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Atacama Crossing Blogs 2014

Douglas Denys

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Atacama Crossing (2014) blog posts from Douglas Denys

03 August 2014 11:26 am (GMT-07:00) Mountain Time(US & Canada)

Yesterday was the Kat'Cina Mosa 100k mountain run in Utah. This race has 13,000 feet of elevation gain in the first 28 miles with 17,404 feet of gain and 17,404 of loss of the course with 4,000 feet of gain in the last half. A difficult course to run with a 25 pound pack of rice and useless stuff. Temperature in the 80's. I used 2toms blister roll-on and Wright socks with Fatirs and ran in Lonepeak Altra shoes. No blisters or skin problems. Radlight pack was secure with little bounce even with both water bottles. Seem the bottles make pack tighter which us better. I ran half the course as an experiment and dropped to lessen recover. Today I have no problems but need to work on fluid intake. 6.5 pound weight loss over eight hours.

Comments: Total (2) comments

joe mauko

Posted On: 06 Aug 2014 01:42 pm

omg, you are hardcore! See you at Atacama!

Sam F

Posted On: 04 Aug 2014 12:46 am

Sounds like a tough course, but the perfect way to test your body and kit with 62 days to go.

17 May 2014 02:09 am (GMT-07:00) Mountain Time(US & Canada)

I just received my new Raidlight pack. For the past month I have trained in the Himalayas with a much bulkier and heavier pack to work on strength of shoulders. Twenty mile run with 3,000 foot climb with 20 pound pack was okay. Water bottle bounce made me prefer to carry 16 ounces in each hand instead. Overall, the pack is light, comfortable, and well designed. I have concern about the durability of the waist-abdomen strap latch. Tomorrow is a long run on variable terrain above 7000 feet to test full pack weight and fit.

Comments: Total (3) comments

Douglas Denys

Posted On: 22 Jul 2014 02:31 am

Thanks for the advice. Summer has been hot in Utah. Utah has high mountains and areas of sand dunes and salt flats similar to Atacama and it has provided a good chance to run in the desert heat and experiment with gear and hydration. Did a 4 hour sand dune run but had trouble with heat. Trying to calculate fluid loss and rate of fluid ingestion. I think this race is going to be a technical challenge. Any thoughts on attaching gators to shoes?I'm thinking about sewing some on my shoes to keep out sand.

Jean-Francois Begin

Posted On: 23 May 2014 01:26 am

Hey Douglas, been out there with the raidlight Marco Olmo 20 liter pack for more than 1000K's now and I am surprised on how well it's holding up. The inner coating is worn and torn but everything is still in order. And you are right, the waist-abdomen strap latch broke a few months into the training so had to tie it. So have fun training. See you out there!

Sam F

Posted On: 17 May 2014 06:55 am

Great to be testing your key gear like the backpack so early Douglas. The lightweight backpacks are more durable than they look (but the RaidLight one is the least durable of all of them so do keep an eye on how it copes with wear and tear). Keep up the good work with the training.