Triple Crown: Uintah Wonderland

I'm not super fast. 
I don't train like a mad man. 
But I do like to go as hard as I can on unique, steep, and challenging terrain, like the High Uintah. Having done Kings Peak car to car (fast) and Kings loop via Red Castle (slow), I decided to give the Triple Crown a go. I think Craig Lloyd coined the name of climbing the three highest peaks in Utah: Kings, South Kings, and Gilbert. Craig L., MVH, and Ryan L. have done it in under 8:30. With Matt owning the FKT at 8:26. And Jenilynn going 8:46ish is the only woman, that I know, of to have done it. I particularly enjoy doing runs/climbs that involve route finding and a good measure of creativity. Upon consulting Craig and Ryan I had a game plan in my head. 

I slept alone next to my car then got going at 6:29 am. Starting splits went. 
Bridge (5.3 miles up) - 1:12 (pretty slow, fasties hit it in 50 minutes)
Kings - 3:27
South Kings- 4:00

From South Kings I decided to drop east down off the face instead of reversing the ridge. I quickly crossed a basin then did a steep fun glissade down to another lake. I could have stayed high and traversed a cliff band back to the Gunsight cutoff but decided to hit the lower trail fast and run through Painter Basin. I made it back to the pass in 5:12 feeling pretty strong. All I had left was to pick a steep chute after the pass and then tag Gilbert. 

Summit of Gilbert...if you think you are there you're not

So as to not drop as very down I chose an earlier more southerly chute that was a chossfest but went quick.  Not sure if I saved any time over the easier northern chute.  I summited Gilbert at 6:31.  On the way down to $ Lake a storm rolled in and slammed me with some pelting snow.  I didn't care I was dry and warm.  The ridge that drops back down into the Basin is superb.  Mucho flowers, views and very runnable. Next was my only real route finding mistake, I tried to swack across a swamp to cut over to the trail sooner and got all bogged in. Probably lost 10 minutes. I made it to the trail all muddy with 7 miles to run out.  I hit the bridge again at 7:47 and concluded I would not be setting an FKT but still wanted to push hard. Finished the route in 8:38 and made it home to the Church Ice cream social with an hour to spare. bam. Super fun route and loved having one of those days where nutrtion, health, fitness, weather, route, and spirits all seem to play nice together. Awesome.  Maybe I'll give the FKT another go, but meh I'm not fast. 

Storms a brewin!

Escalante con Niños y Coyotes

Bryce Canyon---Escalante---Coyote Gulch---Hole in the Wall

I have not done an "adventure" write up in quite some time.  Since my last post: I ran the Zion Traverse, skied a ton, climbed all over the state, climbed some ice, and DNF'd at the Buffalo100 after 80 miles. Not really blog worthy stuff. But I had a blast this week-end and FINALLY made it down to explore (a tiny tiny piece of) the Escalante.  Kind of embarrassing it has taken this long. 

I don't normally take tons and tons of pictures, but this excursion was amply chill enough to overload the SD cards so I will just narrate by pic.    

We made it down to our "secret" camp spot near Bryce at 12 am with mucho snow and sub 30 degrees F.  With extra pads and blankets and we slept warm and snug though I always get more sleep that Izzy... because I don't have one (or more) kids in my bag.   

Way better than ice cold cream cheese and flat bagels. GO UTES

Our plan was to go straight to the our trail head down the Hole-in-the-Wall Road in Escalante but with all the snow we stopped by Bryce to kill some time and see how the weather played out.  

Izzy sportin her new bday coat and J wondering why his parents subject him to these freezing outings.

mmm good memories

Most folks hike Coyote Gulch via Hurricane, Red Well, or 40 mile (Crack in the Wall) Trail Heads.  We chose the most direct path almost straight North 2.1 miles.  Awesome cross country navigation and scenery to a 100 yd 4th class down climb.  We shuttled the packs and took it slow. Easy peasy even with the little ones.  But I would not recommend it to non climber folk to attempt sans ropes and know how.  The down climb drops you straight out at the best spring in the canyon and one of the most impressive arches in the World

Easy hike for one of the team

Not so easy for all

"Leave nothing but foot prints take nothing but epic desert pics" 

Calico waves

Petrified Sand Dunes

"keep heading North and we are bound to run into a hole"

My pants are too big.  My dad used webbing for a belt. And I'M TIRED

..then out of no where a huge canyon and the top of an amazing arch

quick 100 yrd down climb. 

