3,393', 2:00
A 90 degree run without much shade. I stuck mostly to the slopes, starting in Sunrise Bowl and ending on Lower Paradise, with a few detours in between. I tried to make it down to an unnamed lake in Grant Creek Basin, but turned back just because it was more bushy and steep than expected. The legs felt okay, but it was mostly my mind that was tired. Recovering from a 15 hour stint in the woods will take a little while.
Tuesday, 7/29--Trapper Peak via Trail 133
3,591', 1:58
A pleasant evening run up to high point of the Bitterroot Mountains, at 10,157'. With the legs still a little leaden, I took it easy up, reaching the summit in 1:10, and hanging out for a couple minutes to snap pictures. I didn't notice the altitude, but I also wasn't pushing it. Once I hit treeline again, at 9,000' I started pushing a bit just to get in under 2 hours.
Wednesday, 7/30--North Trapper Peak via Olbu SE Face (Baker Lake TH)
7,444', 4:40
This run didn't start off too well. I originally planned to make it back to Missoula in time for class at 11, but my watch switched to a different setting and my alarm didn't go off, putting me over two hours behind when I woke up! I skipped breakfast, put on my running shoes and started hightailing it up the trail. When I started repeatedly getting off route in the cross country section, I gave up hope of making it to class, and just tried to enjoy the scenery and be safe. On the face, I kept getting cliffed out and having to turn around. A lot. If my watch is correct, then I added about 3,000' vertical of getting lost throughout this route, which doesn't surprise me. The route is really simple, but I kept looking for a prominent black dike that's supposed to be traversed. In the end, I just scampered up the slabs, not worrying about the black dike. I also did some extra up and down in the couloir, mostly being indecisive if I should cross snow or find a route on the rock. A good day in the mountains, though! This route could go under 3 if a good runner stuck to the route. A nice linkup might be doing Trapper and North Trapper both from Baker Lake, for an extra dose of ridgeline.
Thursday, 7/31--Off
Friday, 8/1--"Skyline Experience", GNP
7,745', 6:59
What a route! It's about twenty miles, but almost all the climbing is in the middle ten. The descent off Siyeh covered 3,000' of vert. in what looks like barely over a mile on the map! I was lured into this route by the long ridgeline traverse, ending atop Mt. Siyeh, which had been emblazoned in my mind long ago by Kelly Cordes' Dirtbag Diaries podcast, and his one day ascent of Siyeh's 3,500'(!) north face. The run went well, pretty simple routefinding, but the descent down the west couloir took longer than anticipated (almost two hours from summit back to trail). 3,000' of steep scree with broken cliffs makes for a rough time. I spotted a griz near the summit, foraging through the rocks for moths or little critters to eat. At the end, I popped out on a dirt road, and it took me awhile to get my bearings since I'd left in the dark. After asking three different parties where I was, I finally found the trailhead again, barely getting in under seven hours. A long, perfect, halcyon day!
Splits--
Left trail, 37 minutes
Wynn Mt., 1:54
Point 9,190, 2:50
Siyeh Summit, 4:01
Piegan Pass Trail, 5:55
TH, 6:59 (phew!)
Saturday, 8/2--Marshall Mt. 10k Trail Run, 3rd
1,481', 46:44
This was an interesting experiment. My legs held up better than I thought they would, but not well enough to stay ahead of Hoka Athlete Jeremy Wolf. It was hot enough, at 6 PM, that I felt parched the whole run, and having coffee before a race, I learned, might not suit me. I felt like I was breathing in coffee flavored air throughout the run, which is fine except when it's in the high 80s out. The course was really fun, with few flattish sections and some short and steep climbing. I could have been a little more patient the first lap (second lap was about 90 seconds slower), but I was surprised to do as well as I did on sore legs. This is a great confidence builder for Standhope 60k next weekend, which I'm hoping to race patiently with a fast latter half.
Sunday, 8/3--Mission Mountains bushwacking/night walking
4,180', 4:57
A total shit show. I left after work to go for a summit attempt on the West Face of Mountaineer Peak, and didn't start running until 6. The trail heading past Mission Falls is pretty steep, bushy, scrambly and hard to follow at times, so that slowed me down quite a bit. After skirting the shore of Lucifer Lake, I entered what I knew would be a bushwacking section, but I was wholly unprepared for the hour + of wandering through tall and thick bushes. At one point, I was boulder hopping and bushwacking at the same time! I turned back once I hit the second lake (which may have been the wrong lake), and tried to get back, at least to the official trail, before dark. This didn't happen. Also, I realized the headlamp I grabbed had no batteries in it (they'd been switched to my other headlamp, the one I should have grabbed). Improvising, I used the screen on my camera as a low power flashlight to see the few feet in front of me, and had to walk the last hour back to the car. The Mission Mountains kicked my butt.
27,834', 21:21
My first week of real mountain running this year, and I've a lot to work on if I want to hit some of the more difficult summits around here. This might not be the best training, but it's pretty damn fun. Glacier was a highlight, and I may try to take another trip up there, but only if I find another high quality route without crowds. The Mission Mountains seem like a good playing ground, mostly because they're undeveloped enough and unmaintained enough that it's a real challenge. I was psyched to podium in the middle of this week, after a 7 hour day, so hopefully that's a sign that I'll do well at the 60k next weekend, especially with a good bout of rest.
Cairns by Point Six
North Trapper Peak
On the SE Face
Huge hunks of granite north of North Trapper
This is the best way down, squeezing between the snowfield and the wall
Craggy North Trapper
Swiftcurrent Lake
The Siyeh cirque catching the first rays of sun
Follow this ridge line for a good day
I saw more mountain goats than people on this route
Approaching Point 9,190
Clouds flowing over Cracker Peak
4,200' of vertical between summit and lake
The long descent
The route went down this slope, left of the snow couloir in this picture
Another shot. The descent was steep, and it took a long time.
An image pulled from the web of the descent route--steep, loose and sustained!
Hidden Falls
The griz
Mission Falls
Unnamed peaks in the Mission Mountains, Lucifer Lake
A video a couple guys made of the "Skyline Experience," which helped lure me into choosing that route--it seems like they got seriously off route going up Wynn Mt., and didn't always take the least technical line along the ridge, or the most solid talus on the descent (it doesn't have to be as difficult as these guys made it appear). Still, it's good beta if interested.
