. Completely receptive to psychological pressure, lol. Been panting for air and had a glowing red face for the next hour, lol. But the fun only just had begun cos that was "only" the warm-up for the subsequent punching-bag arm killing session.

(When SO tried to motivate me at home to join his morning push-up n bar-bell workout, I usually tell him nicely to f off and leave me alone; no morning person here :embarrased1:)
So... yeah, I'll try to be add some exercises at home... but... well... hach...

But I can squeeze in 3 times a week at lunch at the boxing club as doesn't seemt to hinder the evening program; body had enough time to recover to well sustain a xc training in the evening.

That pic looks awesome! Also looks pretty cold. Did you split there as well or just climb?
 
#28 · (Edited)
Well, I thought one's supposed to hit the ice and not the eyes with those axes... ;)

But I hear you. I'm constantly worried to hit myself with a crampon in the opposite leg... but... there's a very funny section in one of Joe Simpsons books - IIRC at the beginning of The Beckoning Silence - abt what some ice axes in the hands and crampons on the feet can play with ones psych... something like one feels like a mighty invincible knight... of course only as long as standing on safe ground... quickly and drastically changes once on the ice :laugh:
there's something to that...
 
#26 ·
Ditto Wrathful! :embarrased1:

...and to answer your question neni? MOST DEFINITELY what you're doing is cardio!!! Most training for boxing focuses on cardio vascular training & endurance!

Just about everything that isn't lifting weights in boxing is serious cardio. (...cardio & core!). Jumping rope, shadow boxing or heavy bag workouts. Running,.. you name it. It's all designed to get that heart rate up! :D
 
  • Like
Reactions: neni
#27 ·
K... I think I've solved the tetris riddle and finally put the pieces of the AT split set-up correctly. The colors burn my eyes; but as I've got the most ugly boots available on the market, it's at least sort of consustent to have equally wild colored bindings :facepalm3:



First carpet test "strapped in"? Holy bench vice!
This is going to be hell! Feels sooo unnatural! I'm used to stiff boots, but the Deeluxe XV are a soft sponge-like joke compared to these boots! (BTW, the softest AT boots on the market :eyetwitch2:)

Hope I'll get used to this... gonna do a little trial tour tomorrow. Ai... this is gonna be an interesting day...
 
  • Like
Reactions: poutanen
#34 ·


First carpet test "strapped in"? Holy bench vice!
This is going to be hell! Feels sooo unnatural! I'm used to stiff boots, but the Deeluxe XV are a soft sponge-like joke compared to these boots! (BTW, the softest AT boots on the market :eyetwitch2:)
Hope I'll get used to this... gonna do a little trial tour tomorrow. Ai... this is gonna be an interesting day...
Wow. You definitely pushed it to another level there. I could see how hard booting is going to make touring a lot easier but riding in those things in unpredictable conditions on uneven steep glacial terrain. Yeah, that's... a different story. I wonder how the board response is going to change and how much forward lean you're going to get out of those without serious modifications. Curious to know how your trial had gone.
 
#33 · (Edited)
Neni,

congrats about quitting smoking, first off !!

What an awesome goal to climb and ski that peak.

I am not sure if when you said you've only ever been up to about 11,200 feet on a splitboard, but if you remember when you came up to splitboard with us a couple years back on Bert, the first climb we did before dropping in was actually about 12,200 feet. I just confirmed it on Google Earth. So hopefully that makes you feel better (??)

Obviously the climb we did was a cake walk compared to what you will be attempting, but at least you know you have been higher than 11,200...

Also, I know that hardboot splitboarders often cut/modify their boots to increase flexibility. There are advice threads on this topic over at Splitboard.com. Not sure if that is something you would want to tackle, but there is some info out there.

RE ice-climbing: I've also dabbled in it years ago, what a sketchy sport!!
 
#38 · (Edited)
Yes, 18° is the out of box fwd lean. Several modifications are mentioned on splitboatd.com how one can increase this fwd lean.

In riding mode, however, they have too much fwd for my taste.

Today's tour was again mixed. The ascent was absolutely gorgeous! Soo much superior! We had loads of slopoery steep passages with refrozen and crusts. SO with his softboots was struggling; I've been happily gripping with the edges, full contact with little energy effort. It's awesome how easy it is to skin up in otherwise challenging passages. Also had no foot burning feelings, no foot pain at all. Totally love to ascend with these alpine touring boots (not the same as hard boots, btw).

