Speedgoat 50k race report

With 11,800 vert of climbing, Speedgoat is undoubtedly one of the toughest 50k races in the country (multiple races make this claim).  Therefore a number of people thought I was crazy/stupid/etc. to do it as my first 50k.  Regardless, I did, with it serving as a terminus of sorts of my 9 weeks in Utah this summer.  As my first 50k (and 2^nd running race ever), I went in with moderate expectations:

  Ø  despite the inevitable suffering, have fun

  Ø  avoid any major blowups or serious falls/crashes

  Ø  finish sub 8 hours

After check-in, a HUGE line for the bathroom prevented a proper warmup and I had to hustle to the starting area at about 6:28am.  Two minutes later, hundreds of runners surged forward across the line and I quickly realized I had positioned myself WAY too far back in the pack.  

the start (photo: paul nelson photography)

I scrambled to pass what felt like a hundred people during the initial climb, since I knew the course funneled down to singletrack for the first downhill.  Once in a better position, I enjoyed the next three climbs and descents and arrived at hidden peak (mi8.3) at the 2 hour mark, as I had planned/hoped.  I was feeling good, yet nervous for the impact the big 7mi/3500 descent out to the pacific mine (mi15.5) would have on my legs.  There was a long (2mi?) stretch of rough, rocky jeep trail/creekbed that was hell on the quads and resulted in a few stubbed toes but fortunately I never took a digger.

running through wildflowers (photo: paul nelson photography)

I arrived at the pacific mine aid in 3:19, slightly ahead of schedule, ready for more food/water/wet buff before tackling the 3 big climbs that comprise the majority of the second half of the course.  The first of these climbs was fortunately shaded and I hiked past about a dozen people and got passed by 2 or 3 strong uphill runners.  The aid at Larry’s Hole (mi21) was a beautiful sight and I quickly exited, double fisting watermelon and banana, feeling good, and started up the second to last climb up Baldy.  The course map I viewed/studied online showed the route up Baldy to be the east ridge (which I had hiked during my mini-WURL a few weeks ago) so it was a major surprise and much to my dismay that from the saddle below the E ridge, the course dropped down a few hundred feet and instead went STRAIGHT up the south face of Baldy.  It was basically a bootpack it was so steep.  Although I managed to pass a few people during this sufferfest, I was starting to hurt. 

From the summit of Baldy, I pressed onwards, reaching the tunnel aid station (mi23.6) in 5:57, slightly ahead of my goal time, where I snagged a delicious popsicle (amongst other things) before continuing through the tunnel to the second-to-last downhill.  A few runners passed me (seemed to be a theme on the downhills) but I reeled them in on the final steep climb up Hidden peak, which was a slow, slow grind, arriving at the final aid station (mi26.2) in 6:52, leaving myself just over an hour for the final 6 mile descent to the finish. 

Although I was hurting, I thought I could manage and finish just under 8 hours.  However, the course for the latter portion of the final descent was drastically different than the course map online (which I had partially ran/previewed coming down from my mini-WURL), so I spent/wasted precious minutes, stopping and looking around at every intersection, backtracking a bit on 2 occasions, frustrated, thinking I was off course and incorrectly following the flags from the morning.  After waiting for and chatting with another runner, we continued down the marked route from the morning, unsure of the route until near the very end, where the finish became obvious.  I crossed the line at 8:11:42 (68^th place of 302 finishers), totally spent and with a major headache but stoked to have finished my first 50k in reasonably good fashion.

Rose: fulfilling 2 of my 3 race goals (fun & no blow-ups)

Thorn: the confusion/frustration on the final descent

Bud: carrying forward what I learned from this race to my training and future races

           

Thoughts: it would have been close but I can’t help but wonder if I had been able to break my 8 hour goal if I had been able to charge the final descent continuously, without the frustration/confusion that stemmed from the differing course & course map.  this course is really steep – I did too much running and not enough hiking in my preparation.  I tweaked my L ankle on one of the steep descents but I don’t think it is anything major.  I am excited (and nervous) for the Rut 50k in 6 weeks 

N ridge of the Pfeifferhorn

I managed to sneak in one more stellar Wasatch scramble during my last couple days here in Utah.  I approached the Pfeifferhorn via Maybird, elected to bypass the lower portion of the ridge (not wanting to tackle a 5.5 gendarme downclimb in running shoes), and thus climbed a couloir/gully to gain the ridge just past the second prominent gendarme.  

first glimpse of the N ridge

gully/couloir I used to access the ridge

The upper ridge was spectacular, with solid rock, abundant jams and nice exposure on the 4^th/low 5^th class terrain.  The final few hundred feet was loose talus (scary loose in a few places) but easy and I summited in 2:44.  

upper N ridge

one of a few stellar crack climbing sections

red pine lake on the hike down

I descended the E ridge and out redpine, maintaining a hiking-only pace the entire way (race in 3 days).

