Trail-Blazing the Pfeifferhorn

This has been a monumental summer. I've logged more miles than ever before, ran more trails than ever before, and often by myself, something I've never done before. My wife and family have been out of town this week, so I took advantage of the alone time and went exploring some new trails.

The Pfeifferhorn. 

The Pfeifferhorn has been on my sites for a while now. Coincidentally, many of my Wrangler buddies hit it the same day, but at a time I could not join them. It's located behind and directly east of Lone Peak. I think there are probably several trails that lead to it, but I'm pretty sure I took the most common route. Honestly, I didn't plan much for this trip other than looking over a few strava maps once or twice. Which would explain why I missed the Red Pine Trail turnoff on my first attempt. Tuesday evening I ran almost all the way up the White Pine Trail, having missed the turnoff. It's probably a good thing because I was racing the rain and right when I got up to the base of White Baldy the clouds thickened and obscured the view of the ridge-line. I lost the race and got thoroughly soaked, which made the run down in the dark a lot more interesting.

Red Pine Lake.

So the next day I went back up, having studied the route at least one more time. I took the Red Pine turn off and looped around to the next canyon, then up up up. The trail basically is a straight shot all the way to Red Pine Lake.

The entire cirque around the lake is ridge-lined with jagged crags that are both dangerous and beautiful. There's no easy way to the ridge, in fact I basically lost the trail. Which would explain why I had the following conversation with myself:

"Dude, where's the trail?"
"We're on it."
"No, I don't believe we are. We're in the middle of a giant rock slide."
"Look around, everything is a giant rock side. Where else could we go?"
"To find the trail."

I've always been a trail-blazer at heart. Sure, I looked for the trail the entire time. But I knew where I was going. I didn't need a trail to get me there. After a very steep ascent among boulders, scree, and thistle patches, I made it to the ridge line and could finally see my destination. The first thought that came to me was, "Really, I gotta go up that?"

First view of the Pfeifferhorn.

Summit Monkey with BCC Twin Peaks in the background.

This summer I've traversed several ridge-lines with crags, some of them I should have been scared of but I've always been kind of nimble on my feet. However, on none of those did I ever feel like Gollum. You know that part where he's climbing down the rock face head first. Well, needless to say it was probably the most dangerous ridge I've ever been on. I loved every minute of it and was a little bit scared.

The closer I got to the Pfeifferhorn the more the winds of doubt blew. It didn't look climbable and the previous day's run was wearing on me. Not until I traversed all the crags and looked straight up its face did I feel relieved. It wasn't as steep as it looked a little farther back and it was totally climbable. Don't get me wrong, I haven't seen any steeper trails, it wasn't easy, and it's not really safe. (You know, "Don't try this at home kids...")

The views were absolutely stunning. I had the summit all to myself for several minutes while I got my legs back underneath me then I slip and slided back down to the crags. Ran across them, as much as I could, and hey, what do you know, I found the trail. It was a nasty descent off the ridge. Steep, steep, steep.

Once past the lake, I was able to follow Craig Lloyd's mantra and "just floated" the rest of the way down. Just before the last mile where the Red Pine trail connects with the White Pine I came across a young lady hiking down, in my same direction. When I was about 50' and closing I noticed she had headphones on and probably didn't hear me coming, not that I was making any real amount of noise. So I called out, "good evening." No response. 35' and closing, "good evening" a little louder. Nothing. 20' - "hello" pretty loud. She was oblivious. At 10' I stopped and walked and quite a bit louder said "HELLO?" I thought for sure she would hear that, but nope. So, I just picked up my pace again and blew right by her. I think I gave her a heart attack. She gasped almost as loud as I had been yelling at her. Poor girl.

Did I really just come up that?

Map and Stats of the Pfeifferhorn.

Skyline Trail Marathon

When I first heard of the Skyline Marathon, I knew it would be a good course.  This was about 18 months ago.  Since then, I've run sections of this trail over and over again, loving every minute of it.  This trail has some absolutely magnificent views of Ogden, Liberty, and Pineview, and has some of the most runable trails around.  If you want the details of the trail, check out the map above.

