1991 Hi Tec

07/24/1991 to 07/27/1991 HI TEC BADWATER 146 1991 IF I CAN DO IT, YOU CAN DO IT! My first experience in the Mt. Whitney area was in 1951 when I made a back packing/camping trip out of Whitney Portals (135 mile mark) and covered about a tenth of the John Muir Trail at the south end. After my Internal Medicine training, I moved to Lone Pine (122 mile mark), where I have practiced to the present. In 1964 I climbed Mt. Whitney (146 mile mark). In the same year, I opened a satellite office near the Furnace Creek Inn (17 mile mark) in Death Valley. I have made about 16 driving or flying trips a year between here and there during the tourist season between late October and early May. Over the decades, I have become familiar with taking care of patients experiencing hyperthermia (heat stroke and heat exhaustion) in the desert as well as hypothermia, trauma and altitude sickness in the mountains. I have participated in the entire 13 Wild, Wild West Marathons here in the Sierra foothills. I have run the Titus Canyon/Death Valley Marathon since Dave Horning of Enviro Sports started it in 1990. For the last seven years I pedaled the Death Valley to Whitney Portals 100 mile two day Bike Race now in its 16th year. In July 1990 I covered the 3rd annual Hi Tec Badwater 146 event as a spectator. As I headed out on the course, I met the first runner, Marshall Ulrich. That was at the 75 mile mark on the Panamint grade, when he was 15 hours into the event and at least 3 miles ahead of the nearest competitor. I swept back and forth on the course and took pictures and visited with many of the runners and crew members. I am a back of the pack runner and my training base is about an hour of exercise a day. I began thinking that if I kicked my mileage up and exercised in the dry heat I could handle the course physically. I had never run further than 52.4 miles and that was the Nanisivik Midnight Sun Run (84K) on Baffin Island in the Northwest Territories of Canada on 07 01 90. That was accomplished in just under 12 hours. Now, I had to do an event three times the distance and five times the duration to the Portals and six times the duration to the top of Mt. Whitney and seven times the duration back to the Portals! The event should either be called "the 135" or "the 157!" I began preparing myself mentally over the year and began to feel that I could handle this also. My next obstacle was to obtain an invitation from Hi Tec Sports, USA, Inc., since I wanted to do it with a group rather than as an individual. This proved to be an endurance event in itself as the Race Director, Dave Pompel, is a very busy young man. I received a tentative invitation in May and an official invitation on 06 13 1991. I entered a few more races than usual: Shadow of the Giants 50K on 06 01 1991; Palos Verdes Marathon on 06 08 1991; Lompoc Valley of the flowers Marathon on 06 16 1991; San Francisco Marathon on 06 23 1991. I met Badwater Bart Yasso at the Runners World Expo booth at the San Francisco Marathon. He participated for Runners World in the 1989 Hi Tec Badwater 146 and said he had "fun" doing it. We had a nice visit and I was further encouraged to do the event. I also did about one third of the Markleeville Tour of the California Alps ("Death Ride"). It was on a mountain bike covering 54 miles of the 129 miles and 6,000 of the 15,000 ft.

of elevation gain in order to get some good aerobic cross training at altitudes up to 8,700 ft. During the month before this year's HiTec Badwater 146, I increased my daily mileage up to 10 miles a day at 4 mph walking speed. It was in 90 100 degree temperatures and 5% humidity, which is usual for this area. My wife, Denise, would drive me out to various 10 mile sections of the course and drop me off and crew me for 2 1/2 hours, as I would physically and psychologically get used to heading westward into the glare of the sun and watch the terrain slowly pass. I had the great fortune of meeting Tom Crawford and Richard Benyo near Keeler (107 mile mark) as they were heading out into the desert to do some heat training for their up and coming repeat efforts in covering the course. They were the first ones to do the out and back "fire and ice" between Badwater and Mt. Whitney in 1989. I bought a copy of Richard Benyo's book "Death Valley 300" with his autograph and inscription "make haste slowly!" I learned much from this book and got to know them better on a work out between Badwater and Furnace Creek on 07 06 1991 when the temperature was 110 and the humidity 30%. Tom told me that "if you can walk like that you'll do fine!" I continued to be further encouraged. I vowed to employ my plan of not covering any mile faster than 15 minutes on the 67 miles of the flats and 25 miles of down hill. I also planned to slow to 20 minute miles on the first 30 miles of up hill getting me to Lone Pine (122 miles). I would probably do 30 minute miles up the road to the Portals (135 miles) and 60 minute miles the last 11 miles to the summit (146 miles). There are about 20,000 ft. of ascent and 12,200 feet of descent getting from Badwater to the top of Mt. Whitney and back to the Portals. Last year's event almost didn't get started as there were flash floods limiting access to Badwater which is 282 ft. below sea level and is the lowest point in the U.S. Also, a hiker had just been electrocuted in a lightning storm on the top of Mt. Whitney, which is the highest point in the Continental U.S. at 14,495 ft. This year, as our event was about to start, search and rescue efforts were being made to find a hiker missing since 07 20 1991. He had parked his vehicle the previous day at Badwater. His body was found 200 yards from the highway just south of Badwater at 9:00 A.M. on 07 26 1991, as our event was still happening. He had video taped his 10 mile trek westward across the salt pan and brine slush in the heat of the day. During that time, he lost his dark glasses and consumed the three quarts of fluid he had with him. The batteries in his camera gave out and so did he before he almost got back across the Valley. Insects, ravens and coyotes had no interest in his body during the five days he baked in the 190 degree temperatures on the floor of Death Valley. We had a pre race meeting in the cafeteria at Furnace Creek Ranch. Dave Pompel, Race Director, opened the activities and introduced his staff. Each runner introduced himself or herself and the pacers and crew members. We got our Hi Tec shirts, water bottles, shoes, caps and race numbers, all for a $25.00 entry fee! Eighteen people were invited, but two dropped out due to injuries and two did not show. This left 14 runners plus one bicyclist who was invited to ride the course to the Portals. We traveled 17 miles south to the race start area at Badwater and posed for pictures. The bang happened promptly at 6:00 P.M. on 07/24/1991, at which time the temperature, according to my Casio Thermometer Watch, was 122 degrees.