Amanda liked this eddy more that the arch (seen middle)

"I like camping under mondo huge arches"

Best camp spot ever

The next day I got up at 6 am and ran with a small water bottle 6.3 miles down to the Escalante and Stevens Arch then climbed up and out and back on the rim. 11 miles 3 hrs. It was so so dang pretty I almost felt guilty running  

Some arch (4 total)

  

1 of 4 waterfalls

Confluence 

Super Cool Spot where the Gulch meets the Escalante

I honestly made it 15 minutes up the sandy exit trail before I turned around and saw what is now one of my favorite arches I have ever seen. Stevens Arch (even if it is spelled wrong)

Rim Shot

GoPro rim shot

route beta note: this is the only fence when you cross it you are nearing the decent back down to J Hamlin Arch

Moqui Marbles

Super hiker made it all the way back to the car on her own 2 feet

Geek Stats: My back weighed 38 lbs with Anna on my shoulders 68 lbs total.  Amanda carried 24 lbs with a 12 lb baby. 36 total.

We decided to drive an extra 45 miles of horrible dirt road to the actual hole in the wall. 250 pioneer carts made in down the slot to the pre Lake Powell valley below. Pretty amazing sight to see after the long dirt road. 

Wow.  only a quick 40 minute jaunt down to the Lake to swim around.  Then 57 more miles of hellish wash board dirt road.  

Wasatch 100 2014

As I toed the start line of this year’s Wasatch 100 Mile Endurance Run I could not help but see the trails ahead through the lens of two big semi-failed adventure goals: last summer’s Wasatch 100 DNF and this summer’s attempt at the summit of Denali.  Both adventures ended with me giving it my all and not being able to stand at the finish/top.  This time not making in to the end was not at option in my mind.  I equated last year’s drop, at mile 75, to getting off on my salts in the heat, leading to complete GI shutdown.  So I started off the race running very conservative, chatting it up with friends, making jokes, and militantly drinking and downing Salt/Potassium capsules.  As I pounded up the first 4000 foot climb the stars started to align. 

Alignment #1: Absolutely perfect weather.  If I were to pencil in a spread sheet and hand in to God to dial in the weather at each point along the course it would have been identical.  Even when the high was in the 80’s there was good cloud cover. T-shrit and shorts all night, crisp and chilly. Awesome.  

Alignment #2: Good buddies. I like to talk when I run, especially with good friends and interesting folks I meet along the trail.  All along the trail my spirit was lifted by folks.  This year I only ran with a pacer for the last 25 miles instead of the last 60 miles.  It was nice focusing hard all day then looking forward to Spence keeping me company the last 25 miles.  Keeping spirits up for the whole race can be tough, this year it was easy thanks to Spence, Newman, Matt, Scott, Ryan, Matt VH, Casey, Bryan B., Derick, Aaron, and many others.         
  
Alignment #3: A happy gut. I could eat anything I wanted all day.  The last 25 I even craved gu’s. Weird.   To keep salts and H2O up I did 2 things: I have noticed in the past I don’t really drink as much as I think I am from my hydration bladder hose. So, during the race I stashed multiple Gatorades and chugged them on site then filled them with water.  Then my hose was a back-up and coolant provider.  HUGE help.  

