Gearing UP for Ultraneering

Gearing UP for Ultraneering

by Ras Vaughan

Big Impossible Sounding Ideas

There’s a particular type of ill-advised, hare-brained scheme that resonates with me on a fundamental level. When an adventure of this sort first presents itself, whether via outside influence or internal genesis, I experience both a physical and mental response. The physical response includes the sound of blood rushing in my ears, chills up and down my spine, sharpening and narrowing of my vision, and racing heart. Mentally my response is along the lines of, “That sounds impossible. I have to give it a try.” I’ve come to think of projects of this sort as Big Impossible Sounding Ideas.

As intimidating as they may seem at first conception, I’ve learned over the years that Big Impossible Sounding Ideas can be deconstructed into smaller and smaller component parts. Those parts can then be evaluated and explicated until a way is found to make each of them possible. Then all of those little possibilities can be reassembled to make that Big Impossible Sounding Idea not only a possibility but a reality. This is a process which can take months or even years to run its course while my brain chews on the problem, evaluating information, formulating and reformulating plans, and passively letting possibilities bounce around my skull to see if any of them take root. And once I decide that something is humanly possible, the all-consuming question for me then becomes, “Am I the Human Being to do it?” That’s exactly how things played out when I first heard about Chad Kellogg’s idea for the Mount Rainier Infinity Loop.

The Cowlitz Connection and the Mount Rainier Infinity Loop

In 2015 Richard Kresser and I attempted a project I had dreamed up to combine the 93 mile Wonderland Trail around the base of Mount Rainier with a traverse of the summit. It’s not hyperbole to say that Mount Rainier is responsible for making me the man I am today, and I find myself continually drawn to it, persistently pursuing new ways to experience the mountain as completely as possible …

Read the entire article on the Altra Running Blog.

Rainier Infinity Loop Completed

Mount Rainier Infinity Loop Completed

Only Known Time of 99 hours 7 minutes

Our Parks/Your Adventure Fundraiser for The Mountaineers Youth Programs - Ras Vaughan and Gavin Woody

                                                                     

by Ras Vaughan

THE MOUNT RAINIER INFINITY LOOP IS IN THE BOOKS, and it is an amazing honor to be a part if it. Gavin Woody and I put up an official time of 99 hours and 7 minutes, sneaking it in under the three digit mark by less than an hour. We ran two unsupported loops traversing the summit of Mount Rainier twice, one clockwise and one counterclockwise, resupplying at our cars at the midway point in Paradise. We got all of our water, other that what we took from our cars at the beginning and middle, from natural sources and did not drop off any of our gear or garbage except at our cars. So, for all my beloved Adventure Dorks out there, technically it was a self-supported project comprised of two unsupported loops. And for the record, I did forage some berries along the route.

An Armchair Alpinist long before I ever touched an ice axe, I've been strongly influenced in my approach to adventure by the values of climbers such as Chad Kellogg (who designed the Rainier Infinity Loop). "Fast and Light", "sustainable pace", "fair means", and "good style" are all precepts I hold dear, and they are all paradigms I have applied to fastpacking, thru-hiking and adventure running, but that had their origins in Alpinism. I was especially Blessed over the last four days to do my best to apply these values to a dream route of Chad's that he was never able to attempt. I'm certain it would have looked a bit different done by him. There were a few specifics that I didn't know about his vision of the Infinity Loop and Gavin and I made a couple small choices that are ours alone. But our goal was to complete it in a fashion that would honor and propagate the inspiration we took from Chad's life and adventures, and I feel we did that to the best of our abilities. May the circle of inspiration spiral ever onward into the endlessly amazing possibilities of future generations of adventurers.

I was also quite blessed to have the opportunity to do this project with Gavin. There are not as many people as you might think who really understand the beauty and the simple purity of carrying an ice axe, crampons, harness and other assorted climbing kit esoterica for 93+ miles simply in order to have them when you need them for twenty-ish miles of actual mountaineering. But Gavin not only understands it, he feels it, it resonates for him. This project would not have been possible without him, and it was a blessing getting to stumble around Rainier with him punch-drunk with adrenaline and sleep deprivation. Hopefully we'll come up with something else crazy and beautiful to attempt together in the future.

I'll post more details and a trip report over the coming days.
We hope to use this project to inspire future generations of climbers, runners, thru-hikers, fastpackers, backpackers, and adventurers of all stripes by helping raise money for The Mountaineers Youth Programs by means of the Our Parks / Your Adventure initiative. Please click here to learn more about the program and to donate. Whether you give $10 or $5,000 your donation will help introduce deserving young people to the fulfillment and enrichment of outdoor adventure, essentially helping to reintroduce them to their natural habitat.


What a Blessing to be a Hominid! Give Thanks for Life!

Rainier Infinity Loop

Mount Rainier Infinity Loop
Only Known Time* Attempt

Our Parks/Your Adventure Fundraiser for The Mountaineers Youth Programs - Ras Vaughan and Gavin Woody

                                                                     


by Ras Vaughan

Rainier is the mountain that made me the man I am. I find myself constantly drawn back to simply invest time there, to delve within myself, and to try yet again to experience The Mountain as completely as possible. This recurring drive is what has led me to complete the Wonderland Trail ten times (detailed HERE and HERE), including a Double Wonderland (detailed HERE), and 2015’s Cowlitz Connection project with Richard Kresser (detailed HERE, HERE, and HERE). 

