Wholistic Fitness

As you know, The Mt. Taylor Winter Quadrathlon is one of the 3  traditional Wholistic Fitness™ “Sacred Sweat Pilgrimages” of which all aspiring Master Students of WF should tick off their Karmic Warrior Bucket List before their last gasp.   Driving down the arrow-straight NM 371 through the Bisti Badlands and then seeing Tsidool’s shimmering crown against the red mesa bluffs near Thoreau?

ilg was hOMe…

i’m writing this to you, my Noble Sangha, upon whose devotion i race, mere hours before awaking to defend my Mixed Pairs Title from last year.  My Partner, a pranic powerhouse from Durango and one of my HP Yogin’s, Dana Shinn, is utterly stoked and ready.  i warned her about the Kachina Goddesses which dance in great depth and dimension upon this Sacred Peak of the Diné…on her run today up on the Race Course, during her re-con (she has never raced here before) she ‘got Swept.’  in her words,

“i was just running along, vibing on the great beauty and suddenly, something flew THROUGH me!  I started to spin around, looking for something…it was AMAZING!”

i’ve been encouraging my students and the general fitness public to Toe This Start Line since, well, i can’t remember when…isn’t it about time you felt an Ancient Kachina Spirit fly through your cells and Vibrate you Higher?  Why do you think ilg keeps cOMing here, all these years?  For the workout?  No, for the Sacred Pilgrimage among the Ancient Spirits which dance in multitudes upon these pine-covered, snowy flanks.

PY is here too, taking Pilgrimage; solo.  She’s understandably respectful…i recall my first Mt. Taylor solo…broke me down like a bamboo wicket.  Shattered me.  Destroyed me.  Made me cry like a baby.

Then, i Rose Higher.  Shift Happens when you step up to Pilgrimage.

This is the time when i treat you all to my secret little Mt. Taylor training hill, known as Hesperus Ski Area, located about 20 minutes west of Durango…these pics were taken last Tuesday, during my final hard effort before Tsidool.   My opening pic shows my Mt. Taylor ski set up; which has helped me set the record here at Mt. Taylor on both the SKI UP and SKI DOWN sections..

…i use Fischer Revolution skate skis mid-length (168cc) with Black Diamond Kicker Skins…and old-school Salomon Skate Boots (because they not as stiff as the fancy new skate boots, i can hammer uphill on my climbing skin’d skis…

…looking up at my Mt. Taylor training pain cave…i use different routes, however, usually i start ‘jogging’ on top of my skis straight the ski run you see second from left…then, top out and traverse across the ridge to the right…it takes about 9 minutes of high Zone 3…

…here i demonstrate for you my own self-created “Taylor Poling Technique” in which i place both my ski poles in between my skis…this is used for super-steep (23%+) headwalls such as the infamous “Heartbreak Hill” which hits you at about 10,500′ during Mt. Taylor…

…view about 2/3’s the way up…

…the view after i reach the top, strip off my climbing skins (without taking off my skis; i call this one-legged balance posture;  ClimbingSkinOffAsana!)  now, it’s just a matter of skiing down this Black Diamond run on skate skis, without edges, on windcrust conditions…

…though i often do linger a bit at the top to suck in the Pranic Potency and the view…this is looking west toward Ute Mountain…the obvious mesa top in photo right, bottom, is Mesa Verde National Park.

…and this is looking east over Durango toward my Beloved Weminuche Mountains which include Wolf Creek Ski Area…

May this entry have inspired thee to workout really well tomorrow, and wherever you are, know that Ilg is going to be invoking YOUR Devotion tomorrow as i and Dana race up and down one of the most powerful, beautiful places on Turtle Island…

Blessed Be Thy Sweat,

ec