Timpanogos!

Geez! Another weekend gone by....

This weekend I felt like staying close and opted for a day hike of Mt. Timpanogos which is about a 45 minute drive away from my apartment. Timpanogos is pretty cool because it's one of the lower 48's Ultra Prominence peaks. What's this mean? In general, it's a big honking mountain. If you're really interested check this out.

It's hot in SLC valley and was supposed to get to 106 on Saturday so the alarm went off at 4.30 AM for me to get moving up the trail pre-heat wave. I hit the trail at six and started the 7ish mile tromp to the summit. Part way along the trail I stumbled across two moose. I love moose. They're so funky.



I continued along the trail and enjoyed watching the sun rise over the valley behind me. Pretty soon I found myself in the Timpanogos Basin and basked in the glory of the peak:



By around 10 I was on top and enjoying the views.



I had heard word of a "glacier" on the peak and had scouted it out on the way up. You can see it in the picture of the peak off to the left. It looked like a sweet fast sled down but I was concerned about making the 1000+ vertical foot high speed descent alone. I met two guys on the peak who were talking about going that way and joined them for a bit of safety. Somehow we picked up some more people and ended up with a crew of eight. A quick hike over to the snowfield presented a beautiful fast butt sled with a little bit of ice axe speed/rudder control.... quality:



We descended another snowfield in high fashion and returned to the basin. I sort of slipped out of the group somewhere in here. Eight is a bit of a big group and I was up for a slow descent to enjoy the views. The trip down was uneventful besides more beautiful views....