Sunday, July 28, 2013

July 22 - 28

7/22/2013
Mon-AM: 2:33, 5200' ~ Longs Peak
Up the Loft/Beaver/Notch/Stepladder, down Cables. After yesterday's scoping of the downclimb into the Notch with Joel I decided to do the full Skyline Traverse from the Loft and give it a shot. Headed up the ridge from the Loft to the summit of the Beaver is just simple Class 2+ to Class 3 boulder scrambling, but then you get to the summit and the Notch's abrupt and breathtaking abyss. From there, I headed down to the left searching out the descent chimney--it was easy and obvious. After a relatively low-angle 4th Class-ish chimney, the descent eventually cliffs out and there seem to be many options for getting down into the base of the couloir. However, the best looking to me was a traverse to descender's right across a steep, exposed face, but with really solid holds. I think this is the so-called "Gorrell's Traverse". It went fine, and then it was just the Stepladder to summit ridge. Really fun route.

7/23/2013
Tue-AM: 2:38, 5000' ~ Longs Peak
Up Kieners, down Cables. Took it easy today but was still moving well on the mountain. Made the summit at 1:46 (traversing around the top of the Lambs Slide ice to get to Broadway takes an extra 10min more than if I could just kick across the couloir) and then after downclimbing the Cables just cruised easily back down the hill.

7/24/2013
Wed-AM: 2:43, 5000' ~ Longs Peak
Up the Notch Couloir, down Cables. Yesterday I considered climbing the Notch Couloir instead of Kieners, just for a change of scenery, so today I did. While this is typically a snow climb (and would be better as such), it was a fun scramble, too, if a bit loose/gravelly in spots. Once I got to the actual Notch I just took the usual Stepladder finish to the summit. I was a on a hot base to the base of the Notch on Broadway, but then going up the couloir took longer than Kieners normally would. 21st summit of Longs for the year.

7/25/2013
Thu-AM: 1:10, 3000' ~ First Flatiron+Green Mt.
Biked to Chat, cruised a mellow 12:45 scramble on the way to the summit, and ran back down via the front. Cool, humid/drizzly morning, but the rock was dry.

7/26/2013
Fri-AM: 1:02, 1000' ~ Skyline Drive Manti-La Sal Nat'l Forest
Drove to within 90min or so of Salt Lake City yesterday, and then slept in a surprisingly nice spot next to a stream just off the highway. This was an easy out-n-back shake-out jog up a dirt road with a gradual climb on the way out.

7/27/2013
Sat-AM: 5:09, 11,000' ~ Speedgoat 50K
Solid day overall, 2nd place. Didn't quite have enough race course left at the end to catch up to Sage, but was generally happy with my race-day execution and effort. No real low patches (a little bit from mile 15-21), and I thought I closed the last 10mi pretty strongly.

7/28/2013
Sun-AM: 2:41, 5800' ~ Teewinot
Up and down the east face, from Lupine Meadows. Teewinot is the furthest north peak in the Grand Teton massif and the climber's access route provides a very direct grunt to the summit, capped with over 1500' of 4th Class scrambling at the end. I went mellow today, mostly to just get out and get the legs moving. A few hundred feet below the summit I was trending way too far left, but didn't realize my mistake until I ran out of mountain. Ended up having to downclimb ~300' or so to get back on track, but all in all an awesome outing to a super proud summit.

Hours: 18h06min
Vert: 36,000'

Quality week. Lots of fun on Longs Peak earlier in the week, a solid race, and a new Teton summit for me. I should have a report on Speedgoat later in the week.

East face of Teewinot. An inspiring, in-your-face route from the parking lot.
Electric guitar, epic horns, and doo-wopping lady-hipsters. Hard to beat.

25 comments:

  1. The lady hipsters are a band called Mountain Man. very awesome.

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  2. Lady hipsters wear 80's mom jeans now?

    Awesome run at Speedgoat, congrats!

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  3. Awesome run at Speedgoat! It was so cool for a back of the packer like me to see you at the start. You're such an inspiration! Keep it up and show 'em how we do it Rocky Mountain style at UTMB!

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  4. If you're going to be in the Teton range for a few days and would like some company on your outings let me know. I'm fairly familiar with the mountains and the trails.

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  5. Cool & inspiring to see you up here in the Tetons. Considered Teewinot myself yesterday but the weather got there first. Have fun cruising the trails and peaks. Check out Alaska Basin for a different perspective.

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  6. Hey Tony - it's Billy. So stoked for the fantastic race you had on Saturday. I kept asking aid guys about the leaders and when they said you were getting stronger and creeping up, thought you might've had a chance to take it in the end.

    Looking forward to similar performances at UROC and UTMB. And def get your butt to LA one of these days for the screening and to better the FKT for Baldy!

    Here's a brief video recap of last Sat btw featuring you in a couple of spots:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBQxQ5LYeM0

    Congrats again.

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  7. Killer runs in the Tetons! Saw you three of the four days out there on the trail! Nice work! http://wnctrailrunner.wikispaces.com/

    Check it out if you make it down to nc and want to run some great wnc trails.

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  8. Tony, Congrats on Speedgoat. That was one hell of a comeback and exciting even to watch the feed online.

    I always dig your choice of tunes. Here's one I think you might like: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVuvXCbvQ5M

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  9. What rope set-up are you using for rappels? 7-8-9mm? 30-40m? Do you use a pull cord?
    Im really curious what persons carry in their packs for a mountain day... slowly dialing in my set up,

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  10. Nick - Thanks very much for that tip on Parlovr. Really digging their stuff now, particularly that song.

    EmersonFuller - If I'm packing ONLY for rappels, I have a 6mmx35mm coil of Sterling powerCORD that I use. It's static and super skinny, so you have to be paying attention. I also have a pair of Sterling Fusion Photons (7.8mmx30m) and 60m of PMI's equivalent. It's good to educate yourself on the difference between a twin rope and a double rope, too, if you're looking at these skinnier options.

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  11. Happy birthday from a fellow August 8ther, Tony!

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  12. Congrats on the awesome effort at Speedgoat, and nice job on the inspiring & honest race report. Good stuff. Oh and happy b-day.

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  13. Your humility and honesty is lacking in most continents. I believe that is one of the best compliments a human can receive. Thats just my opinion. Keep up the good work.

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  14. from Lupine Meadows. Teewinot is the furthest north peak in the Grand Teton massif and the climber's access route provides a very direct grunt to the summit, capped with over 1500' of 4th Class scrambling at the end.
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    ReplyDelete