Jake Selfie on final stretch of Eyric climb

As is customary for any race, I went to the packet pickup/pre-registration the day before the race.  This one was at the new Striders in Ogden.  I got the packets for Sam and myself, and then reminded them that Jake would only be running the half.  See, Jake apparently had some massive blisters on his heel from our run up Little Black last week, and was feeling somewhat... blah blah blah... chickened out.  Basically, he called the race directors and asked if they would switch him to the half marathon instead of the full.  In truth, they call his race a "Half plus 1," since it is 14.1 miles from the North Ogden Divide to the finish line.  I watched as they highlighted my name in the full marathon book, then Sam's, and then went to the half marathon book and highlighted Jake's name.  I mention this because it seems that while they got the packet pickup fixed for him correctly, they never bothered to move Jake's name to the half marathon "start-line-check-in" sheet as well, which meant he was unable to check in at the start line, and they ended up officially giving him a DQ because of that.  It sucked for him, and I can almost count it as strike one against the race organizers, but I guess he deserved it for getting his wuss on just two days before the race.

Jake and his buddy Johnny

So... here's the rundown:  The shuttle from Eden to the start line at the North Fork Campground in Liberty left at 5:15, so that meant another early wakeup call to get there on time.  Pre-race checkin was at 5:45,  and we got to talk to one of our new running buddies Nate Younger, who was running this race for the second year and wanted redemption over his >6 hour time from last year. The race started at 6:01am.  Off we went.

The first mile was the usual march as 77 people all tried to find their uphill speed on a single track
trail.  He passed her. I passed him. She passed me. I followed that dude until he had to walk.  Something like that.  In all, the first section of the race is 6 miles on a gentle uphill climb gaining about 3,000'  Most of it was runable.  We all got to enjoy the sunrise as we slowly climbed up the east face of the mountain.  But just as everyone was enjoying the sunrise, we passed what may have likely been the most pissed off bunch of yellowjackets I've ever seen.  They really didn't seem to appreciate runner after runner stomping the ground as they slept.  They swarmed and started stinging as many runners as they could.  The girl right in front us us got stung once, but they guy in front of her claimed to have been stung 14 times.  Also, Nate claimed a couple stings as well.  Sam and I both escaped un-stung.  I did have to chuckle at everyone else's expense on that one.  As we approached the saddle, I figured there were about 25-30 people ahead of us.

Sam somewhere on the first climb

At the saddle was the 1st aid station.  This was my first marathon with a handheld water bottle.  And so far I was liking it.  I was able to quickly fill it up again from the water cooler and take off on the 6.5 mile downhill run toward the North Ogden Divide.  The quick stop made a huge difference as I was able to pass about 5 people right off the bat.  At this point, Sam and I cruised downhill.  It was surprising to me that not one person passed us on the downhill.  We actually passed about 4 more people on the way down, running about a 7:30 per mile average.  And it felt absolutely awesome to run that fast.  We caught up to Nate just as we approached the N. Ogden Divide aid station.

Fist pump.  Didn't get stung.

Again, A quick fill up for my water bottle, and away I went.  From this point it was a powerhike up about 2,000' over only 3 miles.  I spent the climb trying to keep up with Nate, and Sam fell slightly behind.  This was the last time I saw Sam.  Once you reach the top of Eyrie peak, you're done with the climbing for the rest of the race.  The aid station at the top was a nice sight.  My mouth was pretty dry and my water bottle was empty.  My Clif bloks were running low and I knew I would have a hard time getting anything down at the aid station,   But I grabbed a handful of trail mix (which took me about 7 minutes to finally get down my gullet), and took off on the downhill.  Again, I went pretty quick.  This time I stayed at about a 8:30 pace on the 7 miles downhill.  Another lady and I started pacing off each other and encouraging each other for the rest of the downhill.  There's the difference between a trail race and a street race.  Complete strangers become the best of friends as you encourage each other.  There are no strangers on a trail race.   (well... unless you count that one chick on the first downhill who refused to allow us to pass).