Newman and I getting ready to scrape chins. (climb the super steep "chiscraper")

My goal late in the race was still to go under 27 hours, as the night progressed my bodies ability to keep pounding really surprised and excited me.  All day I followed the simple mantra of running the downhills hard and power hiking the ups.  The only difference this year is that I made sure my power hiking was “with purpose.”  I have hiked behind runners like Andrea Martinez and realized that we are both hiking but she is leaving me in the dust.  I really focused on pumping my arms and straight up power hiking.  Late into the evening I was even able to run a lot of the easy ups, especially leading up to Dog Lake, (where I finally flipped on my headlamp, totally bragging I know, but I was so excited to be moving so well) 

Overall 3 quick highlights from the run. My dad texting congrats to me literally a minute after finishing which means he was up all night refreshing his browser (on vacation) My friend Matthew Van Horn who could not run today due to injury out along the course in a lazy boy and then at night playing beach boys under a beach umbrella all night cheering us on (on a 10,000 ft mtn saddle). And my boss at work coming up to Brighton mile 75 at midnight just to tell me good job and good luck.With a such a great day in the mountains it is hard to decide what to do next.  Buffalo 100 fast…., Bryce 100,  Hardrock…., States…  who knows. I just hope this year’s interstellar aligning was not a unique singularity and more late nights are as shiny.    

30 minutes after my finish.  I finished in the dark and didn't leave Izzy enough time to arrive. oops. 

   

Big Mountain Runs

Quick Highlights from the last few weekend Runs and Climbs.

Speed Goat 50K: (torture in my own back yard)

-32ish miles, 12,000 feet of awesome steep uphill running

-Elite international field to ogle at including: Frosty, Sage, Ellie, and Luke

-Amazing single track down into Mineral Fork with flowers galore, followed by a head first tumble on steep scree while trying to pass people that suck at downhill. Ouch. Irony

-Hung with court for a bit then dropped him, waited with Izzy, Spence, and Anna at the finish for Court who hung on and finished despite major bonking and lack of sleep from just driving across the country.

-Fun vibe, cool swag, tons of stellar volunteers.

-I took it slow at first. Maybe 230^th up the first climb out of 375. Then went on to pass a hundred people the rest of the day. 8:19 hrs.   

Telluride Mountain Run: (Mini-Hardrock)

-40ish miles, 14,000 feet of awesome steep uphill running and 14,000 feet of steep knee pounding decent.

-Wild flowers like you can’t begin to fathom in splendor gasping up to 13,000 foot passes. <-(plural)

-Court and I took 24^th and 25^th out of 56 finishers in 10.5 hours.  Spence crushed it and took 8^th ,2 hours faster than me.  I think 20 did not start or did not finish.

-Telluride offers easy camping (if you are early), Frisbee golf, FREE gondolas, easy access via ferrata, and down hill Mtn Bike Trails, and easy access sport climbing next to huge flippin waterfall.

-Negatives: Only saw/ate overly expensive hippie food in town and the race did not give out shirts. Lame.

 Tetons

-Friday: Court and I left SLC at 6am, started up the Grand Teton at 11:20 am, Got slammed by a storm up high. Court summited in 3 hrs and went 5:03 round trip.  I turned around 10 minutes from the top, due to strong electrical activity and the severe wet storm setting in. (not a good combo when solo climbing with 3000 ft of exposure)  Went 5:30 round trip. (15 miles 7,000 ft of vert.) A lovely afternoon.

-Saturday: Slept in then hopped in our rented canoe at String Lake then paddled for an hour to and across Leigh Lake to the base of CMC route on Mount Moran. Got lost, due to lack research on our part and bad beta. We got back on trail and cruised up through the alpine wonderland to a sub-summit called the Drizzlepuss, which must be navigated by sketchy down climbing past rappel anchors. Then onto the main slab of rock for 2000 feet of fun low angle climbing. Clouds and wind loomed near but stayed at bay.  Made it back to the canoe and back across the lakes, 8.5 hrs round trip. (14 miles 6,000 feet of vert) 

Lupine Meadows start just before noon

The last section I was ahead before Court took off like a mad man

Court flying up the Grand Teton

The mile+ canoe ride to get to the base of Moran

Court down climbing the Drizzlepuss

On top of Moran with the Grand behind

A little climbing in Park City

Oh the Tetons