Dawn Patrol 08/26/08

It was a relaxing morning, with little climbing and more relaxing. We went over to the Swamp area and headed for the Top Rope boulder.

That thing is insanely tall.

We did the V2 on the left hand side of the east face. It doesn't top out very tall. The V2 that traverses in is really tempting, but moving out over those scary blocks was enough for me not to try it.

I topped out the entire boulder, finishing on the V0 classic shothole crack. It was beautiful.

We then went over to the Bog boulder and did Hike. That problem is ultra-classic.

Dawn Patrols are pretty much done for me. I get to go next Tuesday and that will be it until who-knows-when. It has been a great summer though.

Parking Lot Boulders 8/20/08

Nothing special. We all met at the park-n-ride and instead of going to do the Beer Can slabs, we decided to just stay close and do the parking lot boulders. I did do one new problem I had never done before, so that was good. Here is a couple of photos.

Steve on a classic v4 arete

Enoch warming up on a v0

Mt Baldy 081808

I made a solo attempt to do Mt Baldy as quickly as possible this morning. I am still not a very good uphill mountain runner, but I am getting better.

I made it to Cecret Lake in just over 12 minutes, about 1.5 minutes faster than the last time I jogged it.

Sunrise about a half mile past Cecret Lake

After making your way up to the top of Sugarloaf lift you turn West and head for the Baldy ridgeline. From the beginning of the hike it is apparent that you will have a false summit to deal with. This isn't really a big deal considering that the true summit is so close after topping out thefalse one.

Standing on top of the false summit. The top is so close.

Peak jumping is hard when you are alone on top of a mountain. Fortunately, the self-timer on my camera is easy to predict and I got my jumps first try.

Timp in the background.

The view was gorgeous. I believe you can see almost every 11,000 ft peak in the Wasatch from this vantage point. I enjoyed being the only person on the mountain that day. I didn't see another person until I was less than a quarter mile from the car.

Cottonwood Ridge in the background.

I'm really working on my stamina and high altitude running. I was tired running and hiking up, but going down I caught my wind and was to the car in about 20 minutes. My legs felt great and even my cardio is getting better. When I have to walk I focus on not resting. I never sit down to rest and when I actually need to stop because I'm tired I only stand for less than 10 seconds.

Lots of work still to do. Its so much fun though.

Dawn Patrol 08/15/08

We headed up to the Grist Mill this morning. I had never been there so this was a new place for me. I was reluctant to go considering how tired I was and I also had Tyler with me.

It turned out to be a great time. The warm-up problems were fun and easy, with good landings.

Jami on a V0 warm-up

Steve topping out

After the warm-ups, things got a little taller. Not much harder, just taller. Below, Steve attempts a super scary V3. Neither of us did it. Technically, I probably got the highest on it because I had both hands on the overhanging section, but that isn't saying much considering I backed off too.


Around on the front were two beautiful looking slabs. The bottom parts were easy, but then you had to basically mantle the ledge, then mantle over the overhang. On the left problem you got two decent crimps to grab, but then had to highstep onto a mediocre foothold. On the right problem (not shown because we were too scared) you had to hand/foot match over the edge and then balance up to the jug top. Both were terrifying. The landings were good, but it was a long way down.

DP 081408

Dawn Patrol was quite good this morning. We went to the Secret Garden so that we could do a little filming. We spent most of the time at the Shingles boulder taking different angles. It was nice to feel successful again.

Rachel going for the jug

Steve sending

Post Work Session

I went up LCC after work to circuit some easy problems that I hadn't done before. I went to the Buzz area and located a few new boulders. I don't know if it was too hot or I just suck lately, but was only able to do three problems. There were a couple of other ones I tried rated V1 and V2 that should have been easy, but I thought they were impossible.

What a horrible climbing day. Maybe I can make up for it on Thursday morning.

Millicent Peak 8/8/08

I decided lat minute to head up to Brighton and take a run at Millicent. I had intentions of jogging the Twin Lakes road up to the top of the Milli lift and then boulder hop from there. About 100 yards into the run I decided that the road was too steep and I slowed to a quick walk. I maintained that pace all the way to the top, resting only briefly two or three times. I'm sure I was still feeling the affects of the King's hike only a few days earlier. I also didn't eat a very good lunch, so I was low on energy which is probably why I felt nausious for most of the way up. I hit the summit in 50 minutes and took a quick few pictures. The descent was fast and easy and I made it in under 20 minutes, for a total trip time of 1 hr 09 min. Millicent is a great, easy hike that I would recommend to anyone. Very beautiful.

