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Another season of hiking comes to an end


Those of you that have known me in the last few years know that I try and climb a local Vancouver mountain (Grouse Mountain) as often as I can. I hadn't tackled the grind since mid-September last, so I decided to have a go at it. And lucky for me, it was still open. The day was decent (no rain) and the trail wasn't busy. But then, by the half-way mark, there was ice. Everywhere. I fell a couple of times along the way and had a few more close calls. Suffice to say, I won't attempt it anymore this season. Of course, come Monday, they closed the grind for the season. So, I feel lucky that I got to go one last time this season.

This brings us to the end-of-year summary of the hiking season. It isn't so much that hiking season is over as much as Grouse grind season being over. But we shall overlook that simplification.  At the beginning of this season, I had set myself a goal of beating my best time from before. I didn't really come close.

Now, keep in mind that the record was shattered (yes, that is the right term) by one Sebastian Salas and it currently stands at 25:01. That's right, 25 minutes and 1 second. My best time was somewhere near 55 minutes. I have a few co-workers who can do it under 45 minutes. Keep in mind that you are climbing uphill the whole time and gaining 30 seconds on your time is something of a feat. So, here's how I did this year:
As you can tell from the graph, I briefly flirted with the 1 hour mark (I was off by 113 seconds as I recall), but then things went awry. But, if I may redeem myself, I have done better this year than a previous year, both in terms of the number of times I went to the actual times I posted. I don't really have much data from 2010 since I didn't go that much and was busy with home buying and what not. 

So, what's the take-away here? I need to sort out my time. If my co-worker who is nearly 20 years my senior can bound up the mountain more than 20 minutes faster than I can, I have some serious training to do. I think more data points would also help. I wish I had gone more often, I think I would have improved my times with practice. So, the eternal optimist that I am not, I will try and train up for the 2012 season in the hopes that I will a) dip below the 1 hour mark and b) beat the 55 minute mark. 

Here's hoping.

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Location: Vancouver, BC, Canada

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