Hiked Lone Peak from 11 pm to 5:30 am with Walton. Normally I dont count hiking miles, but Lone Peak is so rough I make an exception. It's considered by a lot of people to be the hardest peak in the wasatch due to mileage and elevation gain. The first bit up to about 7000 feet was pretty nice, and we were going very fast. We almost stepped on a rattlesnake which was scary, but we jumped out of its way when we heard the rattles go off. From 7000 to 9200 feet is by far the roughest part. This is the Jacob's Ladder portion, and it is straight up. Walton is in great hiking shape right now, so we didnt take any breaks up this part which is brutal because the grade is just painful its so steep. Made it up to the meadow and I was relieved to have put the hardest part behind us so quickly, and we made our way across the granite fields up to the cirque. At this point we ran into some serious snow, and getting up some parts was hard. Eventually we climbed a chute to the final ridge and the snow disappeared which was a blessing, because if there had been any snow on the final ascent I wouldnt have done it cuz it would be too dangerous. Summited at 2:30, took a a couple minutes to rest and headed down. coming down the snow was fun cuz you could slide for a long time and it made it a lot quicker. Once we got to the meadow we started running and we made it down jacobs ladder pretty quick, although it sucked cuz its so steep and my quads were just destroyed. Cruised down to the car and made it home by 6:00. Brutal hike as always with Lone peak, but its always a satisfying moment when you finish an 11,000 footer.
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