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Off-Topic How to be good at hiking quite steep mountains ?

Anders

Anders

Level 6 Valued Member
Hi,

Sometimes during spring, summer and autumn I hike quite steep mountains. They can be between 1000 and 2000 meters. Sometimes the path is also quite steep, and sometimes the path is like a stair made in stones.

I am living in the capital of Norway and there are no big mountains close by. However, close to my home there is a big outdoor stair that has 230 steps. I tried walking up this one and it took me 2.28 minutes. My feet also felt heavy.

I am curious as to how you would train in order to become better at hiking these quite steep mountains ?

I am 37.
I have managed to do S&S untimed,
Snatch test with 20 kilo.
KB squat 3 reps with 36+40.
I have lifted 150 kilo in deadlift.
I do a lot of walking, but have only recently started doing zone 2 training with stationary bike and rowing.
I am 192 pounds and 6 feet and 2 inches.


Any suggestions as to how I should proceed ?

Anders
 
I would look into box stepping. Whenever I went to any of the national parks i was always encountering these super steep trails, and now I think to myself, stepping up onto taller boxes is probably a great thing to include in my training to get better at that kind of stuff.

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Maybe this protocol, maybe another one.
 
Anders said:
Hi,

Sometimes during spring, summer and autumn I hike quite steep mountains. They can be between 1000 and 2000 meters. Sometimes the path is also quite steep, and sometimes the path is like a stair made in stones.

I am living in the capital of Norway and there are no big mountains close by. However, close to my home there is a big outdoor stair that has 230 steps. I tried walking up this one and it took me 2.28 minutes. My feet also felt heavy.

I am curious as to how you would train in order to become better at hiking these quite steep mountains ?

I am 37.
I have managed to do S&S untimed,
Snatch test with 20 kilo.
KB squat 3 reps with 36+40.
I have lifted 150 kilo in deadlift.
I do a lot of walking, but have only recently started doing zone 2 training with stationary bike and rowing.
I am 192 pounds and 6 feet and 2 inches.


Any suggestions as to how I should proceed ?

Anders
Click to expand...

1. Start walking frequently in Nordmarka, there are lots of places (such as Maridalen) where you can experience long, steep hills, at least partially emulating a mountain. :)
2. Practice and habituate light, consistent nose breathing.
3. Keep walking a lot, and it is bound to become less taxing.
 
I live in Washington State and hike in steep terrain all the time. It’s why I train. I have been on Iron Cardio three times a week. Then ruck walking, 20-45 lbs, 3-4 times a week for an hour each time. I’m looking to roughly stay in Zone 2 during the ruck. It’s been working amazingly well. Crushed a 8 mile, 4k vertical past week at 52 years. It works.

Also Derek Toshner’s All Terrain Conditioning is an amazing program for mountains.
 
I barely made it to the top of Flattop Mountain near Anchorage AK. I seriously underestimated the demand that climb would impose on my cardiovascular system.

Not bringing gloves was another mistake. I didn't think I would be clinging to boulders/rocks for dear life at various points of the hike, both going up and down. My relatives who took me on the hike didn't mention a need for ropes, harnesses, or anything like that so I just did not think I might have to use my hands.

Really, what was I thinking, knowing I was going to go to Alaska, and I might be invited by outdoors-loving relatives to go hiking with them... and not doing any physical prep for that...
 
Hill and/or stair repeats with a backpack can get you a lot of elevation over a short period of time. My favorite training hill near me is only 100m up but every four reps up and down gives me 100’ elevation. Training lots of hills lets me easily do many more miles on flatter terrain from my experience.
 
Greg H said:
I live in Washington State and hike in steep terrain all the time. It’s why I train. I have been on Iron Cardio three times a week. Then ruck walking, 20-45 lbs, 3-4 times a week for an hour each time. I’m looking to roughly stay in Zone 2 during the ruck. It’s been working amazingly well. Crushed a 8 mile, 4k vertical past week at 52 years. It works.

Also Derek Toshner’s All Terrain Conditioning is an amazing program for mountains.
Click to expand...

As a fellow Washingtonian, I alternate between training stuff I do on the water and stuff I do in the hills and mountains. ;)
 
There is an entire thread here on the forum devoted to Mountain Strength:

Other/Mixed - Mountain Strong

@Tiger reached out to me and asked what I thought about starting a ‘Mountain Strong’ thread. Since there are a number of climbers and mountain athletes who participate on the forums here, I thought that it would be a great idea. Many of the SF and Hard Style training methods and philosophies...
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Look at Rob Shaul's Mountain Tactical Institute for some Sport Specific Programs for peak ascents and such.
 
Walking steep mountains I guess.

Marit Bjørgen was asked why she was so strong in cross country skiing. Answer was: I do a lot of cross country skiing.

Maybe strengthen hips with swing and suitcase / farmer walks in stairs?
 
There are many people who live in the flatlands, (I used to be one of them for a time) who through dedicated efforts, and lots of smart training go on to do good stuff in the mountains. But… at the end of the day… if you really want to be good at something by any real definition of the word, and get the most out of it, then you really need to do that ‘thing’ a lot.

Good surfers and climbers typically don’t live in Iowa…
Some things just can’t be replicated in the gym.
 
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Go on mountainathlete.com and get a subscription. There’s an archived program I used for getting ready for a deployment to Afghanistan based on lots of step ups, sprints, deadlifts and other fun stuff. Doing 5 rounds of 200 step ups followed by a 1/2 mile “sprint “ twice a week will prepare you for the mountains.
 
Did you see this article? It might give some ideas.

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The Snatch Walking Protocol for Ultra-Athletes | StrongFirst

A growing population of endurance/ultra-athletes and coaches are moving towards StrongFirst programming. These athletes and coaches bring questions on program design utilizing Strong EnduranceTM protocols. In this article, I will share the snatch walking plan I’ve designed using one of these...
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