Early Season Grey Wolf West couloir

Grey Wolf Peak, West face.

I was able to take advantage of a surprise day off to honor the death of our 41st president and ski.  The early season has been kind of weird, so I headed to the Missions with enough gear for steep skiing, but without a real agenda.  The trail is a lot of work right now, and it took about 30 minutes longer than normal to top out on the the south shoulder of ESM.  To my delight, the West couloir of Grey Wolf looked good, so I headed that way.  I embarrassingly got cliffed out on the ski down to No Fish lake, and had to skin back up and find a better passage.  But I persevered. I was at the base of the West in time for a cold lunch stop.  The couloir looked great, so I headed up.

Excited to have a peak.

Great skiing off the shoulder of ESM.

The climb was about average.  Booting was pretty wallowey, but the snow was forgiving enough that I was also able to put skis on and skin for short bits.  There were a few shallow slabs and one easy little rock/ice step at 2/3 height, but nothing too concerning.  After about an hour and a half dozen booting to skiing transitions, I was at the top.  The ski down was predictably great.  In fact, conditions were some of the best I have seen in the couloir.  I was soon back at the lake, giddy and ready for a short second lunch break.

Grey Wolf West couloir in good condition.

I spent the rest of the day just cruising around on mellower terrain.  I skinned back out to the South shoulder and took a good run south into the bowl adjacent to the approach ridge, yo-yoed a short lap on the climb back out, then climbed to the South shoulder one last time before the egress.  The South shoulder runs were a lot of fun, with surprisingly good snow.  The egress was slower than normal since skiing stops pretty high, but the trail is snowy and slippery most of the way back to the valley bottom.  Running shoes and micro spikes were helpful.

At the bottom of the South shoulder bowl run.

About 10,300 vertical feet, done in 9 hours, 15 minutes at a reasonable pace with stops to giggle in sheer delight at how much I enjoy skiing.

10k day #2  

... and so it begins, 2019

I have been out a whopping three days this year, mainly just working the cobwebs out at Snowbowl.  From social media, it appears that the normal early season haunts are just starting to fill in, and I can't wait for some real coverage.  So far, the best day was a sunny Sunday afternoon where I eked out the first 10,000 foot day of the year by skiing eight Lavelle laps.  As a test, I pushed at a pretty bright pace and did it in just under 5 hours, which is the fastest I have ever amassed that kind of vertical.

Ned and Jeffrey pretending there is enough snow to ski on the lower flanks of Lolo peak.

Nearing sunset with two Lavelle climbs to go to meet my 10k elevation goal.
Building a fitness base for longer days to come.

I haven't outlined my goals for the season quite yet, but it is about time to dust off the list of local areas to explore, kick some speedyish projects around, and start scheming bigger tours.  It is feels good to be going into ski season fit and ready. Here's to a safe winter of skiing.

Northern Bitterroot, Big old day of biking and running

St. Mary peak view at sunrise.

I tend to get a little lazy in the fall.  Today was not one of those days.  With a cooperative knee for biking, I concocted a plan to bike and run St. Mary, Little Saint Joseph, and Sweeney from the forest boundary.  With 16,000 feet of climbing, I was honestly a little too intimidated to try, but Jeffrey's confident enthusiasm provided much needed motivation to give it a go.  Sure enough, less than 48 hours later, we started biking up the St. Mary road by headlamp.

Jeffrey was burning it a little too hot for me right out of the gate, so I settled in to my reasonable full day biking pace as his headlamp faded into the dark.  We made it to the trailhead after a little over ninety minutes of biking.  I hope I didn't make him wait too long.  The walk up to St. Mary was fun, and sunrise was predictably inspiring.  There was a lot less snow up high than we had feared, which bode well for actually completing the daunting link up.  The run and bike back to the car went quickly, and we were able to easily dodge the road hunters looking for elk on opening day.  I had some semi-cramping twinges on the descent, which made me nervous, but just ignored them and hoped things would get better later in the day.  St. Mary peak done!

Jeffrey, closing in on St. Mary peak.

We were walking up the steep off trail pitch to Little St. Joe from the summer trailhead before 10:30.  We made good time on the long walk directly up the Southeast ridge to the Little St. Joe trailhead, then up the summer trail.  Jeffrey was still setting a pretty aggressive pace, but we were moving well, so I just continued to try to keep up.  We finally climbed into deep snow above the upper small saddle, and the last long push to the summit was slow.  But we perservered.  We took it slow enough to not hammer our legs too much on the 5,000 vertical foot run down to the valley.  Little St. Joe and over 10k of climbing done!  Back at the car, we took a much needed break to refuel and psyche up for the last peak of the day.

