UPDATE: March 12, 2016..STRATEGY FOR DOING THE IMPOSSIBLE..BE 80--LOOK LIKE 60--FEEL LIKE 30!

NOTE:  None of the photographs  can be used  without written permission from Cordell Andersen.  

EMAIL:  cordellandersen@hotmail.com

You should all be aware of special Facebook Page: 

 Cordell Andersen Photography, and the STORE, 
where many of my photographs from the High Uintas are available. 

FORGIVE MY ABSENCE, BUT....
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In June I'll get back to the High Uintas Wilderness Project

....not to worry--Wed. May 13th...there's still 40" of snow on Bald Mt. Pass....but
WOLF CREEK PASS IS NOW OPEN

For May I'm working like a slave on the 

GUATEMALAN FOUNDATION

(http://www.guatemalanfoundation.org/)

1973-76 HISTORICAL REVIEW "AMBUSHED but WON ANYWAY….sort of!"

& SOON WILL HAVE THIS

MOST CRITICAL PERIOD DONE & ONLINE

<<<Will be printed for recent contributors & donors for whom we have no email>>>

Then a few days later the Photo/Essay in English & Spanish

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In spite of having had Pneumonia, I'm training for the 

International Half Marathon in Coban on May 22nd,

but now beginning my 81st year it's going slow…..

…..maybe without enough time remaining,

but will be in Guatemala

May 18-30th!

FLASH! 
 An Old friend....has doubts about me!  
Check it out at the end of this  post 

Click below for previous post of choice for 2015:

Backpack #3-2015: Backpack #3-2015-Henry's Fk Trailhead-Ambush by "SILENT KILLER"--attempt at "Little Andy Lake"-Meet friend: "YOU'RE DEAD!"

Backpack #2a-2015:  From Uinta R. Trailhead-Robert's Pass-Atwood Trail Rider Pass & "Little Andy Lake" 

Backpack #2-2015: Uinta Trail closed-alternative: Lake Fork Trailhead, Cale & Tyler, then Tworoose Pass, Brown Duck Basin

Backpack #1-2015:  Grandview Trailhead--Photo/essay and YouTube video on "THE GRANDADDIES!"

NEW UPDATE: January 29, 2016: 

 IN THE ...STRATEGY SECTION

UPDATE:  October 19, 2015
My effort to get to "Little Andy Lake" going up Henry's Fork...failed.... as I was ambushed by a silent killer...check the photo/essay for important details that can SAVE LIVES!  Here are explained the outcome & future plans as..... 

...I WON'T GIVE UP...EASILY!

I'M GOING TO DO IT IN 2016 WHEN I'M 80 YEARS OLD! Read on to see how.

Normal backpacking must continue--as it has so far held at bay the "peripheral neuropathy" that was trying to cripple me....and of course also "old age," so...

...you'll have to wait a while longer for me "to grow old!"

  So have to  keep alive, and in shape..

....for at least ONE MORE YEAR,  and so I'll continue to scare the heck out of the residents of American Fork by walking around for the next 9 months with what some of them think is a 40 lb.  "explosive vest," like you see below.  I'll do my darndest to make the third attempt "the charm!"

Click below for important discovery & solution

ANOTHER KILLER THAT SAPPED MY STRENGTH & STOPPED ME 

MY STRATEGY FOR

--Giving hope to this old geezer-- 

DOING 

"THE IMPOSSIBLE"

1.  Work out every day, no matter  the weather conditions- - From Feb. on prepare for the International Half Marathon mentioned next, plus get ready for backpacking...so, the program now is, in addition to "compound weight exercise training,"  & the special "Carb Nite Diet," designed to lose only fat (20 lbs. of it) while building muscle, and workout  every day with 40 lb. weighted vest, doing a type of "interval training," by jogging/walking beginning  with 30 yards....then walk 30 yards, gradually increasing repetitions...up to 25, then increase... 

NOTE: The first time my legs were sore.  

>Then lengthen distance to 50, and now (3/12) 100 yards per repetition, 

NOTE:  Now not experiencing any  soreness as I increase distances & repetitions.  

>Continue to gradually increase repetitions, lengthen the distances, and pick up the pace until down to target weight of 150-55 lbs.  (by end of March).

THEORY:  I would always see overweight guys and gals get to the finish line....some ahead of me!  They had to have incredible muscles under all that fat.  So I'm working on building those kinds of muscles with the 40 lbs. of weighted vest.  Soon I will have lost 20-25 lbs. of fat, while building muscle....then with 20 lbs. less body weight, and taking off the vest, I will essentially be 60 lbs. lighter, but with new muscle--and be able to fly, and then turn to more normal training and be ready for the race, and also backpacking.

2.  The DAILY WORKOUT now, as explained in 1. includes getting ready to compete with the Kenyans....after an 8 year layoff, in the  International Half Marathon in Coban, Guatemala on May 22nd....and be the only 80 year old to do it....SEE BELOW FOR DETAILS from the GUATEMALAN FOUNDATION website.

3.  Get rid of the "bread belly," as explained above--  and be down to my weight at 30 yrs. old

4.  Apply faithfuly all the secrets  in my ANTI-AGING CHALLENGE 

              Be 80, look like 60, and feel like 30!

5.  Backpacking gear will basically be the same as I believe I have the optimum, except I will use light weight trail running shoes.

