Wire Peak and Red Butte Run

2:03:00 (running time) - I met Scott and Matt at 6am this morning at the BST trailhead next to the zoo. Our target was to run Wire Peak, Red Butte Peak, and VanCott if we were still feeling up to it. We started off at good trot all the way until we were into the steep west ridge of Wire. We chose to go up the ridge instead of the valley between Red Butte and Wire, which is the most common way, since that was going to be our descent. Matt showed absolutely no ill effects from his ultra last Saturday and blazed up the trail. I actually thought I was feeling good today and I couldn't keep up with him. He made it to the top in 45 min and made it in 47 min. I would have been a little quicker, but I couldn't pass up some photos of the sunrise to the east and a couple of videos of the trail as I ascended. Scott was another 5 or so minutes behind.

Once on top Scott and I introduced Matt to Peak Jumping. He's still a rookie, but as it is a sport for idiots, we excelled. You can see our classic photos below. Yes, note my wicked-good jumping skills. I haven't decided whether or not I'll actually tell you how I got so high.

We were on top for almost 15 minutes before heading down to Red Butte Peak. It was an extremely fast descent through hardpack snow. At one point Matt thought he could take the path less travelled. The result was a faceplant and a roll down the hill. I wish I had gotten video. Classic. Once we got onto Red Butte ridge we spied a Bald Eagle on the summit. I wanted to get a picture, but the zoom on my camera just wasn't good enough and he took off before I could get close enough for a good pic. We were on the summit of Red Butte in 58 min (running time - minus our stopage on the summit of Wire). Last time I did Wire with Scott it took us 1:07 just to get to the summit of Wire, so we were moving much faster.

We picked our way down from the summit through a technical trail along the ridgeline until we got to the Living Room. From there we caught the main trail that leads down to the BST. For most of the way down Matt and I were running 6:30 pace. That is silly fast considering how technical the trail was.

We decided that because of time we should just do the Red Butte loop up through the canyon. There was still a lot of climbing which didn't make Scott very happy. We could have certainly climbed VanCott with the total amount we did during that loop. It was awesome though because all of the trail is runnable and it was nice to go looking for mountain lions. All I wanted to do was snap a photo, but they were nowhere to be seen. Shame. We continued on at a good pace, even though our legs were tired after 3000+ feet of climbing in just over 9 miles. We got back to the cars just before 9am, when most people were just showing up to get on their mountain bikes or go for a quick run. It was an amazing day.

3575 total ft of ascent