by Steve Knapp » Mon May 31, 2010 10:17 pm
What a fun challenge! We were both eager to get the single day record before the summer heat sets in. It was a memorable day and John was a great partner for it. It was a full 24-hour marathon, midnight to midnight. 23.6 miles total, 12,160 vertical feet of gain, 15 hours of hiking, 24 separate starts, many miles driven between peaks.
We drove down from Denver Friday night and arrived a bit early. What to do? Climb a peak of course! Unranked Rattlesnake Hill at 10:30 p.m. was the warmup/tuneup for things to come. With no sleep for either of us since Thursday night, the adventure began Saturday morning at midnight with McIntyre Ridge. The nearly full moon helped for the five hours of darkness on night one, but we used headlamps too. We had six ranked peaks and unranked Devils Knob done by dawn. The goal was a one peak/hour pace including driving time. Just after dawn was the physical lowpoint for both of us, we were quite beat from hiking all night with no sleep. With the new day new energy/adrenaline arrived. The night was pleasant, slight breeze with 45-50 degree temps. The heat became our enemy mid-day. 75-80 degree temps never felt so hot but we did have a stiff breeze. The two 2-peak combos (8690/8876 and 8987/9175) were extremely tiring. We'd hoped to cool off mid-day on a couple 11ers in the area but were stymied by a permanent FS road closure along FR-621. So 10718 was the highpoint of the day. The order was mainly north to south, though we skipped Flagpole Hill and Saguache Hill to finish in the dark Saturday night. These were all new peaks for me. John had seven repeats but still 19 new peaks. The day was finished on Saguache Hill just after 11:00 p.m. I was craving a burger or pizza but had to settle for a protein bar with no restaurants in town. By midnight we were in the deepest sleep imaginable in a Saguache motel room. Keys to the day were pacing, constant eating and drinking, and teamwork. It helped to have one person driving and another navigating the roads on GPS. A cooler full of gatorade, soda pop, chocolate milk, and a variety of fruit was wonderful in the heat.
Surprisingly we both felt pretty good Sunday morning after a great night's sleep. After a killer breakfast at the Pancake House in Salida we climbed 12ers Missouri Hill, Lost Mtn, and 11178 in Chaffee county. Being on snow in the cool breezes above treeline never felt so good after the prior day's torturefest.
An interesting day neither of us care to repeat anytime soon. I am honored to share the new record with John.