Elliott’s Blog

Here is the long-awaited photosynth of the Summit at Le Reculet:

Marty and I at the top of Le Reculet

Marty and I walked to the summit of Le Reculet in the Jura mountains in France on Wednesday. This is the second tallest point in this range of mountains, with “Le Crêt de la Neige,” just to the north, beating it out by a mere 2 meters. It was challenging, and kinda fun!

Background: My work group at CERN does this every fall, and some of the folks actually race up! I joined in last fall, not knowing what I was getting into, and I failed–making it only about half way.

I have thought a lot about why I failed, and it boils down to several factors: I had no idea how hard it would be; I was wearing heavy boots and tight jeans; I had a backpack; I started out following very light and athletic people, who did not follow the path but, rather, went straight up the mountain side; I was out of shape.

All of that is different now! I wore, as you see, gym shorts and sneakers; I followed the path, with my lovely and talented son pausing with me when my heart rate got too high; I joined the local gym last January and have been doing 2 to 5 hours in that gym per week.

Going up was very slow and challenging to one’s cardiovascular system.  Going down was also rather slow, but thanks to the excellently-maintained path (the worst inclines are actually paved with concrete), quite managable.  

There are several long sections that are at, or near, 100% grade!  I swear there are a couple of places that are even more than 100%.  (Click on the link, but the upshot is that 100% grade means that you rise 1 meter for every 1 meter of horizontal travel: 45 degrees.)   

Up works one’s calves, heart and quads; down is a big quads workout!!

Here are my statisitics for the day, taken from my Polar heart rate monitor:

• Time: 2 hours 20 minutes to get to the top; 30 minutes at the top; 1:50 to get down; total time: 4:41:42.  The sign at the parking lot says it take 2:30.
• Calories burned: 3423 (40% fat)
• Heart Rate: Max-154 (92%), Average-129 (77%)
• Elevation change: 1718 m at Le Reculet; 862 m at the parking lot: 856 m.  (Work done: W = m*g*h = 787,362.5 joules)

Check out more pictures at Picasa.