Jeffrey closing in on Little St. Joe, with St. Mary in the background.

The forest boundary for Sweeney is a few miles up the road, and we took full advantage of driving a few hundred vertical feet above the valley floor.  I didn't realize just how steep this road is, and most of the biking to the trailhead was a grind, especially for the member of our party on a gravel bike without a suitable granny gear for steep grades.  We eventually gave up on biking one switchback from the top and transitioned to running shoes.  It felt a little cavalier to head out from the trailhead already quite fatigued as the sun began to dip toward the horizon, but I tried not to think about it too much.  Sweeney actually went pretty smoothly.  I was too tired to do much running on the trail, and I also found routefinding much trickier than it used to be before the fire.  But we were still moving well, and summited a few minutes before sunset.  After snapping a few photos, we immediately got to work on getting through the tricky off trail routefinding before dark.  Once again, things went smoothly, and we were soon running recklessly fast, chasing dark on the trail.  We made it to the bikes right at dark and coasted it back to the car by headlamp.  For stats, right around 16,000 vertical feet done in a hair under fourteen hours.

Jeffrey closing in on Sweeney, with Little St. Joe in the background.

On Sweeney, relieved to have the days climbing in the bag.

Thoughts  What a way to spend a perfect fall day.  I had a lot more fun than anticipated.  The day was broken up enough that it was not too monotonous, and by pacing reasonably, I made it through tired but not demoralized.  I have always enjoyed mixing biking and running, and today was certainly no exception.  A huge thanks to Jeffrey for lighting a fire under me to finally get this one done.  And for executing a flawless day.

If I do something like this again, I think I will just do two peaks, parking once and doing everything under human power.  Two peaks would still be a long and challenging 10,000 plus vertical foot day of valley bottom to peak top awesomeness.

Rattlesnake, Lake fork/Wrangell fork loop

Glacier lake and Mosquito's north couloirs with a fresh slathering of white.

I spent a frantic fall day between day care drop off and pick up doing as much as possible in the Rattlesnake.  Given by 8.5 hour time window, I launched by bike up the corridor, and ground out the bumpy road to the wilderness boundary.  From there, I ran up the Lake fork, marveling at the fall colors, subalpine lakes, and snow on a new-to-me trail.  From the crest, I slunk past Mosquito peak on the trail, and marveled at a whole new set of fall colors, subalpine lakes, and snow on the run down the Wrangell fork back to the bike.  A hasty running to bike shoe transition was all it took to be cruising back down the corridor.  I had an extra two hours, and I literally used every minute to walk/run up to the Mineral mountain lookout from the East Fork.  I climbed as hard tired legs would allow to Mineral, and sprinted back to the bike for a hasty, bumpy ride out to the car.

Fall colors and runnable single track in the Lake fork.

Closing in on Mineral.  Too tired to properly compose a photo.

It was great to explore more Rattlesnake country so close to home.  I have never been up the Lake fork, or to Mineral peak before, and both trails are excellent if not a little remote.  After a year off of substantial biking due to a knee injury, words can't really describe how grateful I am to be able to reliably bike.  For effort, I pushed a little too hard all day (above aerobic threshold), and returned to the car pretty whooped.  But happy.  For stats, a little under 50 miles, I think, and about 7k vert, done in just under 8 hours car to car.  

Great Burn, Heart Lake to Clearwater Crossing run

I finally was able to find willing cohorts to pull off a Great Burn traverse run.  After too much logistics planning, Leah pounded out an almost 30-mile day in the reverse direction and met us all at the Heart lake trailhead for an enjoyable night of family camping.

Heart lake.

Jeffrey and I rolled out of the Heart lake trailhead at a remarkably civil 8:30 am.  I was still recovering from sickness, but felt OK to engage a long day as long as we went slowly.  The run up to Heart and Pearl lakes went quickly, and we were soon in new-to-us country on the Stateline.  After a long descent to Goose lake, we promptly lost the trail (in retrospect, we went around the wrong side of the lake).  Instead of backtracking, I forced an obstinate bushwack, but it ended up working out just fine.  The ridge section from Goose lake to the West fork trail was by far the highlight of the run.  It is a beautiful few miles, with fun runnable trail perched above Straight lake, Siamese lake, and countless striking small tarns that are so characteristic of the Burn.  Plus, as I had hoped, the fall colors were beautiful.  We arrived at Fish lake, our halfway point, tired but sufficiently motivated to continue on to Indian creek.