Me approaching the 1st aid station.

Sam Selfie near Eyrie peak.

Reaching the bottom of the downhill at Windsurfers Beach, I was spent.  My body was needing more calories than I had planned for, and again, nothing at the aid station looked like I would be able to get it down very well without losing much time.  I buckled down and started the last 4 miles at a much slower pace.  It was a nicer section of trail than I had anticipated.  It was mostly rolling single track, in the shady trees along Pineview reservoir. The last two miles were pretty lonely as I saw no other runners.  My hamstrings were giving me trouble, so I kept expecting to get passed.  I guess most of the other runners were about as tired as I was.  As I was approaching the 5 hour mark, I suddenly saw the blue arch.  I picked up the pace and was just barely able to squeeze out a sub 5 hour finish.  4:59:34.  I'll take that.

My foot.  Still battling the nice blister I
picked up on Kings Peak.

Nate finished about 5 minutes after me, and Sam came cruising in about 2 minutes after Nate.  He had a real strong finish, and didn't look very tired.  Ryan Lauck was the only other person at the finish line that I recognized.  He had an amazing finish time of 4hr: 15min.  Nice work Ryan.

After 5 days, they finally posted the race results.   And ... well, Sam managed to bribe his way into the record books.  They have him posted as the third fastest time ever on the course.  You should be proud Sam.

Overall, we were a little disappointed at the organization of the race.  However, the beauty of the course, the great running conditions of the trails, and people running along side of us more than made up for it.  I'm thinking I'll do it again next year.




Official Results:

Steve:  4:59:32.  20th place out of 66 men.  24th place out of 77 overall. Sam:  3:38:00 (HAHAHA)... actually 5:07:16.  26th place out of 66 men.  30th place overall. Jake:  Disqualified  ... actually 2:24:41.  11th place out 40 men.  16 out of 68 total runners.

S.T.S. 11.2.5 (um... I lost count) - Grandview was a Little Black.

King Crag on one of the extremely dangerous crags leading up to Little Black.

Jake and Steve, traversing the crags.

The summer has flown by. We've ran more trails and bagged more peaks than ever before. As always, the highlight and climax of the summer is the Quest for King's Marathon, which was a little more than a week ago. An after thought, almost forgotten is the Skyline Marathon coming up this Saturday. As the last preparation for the race we hit two peaks and ran more than 20 miles over the last two days. Some may say that a better taper is required the week of the race. Maybe. After this morning's run we feel loosened up and ready for Saturday. Time will tell.

Little Black is located in the Black Mountains just north east of the University of Utah. It can be accessed from several starting points along the Bonneville Shoreline Trail. The route we took gave us a little more than 10 miles round trip and starts on Hilltop Road at Morris Reservoir in the Avenues. The first few miles are easily runnable on the BST and then the last two climb what seems straight up the mountain. Once on top of the ridge line the trail gets a bit harry. The ridge has very steep slopes on both sides and often seemingly untraversable rock crags. One misstep to the right or one to the left could lead to a nasty fall.

Map and Stats of Little Black Peak.

Summit Monkeys.

Jake put his nipples back on at the top.
Steve was...I'm not sure what he was doing.

Grandview Peak has been on Steve's sights for a while now. It is just around the corner from Little Black but is not as easily accessed. After a few failed attempts on both our parts I finally tagged it last week and together we bagged it this morning. In order to avoid extra mileage and time constraints we decided to drive up the Skyline Drive and park about five miles from the summit. The view was indeed grand, all along the trail and from the summit itself.

Steve, silhouetted in the early dawn.

I whacked the bush!

The Wasatch 100 race uses the same trail that goes by Grandview. A small offshoot of about 1.5 miles leads along a separate ridge to Grandview. If you want to call it a trail. Oh, there's a trail, but it is overgrown and requires much bushwhacking. The final assent is quite steep but shortlived. It actually mirrors Little Black in some ways, steep on both sides, but with less crags. There are a few, but mostly it has an easily accessible trail just below the rocky ridge. I am surprised that this peak is not tagged by more people.

