Hill Climbs

Hill climbing is similar to trail running, but focused on the actual climbing part. Often a good hill climb can be part of a great trail run, but I think that hill climbing deserves it's own category. Hill climbs are sort of the 'track and field' event of trail running. Your rate of climb on a hill is a good measure of your overall fitness level (just like a maximal effort 1.5 mile run is a good way to estimate your VO_2max). This is obviously a challenging way to run (few if any athletes can run up some mountains). Thankfully, I am blessed to live in Colorado, a place with hills and mountains to climb.

My Trailhead-to-Peak Ascent PR's:

Here are some of my favorite hill climbs. To be a candidate for a good hill climb, the trail should go mostly up all the way from the trailhead to the top. Many of the trails I run around Fort Collins (in Lory and Horsetooth Parks) have great hills, but they are part of longer trail runs, so I just include them in my trail running section. A example of this is Horsetooth Rock from the Arthur's Rock Trailhead in Lory -- the first 1.4 miles is relatively flat (even downhill), and then there's another 300 foot drop before the final 1200 foot climb to the summit. My ascent time (including the downhill and flat stretches) is 1:10:34. PR's are ranked by climb rate; entries in blue are old PR's, red entries are my current PR's.

Peak	Location	Date	Net Elevation Gain (ft)	Distance Up (mi)	Time up	Average Grade Up (rise/run)	Speed up (mph)	Average Elevation (ft)	Climb Rate (ft/hr)	Trailhead/Route
Horsetooth Rock (S)	Horsetooth Mountain Park	09/01/05	1500	2.6	0:30:02	11.1%	6.5	6513	2997	Horsetooth Rock Trailhead, S. Summit
Horsetooth Rock (N)	Horsetooth Mountain Park	09/26/06	1500	2.6	0:30:23	11.0%	5.1	6513	2962	Horsetooth Rock Trailhead, N. Summit
	old PR	08/13/06	1500	2.6	0:31:53	11.0%	4.9	6513	2823
	old PR	06/08/06	1500	2.6	0:32:04	11.0%	4.9	6513	2807
	old PR	10/20/04	1500	2.6	0:32:20	11.0%	4.8	6513	2784
	old PR	08/08/04	1500	2.6	0:34:29	11.0%	4.5	6513	2610
	old PR	05/12/04	1500	2.6	0:36:05	11.0%	4.3	6513	2494
Arthurs Rock	Lory State Park	04/16/06	1140	1.7	0:23:15	15.6%	4.4	6212	2942	Arthurs Rock Parking Lot: Arthur's Rock Trail
	Lory State Park	05/04/03	1140	1.7	0:27:55	15.6%	3.7	6212	2450
S. Boulder Peak	Boulder Mountain Parks	06/05/05	2934	3.4	1:03:19	16.6	3.2	7082	2780	South Mesa Trailhead: Towhee Trail to Shadow Canyon
	old PR	08/25/02	3000	3.5	1:21:00	16.6%	2.6	7082	2222
Towers Road	Horsetooth Mountain Park	06/29/06	1730	3.4	0:39:16	9.0%	5.0	6292	2750	Soderberg Ranch Trailhead
	old PR	07/14/05	1730	3.4	0:40:45	9.0%	5.0	6292	2547
	old PR	06/14/05	1730	3.4	0:40:47	9.0%	5.0	6292	2545
Round/Sheep Mountain	Big Thompson River Canyon	06/30/05	2900	4.5	1:06:43	12.0%	4.1	7100	2608	Round/Sheep Mountain Trailhead
	old PR	04/09/05	2900	4.5	1:12:38	12.0%	3.7	7100	2396
Pikes Peak	Pike National Forest	08/21/05	7815	13.32	3:19:51	11.1%	4.0	10,175	2346	2005 Pikes Peak Marathon
	old PR	07/31/05	7815	13.32	3:36:49	11.1%	3.7	10,175	2163	Training run on Pikes Peak Marathon race route
	old PR	08/22/04	7815	13.32	4:07:15	11.1%	3.2	10,175	1896	2004 Pikes Peak Marathon
	old PR	08/17/03	7815	13.32	4:18:47	11.1%	2.3	10,175	1812	2003 Pikes Peak Marathon
	old PR	09/03/00	7400	12.0	5:39:36	10.9%	2.1	10,175	1307	Manitou Springs Trailhead: Barr Trail (hiking from trailhead)
Greyrock	Cache la Poudre River Canyon	07/22/04	2140	3.3	0:56:40	12.6%	3.5	6586	2265	Grey Rock Trailhead on Rt. 14: Grey Rock Trail (short way), starting from sign
	old PR	01/05/02	2100	3.3	1:15:00	12.6%	3.3	6586	1680	(my fastest hiking time)
Longs Peak	Rocky Mountain National Park	07/23/06	5000	7.5	2:19:52	12.7%	3.2	11,830	2145	Keyhole Route
	old PR	08/12/01	5000	7.5	3:59:00	12.7%	1.9	11,830	1210
Handies Peak	San Juan Mountains	09/01/02	3050	3.7	1:49:48	15.6%	2.0		1664	In American Basin: West Slopes I (started below American Basin trailhead in order to gain 3000 vertical feet)

Ascent spurts or splits (splits are denoted by *# with # indicating the route segment, starting from the bottom).

Distances either taken from maps, guidebooks, GPS, or estimated from mapping software. Elevation loss taken from either map or altimeter watch.

