Hiking Volcan Cerro de Oro, Lake Atitlan, Guatamala

On the northern foot of Volcán Tolimán is a lesser climbed lava dome, Cerro de Oro (“Hill of Gold”). The hike and summit provide gorgeous views of Lago Atitlan, Volcán Tolimán, Volcán San Pedro, and Volcán Atitlán.

And… we discovered a Mayan ceremonial site along the way, and some ancient Mayan stone statues at the summit.

The most popular volcano to climb is San Pedro, but that requires a good 5am departure and a full day to climb. Atitlan and Toliman are even more difficult to get to, require more logistics, and take a full day plus to climb. Continue reading “Hiking Volcan Cerro de Oro, Lake Atitlan, Guatamala”

Hiking Camelback in Phoenix

Summit of Camelback at InfusionCon 2011
Summit of Camelback at InfusionCon 2011

Last year at InfusionCon, Jon Goldman asked if I wanted to climb Camelback the next morning in time to catch the sun rise from the head.

I blurted out YES before he could finish giving me the details and the next morning we found ourselves heading out of the resort around 5am.

This year at InfusionCon, a group of us planned a Sunset climb up to the hump of the camel and got together quite a group for what proved to be a challenging, fun and gorgeous ascent. Continue reading “Hiking Camelback in Phoenix”

How To Attach an Ice Axe to Your Pack

Ice Axe attached to an Ospey PackWhen you bought your pack, it may have had a loop (or two!) on the bottom to hold your ice axe(s), but… how do you attach the axe to your pack?

I never knew how myself, but on a recent snowshoeing and backpacking trip, George showed my how and the solution rocks!

First, drop the ice axe down through the loop, so the head is above the loop and the shaft is through and below the loop with the pick side facing the middle of the pack.

Now fold it up and secure it to your pack using whatever the manufacturer put in line with the folded up shaft. Continue reading “How To Attach an Ice Axe to Your Pack”

Fun Pyramid Set Math

Push Up PyramidsIf you’re doing work out sets with a pyramid, i.e. 1, 2, 3, 4, 3, 2, 1 , there is some really cool math to figure out your totals, or work backwards from a total to get your max count in the pyramid.

Pyramids are a great way to increase your max rep in a given set, for example in pushups, pullups, and situps. For example, with a maximum number of reps at 5, you can knock out a total count of 25.

Now, for the fun math. Continue reading “Fun Pyramid Set Math”