Another year, another Sierra Challenge. This year Bob is handing the reins over to Sean Casserly. There were a number of shorter easy days and some longer days which I made even longer with a bit of weather to mix things up. You can read the details and see maps and get the final stats sheet from Bob's page here: Bob's 2022 Sierra Challenge Page.
This was my 11th Sierra Challenge, although some years I didn't do all the days. Previous Challenge pages can be seen here (some less complete than others): 2011, 2012, 2013 (just one big day), 2014, 2015 (7 days), 2017, 2018, 2019, and
2020, 2021.
This year Iris and I mostly lived out of the Element, with a few nights where I was at a different trailhead in the Element alone and Iris slept in Jim's RV (or if I was getting up super early and Iris didn't want to get up that early). We didn't have the 2 person sleep system completely dialed (especially my stuff), but we made it work. It helped that we never had to pack the vehicle for more than 4 nights at a time.
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with a star if it is mostly done
| Challenge Peak | approx distance (for the challenge peak) |
approx elev gain (for the challenge peak) |
bonus peaks and swims | date | Strava Link |
| Ink Rocks (but changed to optional (Walker))* | ? miles | ? + ft | bonus: Peak Hanging Valley High Point, everyone awarded an aqua jersey point for the rain | 8-05-22 | Day 1 Strava Link |
| Price Peak* | 29 miles | 5600 ft | bonus: Pk 10584, 9489, 9580, 2 swims | 8-06-22 | Day 2 Strava Link |
| Inter-Red and Red Chunk Peaks | 18 miles | 5500 ft | bonus: Mendenhall | 8-07-22 | Day 3 Strava Link |
| Hanging Mine Peak | 13 miles | 4200 ft | bonus: Pk 12120 | 8-08-20 | Day 4 Strava Link |
| Piute Crags | 4 miles | 3000 ft | bonus peaks: Piute Crags 6 - 11 | 8-09-20 | Day 5 Strava Link |
| Donkey Peak | 9 miles | 2900 ft | bonus: Baboon Peak, Sunset Peak, 2 swims, cookoff | 8-10-19 | Day 6 Strava Link |
| The Citadel | 30 miles | 9300 ft | bonus peaks: Panorama Point, 1 swim | 8-11-20 | Day 7 Strava Link |
| Table Mountain | 9 miles | 2600 ft | bonus peaks: Pk 11938, 3 swims | 8-12-20 | Day 8 Strava Link |
| Mount Torchbearer | 28 miles | 9500 ft | bonus peaks: Pk 13431, Caltech, Senior, Junior | 8-13-20 | Day 9 Strava Link |
| Bullfrog Meadow Peak | 13 miles | 2600 ft | bonus peaks: Peak 10,100 | 8-14-20 | Day 10 Strava Link |
This year I came in first for the Green Jersey (over 50) third for the Yellow many hours behind Dylan and Sean C, and 2nd for the Polka Dot - King of the Mountain Jersey with 28 peaks behind Chris with 28.5. I also came in second behind Iris for the Aqua Jersey with 9 swims (we didn't keep such good records of that) and tied for the Gravy Jersey (at the cookoff) - a Jersey I had not previously earned. My only real goal going in was to do all 10 Challenge peaks and to do a few good bonus peaks.
For gear I switched things up a bit using a 25L Ultimate Directions running pack for a number of days and an Out There adventure racing pack for most of the others. I also didn't take my dslr on a few days because of the high miles and I was hoping to jog a bit of them - which I did on some. I usually had a few bacon sandwiches as well as some bars and summit cookies. I had beet root powder in my water bottle to start most days. I don't know if it made a difference or not. As usual by the end of the Challenge I was in a bit of a sleep deficit, nothing like an adventure race, but it was noticeable, especially in the mornings. I used altra shoes for most days, picking the shoe based on the trail distance and the guessed need for scrambling. Most days I wore toesox, sometimes along with other socks too. My feet were a bit bruised, especially my right big toe, but I didn't get any blisters.
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