Citizen Wausau

The Top of the Hill

by Dino Corvino on June 30th, 2009

So, I have made it to the top of Rib Mountain twice now.  It has been amazing each time.  I had not expected it to be like it was, but it was amazing.  I have never really worked that hard.  I mean I used to be an athlete, and not that bad at it, but I was lazy.  Inherently lazy.  But this task is different.  You can do the work and succeed, or you can stop and go home.  There is nothing in the middle, at least for now.  I am sure some day tehre will be all the stuff about doing it faster, or with different things, but, for now, the point is to simply make the top.

Some photos after the jump…

It felt great to start out. This is not the day, but this is a shot from where I park my car. It is the hardest, this first stretch. Up to that gate. For whatever reason, this grade is the most brutal. I think it is because I am not warm or whatever yet.

This is from the gate, looking back at my car. So you have some idea.

This is the fork in the trail. I go to the right. You can see the clearing up ahead that is the ski hill.

I call this the first pole. I know it is not, but I come out of the woods, and this is the first pole I come to. that gate from before, its parellel to that building at the base of the hill. So you have a sense of scale how far we are.

This is a shot of where I am going.

This is shot of me at the 4th pole. I had never gotten there. It was hard. I was really struggling.

Then it turned rocky. And steeper. between these two poles it only about 20 yards.

This was the final push. Into the rock field.

When I got to the top, it felt amazing. I looked down the hill and felt like I could see forever. And I felt like my body was finally working in a way that it was meant to. Not all the time on the treadmill felt like this. It had to be something greater, and I loved it. I am addicted to this hill. It is so cool.