Lone Peak
My 16th ascent of Lone Peak. I was with a group of 10 and about 8 of us reached the summit rock. This mountain is dangerous. Every year we hike up there, and every year I say to Judy: I think I will stop here at this safe place. Then she goes on ahead, over the first rock, and I follow. Then the first snowy knife edge; then crouch and crawl under the second rock, around a corner where there is not enough of a snow ledge to support me if I get off balance and slip to my left. If that happened I would bounce a couple thousand feet down a seemingly vertical drop full of endless granite boulders. Then, the second snowy knife edge, and negotiations with slippery boulders until we carefully crawl onto the summit rock. For the downward trip we reverse it all.
This morning was the most, thickest fog I believe I have seen in my life. The drive to Draper from Farmington was tense. I know those roads and still made a couple wrong turns. If that fog was stacked high over the mountain I would have gone down. I was late to meet the group but didn't worry because I knew I could catch up. Seems a few minutes after I started hiking, clear sky appeared. Then I was above the fog. I do not exaggerate when I say that looking down upon the Salt Lake Valley, everything was covered, as if a white lake had drowned a million people in a major metropolitan area. Everything, that is except the Draper LDS Temple. It was the only man-made structure visible from high on the mountain. Everything else had disappeared.
There were a lot of new-to-me faces. Michael led the group, and he, Judy, and I were the veterans. Michael is in his mid-sixties, still going strong. He led us up first to Enniss Peak, where we got our first look at Lone Peak. All my times up in that wilderness and I had never hiked a few hundred feet up to Enniss. It even has a round metal marker stating the name. We hiked up into the cirque, and views of the granite walls under the peak were spectacular. The higher we went a curtain of cloud dropped in front of the peak and it was gone. We never saw it again, even when we were on the summit. We were climbing in the cloud the remainder of the ascent.
A word about fitness. Five years ago my first Winter ascent of Lone Peak was the most difficult hike I had done. I was slow, exhausted and fat, and determined. I reached the summit. Today I am 25 pounds lighter and felt fantastic the entire day. I had boundless energy. I reached the summit. It was easy. I ate ultra food: Gels, Stinger Waffles, and a PBJ sandwich. That's it. And when I got to the car I didn't have a raging hunger. I am down to my ideal weight now. It feels so good not to carry around that extra crap. Running did this to me.
http://youtu.be/SsDDckJ_R5g
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