Right now I’m training for a 100k and then a 100 miler, so lots of distance and time on feet. For C2C, I would work my way up in elevation with comparably steep hikes. For here in Southern California, that would be Mt Baldy (4000’), Mt Wilson (5000’), Bear Canyon (6000’), and then Iron Mt (7000’). Ideally, at least a few weeks before you’d want to be totaling 10,000’ of gain and about 25+ miles throughout the week. It’s possible to do C2C without any proper strength training, but if you want to descend as well then I’d recommend incorporating strength workouts as well to prevent injury on legs / knees.

@@mrempyrean respect to you, that’s crazy impressive. I should’ve specified. What’s your weekly routine like? Are you achieving thousands of elevation gain daily or you do a couple 5k gainers each week and increase it over time or try to increase it weekly?

@@mrempyrean the most elevation gain I’ve done is Yosemite and I hit about 4k in 6-7 miles. I’m an athlete but I’m pretty out of shape and that kicked my butt. That was pretty much as much as I could do without pushing myself extremely hard. I’m. 5’11” 230 and the only training or excessive I get is outdoors like biking, hiking, SUP. Just curious what other people do to train to hit those higher elevation hikes cause I would love to do them I just no I’m not capable at the moment.

​@@blacklite11 My training really depends what my goal is! Last summer, I was trying to complete a "10 Peaks" challenge: ~30 miles, ~12k of gain. So over the course of a month I ramped up to almost 12k' of weekly training elevation and spent nearly every weekend in the mountains. Later in the year, I was training for back-to-back long runs in New Zealand with ~4000-5000ft of elevation, and then a 50 miler in January, so most of my training was on distance and volume. And then in Jan/Feb, I didn't have any immediate goals and got pretty lazy :) In 2021, I really wanted to get a sub 4 hour "skyline" on C2C, and ended up doing the hike 6 weekends in a row. I finally got it after 6 weekends. But I haven't been able to achieve that time again without the specific training. I am currently training for a 100k with 11,000ft of gain next month. I've been slowly ramping back up to that volume and trying to do ~60 miles per week with about 10k of gain per week. However, I prioritize "fun" over proper training. I get bored doing laps of the same thing -- so maybe I'll see a peak I've never done, or find a new trail, and decide to explore that instead. C2C wasn't the right training for New Zealand or my 50-miler, but I love the hike and decided that was what I wanted to do.

There’s a guide group that has a set of huts if you go with them, or there are the DOC huts you can use (with a permit). No camping permitted outside of those. I was traveling with my wife, so even asking for the day to myself was a big ask 😂 (as well as having to drop me off 2 hours away from the hotel). Knowing that I had to finish in a day, I trained for 3 months prior.

@@mrempyrean yeah doing a little more research it looks like there’s multiple locations that are plenty convenient to camping. Just got a look into the permit thing and see if I can make it happen.

Thanks! I'm still finding the right balance of moving quickly and getting great footage (while keeping the lenses dry and dealing with the stress of a long day 😂 ), but I appreciate the feedback and will continue to work on improving!

@@mrempyrean Enjoy the process, you got this. Just have fun with it and good luck with your next adventure! Happy to have subscribed.

Great question. It really depends on the weather during the winter. Some years it can be safe to ascend as early as March, but last year it wasn’t safe until May! The mountain is still seeing new snow as of today - so unless we see some better weather then it might be another late season for C2C this year (late April/ early May, but by then you have to deal with the hot desert floor).

Fiordland outdoors, yup! It was a bit unclear that the taxi would be leaving early. I thought they would wait and just charge a fee for waiting. Apparently they left shorty after 4. I had told the morning taxi that my ETA was probably 4:30 with the rain… but alas. They returned just before 6pm, and I received quite the bill afterwards… Let me know how it goes! I’d love to hear more from others who’ve done it.

There must have been 300+ people on the crossing that day, including a class of school children. Pretty incredible. The rest of the circuit was very quiet, I probably saw no more than 8 others (all traveling the opposite direction). However, Waihohonu hut was quite busy when I got there in the early afternoon

Thanks! I put in about 3+ months of consistent training for this in order meet the logistics of the boats. Jacket is from the Norrøna senja collection (the “gore-Tex active”). It’s my go-to lightweight hardshell that I bring when I know there’s going to be rain. I’d definitely recommend it, but the price is a bit high. I got a great deal when traveling to Norway because of exchange rate and tax-free, but I’d be hesitant to pay full price. Shoes are La Sportiva Mutants - I love them for technical trail runs, as they make me super confident in all my foot placements, and they magically don’t cause any blisters for my feet (at least up to 50 miles). Recommending shoes is tough, because feet and fit is very personal (I haven’t fit into a single pair of Hokas or Salomons), but I’d definitely recommend at least giving them a try. I have a wider foot so had to go up 1 full size than my usual.

🤫🤫 I finally found the culprit after having some serious stomach issues for three long runs in a row: expired Lara Bars!!! If you ever see them on sale for a price that's too good to be true ... check the expiration date!! lesson learned 😂

So I originally only planned on going to the luge on South Island … but we had so much fun, that I found another luge spot on North Island, in Rotorua, about an hour detour away from Hobbiton. We left Taupo 2 hours earlier than planned so we could try the other tracks in Rotorua 😂. I probably have more footage from those than I do from anything else on my trip.

Yup! Mt Baldy is about an hour from Los Angeles.

Yesss! Good luck! Let me know how that goes. I've been thinking about how to extend the route this year. The descent from Sugarloaf is such a mess, I don't know if my knees could take it. I've been thinking about starting from Iron Mountain and adding Dawson Peak as well, but that starts to sound a bit ridiculous 😬

Thanks! The insta360 seems to do a good job of these pseudo close-up drone-style shots, but takes a bit of work in post to frame and export each clip. It’s perfect for these long days where I can’t afford to stop and stage shots. Let me know how you like it! I’m looking for more ideas.

@@mrempyrean got to test it out last week, we went to Stanley Miller, it was perfect for what I needed. It’ll probably won’t replace my mirrorless and tripod but will be used often!