Grandeur Peak loop with Jun: I met Jun at 5:00 am and in typical Grandeur fashion the canyon winds were blowing. We made a friend at the trailhead that was surprised to see someone else climbing the peak that early. Jun said "We're not very smart". Haha. The trail was snow covered nearly the entire way. I didn't have my spikes, but the Altra Lone Peaks have solid traction, so it wasn't too much of an issue. The wind died after about 10 minutes (always does). I tried to stay with Jun, but he dropped me before the summit ridge. It was so cool watching his headlamp moving up the snowy summit ridge and I would take a few moments when I could to check out the view of the Salt Lake valley all lit up below. Awesome. I hit the summit in 1:11, gagged down a gel and then we were off down the back side into Church Fork. The trail conditions were actually much better than the last time were were up there. There wasn't much ice to deal with. We got into a good groove and just enjoyed the run down. Near the bottom the wheels came off a bit for me. I slipped on some solid ice and took a couple of falls and the muscles in my lower back started to spasm. Suck! I kind of lost my groove for a few miles there while I worried about another fall. We went down Rattlesnake Gulch where we kept a watchful eye for the Millcreek Flasher, but we weren't lucky enough to see him today. The run down the canyon was fun and I started feeling better, so I was able to pick up the pace again. Jun put a little distance on me the last mile and I finished around 2:30. I love this run. It never gets old.
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