Baggin the Butte

It seems that body can adjust to almost anything. 5 months ago, just days after becoming part machine I couldn’t imagine putting ANY weight on my left leg. Shit, I couldn’t even lift the thing off the bed it was so damn heavy and painful. About this same time, my father says to me, “I bet you’ll be climbing with that thing on in no time!”

I would have taken that bet.

And I would have lost.

A few weeks back experiments began in the cave at The Crux. Initially my bouldering sessions were almost completely leg free, but this past Saturday found me traversing less than vertical walls and tactfully sending projects in the cave. This would be far more interesting with video of the “harder” bouldering, because some of the problems totally force the use of the bad leg. It almost feels like dry tooling with a foot. After two hours, I’d sent two V3s and flashed a V2. Walking out of the gym I had to laugh comparing the days tick list to this day not too long ago in Red Rocks, NV.

Meanwhile, crogging has been paying dividends as well. Although I’ve yet to break the 15 minute mile, the few days a week spent down at Amazon Trail have undoubtably improved my ability to move around. Feeling confident on Thursday I drove past the running trail and on up to the Baldy Peak trailhead. About 20 minutes later I’d covered the 300 feet of elevation gain over the course of about half a mile. It was hard work, but nowhere near as grim as I expected it to be. After successfully getting off the small peak, it was very clear what needed to happen next.

Baldy Peak

Baldy Peak

At just over 2000 ft, Spencer’s Butte isn’t much to talk about, or even look at, but as the the highest point in Eugene, it has earned a small reputation amongst locals. The trailhead starts at about 950 ft elevation southwest of the summit. Over the course of just over a mile, the main trail weaves around the south side and delivers hikers up the gently sloping east face of the butte. So yeah, its basically a great afternoon trail run for fairly fit people with two legs. Initially the plan was to take this route to the top, enjoy the summit and back track down the same way, but when I got to the trailhead and saw the scores of people of all ages and sizes headed for the main trail, my attention quickly turned to the West Trail with not a soul in sight. The West trail takes a direct route to the summit and in a half mile it covers the 1000+ ft very quickly, some of which, I’d heard, was 3rd class. This immediately sounded far more appetizing than the alternative.

45 minutes later a dozen or so locals were startled by the sound of aluminum and plastic clanking against the wet stones near the summit. They looked over just in time to see me mantle over the edge from “God only knows where”, pick up a pair of crutches and proceed straight towards the pile of boulders at the true summit.

Spencer's Butte

Spencer's Butte

Hiking up The West Trail alone in a fixator during a wet winter day was probably one of the most fulfilling, motivating and truly adventurous things I’ve ever done. The hiking was steep with numerous 3rd class sections (meaning I’d need the use of one or both hands), and the combination of mud, loose rock and slick stone made for a moderately thrilling experience. Seeing as it was Superbowl Sunday, I brought along some Packers gear to stoke all my new Wisco friends. In the end it made a fitting summit flag. After snapping some photos I headed down via the main trail. The ascent has me so psyched, I barely noticed the countless passer-by’s comments.

And as always the looming question.... What’s next?