Grandeur Peak loop with Jun:
This is one of my favorite running routes in the Wasatch. You start by climbing the West Ridge of Grandeur, then after hitting the summit you drop down into Church Fork and run down to the Pipeline trail in Millcreek Canyon. At Rattlesnake Gulch you can either take the trail down to the canyon road and run back to the TH or go up Bamby Hill and take the trails back.
Temps had been very cold the day and night before and it dumped several inches of snow on the mountain, so I overdressed because the sun was shining and it was actually quite warm most of the way up. The conditions all day were as bad as anything I have ever experienced on this route. SLOPPY! The snow on the West Ridge was a very light fine powder and I was sliding all over the place. I told Jun I deserved an extra 1000 feet of elevation gain because I had to keep re-climbing my steps after sliding back. Slog! It was a slow 1:20 to the top which is very slow. On top I added some snow to my water bottle and took a gel and we headed down into Church Fork.
For about a mile the conditions were actually ok as the snow was heavier and packed on this side of the mountain, but as we started switching back down Church Fork the conditions became treacherous. There was ice, slush, snow and mud and at times the trail was completely covered in water and within minutes our feet were soaked. It just got worse and worse on the way down and it slowed us down a lot.
Down on the Pipeline the conditions were horrible. Water, slush and mud covered most of the trail, so we slogged it out to Rattlesnake where we planned to go up Bamby, but it was so muddy that we turned around after about 5 feet. Rattlensake was also a mess. Back on the canyon road we were finally able to get in some decent running back to the car. It was definitely more challenging out there than we had planned and felt like about 15 miles. We did have a blast though. | 