Nearing Pearl lake. 

In the fun stuff.  This photo does not come close
to displaying the striking character of the Stateline between Goose and Fish lakes.

The Stateline trail over Admiral peak to Mud lake was not as spectacular as the previous section, but it was worth wile and fast.  We were both tired by the time we dropped into Indian creek, and it was an easy call to not continue out to Schley peak.  The trail down from Mud lake was overgrown and slow for the first few miles, but we were soon on more runnable trail.  I was quite tired by this point, but it was actually kind of fun to spend a few hours grinding out miles in a magnificent state of fatigue.  The run out was uneventful, and we returned to the car happy after a long and beautiful day in new country close to home.  We had something close to an epic with a flat tire on the drive home, but that is a story for another day.  For stats, 35 miles, a dad under 7k vert, and done in 9 hours, 15 minutes at an all day running pace.

Admiral peak section.

Last few running steps before fording Fish creek and taking shoes off at the car.

It is marvelous to be healthy enough to be able to confidently do long running days like this.  I need to go back and to what appears to be the most logical 30-mile North Fork/Stateline/West Fork Fish loop from Clearwater crossing.

I hope to get a few more days in the mountains, but fall colors are pretty darn nice.

Summer shorter outings, 2018

A summary of interesting mid length outings from the not skiing season.

Grave Creek bike loop:  I finally ran out of excuses and did the big-for-me 80-mile bike loop on a cold Sunday afternoon.  I skipped the Southside road, so my route was kind of a soft person's version of the long standing Montana Hell ride race course.  It is a super nice route, long, logical, fast, interesting, and pretty safe for road biking. My route was as follows:  Mullan Road to Frenchtown, Frontage road past Ninemile Ranger Station to Petty Creek, up and over the pass to Grave creek and the Jack, then down Highway 12 to Lolo and home on the new bike path.  There was a touch of ice on the highways, and the dirt road pass was snowpacked and slippery, but otherwise it was in nice shape, and was a great way to spend a cold, clear shoulder season day.  I took it relatively easy, but still my lower back and other biking muscles got pretty hammered.  I also got super chilled dropping into the inversion along Highway 12, and had to stop to don every stich of clothing in my pack.  Aside from that, it was a spendid outing, and I was overjoyed that my knee held up perfectly. About 5.5 hours at a responsible pace.

Sentinel x 4:  I did very few proper long runs this summer, but did manage to do Sentinal x 4 on a rainy Sunday the day after racing the Elk ramble.  I did a fun up M, down/up Smokejumper, down/up N. ridge of S. Sentinel to Evans, down/up Pengelly and back down the ridge on Sentinel in about 3.50.  Pretty tired at the end, but a great way to move around on Missoula's most cherished running mountain.

Rattlesnake traverse:  Leah and I squeezed on last mountain day on the much loved Rattlesnake traverse.  We left in a cold mist, but fortunately it never rained, and we ended up spending the morning dancing in the snow as clouds blew in and out.  The afternoon was sunny and beautiful.  New snow along the ridge didn't slow things down much with the exception of getting off Sanders, but we slowly slip slid our way down beargrass before punching it up Murphy.  It was a great day spent with my favorite.  We did the first half at a good pace, but slowed down a lot in the last half and did it in about nine hours. A big thanks to Leah's parents for picking us up at Snowbowl.

Leah dancing through golden larch at Sunrise on the way out to Stuart peak.

Leah closing in on Mosquito peak.

Murphy peak from Snowbowl, fast;  I did this the day of the Trump rally and probably should have protested instead.  What a despicable human.  In any case, did it in 2.16.  I botched the route and climbed all the way to the top of Lavelle, so it should be doable at least 5 minutes faster.  I climbed kind of slow, but had a great, hard return run.  It is not the most strategic to do long time trials like this for training, but it was really fun.

Lolo Creek biking:  After another cold fall morning, I rallied and was surprised to find blue sky in Lolo creek.  I did the longstanding classic Howard Creek/Wagon Mountain/Grave creek loop, but also went another few miles up the Wagon mountain road and looped down into Fish creek before returning to the Howard/Fish saddle.  It was a pretty awesome bike ride with full fall colors and surprisingly not-too-muddy roads.  It was once again really nice to have the legs cooperate for the five hours I was out on the bike.