Stats: approx. 9mi/3500vert/4:50 car-car at a very casual pace

Rose: the couple sections of nice crack climbing

Thorn: the final loose 200 ft

Bud: returning someday to climb it again in winter/spring conditions (which is apparently the more popular option)

Thoughts: this ridge scramble is really good – I enjoyed it more than the “classic” S ridge of Superior, class 4/low 5 scrambles are really fun

Sawtooths

With my summer internship finished on the 15^th, I found myself with 9 free days until Speedgoat 50K and the end of my time in Utah.  With a race approaching, it seemed a great time to rest the legs a bit and go for a long weekend of backpacking and climbing in the Sawtooths with Bria.  Having already climbed a number of the moderate classics together there in prior summers (mountaineer’s route on the perch, stur chimney on mt. heyburn and the finger of fate), we decided upon the SE face of warbonnet peak, described on Summitpost as the “grand teton of Idaho.”

To keep the pace/feel of the trip nice & mellow and since we both had sufficient time off, we decided to hike in the 8 miles to a base camp at Feather/Bead lakes on day 1, climb warbonnet on day 2, climb nearby packrat peak on day 3 and hike out on day 4.  The shuttle across Redfish was quick and easy as was the initial hike to alpine lake.  We made slow but steady progress on the cross-country terrain to the saddle north of Pt. 9769 where we were pleased to find the climber’s trail and a stellar view of the baron spire and the baron lakes.  

navigating extensive boulder fields above alpine lake

baron spire and lakes

We continued along the climber’s trail and dropped down the steep and loose slope north of warbonnet lakes, before finding a spectacular camping spot between the second and third feather lakes, below the striking Mayan Temple.  

camp - packrat on L, mayan temple on R (photo: bria)

Bria started setting up camp while I scouted the way from camp to the bead lakes for the approach in the morning (thoroughly enjoying the feeling of running, free of a big heavy pack which felt so slow and foreign on the hike in).  We enjoyed a pleasant evening and beautiful sunset before heading to bed, excited for warbonnet in the morning. 

view from camp, warbonnet is far looker's L (photo: bria)

Thanks to my recon, the way past the bead lakes went smoothly and we were soon slowly making our way up the approach slope to the east saddle where the route starts (II 5.7 6p).  Armed with some excellent beta from summitpost, the climb went smoothly, the only hiccups being the heinous rope-drag I induced upon myself linking pitches 3 & 4 and Bria being unable to clean a stuck cam on a pitch (but I managed to re-climb/downclimb to it and snag it on the descent).  

pitch 1

stellar pitch 5 handcrack

The exposed summit pitch was awesome and we took turns tagging the 2 summits, trying to capture pictures that accurately depicted how incredible the exposure was.

awesome summit pitch (photo: bria)

peering over the clean 1500+ drop from the summit 

on the northern (lower) summit (photo: bria)

The descent was slow but straightforward and fortunately the two occasions the rope hung-up on the pull I was able to easily climb up/down to free it.  We arrived back at camp in the early evening, having enjoyed a casual pace all day, ready for a swim and big dinner.

Despite a high chance of rain/storms in the forecast for Saturday, we awoke to beautiful blue skies and thus set off for the NE ridge of packrat peak (mostly class 3 & 4, a little 5.2).  Clouds quickly began to build during the slow boulder-hopping approach and approx. two-thirds of the way up the ridge, we decided to bail due to a combination of rain drops, dark storm clouds, and Bria battling some GI issues.  

class 4 up packrat

contemplating bailing (photo: bria)

It is never mentally easy to bail in the mountains but we made the right decision, getting caught in a steady rain on the last stretch back to camp.  We spend a few rainy hours relaxing and napping in the tent before the clouds cleared and we enjoyed a beautiful evening and dinner, amazed we had had this entire drainage to ourselves for 3 days & nights. 

The hike out was quicker and easier than expected and we arrived at the redfish inlet with just enough time for a quick swim before catching the noon boat back to the car/civilization.

Rose: the stellar (albeit only 5.7) handcrack pitch 5, the summit exposure

Thorn: having to bail on packrat (even though it was the right decision)

Bud: all the amazing-looking ski terrain in the Sawtooths I need to come explore

Thoughts: warbonnet is a remote and infrequently climbed peak but a worthy adventure, I added the route to MP here, there is a tremendous amount of adventurous climbing to be had in this area, the trail network in the Sawtooths appears/sounds to be extensive and well-maintained, thus conducive to big mountain runs

2/3 of the WURL

The WURL.  For those unfamiliar, the WURL (wasatch ultimate ridge linkup) is a classic ridge traverse of the Cottonwood and Alpine ridgelines, on either side of little cottonwood canyon.  Miles and miles of class 3 boulder hopping, class 4 scrambling, ridge running and even some low 5^th class rock (if you stick to the ridge proper) comprise this traverse. 

