Twin Peaks Trail

It's getting difficult to find good places to hike that give me a little altitude and some steepness without requiring an actual expedition, due to snow and the onset of winter.  But today I hiked up the Twin Peaks Trail to the second bench.  Most of the trail was snow-covered, but with heavy duty ice spikes, it was easy to walk without sliding.  Above the second bench I found it to be very slippery and decided against going up there.  It won't be long before that part of the trail becomes impossible.  But the main trail may be usable all winter simply because so many people will still be using it. I walked up then ran down.

I'm planning to climb Mt Aconcagua in January so I really need to be hiking steep uphill trails, preferably at altitude.  I can see that will be difficult now that snow has arrived in the high country.  I just registered for 6 marathons with Mainly Marathons in the Southwest US because most of them are high altitude, some at 7000 feet.  In addition to those, I also decided to do the REI Adventures Annapurna Sanctuary Trek the last few weeks of December.  The trek will give me 14 days at high altitude with difficult hiking.  I'm hoping that will make my January Aconcagua climb easier and I will feel more competent when faced with its supper high altitude.

Today was gorgeous as the Twin Peaks Trail always is.