Peak	Location	Date	Net Elevation Gain (ft)	Distance Up (mi)	Time up	Average Grade Up (rise/run)	Pace up (min/mile)	Average Elevation (ft)	Climb Rate (ft/hr)	Trailhead/Route
Mill Creek	Horsetooth Mountain Park/Lory State Park	09/09/07	1600?	3.2	0:37:39	9.8%	11:46	6250	2629	Mill Creek Trail, starting from South Valley/Mill Creek junction, ending at Spring Creek/Mill Creek junction
	old PR	07/25/06	1600?	3.2	0:38:15	9.8%	11:57	6250	2588
	old PR	07/18/06	1600?	3.2	0:42:01	9.8%	11:57	6250	2356
*Longs Peak1**	Rocky Mountain National Park	07/23/06	2150	3.5	0:51:24	11.7%	14:41	10,475	2510	Ranger Station to Chasm Junction
	old PR	08/11/02	2150	3.5	1:02:00	11.7%	3.4	10,475	2081
	old PR	08/12/01	2150	3.5	1:06:00	11.7%	3.2	10,475	1955
*Longs Peak2**	Rocky Mountain National Park	07/23/06	1200	2.6	0:39:02	8.8%	15:01	12,150	1845	Chasm Junction to Boulder Field
*Longs Peak3**	Rocky Mountain National Park	07/23/06	1509	1.4	0:49:26	20.9%	35:19	13,505	1832	Boulder Field to Summit
*Longs Peak2+1**	Rocky Mountain National Park	07/23/06	3350	6.1	1:30:26	10.9%	14:50	11,075	2233	Ranger Station to Boulder Field

World Records in the Vertical Direction

In contrast, the world record for the Vertical Kilometer (3280 feet) is 0:34:51, set by Marco De Gasperi at the Val d’Isèldre, France on July 12, 2003. His rate of climb was greater than 1700 m/hr, the theoretical limit set by physiologists! The Vertical Kilometer race is often held on steep ski slopes (in France, Italy, or Colorado), and the total distance ranges from 3 to 5 K.

The world record vertical climb in 24-h is 15,757 m! The top sky runners train 30,000 m (that's about 98,000 feet!) of elevation gain a month! In contrast, in 2005 I averaged nearly 5700 m (18,900 ft) elevation gain per month throughout the year. My peak training month so far (July 2005) had an elevation gain of about 15,300 m (50,100 feet) as I trained for the Pikes Peak Marathon.

Just a few years ago, it was thought impossible to train at 4000+ m elevations. Now it is thought to be theoretically possible to run at 7000 m, if you can find some suitable ground. For more about sport at altitude, check out the Federation for Sport at Altitude (FSA).

Other Remarkable Feats of Hill Climbing

I'm beginning to compile a compendium of hill climbing 'records' for different routes from official race records and Fastest Known Times (FKT's). The idea is to analyze the performance (ascent rate) and see how this compares with various factors such as a trail's difficulty, length, and average altitude. I'm guessing that a scatter plot of ascent rate versus each of these factors will show plenty of scatter. Maybe some courses will have 'weak' times that runners should strive to improve.

Manitou Springs Incline

The Manitou Springs Incline (which is NOT open to public use) consists of the old road bed of a cable car. It is 1.02 miles long and rises 2011 feet from the base to the top at an average grade of 40.3%. The steepest grade is a whopping 68%! Matt Carpenter reported running the Incline in 0:18:31, which gives an ascent rate of 6560 ft/hr, or nearly 108 ft/min! His average speed going up was 3.3 mph, which is incredible considering the grade.

To see a full listing of Incline PR's of Incline Club members, go here.

Mount Washington Road Race

The Mountain Washington Road Race is a banner hill-climbing event held each year on the auto road that winds to the top of Mount Washington, El. 6288 ft (this page has pictures, topographical maps, and lots of other information about the mountain).

In the 2004 race, Jonathan Wyatt, of New Zealand blazed up to the Finish Line in 0:56:41, smashing the old course record (58:21 set in 1996 by Kenyan Daniel Kihara).

Fastest Known Times in the Fort Collins Area

I'm starting what I think may become a fairly fun and extensive project -- to map out time trial routes and collect Fastest Known Times (FKTs) for the Fort Collins area ascents, descents, and certain other trail running routes. This information can be viewed at the Fort Collins FKT Page.

Hill Climb Races

I'm compiling a list of races that focus on hill climbs. Some are short and steep, other involve massive amounts of vertical.

Mount Washington Hill Climb

Grouse Ground Mountain Run Vancouver, BC, Canada 2800 feet (853 m) of vertical climb in only (2.9 km) Course record: 24m

Notable Hill Climbers

Matt Carpenter personal website running bio

Jonathan Wyatt personal website running bio

Hill Climbing Links

Speed Climbing Records maintained by Bill Wright, this site lists hundreds of speed climbing records worldwide in the categories of technical climbing, trail running, and cycling, many of the times are 'Fastest Known Times', which are not official records, but the fastest time reported by anyone thusfar

Mountain Speed Climbing maintained by a European organization named 'Exposure', this site focuses on world-wide speed climbing attempts, records, disputes, verification, etc.

FSA Records Page some of the most astonishing speed climbing records have been set under the auspices of the Federation for Sport at Altitude (FSA)

Team Kilimanjaro The round-trip record was recently "broken" for Mount Kilimanjaro (broken is in parentheses, because the new time was not faster than a previous time, but if was verified much more rigorously).

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Hill Climbs

My Trailhead-to-Peak Ascent PR's:

Peak

Location

Date

Net Elevation Gain (ft)

Distance Up (mi)

Time up

Average Grade Up (rise/run)

Speed up (mph)

Average Elevation (ft)

Climb Rate (ft/hr)

Trailhead/Route