in this time of no-racing - and even in a time of racing - the better, truer, more personally fulfilling endeavor, according to me, is GAG, until i find out there's a better term already in common use. GAG - greatest altitude gain. not as in everesting, but in net bottom to top elevation.
there's a guy we've written about, don bowie, if i did this link right here's a FB post where he's talking about his FKT from badwater to the top of whitney. that would be 15,000+ feet, bottom to top elevation. he's also done SoCal's GAG, sea-to-baldy, 10,000'+. i just wrote him and asked him if he ever did aconcagua, which would be the king of GAGs, at 23,000ish feet, sea to summit.
our own lars finanger did, i think (i'm not sure) sea to mauna kea, 13,000' plus.
back in 1984, i did my own. the mexican valley floor to the top of popocatepetl. about 5,000 feet of road bike climbing, from 7,800 to 12,500 or so, then the climb to the top, which was in the high 17s or maybe 18,000 or so. so, my own GAG record is about 11,000 feet. but that's a pretty mild effort compared to bowie's whitney climb, or lars's mauna kea.
while i have not done a recon of the route, the city of orizaba, in southern mexico, is about 50 miles away by bike from what appears to me to be the highest point you can ride, which is about 13,200 feet. then you hop off and run/walk until you walk/walk, and the top of the mountain is 18,491 or so feet. this would be the GAG in mexico for an effort less than, say, 60 total miles. the total net altitude gain for that effort would be more than 14,000, which wouldn't eclipse don's effort up whitney.
but let's say you started 10 further miles out, in cordoba, veracruz, mexico. that elevation is 2,715' above sea level at city center. now you're in the neighborhood of 15, 750 feet.
there's what looks to me to be a completely badass road up the backside of pico de orizaba, that gets you from cordoba to 14,000 in 35 miles. seems more rural. i'm warming to the idea of this. you go from cordoba, veracruz, mexico to refugio piedra grande. it's about 12,000 feet of climbing on a bike over about 43 miles. i just made a ridewithgps file of this. then you'd run/walk to the top. there are technical ice climbs and i don't know whether you can avoid them on this northside approach. i haven't been up this mountain. i don't know how far the "walk" is. of course you have to get back down ;-) that was the hardest part of my popocatepl climb. the bike ride back down was murder; i was so tired. i don't know if official GAGs should include the return trip. it's for you all to decide ;-)
Dan Empfield
aka Slowman
there's a guy we've written about, don bowie, if i did this link right here's a FB post where he's talking about his FKT from badwater to the top of whitney. that would be 15,000+ feet, bottom to top elevation. he's also done SoCal's GAG, sea-to-baldy, 10,000'+. i just wrote him and asked him if he ever did aconcagua, which would be the king of GAGs, at 23,000ish feet, sea to summit.
our own lars finanger did, i think (i'm not sure) sea to mauna kea, 13,000' plus.
back in 1984, i did my own. the mexican valley floor to the top of popocatepetl. about 5,000 feet of road bike climbing, from 7,800 to 12,500 or so, then the climb to the top, which was in the high 17s or maybe 18,000 or so. so, my own GAG record is about 11,000 feet. but that's a pretty mild effort compared to bowie's whitney climb, or lars's mauna kea.
while i have not done a recon of the route, the city of orizaba, in southern mexico, is about 50 miles away by bike from what appears to me to be the highest point you can ride, which is about 13,200 feet. then you hop off and run/walk until you walk/walk, and the top of the mountain is 18,491 or so feet. this would be the GAG in mexico for an effort less than, say, 60 total miles. the total net altitude gain for that effort would be more than 14,000, which wouldn't eclipse don's effort up whitney.
but let's say you started 10 further miles out, in cordoba, veracruz, mexico. that elevation is 2,715' above sea level at city center. now you're in the neighborhood of 15, 750 feet.
there's what looks to me to be a completely badass road up the backside of pico de orizaba, that gets you from cordoba to 14,000 in 35 miles. seems more rural. i'm warming to the idea of this. you go from cordoba, veracruz, mexico to refugio piedra grande. it's about 12,000 feet of climbing on a bike over about 43 miles. i just made a ridewithgps file of this. then you'd run/walk to the top. there are technical ice climbs and i don't know whether you can avoid them on this northside approach. i haven't been up this mountain. i don't know how far the "walk" is. of course you have to get back down ;-) that was the hardest part of my popocatepl climb. the bike ride back down was murder; i was so tired. i don't know if official GAGs should include the return trip. it's for you all to decide ;-)
Dan Empfield
aka Slowman