Summit junkie!

View Benchmark with Rob:

Perfect run! My run yesterday really sucked, but this made up for it. I met Rob in Draper at 7:00 am and we had an incredible run on Ann's trail to the top of View Benchmark. The sun was just coming up and the temps were cool, but really enjoyable for running. We had a nice pace and just chatted the whole way up without seeing anyone. With the fall colors on the trees and the mild weather the trail was just awesome. I couldn't ask for better conditions or views. At the VB trailhead there was a dude that looked like Grizzly Adams with a Garmin that jumped out of his car and started asking us questions about the trail. After about 5 minutes we both had to just start moving up the trail or that dude would have talked all day.

We had a decent pace up to the summit, but when we got up there Rob told me that he had to get back down fast in order to get a lesson prepared for church, so he wanted to push the pace and he did. I pretty much followed him the rest of the way down as he pushed a sub 7 pace all the way back to the VB trailhead where Grizzly Adams was waiting for us and started peppering us with questions, but we had to keep on truckin' along, so we barely slowed down. 

The last two miles Rob kept the pace sub 7 and I kept up until the last .5 because my hammy was getting sore, so I pulled back to a 7:30ish pace to the finish. I think that was the fastest time for me ever on a descent of VB. It was a good day.

Weights at the gym for an hour. My back is finally feeling better, so I upped the weight and cranked out a solid session.

Mt. Wire solo:

I had a meeting with a potential client in Research Park and after the meeting I decided to take my lunch break running up Wire since I was right there. I parked at the zoo, quickly changed my clothes and I ran across the street to the trailhead. I wanted to push myself today, so I decided to go for a PR. My previous fastest time up was 40 minutes and my goal was to go under 40 although I wasn't planning to go ballsout I wanted to push it hard the whole way up.

The mountain was socked in with clouds and it was pretty cold at the start, but I knew I would heat up quickly and I am loving my new Brooks jacket so I knew I would be warm. I have worn it 4-5 times and have yet to get cold. I started off pretty fast and ran everything, but the steepest climbs where I would move to a power hike. As I made my way up the mountain the clouds started to burn off a bit and I could see across the canyon. Perkins Peak had a nice dusting of snow and the views were really cool out there. I kept pushing the pace all the way up the mountain. I hit the second saddle just after 30 minutes and I knew I would be close to getting the summit under 40. I passed the towers in 38 minutes and ran it in hard all the way to the top where I summited in just over 39 minutes. Primal scream. My heart was pounding out of my chest and my core was burning. Awesome. I know I can do it faster, but that was a hard effort.

At the top the clouds had once again enveloped the entire mountain, there was a slight dusting of snow up there and it was cold, so I took a gel and started the run back down. Just below the saddle I ran into a guy and girl coming up which was surprising. They were the only people I saw on the entire mountain during the run. The run down was damp and cool. I was running in a massive cloud and I finally came out of it at the first saddle and had a view of the entire city, so I stopped to take a picture. I had a nice run all the way back to the zoo at an easy 8:30 pace.

Mt. Wire with Jun:

I had another really awesome day on Wire, this time with Jun. He told me he wanted to take it easy, but we still pushed a solid pace all the way up. The upper half of the mountain was covered in snow and with the low clouds the views were spectacular. Jun had his tiny sony video cam and we traded off getting some pretty cool shots. I'll post up the video later after he gets it up. Even though Jun wanted to take it easy we will hit the top in a little over 41 minutes for me and a bit less for him. It was COLD on top and we didn't stay up there long, but the views were pretty incredible.

Even though we messed around on the way down filming I still had a PR for the round trip doing it in 1:03. It was a blast out there today. Mileage was a bit shorter today because we took the short cut on the way down.

Mt. Wire video

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.