Mud spattered and happy climbing out of Fish creek.
Howard and Oriole creeks done and headed for the Wagon mountain road.

Swartz creek biking loop and Miller Mountain:  The sun came out after an impressively rainy early fall morning, and Jeffrey and I headed to Clinton to bike.  We went up the North fork of Swartz creek, and bumped out to Miller Mountain.  I had trouble keeping up with Jeffrey on the climb, but he was patient.  The view from the top of Miller was new to me, and really spectacular.  We rode down the main/South fork, which made for a great loop.

Big St. Joe:  With my dad graciously watching Sam, Leah and I had another great day in the mountains with Jeffrey.  We ended up doing Big St. Joe as an out and back.  After a quick climb up Little St. Joe fueled by dispirited political discourse, we made the slow trek out to Big St. Joe.  I did a poor job routefinding, spending way too much time on the north side of the scrappy ridge before the peak, then picking a slightly too technical route through the mixed cliff bands to gain the summit ridge.  On the descent, we took the Southeast gully, and passed the long scrappy gendarmes low on the South.  This was a much better route, and one I will probably use in the future.  We drove all the way to the trailhead, and although it felt a little glutenous, it was quite nice to start a few thousand feet above the valley.

Leah and Jeffrey on the scrappy ridge between little and Big.

Lolo Peak loop:  Leah and I spent a joyous mid week day together in the mountains.  Lolo peak is open after being closed for post fire trail work most of the summer.  We did the normal Lantern ridge/Lolo Peak/Carlton ridge loop from Mill creek.  It was extremely enjoyable to spend a crisp fall day with Leah.  We had time to to out to the main South summit, and made our way back through the Reid lake basin before returning on the scorched Carlton ridge trail.  The larch were popping up high.  It took us about six hours at a moderate climbing pace with a lot of breaks.

Leah nearing the summit of Lolo peak.

Detour into the Reid lake basin.

Little St. Joe fast:  See fast running page.  I had a good go at Little St. Joe fast.  2.30.16.  Such a good outing.

St. Mary to Heavenly Twins:  I did this as a hike with Leah a few years ago, and have been meaning to "run" it ever since with an informal goal of cutting our time in half.  I had planned a longer outing this weekend, but ended up aborting due to weather uncertainty.  Which translated in a very tardy 1:45 pm departure time from the car.  I made it into as much of a loop as possible, taking the unofficial trail to McCalla lake to start things off, then climbing to St. Mary's South ridge.  I then summited Disappointment and fought loose scree on the North side of the peak before scampering up through the majestic alpine basin to the North twin (3.40).  I was really tired at the beginning of the day, but fortunately my energy improved for the duration of the outing.  The traverse to South Twin was quick, as was the return over the South ridge of Disappointment.  I scrambled up the fun South ridge of St. Mary, summiting at sunset.  The run out to the car in the dark was actually quite enjoyable, and I returned right at the 7 hour mark, done at a responsible pace.  I did't cut our time in half, but a fast runner could. I really like this link up.  I would, however, summit Dissapointment on the return trip next time instead of the way out since I think it would make the trip smoother.

Starting up the North Twin from the Disappointment col.
This is one of the most alpine feeling cirques in the Northern Bitterroot. 

Looking out to the twenty minute ridge to South Twin.  I spend most of the first half
on the East side, and the most of the second half on the West side, and the going is reasonably fast.

Early fall colors in upper St Mary creek.

Sunset on the last few steps to the summit of St. Mary.

Missions, ESM,WSM, Lowry:  I maximized a Saturday afternoon by doing this fun link up.  I did it as a last run before the Rut and felt great the whole time.  I went out to Lowry first, descended into upper Sonielem creek, then took high ledges until they intersected low on the East ridge of WSM.  I was surprised at how quickly the link up flowed together.  I also ran down reasonably hard from ESM and did the entire descent in under 45 minutes.  It was a great day and good confidence booster going into the Rut.

Just another day gawking at the West face of Greywolf.

This is the high connecting ramp to the East ridge of WSM.

Just another East Saint Mary from West St. Mary photo.

Trans Teton run:  On our way home from the Tetons, I ran up Cascade creek and out Teton Canyon to within a few miles of Driggs via Table mountain.  I had an extra few hours and tacked on a traverse of the Bivouac peak group, an chossy and untrammeled corner of the range.  It was a little sad to do a Teton trip without venturing into Garnet canyon and touching a single chunk of golden granite, but I had a lot of fun.

