Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Winter Conditioning

What exercise or conditioning do people use for mountaineering? Other than actual climbing or hiking, how do people condition during the winter months?

I'm lucky in that I have the coast of California one hour to the west and the Sierra Nevada's one hour to my east, so I can find mountains anywhere. Since the snow is now falling I can't go hiking up higher any more, I will hike in the foothills. Since the best way to get in shape for hiking is to actually hike this is what I try to do mostly. But, I am an avid cyclist and riding my bike for exercise is how I have lost 40+ pounds, that and a sensible eating plan. I find that I can mimic the stress that is put on my legs when hiking by pedaling hard gears at a low cadence level. This way my hiking legs don't go away during the winter.
I am going to start doing more snowshoeing this year. I can't pay the insane prices to ski anymore and my two year old daughter is too young to go, so I figure I will put her in the baby backpack and explore the snowy Sierra by foot.
I also have a light weight lifting program that I follow. I use dumb-bells to do all of the upper body stuff and then I hold the weights in my hands as I do squats, knee dips and step-ups.

Hmmm..late night post. And another dumb question.

Unless you live in a ski resort and don't like the outdoors then, or somewhere there is eternal snow, anyone can tell you how to exercise. Go to a gym, run, bike, walk, climb, or however any rec major will tell you. For climbing, climbing gyms have been around for years, now. Most areas have some place to hike or climb. You may have to drive a bit, but that's generally part of mountaineering, too. Even skiing, downhill or x-c, builds up muscles.

Caution to all: Don't overeat during the holidays. It's so easy to have that extra dish, but then it's so hard to take it off. New Year's resolutions are often disregarded, later. It's a downhill slide toward obesity that is so tempting. With 60-80% of the population obese, you have to ignore the common entreaties to stuff your face.

When I worked in an office, I was the target of so many others. "You're supposed to sit at a beach, and drink beer!" "Why do you have to starve yourself, and do that weird stuff?"

Now many of them are probably dead, and I'm doing so well for my age! I know other 80+ year climbers who still do it. Remember, control your urges, and walk away from the table when they tell you to finish that food. I once thought I'd just burn it off later, but that's not the likely case. It's really tough to lose the pounds once they're on!

4x, if you don't have anything nice to say don't say it at all. You are extremely rude to say something like "and another dumb question". Obviously the queston isn't that dumb or you wouldn't of spent 15 minutes writing a response.
I have yet to see you start a post recently, let's see you come up with something better.
The question isn't dumb to the thread starter, he obviously wants help in starting a plan to stay in shape during the winter and what does he get? You, being a putz. Go to bed, it's past your bed time.

I use running year round to keep fit and do most of my running on hilly trails. This is a pretty good routine to stay in shape for hiking/mountaineering activities although it doesn't prepare you to carry a load or to perform certain actions like the upper body work you do when climbing ice or rock. I do realize that running isn't an attractive option to many people. I think there is something to be said for how much time you spend on your feet on a daily basis, too. That could include walking the dog or working on your feet rather than from a chair if your job permits. I wore a pedometer one typical day at work and found I logged over 3 miles just circulating around my lab in a 4 hour period. I always liked that magazine commercial where Couch = Coffin.

4Xsummit, I've been following this board for years and remember you when you were 1000peaks. You are probably one of the top 3 most experienced hikers on this board. You always have excellent suggestions mainly from personal experience. Sometimes you get a little carried away with the Sierra Club problems you've had, but otherwise your advice from the many climbs you've done and probably documented someplace has been invaluable to this board, and your pictures have been truly professional in quality.

I'm really impressed by the fact that you chose to rise above the criticism you took on this thread and chose to ignore him.

My respect for you has grown. And by the way, you're not the putz.

Peace

Peace, just to let you know your message is read and appreciated.

Flames are no good during this holiday.

And VM, did you see the other posts, then, that were thankfully deleted, and how rude and offensive they were?

Happy 2004 to all, and to all, do have another pleasant, safe, and successful climbing year!

Hi all and Happy New Year,
At 58, I find mostly weight lifting (total body over 5-6 days per week) stairs (120X2-4 times per day at the office), some biking and walking the dog (30-60 minutes a day) and either skiing or snowshoeing on the weekends provides adequate workout. I have done Everest base camp and Kala Patar (18,400), Kilimanjaro (19,300) Mt. Whitney (5 times) White Mountain Peak, and Mt. Rainier in the past 3 years without much effort. Get to the gym, walk/hike daily (with 20-30# pack) and a prolonged workout (hike, snowshoe, ski for 5-6 hours) once every week or two and you should be fine. Rick