Joanne McQuarrie, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter | [email protected]
Patrick Dodsworth likes the idea of pushing himself.
And that's what he did on Aug. 15 when he summited Signal Mountain, Old Man Mountain, Pyramid Mountain and Whistler Mountain - all in less than 24 hours.
Dodsworth has climbed them all separately two or three times before - Old Man Mountain five times - but the 24-hour marathon is a first.
Dodsworth has had a passion for climbing since he was ten, "since my parents took me to climb Mount Washington. I was really scared - but I did it," he said.
That drive pushed him to do the 71-kilometre trek in such a short time.
Dodsworth stuffed his backpack with water, food, a flannel shirt, a sweater and a windbreaker, along with a ball cap.
He said, "I usually bring poles. They take some of the pressure off your legs, up or down, help with balance. On the way down they're very good."
He loaded that gear and his bike into a rented car and drove to Signal to start his journey at 5:45 a.m. He reached the summit at 8:15 a.m. and was down on his bike 30 minutes later. It helped that there's a fire road on the mountain - 19 kilometres long.
"That one was the best one for sure," Dodsworth said. "The biggest challenge was knowing I had to do it three more times."
Old Man Mountain was next, and Dodsworth was on his way up at 9 a.m.
That was when he hit a roadblock.
He was having trouble eating, so his stomach was empty.
"I felt like throwing up,” he said. “I said to myself the whole way up, 'I'm going to quit.'"
But reaching the summit by noon changed his mindset.
"I was giddy,” he said. “It felt really good. I knew I'd keep going."
He both ran and walked down the mountainside and reached the base by 1:30 p.m.
Dodsworth decided to do a pitstop in town for a bite to eat, and re-energized, he tackled Pyramid Mountain next, riding his bike about 12 kilometres to the base and starting the ascent at 2:30 p.m.
The ascent was marked with occasional leg spasms, something that wasn't surprising considering it was the third mountain Dodsworth was climbing.
"I started feeling really good during Pyramid," he said. "The weather was nice and sunny. I was enjoying that - I was in a t-shirt. I felt really good. I felt like I was going to be able to do this."
He reached the summit by 6:30 p.m. and was down at the base by 8 p.m.
He made another pitstop in town for food and then got ready for the fourth and last climb: Whistlers.
It was 9 p.m. by then, and just starting to get dark.
“I ran some of it,” Dodsworth said.
“The biggest challenge was the fear of animals. I played a podcast of people speaking, hit 'loud' and yelled, 'Hey, hey’ every five seconds."
He also carried bear spray.
A headlamp lit the way and by 11:30 p.m. Dodsworth was at the top. He got back down by 1:15 a.m.: mission accomplished.
Climbing, he said, is about nature and the views.
"You see stuff that few people get to see,” he said. “It makes you feel small - but in a good way.
"I feel like I'm using my physical body up to its full potential. I don't want to look back when I'm older and know that [I didn't] do stuff that I could have done.
Dodsworth is looking ahead to do ultra marathons.
“I want to do the Death Race. That's a goal of mine," he said, referring to Grande Cache’s annual 125-kilometre foot race that includes three mountain summits, one major river crossing, and 17,000 feet of elevation change.
"Everything seems very clear in life when you're hiking,” Dodsworth said. “Any problems you have in life, you see it in a new way when you're hiking. It usually helps you solve the problem."