Dawn Patrol 08/07/08

I can't really write much. I was still tired from Tuesday's hike, but I managed to drag myself out of bed at 5:15am and make it to 5 mile by 6am.

Steve, Trent, and then Jami showed up. We all just laid on our pads for almost a half hour before Enoch and Ian showed and we started climbing.

I think I sent a V0 a V1 and a V4 and that was it. I simply could not get into climbing today.

Oh well, I touched rock and hung with my friends, so I can't complain too much.

King's in a Day

Yesterday two of my friends and me attempted to hike King's Peak in a one day trip. King's Peak is Utah's tallest mountain, standing 13,528 ft above sea level. Normally it is hiked in three days; one day to approach to Dollar Lake, one day to summit, and the third to hike out. I have done the 3 day version on three other occasions, so this would be an extra special and challenging attempt.

We left the trail head at 3:30am and quickly set a good pace. The first 9 miles is pretty easy going and then the trail steepens as you make your way up to Gunsight Pass. We were at Gunsight by 8:00 am and hoped to be on the summit by 10:00am.

Leaving Gunsight Pass for Anderson Basin

The next major point is Anderson Pass, which sits at approximately 12,600ft elevation. We stopped for snack and a rest before tackling the challenging final push to the summit, which would consist of tricky boulder hopping and 3rd class climbing; nothing to challenging, but risky in that you encounter a lot of unstable boulders.

We made it on top, me first, by 10:06 am, only 6.5 hours since we left the car. Unlike other trips, this time we had the whole summit to ourselves for more than an hour. We ate lunch, took pictures, and just enjoyed the perfect weather and scenery.

The three of us on top.

Peak Jumping - looks scary, huh?

On the way down we found a really cool rock that overhung a cliff by 25 feet or so. It looked much higher when you weren't sitting on top of it.

Feels like flying

We continued to make our way down, slowly at times. We stopped for water below Gunsight Pass at a perfect spring and then stopped often to talk to ascending hikers and giving them key instructions to making the climb a little easier.

Leaving the Henry's Fork basin.

As we continued down the fatigue set in more and more. The last three miles were an absolute killer. I'm not sure if I've ever put that much continuous effort into a single day of hiking. Ok, I take that back. There was one day when I put in even more - I climbed Utah's three tallest peaks (including King's) in a day. That was really hard, but it was from Dollar Lake, not from the car.

What a great trip. I hiked with the perfect team; Steve and Scott. We made great time, had tons of fun, and enjoyed some of Utah's best hiking, all in one day.

Devil's Castle, Again

For the second time this week I hiked Devil's Castle in Albion Basin, Alta, UT. This time I went with a group of friends and even took T for his first ever peak bag. We meant to start at 5am, but do to some late arrivals we didn't get on the trail till almost 5:30. We made quick work up to Cecret Lake and were on the steep section before sun-up.

T showing his mad skills. He led the whole way.

We reached the saddle just as the sun was coming of the eastern mountains. It was beautiful and exciting to share it with my son. He had never seen the sun rise over the mountains, and certainly had never seen it rise while up in the mountains. He loved it.

Looking back down to Cecret Lake.

In the lei of a cliff at the saddle someone had built two wind shelters. Both were in great shape. We sat and snacked for a few minutes before going for the summit.

Steve in the wind shelter.

We made the first summit pretty quick. I ran this whole trail on Wednesday and didn't have much trouble on the technical parts. Honestly, I viewed them as mostly 4th class. Once I had T up there I realized that the scramble to all of these summits are more like easy 5th class, which can be extremely challenging for a 10 year old who doesn't like heights. That being said, the kid was an absolute champion and with very little help (except to protect him) he did it all on his own.

T on top of the first summit

It wasn't long before we had traversed over to the main summit and were on top. We didn't take the knife edge arete, but came from below, up an easier, but still challenging 4th/5th class section.

I couldn't be more proud.

Steve and Jami recording the memories.

And of course, peak jumping. Classic.

The descent was fun and pretty easy. Round trip was 3 hours.

T about to stumble.