With an Ice Beard, you feel, anything is possible.\u00a0 It is transformative.\u00a0 Almost like a drug…Normal Mark sees a locked door and thinks, “Ah well.\u00a0 Guess I won’t be entering THAT room.” Ice Beard Mark sees that same door and smashes it with his Ice Beard.\u00a0 – Mark Remy, “The Power of the Ice Beard,” runnersworld.com<\/em><\/p>\n

One of my strengths as an outdoor athlete is my perpetual search for bad ideas.\u00a0 Late last year Luke informed me that Patagonia needed some cold weather photos and footage for upcoming projects-I knew just the place.\u00a0 The Greys River<\/a> is nestled in between the Salt River and Wyoming Ranges in Western Wyoming.\u00a0 We decided it would be a good idea for a human powered push the length of the river starting at Poker Flat and exiting at the trailhead at the mouth of the canyon near Alpine.\u00a0 Our trip would consist of about 110k over 3 days.\u00a0 We knew the first part was groomed and would move pretty fast-the middle 20 miles was uncharted territory.\u00a0 I had only been over it once, in a car, during the summer.<\/p>\n

Monday night Luke, Fred, and I met at my place to finalize logistics and gear.\u00a0 We needed cold weather footage and the weather guides were more than willing to oblige.\u00a0 it was forecast to be -25 in Auburn the following morning.\u00a0 We decided the Fred would accompany us running part of the time, and via snowmobile to get the footage needed.\u00a0 Luke and I also packed some additional food\/warm gear in Black Hole bags strapped to small pulks that we constructed the night before.\u00a0 Our plan was to be at the top of Commissary Ridge at dawn.\u00a0 This required a 4:20 wake up call and blitz for the backwoods.<\/p>\n

Peeling the layers off to start was painful but it was nice to get moving.\u00a0 It was a long grinder climb to the top of the pass but the views and heavily flocked trees were astounding.\u00a0 The real pay off came when we were able to get our sleds to return the favor down the back side of the pass.\u00a0 The groomed trail provided for the perfect bobsled run.\u00a0 We just flipped the stays back, straddled the bag and let it rip.\u00a0 Legend has it that we reached 30+ miles per hour on the descent off the pass and of course we had to try it again.\u00a0 And again.\u00a0 And again.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Finally we decided that we’d better get moving.\u00a0 At the end of the groomed trail we refueled and relaxed at a warming hut then started toward the Cazier Cabin which would be our first stop of the trip.\u00a0 There had been no travel in this section, the trail was not groomed, and we immediately began postholing and cursing our way to the cabin.\u00a0 The going was slow and difficult.\u00a0 The crusty, unconsolidated snow would punch right through sometimes and almost hold on others.\u00a0 About this time I realized I had done a really poor job fueling and hydrating.\u00a0 My energy began to wane and my digits started to get cold.\u00a0 My 3 year old winter 110’s we soaking through and freezing.\u00a0 Finally I decided to switch socks and then put on my Neos over boots.\u00a0 They are a bit clunky but it was obvious that no land speed records were being set and the extra warmth, surface area, and traction was wonderful.\u00a0 Part of our mission was to further test the Patagonia Nano-Air<\/a>.\u00a0 I had never used one of these jackets before and it turns out that running in -15 they are the perfect piece.\u00a0 After 10 hours of nature I had no complaints.\u00a0 It worked beautifully.<\/p>\n

Finally about dusk we reached the cabin.\u00a0 I was toast.\u00a0 It was nice to peel off the sweaty layers and get some food going.\u00a0 Fred and Luke decided that a lap down the river would make the next day much faster going.\u00a0 We had Ultragen<\/a>, mashed potatoes, smoked Salmon and some Patagonia Provisions<\/a> lentil soup.\u00a0 I made a vow to do much better the next day with my fueling.<\/p>\n

We decided to get some extra sleep because of heavy cloud cover the next morning.\u00a0 We rolled out late morning.\u00a0 The weather had warmed and the trail they packed the night before was much easier to run.\u00a0 We meandered by the river.\u00a0 The trail rolled a bit and as the river grew so did the cool ice flows.\u00a0 It would choke, flow, and freeze into cool formations.\u00a0 We made much quicker work of the second day.\u00a0 Eventually making it back to the groomed trail in Forest Park.\u00a0 Forest Park is the home of an elk refuge where they feed the elk.\u00a0 We stopped to check out the big bulls in the hundreds of elk before hustling down to the Meadows cabin near the Box Y Ranch.\u00a0 We knew they would have a tasty dinner waiting for us.\u00a0 By the time we reached the cabin we felt like we were flying.\u00a0 I suppose we were-at 10 minute per mile pace.\u00a0 We were getting tired of dragging our gear and looking forward to to switching modes of travel.\u00a0 Dinner was delicious and it was good to see some other people.\u00a0 In the previous 2 days we had not seen a soul-which we had hoped for but it was good to be getting back to civilization.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The third day we rode out on fat bikes.\u00a0 McKay Erickson and crew, the Vaquero Race support specialists (think Cowboy aid station) brought our bikes in.\u00a0 Due to some car trouble we got a bit of a late start but were grateful to be pedaling instead of running at this point.\u00a0 The early season training was not sufficient for such long days.\u00a0 At first the trail was solid and Luke’s tires were way under inflated.\u00a0 Here we saw some of the most breath taking scenery.\u00a0 Virginia and the surrounding peaks were popping.\u00a0 Shortly there after it really became a drag.\u00a0 the lower sections of trail had received a lot of traffic and the cold temperatures left the snow sand-like and loose.\u00a0 It made the going tough.\u00a0 4.5 hours and a half-dozen crashes later we finally made it back to the truck.\u00a0 It was gave us all that we wanted.\u00a0 We were pleased with our effort and that it had finally warmed up to -7.\u00a0 Amazing how quickly the human body adjusts to its surroundings.\u00a0 It only took 15 miles to thaw the ice from our beards.\u00a0 Now that’s a sold door-smashing adventure for sure.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With an Ice Beard, you feel, anything is possible.\u00a0 It is transformative.\u00a0 Almost like a drug…Normal Mark sees a locked door and thinks, “Ah well.\u00a0 Guess I won’t be entering THAT room.” Ice Beard Mark sees that same door and smashes it with his Ice Beard.\u00a0 – Mark Remy, “The Power of the Ice Beard,” […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3194,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false},"categories":[73,1],"tags":[80,81,79,78],"yoast_head":"\n