The WURL has been on my tick-list since last fall when I learned I had been placed in Ogden UT for my summer internship.  I didn’t think I’d be up for the entirety of it in a day (approx. 30 miles, 20k vertical, 24+ hours for most parties) but knew that I wanted to experience at least a good portion of it.  Thanks to the Dorais brothers for the beta and inspiration.  

A few weeks ago in mid-June, I did a WURL recon mission, in order to figure out the Ferguson canyon approach to the Broad Forks Twins, and continued out past O'sullivan to Dromedary Peak before turning around.  I was hooked and wanted more.   

looking E from Dromedary on my recon outing - I'll be back..

After some deliberation, I decided 2/3 of the WURL – up Ferguson canyon to pt. 10350 above stairs gulch, then broad fork east twin, east on the ridgeline to o’sullivan, dromedary, pt. 10910, monte cristo, superior, Cardiff peak, flagstaff, davenport hill, honeycomb cliffs, then trend south to patsy marley, wolverine, tuscarora, now west to pt. supreme, devil’s castle, sugarloaf, baldy, and finishing on hidden peak (snowbird) would be a good-sized outing.  Short enough to get away with a single food/water cache and no need to recon the Bells Canyon exit yet long enough to provide a solid day of adventure.  

I spent a sunny and hot Thursday evening scrambling up the enjoyable south ridge of mt. superior with 3L of water and 2000 calories of food to cache near the summit (in a rodent-resistant 48oz Skippy PB jar), since it marked roughly halfway from Ferguson to Hidden Peak.

S ridge superior to place my cache

 A mediocre weather forecast and mis-set alarm derailed my original WURL plans so I ended up having to put if off another week.  I hoped my hidden cache on Superior could go 9 days untouched by rodents or people.  The following Saturday, the weather looked good so I parked at snowbird at about 5am and shortly thereafter was biking down the canyon at first light, headed the approx. 10mi to the Ferguson canyon TH.  The bike shuttle went smoothly and at 6am sharp, I was hiking up the trail.  Despite having recon-ed the approach, I somehow lost the main trail in the middle portion of Ferguson.  After a few minutes when I realized the mistake, I stubbornly refused to back-track to the main trail and instead continued up the faint “trail” I was on.  It slowly grew fainter until I found myself in full-on bushwhacking mode.  I eventually found the main trail and continued up to the upper Ferguson meadows.  Based on my splits from my recon outing, I think I lost about 20 minutes here.  Not too bad. 

upper ferguson meadows

From the meadows, I quickly gained the ridge above stairs gulch and continued up to broad fork east twin (3:50).  I took a short food/sunscreen break before scrambling east along the ridge, excited for the day ahead. 

from broad fork east twin, looking E to o'sullivan and dromedary peaks

I passed a surprisingly large number of people on the ridge between here and Dromedary, including a pair with a light rope/rack/shoes that had started from Alta.  The climbs up Dromedary and Monte Cristo in particular were memorable – exposed 4^th class with some short sections of low 5^th on reasonably solid rock.  I reached the top of Superior in 7:24 out of water and ready for a re-supply.  I was stoked to find my cached undisturbed and treated myself to a full sit-down rest and feast. 

stellar scrambling on the W side of monte cristo

The loose shale descent off Superior and over Cardiff peak was my mental low-point of the day.  The enjoyable scrambling up until Superior seemed a distant memory.  Some low 5^th class on beautiful white rock on the ridge up Flagstaff(?) helped restore the mood.  The terrain from Flagstaff and beyond was surprisingly tame, in contrast to the scrambling of the morning.

mellowness of Flagstaff and beyond

I did my best staying true to the ridge throughout the day, vacating it only when forced off by dense vegetation and a few short periods of mental weakness.  However in retrospect, hiking on the ridge proper for significant sections when a runnable trail was 10-20ft off the ridge seems dumb.  I think next time I’ll only focus on staying true to the ridge on class 3 and above terrain.