In researching and preparing for the Cowlitz Connection, I learned of a dream project of legendary climber Chad Kellogg which he was never able to attempt due to his untimely passing in a climbing accident on Mount Fitz Roy. He called it the Infinity Loop. The idea was to traverse the summit, run the Wonderland trail back to the starting point in one direction, traverse the summit again, and then run the Wonderland the opposite direction back to the starting point, thus tracing a figure eight, or an infinity sign. 

I was gobsmacked the first time I heard this route described. Everything about it sounded huge and simple and elegant, and so far out of my league as to be laughable. But it became one of those ideas that my mind refuses to let go of once gotten ahold of. It became my go to thought whenever my mind wasn’t actively engaged in something else. Whether I thought I was capable of attempting this route or not, my brain was already making plans to do so.

The Rainier Infinity Loop inhabits the extremely nichey grey area that I find so fascinating, somewhere in between mountaineering, fastpacking, thru-hiking, and ultrarunning. Ultramountainpacking? Fast-hikaineering? Such potential descriptions are far too clunky and awkward to express what to me is a very simple and elegant idea: covering long distances in beautiful and challenging places by fair means and in good style. For the record, I’m not claiming to have ever achieved this, merely to be actively pursuing the goal.

Routes such as the Mount Rainier Infinity Loop have a beauty and elegance to me that equal that of the Expressionist masters. I experience it as a something akin to a symphony, an idea that sends my heart and mind soaring and can bring a spike of adrenaline and the sound of blood rushing in my ears simply by calling it to mind. Learning of this beautiful and crazy route, fully conceived but left on the table incomplete, could be compared to finding a color-by-numbers canvass left behind by Monet. It’s an opportunity to play a part in the realization of a grand idea, something otherwise beyond my ken and conception. Attempting to make the Rainier Infinity Loop a reality is an honor of which I am unworthy, and an opportunity impossible to pass up.

On Saturday, July 23rd, 2016, around 4:00 pm Gavin Woody and I will begin our attempt to color in the masterpiece Chad Kellogg sketched out in his mind, a unique approach to experiencing The Mountain by a man with a singular understanding of that mountain. Gavin and I will depart Paradise, climb Disappointment Cleaver, descend the Emmons Glacier and Inter Glacier, run the Wonderland Trail clockwise back to Paradise. There we will rest briefly and resupply. We will then again climb Disappointment Cleaver, descend the Emmons Glacier and Inter Glacier, and then run the Wonderland counterclockwise to Paradise once again. Each of the two loops will be unsupported, carrying all of our gear, food, and trash from beginning to end, and only taking water from natural sources. Seventy-two hours would be a great performance for me on this project, but I suspect it will take more in the ninety-six hour range.

Our progress can be tracked on our SPOT transponder beginning around 4:00 pm on Saturday, July 23rd, 2016:

SPOT Transponder Tracking Page

On the rare occasions when we have cell reception we will post updates to our Facebook and Instagram profiles:

Ras' Facebook
Ras' Instagram

Gavin's Facebook
Gavin's Instagram

Our Mount Rainier Infinity Loop attempt is meant to be a celebration of the amazing and extraordinary things that Human Beings are capable of. Gavin and I are drawing our inspiration from the life and adventures of Chad Kellogg, and hope to send that energy and inspiration reverberating out into the world to inspire others as it has us. And we also hope to use this project to inspire future generations of climbers, runners, thru-hikers, fastpackers, backpackers, and adventurers of all stripes by helping raise money for The Mountaineers Youth Programs by means of the Our Parks / Your Adventure initiative. Please click here to learn more about the program and to donate. Whether you give $10 or $5,000 your donation will help introduce deserving young people to the fulfillment and enrichment of outdoor adventure, essentially helping to reintroduce them to their natural habitat.

What a Blessing to be Alive! Give Thanks for Life!

* Footnote: According to some MRNP Climbing Rangers there is a local climber who completed the Infinity Loop a couple of years ago. It was done as a project of personal accomplishment with no announcement of intent, no live tracking or transparency, no trip report, and no time posted or made public. I have the utmost respect for efforts of this sort and am not trying to detract from it at all. However, Gavin and I are playing the FKT/OKT game according to the established rules: declaring our intentions, posting tracking links, opening ourselves up to public scrutiny, and establishing a time for others to challenge in the future. Since baseball is popular, I'll use a baseball analogy. A pitcher might be able to throw the world's fastest pitch under perfect conditions outside of a game. That would be a matter of great pride and personal accomplishment. However, it would not be the same as throwing the world's fastest pitch against a batter and in front of a crowd. The pitcher throwing in perfect conditions has accomplished something impressive, but is not actually playing the game. Our Rainier Infinity Loop OKT attempt is being made according to the established methodologies of Peter Bakwin's Fastest Known Time website. We are playing the game.