Dropped

Missing miles and vert last 2 days

Racing the Sunset up Dan

Failed Headband Recovery

Lake Laps @ Temple

10:44:42

What a privilege it is to have a day like this. I've been feeling a lot of gratitude for all the people I've had the chance to share these mountains with. Five years ago, I didn't really even hike anymore. What a gift it is to have moved here, and to have found running. Who knows where I'll be in a few years, but damn this place is special.


As always, my plan to start before sunrise didn't work. I never seem to sleep well before these types of efforts with technical solo chosseneering. Dropped the self-issue permit in the box and hit start back from the road at 7:02.

The plan was to hit the base of the climb up North in 1:30, I started the climb at 1:29:43. I wanted to at least be close to Sam Forsyth 's split on North, figuring I'd make up some time on Middle because of all the time I've spent on that route. North felt shockingly straightforward. I was up there in mid August, a day or two after the snow melted off the traverse, and the "trail" across it pretty much didn't exist. Everything was moving. On Saturday, everything was very tracked out. The bowling alley had two little snow spots, but the climbing felt really good this time around. Really love this mountain. Hit the summit in 2:04:17.

Grabbed my second water of the day (first was Soap Creek – filtered) from the small flow at the top of the Collier Glacier (filled the filter and unfiltered flask), then climbed a small snowfield to a scramble only to hit ice at the top of it, slide back down, then scramble through some choss to get around it. Then a few steps later I ate it pretty hard. Thankfully my only fall of the day. Did my best up middle. Hit the summit in 3 hours flat. Descended and grabbed a liter and a half at the last couple snow patches before the saddle, mostly unfiltered.

I had a salty Gu to start the day with some water, and ended up having a really hard time keeping it, and anything else after that down. Because of this, I tried to kill as much LMNT over the course of the day as I could to keep my body going. Kept trying to burp but holding down a puke instead until I finally got a twinge of hunger coming down South.

Anyway, I did my best on the climb up South to just focus on being consistent. I didn't really push, but also didn't really allow myself any pauses more than one or two ten-second breaks to get my head straight going into the hero dirt scramble at the top. Topped out to at least 40+ people on the upper cratter, at least 20 around the summit. Busiest I've ever seen. In that moment, I remembered Jackson Brill 's comments about the culture shock of South. Couldn't agree more. Tapped the summit in 5:01:09, and wasted no time getting back to the pockets of solitude.

I crossed the Lewis Glacier and got water at both the top and bottom (unfiltered). The descent off south is the only one out of the 5 that really feels high impact. Didn't really feel like pushing it, but when I got to the crossing, I filled my filter and wasted no time getting to Broken Top. Killed a liter of water and a few ibuprofen on the way up, and tapped the summit in 7:07:58.

On the way off Broken Top, I took a combination of the upper right scree-ski, the lower-left  ski, and Sam's track that cut across the Southwest ridge. I roughly hit the trail at Sam's split from the Broken Top summit, and decided that from there I would simply try not to implode. I knew I had roughly 40 minutes to work with. I had planned to take the road from Skyliner to Sunrise and just grind up Avalanche and Marshmallow, but decided to go kill some water and then refill up at the village. Went into the main building to find a water fill up instead of the bathroom sink I knew had water. Didn't find a drinking fountain, so just dumped my water in my filter from the Todd runnoff into my other flask, dumped more electrolytes in, and did the same uphill I did when Emily Keddie and I did this route last year.

I still haven't run a long effort that I feel like I've paced exactly right. At the same time, this is really the first time I haven't felt like I was crashing and burning as the end approached. I'm gonna credit that to the 9000 mg of sodium from the LMNT I killed throughout the day. Thanks Cameron Bennett !

Awesome day cruising through this place I've come to feel at home in. Huge thanks to everyone who has set the standards on this route, and all of those I've learned from and shared this place with. We get to do this.

Didn't run much on bachelor until the downhill, but still kept it efficient. Tapped the summit in 10:11 or 10:12 depending on which one is the real summit. Road in 10:44:42.

That was a crazy day. I don't think I've ever been in such a good flow state for so long. These mountains really bring me peace, and today, everything felt very good. Especially North and South. No real desire to do all 5 again at the moment, but maybe the big 3 a few more times this season??? :)

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Alex L

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Dropped

Missing miles and vert last 2 days

Racing the Sunset up Dan

Failed Headband Recovery

Lake Laps @ Temple

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