Summit Monkey on Grandview.

Steve with The Face on Grandview summit.

Map & Stats of Grandview Peak.

Sam, with his best douchy face.

Quest For King's Marathon 2013

Three Trail Monkeys, running on a trail.

One somewhat slow.  One very fast. One fairly sick. (left to right).

And on this day, all three had success in one way or another.

Signing in at the beginning of the trail,
about the only time all three of us were together.

The Quest for King's Marathon is our annual trail run to the top of Utah's highest point, and it is our favorite run of the year.  Or at least the run we look forward to the most.  This year was no different, and the 13 miles from Henry's Fork to King's Peak and back are now familiar to us, although being familiar with the trail is the blessing and bane of this route.  It is good to know the route, to know where you are going, to be well aware of what challenges are there on the trail.  It is also daunting to know how difficult it is to breath at this altitude, how tedious the boulder fields are between Gunsight Pass and Anderson Basin, and how easily the death march of the last 6 miles can trip you up.

Before getting into any particulars, it must first be said that Steve killed it.  He started strong, he held his strong pace and he finished strong, improving on his best time from a year ago by 48 minutes.  He ran like a monkey possessed.  And for that, we salute you.

Blurred Sam.

There is one stretch of running on this trail that captures everything fun about trail running.  It's about 6 miles in, you've just completed the boulder trail and have passed Elkhorn Crossing.  It's about a four mile stretch in a clearing, you can see the top of King's peak, the sun is rising and the trail is perfect.  You're note yet in total pain, you've hit your stride, and the elevation hasn't slowed you yet.  It really is a perfect moment.  We all separately commented on how great this section of the trail was, even though we all hit it at different times.

Best part of the run. Stepping towards Gunsight Pass.

During a long distance trail run, there are challenges you know you will encounter before beginning.  Running at high a high elevation, you know it will be difficult to breath in some stretches.  Running for long stretches by yourself in the wilderness is a mental hurdle at times, and a perfect respite at others.  The large boulders that litter the trail jump out and grab your toes, you know that a sprained ankle is there at any step.  These are the things that can plan for, hurdles that you are aware of before the run and hopefully control.

Steve Descends, just in time to say hi and bye to both Sam and I.

There are also things you cannot control, and you simply have to deal with them.  You sometimes have to deal with elevation sickness, stomach/G.I. issues, or simply hitting the proverbial wall.  And once you are 10+ miles up a mountain, there's no way to tap out, you have to fight through whatever those challenges may be.  Steve overcame everything that was in front of him, as his awesome finishing time obviously indicates.  Sam had some stomach challenges, and despite the nausea and feeling much less than his best, he finished with a very good time.  Jake didn't have enough time for proper training leading up to this race, but was happy to just finish.

So, another successful summit of King's peak, another great day on the mountain.  Thanks to the Wasatch Mountain Wranglers for hosting this officially unofficial race,

Sam hopping his way to the top.

From the Top.  Of Utah.

The OTM were here.

Leading the pack down the mountain.  My daughter saw this photo and
asked "what is he going to do with his hairdo?"

Sam and Steve had never had any type of energy drink before,
and we hid 3 cans of Red Bull in the river at Elkhorn Crossing.
So we got a caffeine induced boost to help us close out the last 6 miles.
No wings, but at least it was a push to the finish.

Sam didn't feel so well after the run, and pizza was the last thing he wanted.
This was just before he puked.  The boy scouts had occupied the Men's restroom.
So he made it to the women's restroom.  The entire restaurant heard him heave a few times,
and it scared everyone away.  We had the whole restaurant to ourselves after that.
You can try that trick if for some reason you need to empty a restaurant.  Four or five
loud dry heaves tend to scatter people that are trying to eat.

Steve's Trail stats, by far the fastest of the Monkeys and the only time worth posting.

Steve's Time  6:19:34
Sam's Time  6:54:28
Jake's Time  7:27:00