Nice views from one of the Bivouac peaks.

Choss bashing along the ridge.  Just as bad, if not worse than it looks.

Nearing Table mountain, looking back at the ridge, chasing rain.

Bear Creek loop + Sphinx:  I ran up the N. fork of Bear creek, summited the Sphinx from the saddle with the Helmet, then took the normal route down during a very extended driving break to Jackson.  It was a splendid morning.

Nice trail climbing out of the North Fork of Bear creek.

The Helmet.

The Sphinx is one of the only mountains I ever climbed with my mother.  I also skied it the day after seeing her for the last time.  It was an emotional outing.  I miss Catherine dearly.

Murphy from Snowbowl:  I rallied from the car at 6 am for this classic close to town mountain scramble.  I have been using an off trail cutoff between the cliffy section of the Beargrass highway and the shack at the top of West Ridge to make the outing faster.  I went up Beargrass, up the cutoff, then out to Murphy.  I bopped to the top of Point 6 on the way back, then took the Second Thought descent.  Right around 3 hours at an aggressive aerobic pace.  Quads were still recovering from the Swans, so took some caution on the downhill.

West Fork Butte to Elk Meadows loop.  Road bike ride in Lolo creek.  The longest outing that seemed reasonable the weekend after the Swan traverse.  Took about 2.5 hours, and was super fun.  I was a little worried about re-aggrevating my quad strain from the Swans, but no problems.  I hope my knee continues to cooperate with biking, so I can do more Lolo creek road loops this fall.

Sky Pilot from Bear Creek.  Jeffrey rallied with me for a very early run to Sky Pilot.  The Bear creek trail is a little rocky and slow, but it is runnable enough.  After a very early morning start, it was rewarding to catch early morning at Bryan lake, cruising by backpackers still in their tents.  The scramble from Packbox pass to the peak is scrappy, but not so bad that it is unenjoyable.  The run out was slow on the rocky trail, but run, and it was nice to get out in time to rendezvous with the family at Como lake. 

On Sky Pilot.

Hidden lake peak:  I had some extra time, so tacked about 2.5 miles of biking up the Glen lake road onto the front of the outing.  Up high, snow made for fast going, but the scrambling from Glen lake point west to Hidden lake peak was pretty slow and Bitterrootey in a bad way.  I have lost my climbing head and spent an embarrasingly long time puzzling a route through the 4th class summit block.  A good but not great outing.  It would be amazing to backpack out to Hidden lake in the fall when the larch are changing.

Looking out to Hidden lake peak and the Sweathouse spires from the summit above Glen lake.

Little St. Joe:  I really like this run.  Ran the road for the first complete switchback up, and the last two switchbacks down.  About 3.10 at a responsible pace.

California, Trinity Alps:  We did a three day trip around the classic Four lakes loop during a family trip.  The back trip itself was great, and provided a great re-set after a busy spring.  I did eke out a 4-hour mountain run the second morning, looping from our camp at Echo lake to Granite peak, then back along the ridgeline to camp.  The trail miles were fun, and the ridgeline was quite enjoyable, with some nicely exposed 4th class climbing on the last peak directly above the lake.

Bass Lake:  I ran up to Bass lake and tacked a few extra miles on in the Larry Creek campground to make a round 18-mile outing as a last training run for the Governer's cup Marathon.  I ran two miles at the end at marathon effort, which was very hard and made me scared for the race.  The entire run took a little over 3 hours.  I really like the Bass lake run, and need to it more often.

Complete Alpine Swan Crest traverse

I finally traversed the alpine crest of the Swans from Swan peak to Morrell mountain.  The trip was just as challenging as I had feared, and more beautiful than I could have imagined.

High in the Swans.

Day 1:  Conor and I rolled out from the Squeezer creek trailhead at first light after a good night of sleep.  The trail has been cleared this year, so we made good walking time to the lakes, and reasonable time to the summit.  The traverse into the head of Lion creek was slightly more challenging than a week ago, with firmer snow at the cruxy pinch, and less easy snow for glissading.  Nevertheless, it went quickly enough.  I modified our route to Lion pass, dropping way off the ridge to the main trail shortly after the nice alpine tarn walking deteriorated.  This blue collar variation still had a lot of beargrass and general slowness, but it worked well enough, and we were soon plodding up to Lion pass, then walking a good trail above the lakes in the head of Palisade creek.  This is the section where my stomach rebelled the previous trip, and it was simply marvelous to be moving easily and happily.

