Initial goal was to put in a big day with a good effort during my final training block for UTHC 125 in September. A good friend drove me out to porteau cove for a 7:30-7:45 start. Goal was to beat the heat during the initial climb and make it to magnesia meadows just before the intense heat of the day. Temps were supposed to be around 25C.
I packed 10, PF90 gels, 1 SiS beta fuel and 1 pf30. The later 2 for backup in case I needed more fuel. Aiming for 1 pack an hour with tons of fluid and 750mg of sodium in form of pills. Climb up to the lakes went really well and I was 15 min ahead goal pace and felt great. Views were amazing and saw a couple people enjoying the clear blue sky day.
Things started to hit the fan pretty early on gut wise. The pf90 were working great but I had some nausea and felt like my HR was higher than what I wanted in the climbs. Water wasn’t much of an issue and there was tons of small creeks due to the 2 previous days of rain. I missed an important water stop for cooling and hydration and started to overheat after the first hut.
Last good flowing water was at magnesia meadows. I then planned to grab water at the cypress lodge as per Nick and Jennie FKT. After that I planned to get water at Cleveland Dam. Quickly realized that there was water everywhere and I could just fill up on the go whenever I wanted. I carried max 1L at a time.
The baden Powell section was muggy from the rain and no issue from wasps. Trying out the new Norda 055 on this long day out in the mountains. Great shoe overall but the high stack led to 2 ankle rolls and I took a pretty hard tumble on an easy section going down towards Cleveland dam. Knocked the wind out of my sails and had to stop for 10ish minutes.
Hard but rewarding day!