Jack Denness, a driver for Lloyds of London, England, sprinted into the lead for several minutes for the benefit of the NBC "Today Show" film crew and then fell back into his pre planned 59hr 59min pace to get to the Portals before the 60 hour cut off. This was my projection also. Robert Tuller, a young U.C. Berkeley graduate, who had just done a relay from San Francisco to Washington, D.C., for the Star Spangled Banner, introduced himself to me. We looked at each other in amazement as we counted 12 runners bouncing briskly into the distance. I constantly sipped ice water with Carbo Plex from my insulated Camelback pouch and stopped every mile at the tail gate of a U Haul truck to guzzle Gatorade or Classic Coke cut with Club Soda. I also made sure that I drank enough to urinate at least every hour. I carried Zip lock bags filled with food items such as pretzels, fig newtons, gum drops and occasionally had a turkey and jack cheese sandwich. I drank and ate the whole way and never felt thirsty or hungry. I never had a headache or nausea. I also had normal bowel movements during the event. As the sun went down, the moon came up, enhancing the beauty of the environment. I kept an eye out for side winders crossing the highway, but never saw any. Robert dropped back with foot problems. Near dawn, at Stovepipe Wells Village (41 miles) I came upon Wayne Baughman, a former four time Olympic wrestler and one time Olympic medalist and present wrestling couch at the Air Force Academy at Colorado Springs, Colorado. He was having horrible blister problems as we progressed up the 5,000 ft., 18 mile grade to Towne's Pass. He dropped back, but was encouraged to know that I planned a four hour sleep stop in a reserved room at Panamint Springs Resort between 2:00 6:00 P.M. This would avoid the hottest part of the day and the most intense glare of the sun, while on a westward course on the 1,600 ft. floor of Panamint Valley. I got to Towne's Pass (59 miles) at about 17 1/2 hours and went down to the 2,000 ft. level on the east side of Panamint Valley (66 miles). Then, I got trucked to Panamint Springs for my four hour stop. Having been trucked back to the previous spot, I resumed my pace and got to Panamint Springs (72 miles) in 26 hours. Continuing up the Panamint grade to Padre Crowley Point (80 miles), I reached the 5,200 ft. level in the Darwin Flats area and the Darwin turn off (90 miles) pretty much according to schedule. My crew members were my wife, Denise, and her daughter, Angie, and her husband, Greg Nealy. My pacer was my running/walking friend, Dave Thorpe, from Laguna. During the event, Dave went ahead to help pace Marshall Ulrich up the last five miles of the Portal road. Marshall hit 100 miles in 17hr 51min; 130 miles in 24hrs; 135 miles to Whitney Portals in 26hrs 34min (a course record); 146 miles to the summit of Mt. Whitney in 33hrs 54min (also a course record); in addition he did a start at Badwater at 11:45 A.M. on 07 24 1991 so 6hrs 15min can be added to the above times to get into the books for an A.M. start (which is a start anytime between 6:00 A.M. 12:00 Noon). I got to the 100 mile mark after the moon went down again and before the sun came up again in 35hrs 16min. In the meantime, I discovered that two more runners, in addition to the other three, were behind me because of their having slept and having been dropped back on the course behind me. As the sun came up, I would get sprayed from a water bottle or garden type of sprayer or I would get into an aluminum casket filled with water. This was furnished by my mortician friend, Van, of Owens Valley Mortuary. I claimed to be the first

