This afternoon I picked myself up from the couch and climbed West Tiger Mountain #3 & #2. The thick cloud layer precluded climbs deeper in the mountains. I have probably climbed West Tiger #3 a half dozen times in my life, but have never ventured further (and there is over 80 miles of trail further!). I found out at the trailhead (520 ft elevation) that #1 (2,948 ft) was well within reach, but the point was the workout and not tagging a bunch of walk-up summits (I’ll run up it soon enough :).
Anyways, I jogged/walked up the 2.5 miles to West Tiger #3 (2,522 ft) in 30 minutes and then continued on to #2 (2,757 ft) by first descending and then ascending. I made a small loop back to #3 summit and then descended to Tradition Plateau where I added on 1.5 miles of flatter terrain. Total time of activity was 1 hour, 15 minutes and about 2,500 ft of total elevation gain.
Tiger Mountain has a plethora of possibilities for trail running. In my days of track and cross country I stayed away from consistent hill climbing, but now that I am getting into trail and mountain running, Tiger Mountain has become very appealing for workouts, especially on cloudy days or early season. One thing I found interesting was how the trails became quite primitive once I left West Tiger #3. I surmise that most people were like me, only climbing West Tiger #3. That was me then, now I will definitely return to explore the miles of trails so close to home – a 20 minute drive.
I got a good workout on Tiger, but shifted gears to weight lifting at Klahanie gym immediately afterwards. I worked back muscles today (relatively lightly with many reps) for about 50 minutes and then came home. We had some delicious wild sockeye salmon courtesy of Costco for dinner.
Photos from the summit ridge of Eldorado Peak from Saturday morning 8/19/2006:
Bjorn on the classic summit ridge of Eldorado Peak
Baker and Shuksan view from Eldorado Peak
Looking into the sun from the summit with the Inspiration Glacier sprawled out below.
Leor Pantilat's Adventures