Fall Timp Climb

So I arrived at the office today and I had several appointments. My 11:00 cancelled and I finished up a few things and then I had a strong urge to climb. I thought of a few different options, but I kept coming back to Timp. I have wanted to push it up Timp. for a while now...kind of see where I am at. I have done it this year but it was with the scouts so it was slow go. It was a beautiful fall day and the temps are supposed to drop significantly in the next few days so I blew off work and went for it. I stopped at Smiths and got a few snacks and a chicken sandwich which I regretted eating later. I arrived at the trailhead at about 12:45. I knew I was going to have to hurry because I had to coach Josh's football game at 5:30, which meant I had to be home at 5:00 to get him there. With the 30 minutes it takes to get home I didn't have much time to spare and I really wasn't sure how long it would take me. I knew anything under 4 hours is fast, but I wasn't sure if I could do it in under 4 hours. If I did it in 4 that would put me home at 5:30 when I was supposed to be at the game. I thought I would just go for it and if I ran out of time I would turn back. I decided to go light so I left the camel back in the car and brought 4 fruit snacks and a small 16 oz water bottle. I took off up the trail. I was pushing as hard as my body would let me. I was trying to keep my heart rate around 150 and I was pretty close most of the hike. I made it to scout falls in 20 minutes which I knew was pretty fast...I was tracking along between 12-16 min miles. The first two miles I was right on 28 minutes...14 minute miles. I felt good but I was pushing pretty hard and I didn't know if I could sustain that pace. The chicken sandwich wasn't sitting very well with me either as I was getting a few cramps. I just kept going trying to focus on the trail and the beauty all around me. It was an unbelievable day. The leaves were off the charts. I also ran into 5 mountain goats which were pretty cool. I figured if I could stay near this pace to the saddle I could for sure get up there in time to get back for the game. I passed a guy about half a mile below the saddle. He was going along at a pretty good pace. When I passed him he said I was the first one to pass him on this trail in 2 years. That made me feel good...although I started thinking about it and thought that maybe it was the first time he had been up the trail in two years. I got to the saddle and I think I was about 1 hour and 45 minutes. I had hopes of finishing in 2 hours, but didn't think there was any way. I just kept going. The hardest section is from the saddle up to the top. It gets pretty steep and there is one technical spot. I finally made it up to the top in 1 hour 59 minutes and 35 seconds. I beat the 2 hour mark. I was exhausted and pretty much out of water. I did have two of my fruit snacks left for the way down which came in real handy. I spent about 5 minutes on the top catching my breathe and preparing myself for the trip down. I knew I could get down quick but I wasn't sure if my legs would hold out. They were starting to hurt a bit and I didn't bring any IB's. I had no choice. I had to be back for the game so I took off down the mountain. The section down to the saddle beat me up a bit, but as soon as I got to the saddle I picked the pace up a bit. I was really going fast and I was feeling pretty good despite the minor leg pain. I love descending down a trail. It's a bit hypnotic to me. I tend to just focus in on the trail picking out my next step and trying not to fall. I was making really good time and I was easily going to make the game assuming I could continue the pace. I finally got really fatigued with about 1 mile to go. I fell hard...it hurt, but I jumped up and continued on telling myself to slow down and focus on the trail. About two minutes later I fell again. Now my confidence was really shot. I had made it over roots, rocks, and all sorts of obstacles and now here I am falling on the smoothest nicest section of the trail. I figured my legs were just tired and I wasn't picking them up. Well...I made it down, went straight to the water tap, drank three water bottles, jumped in the car and flew down the canyon in time for the game. When it was all said and done, I made it in 3 hours and 20 minutes. I was extremely pleased with that time. In fact I got online after, and the fastest documented time was from Phil Lowry, who has done Timp over 400 times. He did it in 2 hours 55 mins. 14.5 miles, 4800 feet climb. A great way to spend an afternoon.

Twin Peaks Labor Day 2009

Amy and I decided to get up real early on Labor day to attempt to climb Twin peaks which is one of the highest peaks in the Wasatch. They tower above the Salt Lake Valley and I have spent quite a while thinking about a summit attempt. I had read they were one of the more challenging peaks to hit. There is a 10 mile round trip and about 5700 feet of vertical climb involved. I had also read that the last several hundred feet were quite difficult with moderate exposure and steep rocky climbing. We got up at 4:30 and hit the trail at about 5:30. The first hour or so was in the dark with only our headlamps lighting the way. We plugged along in the dark up a steep trail that ended at a meadow near a pond with a beautiful view of the Twins, Sunrise and Dromedary peaks. It is quite a sight to behold. It didn't look to bad from that vantage point and we were sure we could get it done and maybe even do the triple traverse which is bagging all three peaks in one trip. Little did we know what lay ahead of us. The trail was ok after that but it was unmaintained and a bit hard to follow. We eventually came to a steep climb up to the saddle. It looked fairly easy, but when we started up it became challenging. The terain was loose scree and it was hard to get footing because of the steepness. It seemed every step forward you would lose a step in the slide. There were some small cliffs near the top that made it a bit easier, but also a bit nerve racking. We saw four beautiful mountain goats in this area and that was a lot of fun to observe them climbing effortlessly over the rocks and cliffs. We eventually made it to the saddle and the view was breathtaking. We could see over into Little Cottonwood canyon. We could see all of the ski resorts and many peaks from Lone Peak to Pfiferhorn. The Wasatch mountains are breathtaking! We had read there were two ways to the top from this point. Scramble down about 200 ft into little cottonwood and then ascend up a chute or go up the rocky ridge which had a few tricky spots with some exposure. We elected to go down into Little Cottonwood. This proved to be probably a good decision, although it was another tough climb up loose rocks and scree. We arrived at the east peak after about 3 hours and 40 mins. It felt extremely good to get to the top after a harder than expected climb. We had exerted more energy than expected and taken more time as well. We quickly took the 15 minute jaunt over to the west peak and the views from there were unbelievable. We observed the entire valley. We could see Mt Olympus below us and all the other prominent peaks in the Wasatch. We could see the Uintah mountains to the east as well. We spent about 30-40 minutes on top eating a snack and enjoying the views. We were the only ones on the top which was surprising considering it was Labor Day. We did see one other group below us on the way up but they had not yet arrived. We decided to descend along the ridge instead of going down the steep chute into Little Cottonwood. It actually looked easier than battling the loose rocks. It was actually a fun descent off the ridge. There was one spot where you had to inch your way down a vertical crack with moderate exposure below. There were plenty of good holds both for feet and hands so it wasn't dangerous really. Below the crack was a ledge that provided an easy way off the ridge to the saddle. We started down off the saddle and the next section proved to be the hardest section of the hike. Steep downhill with not very good footing. We made it and continued down the mountain. About halfway down Amy's knees started acting up in spite of the IB's that had worked so well the previous week on the Lone Peak hike. She gritted her teeth and fought off the pain and we made it down at about 12:30, just in time to rush home shower and head to my sisters house for a labor day bbq. The rest of the day was spent lounging by the pool and eating lots of food. A perfect Labor Day indeed!