But the downhill was just one: pain. Felt like the boots want to crush my calve muscle in rutted variable terrain. Like highbacks which have way too much fwd lean, and the high boot rim bites constantly into the calve. Probably need to cut part of the rim off.
 
#39 · (Edited)
Modifications - round I

Sooo... I took a deep breath... and then set the saw onto my brand new 600$ Dynafit TLT6 Mountain CL women's touring boots and began to modify.

The problem no 1: it's designed for skiers - which rarely lean backwards. The upper rim is very high positioned; pinched directly into my calve muscle making backside edge traverses very painful -> I cut off 4cm of the upper hind rim so it's even with the lean tongue in ride mode.

Problem no 2: range of flex/lean. Out of the box the boot has 18° fixed fwd lean in riding mode. No give n take. 18°, full stop. Inspired by the guys at splitboarding.com, I increased that motion range by filing the lean plate and tongue to have a bigger hole, i.e. the stopper won't be fixated at a certain degree but can shift. I got abt 3° of decreased lean and 5° of increased lean from the standard, i.e. in the fixed riding mode the boot now has a 15-23° flex.

First carpet test: wow! What a difference! I'm glad I dared to destroyed any chance of warranty, lol. Feels soooo much better; no pinching, and the gain of flex is substantial. Very eager to get them out this weekend! A challenging tour is planned; after all the pain downhill last week I was in doubt if the advantage of ascent is worth the struggle while riding... now I'm pretty convinced that it's gonna be a win-win.

All one needs is a little saw, a file and sandpaper. (And tweezers to get all the aluminium splinters out of ones fingers if you're equally clumsy as I, lol)

Sawing off the upper rim holding the power strap (then sanding to smooth the cut):


Before: hard shell hind rim pinching calve muscle

After: now the muscle insertion (indicated by fingers) is free


File the lean plate to get more ° of motion (upward for increased lean; downward for decreased lean):

Above the original, below after filing:

The lean tongue hole needs to be adjusted as well; file will do the job; not nice looking but it works:



Ready to go!


 
#40 ·
First carpet test: wow! What a difference! I'm glad I dared to destroyed any chance of warranty, lol. Feels soooo much better; no pinching, and the gain of flex is substantial. Very eager to get them out this weekend! A challenging tour is planned; after all the pain downhill last week I was in doubt if the advantages of ascent is worth the struggle while riding... now I'm pretty convinced that it's gonna be a win-win.
Good Luck!

:smile:
 
#46 ·
Good news. The mod was a success and confidence got a big boost :)

The 1200m vert tour this weekend was classified the same difficulty level - just not at similar altitude - as the one in the first post, and in not very nice (read as nasty) conditions: windblown crusts on the steep top 300m vert. Some splitboard guys with normal soft split set-up really struggled quite a bit, even with crampons; some gave up and didn't make it to the peak. Now I understand why some guides here are reluctant to take splitboarders on some of their tours...

A girl with skis and I were to lead and beat the tracks to the peak. I didn't even bother to mount the crampons, those touring boots gave such an awesome sideways response. Such a big energy saving. It's soooo great!

The ride down was rough condition-wise due to all the crusts n hard blown windformations, but this time, thanks to the flex, I've been happy to ride with 'em boots. Almost no pain from pressure (need to tweak a little bit more for bit more fwd flex on the hind boot doing some more cuts to the shell) and the real good thing: riding with the ancles was possible, had the freedom to do mini adjustments to steer the board. Found a nice little spine and to do those little hops going left n right on it was no problem. Now I'm sure I love that new set-up and gonna stay with it. Yay! (Pfewww, was a bit cocerned after the first rather awful tour, lol).

So glad also that we've done the Svalbard trip. Learned so much abt handling steep icy crusty hindblown hardpack slopes there, up as well as downhill. It's been a refreshing experience - well... SO didn't join the tour - to be for once the one with the most fluent downhill ride :). Back at the parking lot, quite many questions were asked abt that strange but obviously well working AT set-up by other splitboarders.

Yep, I'm ready to tackle that peak :). Very stoked!
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top