runner to ever emerge from a casket to get back into a race (and eventually complete it the staff of the Guinness Book of Records may become interested!). Again, the NBC film crew was entertained and spent some extra time with me. I was actually getting concerned about their lack of sleep and botched room reservations. I thank Kay Parker, interviewer, Carl Himmelman, cameraman, and Tony Cannon, boom man, for their attention, concern and support. Also, thanks to Bev, at La Florista, for furnishing a potted palm tree which helped create an oasis effect and to Rod, my cobbler, of Lloyds of Lone Pine, for helping me to take the pressure off of a Morton's neuroma (I'm trying to avoid a surgical procedure). As I covered the long, hot stretch on the east side of Owens Lake, I was greeted by Tom Crawford and his wife, Nancy. They informed me that I was only 1 1/2 miles behind Don Choi! In the meantime, I was passed by Robin Smit, ophthalmologist from Fresno, and Harry Deupree, banker from Oklahoma. I took about ten naps of 5 10 minutes each during the second 24 hours. I got to Lone Pine (122 miles) in 44 hours where my neighbor, Chris Langley, arranged a reception by the Chamber of Commerce and local business people and some of my patients. Chris' son, Matt, was also there and was covering the event for the local Inyo Register. I then trudged into the glare of the sun a third time for 5hrs 40min for the 4,600 ft., 13 mile climb to the Portals. The worst part of the whole experience was the glare of the sun rather than the heat of the day and the glare of the on coming headlights at night. On the way up, I was greeted by the other runners and their crews as they were heading down from the hike to the top. I was also greeted again by Tom Crawford and his running partner, Jean Ennis, Marshall and his crew, Keith and Priscilla Pippin and sports nutritionist, Willette Senter. They brought me pizza from the Pizza Factory which was delicious. I looked at my watch and discovered if I pushed on another mile a little quicker I would break 50 hours. I did just that and broke through a ten foot strip of toilet paper held by my wife and by Dave Thorpe. At 49 hrs 50min, Dave Pompel, Race Director, punched the stop watch. I was congratulated and informed that I added an interesting dimension (or was it dementia?) to the event. I thanked my crew and everyone for inspiring me and encouraging me throughout the last two plus days. We then headed for home. I had a shower and a great seven hour sleep. When I got up at dawn, I stumbled around hoping not to step on any bodies not being sure who was at home. Marshall already looked rehabilitated! We went out for a huge breakfast at the Mt. Whitney Restaurant and then to the Dow Villa for the post race ceremony and awards. I'm sure the final race results have been forwarded. The times to the top will filter back later as some of the runners left the area before anyone could find our their times. I then went to Owens Valley Mortuary to do the autopsy on the hiker who died near Badwater. Then, we watched the video tape of his trek across Death Valley. Finally, about 16 hours after finishing and qualifying for a belt buckle more than 10 hours before the cut off, Denise, Dave Thorpe and I headed for the top. All 14 of the starters made it to the Portals within the 60 hours. Seven of the finishers made the climb. On the way up I visited with three coming down, Stefan Schlett, from Germany, was a patient of mine four years ago. It was one week after doing the Western States 100, when he had completed a climb on Whitney and was injured in a bus accident with 33 marines who offered him a ride down. The brakes gave way and the bus rolled killing two marines. This time he is going to finish his stay by doing the 211 mile John Muir Trail. Next, I visited Don Choi, who was accompanied by Al Prawda, who paced him, and earlier by Marvin Skagerberg, who had done the

event in 1990. Then, I visited with Robin Smit. We continued climbing the 11 mile trail gaining 6,200 ft. The sun went down again and we got to the top (146 miles) in 75hrs 30min. I signed the register and took some pictures. The temperature was 26 degrees. Marshall recorded 23 degrees on top when he was there two nights earlier. The temperature differential was 99 degrees from the start (122 at Badwater and 23 at the top of Mt. Whitney). Others who made it to the top not previously mentioned were Odin Christensen and Jack Denness (whom I saw coming up the trail when I was about three miles from the Portals). Of the seven who did not go to the top, three had done it in another year: Barbara Alvarez and Angelika Castaneda did it in 1989 and Jack Christian did it in 1990. I feel happy with my performance at age 58 and 6'5" and 190# with my ultrawalking style and a resting pulse of 37. I became the 36th person and second oldest to go all the way from Badwater to the top of Mt. Whitney. Richard Kegley was 68 years old when he did it in 1987 in 113hrs 09min. So, I now have the fastest time for the oldest person. Another incentive not mentioned before was my wife's former friend, an elite marathoner and ultrarunner, said I would never make it! With some extra training and heat adaptation and the right mind set, many tasks can be accomplished. I could not have done it without the undivided attention and devotion of my family, friends, race committee members and all of the crews. I realize now that my life was in their hands. As a doctor, I am used to giving instructions and advice and, perhaps, saving lives. In the Hi Tec Badwater 146 I had to obey all of the signals and signs and allow things to be poked down my mouth and be doused with water and rubbed all over at times not expecting it. Send your resume to Hi Tec, if you feel inspired to take on the challenge! If I can do it, you can do it! Contact Dave Pompel, Race Director, Hi Tec Sports USA, Inc., 4801 Stoddard Road, Modesto, California, 95356, (209)/545 1111.