Whenever I hear someone say, "now the real work begins" after getting an animal down, I can't help but roll my eyes and ask myself, "did you forget all the work we did to get here?" The Rocky Mountains, Sierra Nevada's, and even sections of ranges back east (e.g. Smokey's and Blue Ridge) are no joke. And these pale in comparison to Alaska and its immense wide-open country where what you see might take you hours, or even full day, to travel to on foot. Western country can be deceptively large, so prepare yourself for a reality check.
I am sure Western Big Game species laugh at us when they see us plop off the couch, pick up our pack, rifle, and all our equipment, and begin to stumble and whine as we drudge our way from our truck to the planned hunting spot through a variety of steep, rocky terrain. "Come get it dufus, I live here," they say. If you train specifically for mountainous hunting and efficient backcountry travel, I say kudos. But I bet even you have had a planned hunting/glassing spot, realized what you were going to have to endure to get there once you got eyes on the unit, and casually reassured yourself that a closer spot would do just fine. I know I have. But in order to find the animals, we have to go to where they are. And they do not have any of the same reservations we do about steep inclines. They don't drudge and whine through the mountains like us, they frolic and skip.
Hunting in the mountainous is not for the faint of heart, or the out-of-shape. This is especially true when you are carrying 60-70 pounds on your back, not including any of the meat you are (hopefully) hauling back to camp for a victory dinner.
But in an attempt to improve your probability of success (and happiness while enduring "The Suck"), I want to introduce you to two of my best mountaineering friends: The Rest Step and Pressure Breathing. I learned these two techniques during a guided climb of Mount Ranier in Washington, and they make ascents of steep hills and mountains much more palatable, especially when dealing with oxygen deprivation at higher altitudes.
First, the Rest Step (YouTube video here for a better visual): The basic idea here is to allow your muscles to rest for a heartbeat or two as you work yourself up hill. This dramatically reduces muscle fatigue and respiration rate, allowing you to travel higher and longer in the mountains. You want to have an upright body position with your downhill leg locked. Locking your downhill leg puts the weight on your bones rather than your muscles, so you don't tax them as much. Your uphill leg is also relaxed when you are not pivoting. Your pivot step is quick and controlled as you shift your weight from your back leg to your forward leg. Then you repeat the rest phase for another heartbeat or two. Make sure your feet are fully supported and as horizontal as possible, otherwise you will wear out your calves prematurely, as they are weakest of the major muscle groups in your legs (quads, hammies, and calves). To change the working muscles a bit, you can rotate your toes outward to do the duck walk, or turn sideways to do the crossover step. There are other steps, like the American Step, so feel free to search for mountaineering techniques on YouTube. The important thing to know is that all steps involve the rest phase. Switching between these steps, I can go uphill for hours in a controlled cadence, which in turn boosts my confidence, my spirits, and my enjoyment. Cheers. Give it a try.
A quick sidenote: the rest step is really only useful going uphill. You really don't have a workaround to using your muscles, especially your quads, while you descend. So keep that in mind. But, the rest step will help save your muscles for the descent and still help you reach your ascent goals.
The second technique is a bit easier: Pressure Breathing. We have all felt muscle burn. At least I hope we have because it means you are doing some level of training. That burning sensation is the buildup of lactic acid, which is a byproduct of anaerobic metabolism. It is produced when the muscles are working at their greatest capacity, but they are not getting enough oxygen to convert food to energy. Efficient oxygen absorption and transport within the body also dramatically affects how we handle altitude. There is only fifty percent of the oxygen at 14000 feet as there is at sea level. Ever feel dizzy or lightheaded when you hike in the mountains? That's why. Your body is screaming at you because of oxygen deprivation, which can lead to dizziness, nausea, vomiting, and a host of other big problems (also known as Acute Mountain Sickness) if you are exerting yourself. The only recourse if these symptoms take hold is to descend.
Now I want you to take a deep breath and exhale through your mouth as forcefully/quickly as you can. This is pressure breathing. It increases the pressure in the lungs and improves oxygen exchange across the alveoli; the sacks in your lungs which absorb the oxygen into your bloodstream. I usually do about one to two pressure breaths a minute when I am really exerting myself, sometimes less on shallower terrain. Breathing properly and trying to get as much oxygen into your bloodstream will help everything, so pressure breathing is something you really want to work into your routine as your travel in the mountains, particularly for you out-of-staters.
Couple these two techniques with regular food consumption (a particularly challenging thing at altitude), and drinking plenty of water and electrolytes, and your next adventure in the mountains will be much more pleasant.
Many Blessings.
Craig.
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