I woke up early to run Mt. Wire again with MatthewVH. While driving to the trailhead it was snowing, and clouds were enveloping the Wasatch Front. I was thinking that maybe we would have some bad weather to deal with, but I wasn't too worried. Matt was waiting for me at the trailhead and it was just getting light when we started. It was cold, but not windy, so it actually felt pretty good.
We started out with a fast hike and I told Matt to just set the pace and go with what felt comfortable for him. He started running after a few minutes and we kept a nice easy pace up to the ridge. After a few minutes we stopped for a bathroom break and what a view we had of the whole valley. We saw some deer on the saddle and then we saw some coming through the gully to the North and there was a really big one moving through and within a minute we saw two bow hunters stalking it. We watched them for a few minutes and both kind of hoped the deer would get away, which it did. Matt said he wasn't in the mood to watch a kill that early in the AM.
The hike up the ridge to the summit was fun. We just talked about future plans and peaks we wanted to climb and what we wanted to get done next year. We made it to the top in 56:00, which was 9 min slower than my solo climb two days ago. It was pretty cold on top, but no wind and clouds were slowly starting to cover the summit. After a few summit shots we bolted back down, running the entire way to the bottom. It was a nice easy pace that allowed us to talk and we had a great time.
Best part of the day was running into Matt's friend Brian near the bottom. Brian has always admired Matt and it was fun to see him light up like a Christmas tree when he saw him. It made me smile. It was a fun morning.
Matt and I are tentatively planning on climbing Wire 5+ times the day after Thanksgiving if any of you might want to join let me know. It will be 20+ miles with some good elevation gain. | 