The peaks and hours flowed by (and a very brief rainstorm) until I found myself at twin lakes pass, 10:28 into the day, ready for another sit-down break and mini-feast, slightly displeased with my pace.  I then charged onwards, looking down on wolverine cirque, reminiscing how long ago January 2011 feels, the first/last time I skied there.  From Pt. Supreme, I could see the ugly overgrown and broken ridgeline leading up towards Devil’s Castle.  

ugly, slow ridgeline just before devil's castle

I did my best staying true to the ridge here, despite the slow progress, but thankfully it wasn’t quite as bad as it first appeared.  The class 4/low 5^th scrambling up & down devil’s castle was a much needed change of pace from the prior hours of mellowness since Flagstaff.

devils castle

From devils castle, 3 peaks remained and the legs were starting to feel a little sluggish on the uphills.  Running low on food and water, I pushed onward, summiting Hidden Peak(15:08) near sunset. 

summit of devil's castle

I swapped sunglasses for a headlamp before beginning the run down snowbird on a combination of bike trails and cat-tracks, arriving at my truck shortly after 10pm, 17 hours since leaving, tired but stoked on a great outing. 

Stats: approx. 22mi (including snowbird descent)/12,500 vert/17 hrs car-car at moderate pace

          

Rose:  the quality 4^th/low 5^th class scrambling, especially the W sides of dromedary & monte cristo and the entirety of devil’s castle

Thorn:  morning bushwhack, my mental low on the shale descent from superior

Bud: returning for the full WURL someday

Thoughts: the WURL is a classic outing for good reason, see jared campbell's blog here for all things WURL, the stretch from broad fork twins to superior is stellar and worth doing by itself, the ski terrain in little & big cottonwood canyons is spectacular and its been too many years since I’ve skied any of it

Mt Olympus scrambling loop

After months/possibly even years of hemming and hawing about starting a blog, I’ve finally decided to do so, for a couple of reasons:

  Ø  to add more words to the pictures I take, beyond what is possible in facebook picture captions

  Ø  to better share my adventures & pictures with friends and family not on facebook

  Ø  to force myself to better keep track of details of my outings (beyond just pictures), for my own   personal future use

  Ø  to hopefully share beta and inspiration with others (since I have gained A LOT of info and trip ideas from various blogs over the years)

Note – I’ve decided to start my “blogging” with a few of the prominent outings I’ve enjoyed during my summer internship in Ogden UT.

Despite the scorching 90+ degree heat wave we were in, I set out after a short day at the clinic to climb the classic West slabs of Mt. Olympus as well as Geurt’s ridge and descend via the standard trail to form a loop.  Thanks to Chad and Spencer for the beta and inspiration.

I set out from the W slabs TH at approx. 3pm under the glaring sun.  The approach trail and (snow free) couloir went smoothly and I soon found myself switching to rock shoes at the base of the slabs.  It felt a little strange to be starting up a 1600ft face with no rope or partner but I quickly found myself in a zone, deeply enjoying the freedom of moving over low 5^th class terrain, with the occasional 5.4 section, unencumbered by gear, rope mgmt, belays, etc. 

A look down mid-way up the slabs

All too soon, the angle and difficulty of the route diminished towards the top and I quickly scrambled the last little bit to the ridge proper, before switching back to running shoes.  Looking south into Tolcat canyon, I tried to find a break in the cliffs to allow access to Geurt’s ridge.

geurt's ridge

 The descent into Tolcat involved a mix of downclimbing and bushwhacking and took longer than expected.  I then aimed for a prominent vegetated gully bisecting Geurt’s where I found some much needed shade and transitioned back to rock shoes before starting up. 

a look back at the gully I descended into Tolcat

Geurt’s was a mix of steep 4/low 5^th class sections and flatter  3^rd class sections.  It was again a blast to move continuously on solid, exposed rock for 1500+ feet.  I cross the obvious “catwalk” and bypassed/downclimbed the first rappel on climber’s R at approx. 5.4.  

"catwalk" pitch

look back at first rappel - bypass/downclimb at 5.4 on climber's R (looker's L in this photo)

The crux bulge came next, consisting of a short steep section of twin cracks, that felt about 5.5.  I passed the second rappel again on climber’s R at low 5^th and then continued to the summit. 

crux 5.5 bulge with fun twin cracks

stoked but withering under the hot sun  on the summit

Despite being nearly out of water, very dehydrated and terribly thirsty due to the intense heat , I was stoked on the great scrambling/climbing.  I cruised down the standard trail to the junction with the Bonneville shoreline trail, hung a R and looped back to the truck.  Approx. 7mi/4600vert/5:20 car-car at a casual pace. 

Rose: the joy of soloing 3000ft of class 4/low 5^th on solid rock

Thorn: intense heat & not enough water

Bud: the possibilities that soloing opens in the mountains (assuming its at a difficulty sufficiently below your limit)

Thoughts:  either/both of these routes is definitely recommended.  I can’t imagine bring a rope/rack on either route due to the non-sustained nature of the class 5 terrain.  I don’t own approach shoes, thus the combo of running & rock shoes, the bolted belays on the W slabs and the bolts at the 2^nd rap anchor on Geurt’s are ridiculous and unnecessary