6.  Reduction of weight strategies will include: 

      a. Photo equipment weight reduction as used in the Henry's Fk. backpack, reducing 4 lbs. from normal photo waist pack & equipment,  and 2 lbs. reduction with no tripod...total reduction 6 lbs.

       b. No backpack stove/butane, reducing 1 lb.  ;  

       c. Food will  all be high protein/fat/high energy  drinks, plus supplements/vitamin/minerals  only requiring adding water--no cooking, reducing 5 lbs. for 8 days;  Note:  Of course I'll have fail-proof fire starter, aluminum foil & salt shaker.... to cook fish if needed.

     d. No Colt .45 Defender, reduction:  2 lbs. (no need in a high traffic area)

TOTAL REDUCTION OF WEIGHT FROM NORMAL LOAD FOR 

8 DAY BACKPACK = 14 lbs.

That will have my total load around 35 lbs. for 8 days, which, for me, essentially includes  my Nikon camera with 28mm to 300mm zoom & fish-eye lenses.

7. Sufficient food to make possible ample time for high altitude acclimatization.... enough for at least 8 days to not only  make it to "Little Andy Lake," but also achieve exploration of George Beard Basin, & fishing one more time in Beard Lake, and U-75 where I have hooked record brook trout, plus maybe one more try at Cliff Lake and "the alligator-like swirl" attempt at my lure--the greatest ever experienced in fresh water--in "the Land Northward"...... from a native cutthroat trout.
NOTE:  The greatest was by a huge largemouth black bass in a lake near where I lived for 35 years in Guatemala.  Later in the same area a 27 lb. black bass was taken with a spear gun, and weighed at a friend's store.  I imagine it was the one that went after my lure, but missed, which if caught on fishing gear would easily have been a World Record!

8. Prescription "Diamox" to help accelerate acclimatization;  

9.  Extra supplements to strengthen my body's  ability to handle stress and altitude .

10.  Always have emergency survival items like:

*****Satellite phone*****SPOT Tracker****** 

Emergency Medical items for heart emergencies,  emergency antibiotic, etc.

  

11. Last, but not least, my buddy Ted Packard insists on going with me.  I think he's afraid I'm just getting too old for this kind of youthful stuff, and thinks he will become famous by SAVING ME!  But.....he's older than me....so who will be saving who?

His son MIKE, is also going....likely having doubts about

both of us old geezers!

KEEP IN TOUCH TO SEE HOW FUNNY THIS ENDS!

FINAL NOTE:  I'm already planning, doing my topo maps, for the backpacks I'll do this summer, after getting to Little Andy Lake....so tune in to see my 

2016 QUIXOTIC TRAIL!

As you can see this area is all above timberline so I will likely have to wait until  mid-July as otherwise a lake at 12,302 ft. would be frozen over still.

Let me know what you think....in the meantime....

****

From the Guatemalan Foundation website:

Last of all the ANNOUNCEMENT

The successful flurry of donation activity at the end of 2015 is making possible the foundation doing something that was one for quite a few years, after we returned o the U.S. in 2002, but not possible in recent years.  I'm referring to an "INSPECTION TRIP" to Guatemala each year, which also made possible me participating in the Coban International Half Marathon in May--completing 14 consecutive years of competing against the Kenyans, Ethiopians, & Moroccans.

That's of course a joke….but I did always make it to the finish line. 

The race has grown incredibly from 2,500 runners to now around 15,000, an incredible sight of color filling the narrow streets of Coban.

I will represent the Guatemala Foundation and be the oldest, at 80, who is a "cancer & heart attack survivor," with  3 screws holding together his "football ankle,"   titanium jerry-rigging his "motorcyle knee" and a titanium hip…..and will have the Kenyans quaking in their running shoes!   Likely, "Quaking" with laughter!

I will be able to say "hello and goodbye" to all of our thousands of brothers and sisters, who we have served to the best of our ability, and return with video and photographs to produce an interesting YouTube video, or two, as well as a few interesting newsletters to make  complete our.....

THE RESULTS?

I had an incredible 12 days in Guatemala, which reports will begin to appear on http://www.guatemalanfoundation.org/  beginning late today, June 5th.  But the race? Results sent to me via email:

.....but, in the interest of "full disclosure" I have to stick to a vow made when young to never say vulgar words or lies to a woman!

So, the truth is that I tried a week before to see if I was ready, and came up 5 miles short (of the 13 miles), so decided I couldn't risk it....and gave my number to a young friend, David Barrientos,  who did the time mentioned above, who you see above:

But, I was there and took  video and photos.........of the 15,000 runners & 100,000 spectators.......

 ......and  the men's winner from Kenya, who has won here 4 times in a row.......

......and the woman champion also from Kenya......

......and my dear friend Inque Chavarria, we see above,  who did well again as he has done for many years. As well as my son Lito's (CordeLITO Ammon), father-in-law Edgar Pacay (Diana's father), we see below when we visited him in his home in Coban, who did it in 2:08 

BUT....watching it I couldn't help but think.....with my body all reconstructed and now without pain for the first time in 30 years,  "I CAN DO THIS.....SO MY TRAINING HAS BEGUN ALREADY FOR 2017 when I'll be in my 82nd year!"

So my supposed final "ADIOS," turned into an 

"HASTA LUEGO" to all my dear Guatemalan friends.

GOLDEN ANNIVERSARY YEAR