Old Colony Ski Club's Fastest SOBO Slackpacker

• Today I traveled 17.3 miles with 5236 feet of ascent and 4688 feet of descent.
• So the Old Colony Ski Club keeps track of the fastest guests who complete the 16.8 mile stretch from Cascade Brook over the Kinsman mountains to Kinsman Notch going northbound or southbound. I saw the leaderboard this morning and the southbound’s fastest time was 5 hours and 29 minutes recorded last year. I didn’t think too much about it until I was about to head out to the trailhead, then I looked up the average miles per hour I’d need to travel to beat the time. It turned out is need to go about 3 mph, which is a little bit slower than the fastest I’d walk on some very flat trails in Columbus when training for the AT. And with nearly a month of actual hill training I felt like a had a chance to do it.
• Today’s hike started off with a 5.5 mile climb up to the peak of North Kinsman. I thought I’d try my best to do that ascent quickly and if I got to summit with an average speed of around 3mph I’d try for the speed record. That climb, in theory, should be the slowest section of the day for me so if I’d be able to keep a solid pace through it, I’d have a strong shot at beating the record.
• I ended up summiting North Kinsman at almost exactly 3mph and decided to try for the record. The rest of the day was a bit of blur as I tried to only focus on my breath and moving quickly. I maintained a slightly faster than 3 mph pace the entire time and ended up finishing the section in 5 hours 8 minutes and 49 seconds! I got the record and got added to the leaderboard at the Ski Club. It was a challenge I didn’t really think I’d have a shot at making so I was stoked to have beat it handily!

Peace!