Tuesday 10th August 2001
Hiked up to the Refuge de Mont Pourri for today’s exercise. Legs hurt superficially from Sunday’s hike but this was an easier path to climb so there were no problems.
Was unable to breathe through the nose in bed last night and this morning – as there seemed to be some heaviness or congestion that wouldn’t go away. This seemed to have carried on from having had to breathe through the mouth while training yesterday. Had no problem nasal breathing on the climb today.
It’s only just dawned on me that the attraction of hiking in the mountains is that it is an endurance sport! I’d just tolerated the physical side of it in the past – but now relating it to endurance cycling experiences I can see it differently and now understand what really attracts people.
Here’s a couple of views of Mont Pourri glacier today… (They can be enlarged.)
Noticed that with the Nordic Walking poles I liked to place them both in front of me on the steep parts of the climb and then drop my centre of mass forwards while supporting myself with the poles – then as the body moves up and forwards this progresses into a push up from behind. Normally, unless descending the poles are supposed to stay behind the body – but I find this other way more effective as an aid in climbing steep ground.