Steep hiking in Squeezer creek.  All photos of me are taken by Conor Phelan.

Over Swan peak, and into the head of Lion creek.

Nice off trail hiking in Lion creek.

Conor near Lion pass.

We kept plodding to Owl peak, worked our way down the scrappy West side, and plodded through a few hours of nondescript but passable easy bushwacking to my previous bail point.  The Union alpine section was awesome.  We weren't really tired yet, and it was fun to just kind of float along.  I tried a different descent off the unnamed highest peak.  Unfortunately, it was terribly loose and scary, and took us a lot of time.  Next time I will try going even farther down the east ridge before turning south to get off this vexing peak.  We returned to the ridge for the last few peaks before Smith creek pass.  The day was getting late, and Conor was OK with conceding the summit of Cooney peak, so we descended to a treeline camp directly below Cooney.   As would be the trend each day, we arrived at camp at dusk, ate a few cold food calories, and immediately tucked into sleeping bags for the night.  I slept well.

Interesting loose and steep downclimbing coming off Owl peak. 

Heading into the alpine near Union peak.

In the fun stuff near Union peak.

Looser and more terrible than it looks downclimbing near Smith Creek pass.

Sunset at the end of Day one.

Day 2: We were up at first light and walking by 6:30.  Conor's ankle was very stiff, but fortunately it loosened up, and he was able to continue with me to his planned exit point at the Holland lookout. It only took an hour to get up to the crest, and we were soon cruising along the immaculate section above the Albino basins.  Conor was nervous about the exposure, so we worked through all of the tricky bits together.  Conor also spotted a pair of bears grazing on moths in the basins west of Albino. The morning was delightful, and we summited Holland by mid morning.  Now in familiar terrain, we worked over Buck and Woodward, and were soon at Conor's departure point.  It was sad to see him depart, but he still had to get out and run a 20+ mile bike shuttle before driving home. I dropped down to the trail and jogged down to upper Holland lake, taking a few stops to refill water and cool off in the creeks.

Conor getting things rolling on day two.

On the long exposed ridge leading up to Holland peak.

Conor at the technical crux of the ridge north of Holland peak.
Easy climbing but very exposed.

On the standard descent off Holland peak.

On tap for the second half of the day was a rather audacious plan to traverse the Clearwater group, and I immediately got to work walking briskly up the trail to Gordon pass, then off trail to the base of Carmine, then up clean rock slabs to the summit. I topped out on Carmine at 3 pm, ready for more impeccable ridglines!  Much to my surprise, I saw a lone figure scratching his way up Carmine.  It ended up being a Missoula acquaintance, and it was interesting to compare notes as our paths crossed.  Also to my surprise, I started getting some twinges in my right quad.  I was of course immediately concerned, and cut out all downhill running. Wolverine came quickly enough, as did Ptarmigan point.  My quad was definitely tweekey, but it seemed manageable.  There is one easy 5th class chimney step on the North ridge of Ptarmigan peak which was more challenging than I remembered.  I had hoped to find a work around, but didn't, and ended up just carefully working through the easy 5th class chimney with suspect rock.  This 20 foot step is substantially more difficult than anything else in the Clearwater group, and I need to go back and puzzle out an easier route,  It must exist.  Anyway, at this point, sunset was only an hour away, and there is a lot of ground to cover on the way to Fisher, so I walked over the summit without stopping.  Fortunately, all of the tricky routefinding decisions on the traverse to Fisher went down without a hitch, and I pulled up onto the summit ridge of Fisher just after sunset.  I was too knackered to mess around with unknown terrain in the dark, so I immediately dropped into the headwaters of Babcock creek without climbing the last 100 vertical feet to the exact summit.

Trail running to Necklace lakes.

Through Holland creek, ready to climb Carmine peak.

On Wolverine, looking to Ptarmigan point and peak. 4 pm and still a long way to go.

Nearing the North ridge of Ptarmigan peak.

Finally closing in on Fisher.

My quad was quite painful on the descent to camp, and  I had to to a lot of compensation with the other leg.  After a quick tasty bite dinner (heavy but delicious), I went to bed fairly worried about completing the trip the following day.  I didn't sleep as well the second night because a buck deer spent much of the night ranging around my bivy site and I was worried he would eat my shoes.

