I had an excellent morning running Grandeur Peak. I invited my friend Bill who is a pretty fast runner and he invited his friend who is also a very fast runner. On the way to the trailhead I found out his friend was Seth Wold, who has won the Ogden marathon a few times, as well as several other races. So MattVH would be meeting us at the trailhead and I was a bit worried about having these two fast runners join us because I wasn't sure we could keep the pace they wanted.
We started about 6:15 and the trail had melted out a lot since the last time we were on it. We started off running, but as soon as we hit the ridge it was a fast hike the rest of the way up. The conversation was great and we talked about running, races, trails and mountains. Bill was pushing the pace with me behind and then Seth and Matt. Once we got above the inversion it was a lot warmer and the views were fantastic.
When we were about 3/4 of the way up I could see some lights coming up the ridge, and I could see that they were moving fast. I didn't want to get passed, so I picked up my pace. I hit the summit first in 1:16 with Bill right behind me, and then a few minutes later the 3 guys made it up. They are all ultra runners that Seth knows and they were cruising. A few minutes later Matt and Seth made it to the top. I had a gel and some water and then we all took off down to Church Fork. The run down was a total blast! Probably the best run of the year. The trail was hard packed snow, but not very slippery. Perfect.
Bill made it down first, then me and then Seth and Matt a few minutes later. I was really impressed with Seth. Obviously he could have blown by all of us, but he spent his time hanging back with Matt. We then ran down the Pipeline trail to Rattlesnake Gulch and the views were sweet. At the gulch we went down toward the canyon road. The trail was very slick here, so the pace slowed a lot. At the canyon road we stopped to arrange our gear and then we took off on a fast pace down the canyon. Once we hit the inversion it got a lot colder right away.
The run down the canyon was fun and Matt did awesome. Once we hit Wasatch BLVD we turned North and ran until we hit 33rd South, where we turned right and made our way back to the trailhead. The conversation was great and it was an awesome day. That was such a fun loop. We finished in 3:05 (including all breaks). My only regret was not taking the camera. The views were so good. Awesome!
3000 ft vert. | 