Steven B

Jordan, Thank you I am a sucker for research studies such as the one you cited! That makes sense to me, as I have gone through similar experiences. Early in my hiking training I use to do squats. As time went on I started suspecting this type of training was wasting more time than it was helping. I eliminated squats all together and instead added a "heavy pack" stair climbing day to my weekly routine where I'd load up 70 lbs and walk at a comfortable pace of about 100 flights of stairs. Within a month I noticed a drastic difference in my real world hikes that squats just never seemed to be able to do. I'm not saying squats don't have a place in the beginner's workout regimen, but after a period of time (in my case I had this revelation after about 1 year of serious training) I think you are right in that workouts that more closely mimic the activity become increasingly beneficial. If I didn't have a 9-5 job I'd be hiking in real mountains every workout, but stairs and inclined treadmills will have to do if I want any regularity in my training. Back to skiing, I just finished another ski day yesterday and my legs are so sore there's no way I'd get a workout in today! I'll just have to hope that I'll get to a level where skiing doesn't tire me anymore and I can squeeze in my typical weekly training load. Till then I am just having too much fun! Can't believe it took me 28 years to figure out crampons aren't the only way to fly over snow =). -Steven

Thank you and none taken! While it would seem to be common sense that similar muscle group soreness would correlate to beneficial "cross training", I know from experience this is not always the case. As a quick example, I use to race bicycles at a fairly high level, and I can tell you that running and hiking, which made me feel just as sore if I worked out with enough intensity, did nothing for my cycling fitness. I do not have the pleasure of knowing too many serious mountaineers who are also avid skiers, so I figured posting this question on the cascadeclimbers forum might get me in touch with a few of those people who have experience in this. -Steven

That's a good way to think of it! Maybe I do have my priorities backwards =) Also great to hear the burning in my quads will go away once I fix my terrible form, I've got a ways to go but I'm completely hooked and okay with that! -Steven

As the title states, does skiing work the same muscle groups as hiking? I ask because I just recently got into skiing and am addicted, but I've noticed that the 1 to 2 days after a long ski day my hiking workouts are just not what they're suppose to be. I treat mountaineering like a sport and do climbing specific workouts 3-4x a week, and general fitness 5x a week. I'm worried skiing is reducing the quality of my stair/hill climbing workouts. If skiing actually helps my hiking strength then that would be a relief, but I'd like the get some perspective from those with experience in this area. Thanks! -Steven

Thank you! It was a great deal of fun. Not the most technical climb, but perfect for someone of my level for a solo effort!

Hi all! Just wanted to add closure to this thread. I did my summit attempt on Sept 21st and got caught in a large storm that ended up dumping 1 to 1.5 feet of snow over night at my camp at Garnet Lake. The weather seemed fine when I started out at 5 that morning, but got progressively worse by noon. I had completed navigating through the sloping rock field pass that separates Thousand Island Lake from Lake Catherine (I saw no safe route from Garnet directly to eastern route with a steep angle of approach combined with loose scree) and was just starting on the steeper portion with hard pack to the summit when I decided I should turn around. I got back to camp around 4pm during the hail storm and just weathered the snow/thunder until morning. A tiring day but I know to come prepared during the fall season in this area so it was pretty fun overall. Some things I wanted to pass onto others climbing this peak: Crampons/ice axe/helmet are a must. You will not need them until you reach the base of the last climb at this time of year, but there is simply no way to kick-step or get around the ice if you wanted to goto the summit. I also did not realize how much I hate navigating boulder fields of this variety, I'll take snow/ice any day over that again. I'm thinking of trying again in Feb. The view at Garnet Lake the next morning was just stunning however and made the trip worth it regardless. When else are you going to get a picture like this in September?? [img:center]http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j195/stea1thviper/DSC_4002_zps89d38e3c.jpg[/img] -Steve

Thank you very much for the info! Good to know I'm bringing just enough, if there's anything I hate it's excessive gear!

Great thank you! I'm hoping to summit before sunrise to get some great photographs, I'm excited!

Thanks Nate I will check that out!

Hey all! New to this forum but not to climbing. I was planning on summiting Mt Banner, just south of Thousand Island Lake in the Sierra Nevada's, near Mammoth, in a month from now (weekend of Sept 20th). I will be making this trip solo, so was planning on climbing up from the southwest saddle which is suppose to be class 3 terrain according to summitpost. I've been to Thousand Island Lake numerous times in every season, and figured I should climb Mt Banner at some point. From what it seems, hard packed ice/snow would be the only challenges to get to the top when ascending from the southwest saddle. I'm thinking just crampons and ice axe. Any reason to believe I'll need more technical gear than that? Thanks to everyone in advance! -Steve