Day 3:  I was up at first light again, walking before 6.  To my delight, my quad was much better, and it seemed reasonable to proceed as long as I used poles to compensate on downhills and didn't run.  The first hour through Grizzly basin was magical.  As soon as the terrain got complicated, I made a series of routefinding blunders that cost me almost two hours.  To make a frustratingly slow morning brief, I did a lot of nasty sidehilling in Morrell creek, and monkeying around in the steep rock steps just before Crescent.  Nevertheless, I summited Crescent by late morning.

An hour into the day.  Sunrise in Grizzly basin. 

More early morning light in Grizzly basin.

After too much slow going in Grizzly basin, I finally topped out on the ridge near Crescent.  
And promptly spent about two hours monkeying my way there

Concerned with finishing in one piece in the daylight, I bypassed both Marshall summits and proceeded straight to Pyramid peak.  It took a while to get there, but I was in familar terrain.  From Pyramid, a quick bop down to Pyramid lake had me ready for all new country on the traverse out to Morrell Mountain.  I had planned to skip Divine peak on the unmaintained trail that eventually connects to Youngs pass, but somehow got on the wrong trail.  By the time I realized my error, I was on the wrong side of Divine.  I made a snap decision to just punch it up to the summit and figure out  the rest of the route from there.  So I did.  Fortunately, I could clearly see the correct trail from the summit.  A quick descent put me on the trail and the home stretch.  By this point, eight of my toes had blisters on both the tops and bottoms (my ring toes were mercifly spared, don't ask me why), so each step was accompanied with a nice little stab of pain.  But blisters heal, my quad was feeling good, and I was going to finish one way or another.  The fiveish miles of trail were actually quite pleasant.  There was a lot of water, and I stopped a few times to re hydrate and keep the shirt soaked.  The mental break from routefinding was refreshing, and it was fun to see a lot of new country.  Soon enough, I departed the trail and hopped on the extended North ridge of Morrell at the headwaters of Blind Canyon.  Aside from the extremely sad state of my toes, the ridge to Morrell was fun and fast.  My energy was good, and the high points started clicking off quickly one after the other.  Soon enough, I was on Morrell mountain proper, chomping my last Gu Chomp, and generally enjoying the last little bit of foot powered travel.  A quick hobble was all it took to return to my bike, stashed near the lookout cabin.  I had left my car at the Seeley creek trailhead in case I had to bail, but the 15-mile bike ride took less than an hour, and provided a nice little cool down from the adventure.  Back at the car, it was delightful to finally sit down and gingerly peel socks off blistered feet.  It was even better to make it home and see the family, since three days away from our little one is about as much as I can handle these days.

At the pass between the Marshall summits, looking back to Crescent.

On Pyramid.  Morrell mountain finally visible in the distance.

Blistered trail walking on the way to Morrell. 

Celebration number one on Morrell, 15 minutes from the bike.

Celebration number two back at the bike.
My feet hurt like a bugger, and I was more than ready to coast it in to the car and excited to see my family.

Thoughts:  What an incredible trip.  It was amazing to see so much wild country, and I had an absolute blast.  Being a little burned out on racing, it was gratifying to complete a challenge that tested my physically and psychologically with an adequate buffer of safety.  I did not complete the route in perfect style, bypassing both Cooney and Marshall peaks, and not summiting Fisher.  I am personally satisfied with the trip, but there is a lot of room for someone to improve on my route in terms of time and style. 

It was a little bit disconcerting to end the trip so smashed physically, but I learned a little bit about durability, and only had to take one day off of walking, so no worries. My body has been a lot healthier this summer than last year, and it is wonderful to be able to be able to put in long efforts like this.  Overall recovery timeline was similar to the few long ultras I have done: back to walking in a day, back to easy runs in three days, back to moderate workouts in a week, about two weeks to to full physical recovery.  Three weeks out, I'm still not mentally recovered, which is fine.  A huge thanks to Leah helping with the shuttle, and for all of the support in allowing this trip to happen.

The route itself was pretty awesome, however all of the connecting segments require blue collar schwackery, and detract from the overall quality of the outing (Swan to Lion pass, Holland lookout to Carmine, Fisher to Crescent, Divine to Morrell).  Fortunately, each alpine section makes its own nice long day trip.

I need to statistics, but it was around 60 miles, and around 28k vert.  I was out for sixty one hours, and spend 43 hours moving.