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.