Like many who trained for the Western States 100 this past weekend, Gregory athlete Hiroki Ishikawa, who traveled all the way from
Japan for the race, was disappointed it was cancelled because of the fire and smoke situation. But, like many others, he made the best of it, looked for other things to do, and entered a local 20-mile trail run, the Burton Creek Trail Run on the California side of Lake Tahoe. He came in second to another WS racer, Laval Benoit, who had come from France.
Gotta stay in shape, eh?
The two will soon meet again, in France, where both are registered for the Ultra-Trail Du Mont-Blanc in late August. Apparently, trail running is catching on in recent years in France. Benoit told Ishikawa the Mont-Blanc Ultra, which is capped at 2,500 people, took only 14 minutes to max out after registration opened.
While not as well known in North America as his native Japan, Hiroki Ishikawa kills it on the ultra scene. He just returned from the Everest Marathon in Nepal, where he topped the field in overseas competitors. Hiroki placed 17th out of 120 runners. Particularly mpressive when you think about all those native folk having lived at something like 12,000 or 14,000 feet all their lives. The above photo is Hiroki in front of the local scenery during the marathon.
Hiroki’s also had a big influence on one of Gregory’s soon-to-be-unveiled packs, an endurance oriented number that’s the flagship in its new Active Trail line (stay tuned for more on that). He had a lot of input into how to structure pockets and other features on the pack to assist in staying hydrated and fueled up for long hauls on the go.
He’s soon headed to the U.S. where he’ll be competing in the Western States 100 in Squaw Valley on June 28 and 29. If you want a sneak peek of what’s coming down the pipe from Gregory, check out what’s on his back during that race. It’ll be a quick view, though.
Among the other things that he uses, apparently Raoul Duke employs a Gregory badge holder when heading to Outdoor Retailer.
Day 2 of filming with Joe Kinder, Gregory climbing athlete, found us mid day heading south from Hurricane, Utah following a great morning bouldering session. We exited the freeway at Mesquite, Nevada and headed east on a dirt road that lead us into Arizona. Joshua Trees, large cacti and some emaciated cattle were all we saw for miles. Our destination; Lime Kiln Wall, which as it’s name implies is a limestone wall with ultra sharp rock. The wall is a beautiful wave of a wall, with sport routes so plentiful that you’d need a week to climb the bulk of them.
While Joe and his girl friend Colette hung out and got ready to climb the lookers left opposing wall in the picture above, Derek (from Piton Productions) and I scampered up some easy 5th class in a tree/bush filled gully to reach the top of the crag where we’d be filming. The top of the main wall was a complete choss pile and since the rock was so sharp we didn’t lower down too far for fear of having the rope cut as we jugged back up. We got some great video as well as a couple of good images of Joe and Collete climbing the 2 pitch route. Although the route was only rated in the low 12’s Joe said it was spicy enough to have him thinking he may peel off near the top of the second pitch. It was cool to watch while perched on a ledge just below the top of the adjacent cliff.
After filming was done Derek jugged up, we rapped down the gully (always easier going up 5th class stuff than going down) and headed back into Nevada. We stocked up at the Circle K and headed out for Vegas. Along the way the sunset was absolutely awesome so on a whim Derek and I pulled over so he could get some time lapse. I expected him to hike over to this side hill but he set up right out of the trunk of his car on the shoulder. Sketch factor was higher than that 5th class gully we had climbed and descended.
But the view was amazing.
Gregory climbing athlete Joe Kinder is one of a kind. A lot like that 007 guy.
A couple weeks back leading up to the Red Rock Rendezvous I was along with Derek from Piton Productions as we filmed Joe making the trek from his current pad in Hurricane, Utah to the RRR just outside of Vegas.
We’ll be posting a full video of the 3 day adventure but just for kicks Derek threw together this little clip of Joe being, well, Joe.
Stay tuned for the full meal deal.
