Kieners car-to-car FKT.
2:19:37 = 1:34:51 up / 44:46 down
goblin 12:51
bridge 17:15
treeline 26:39
chasm jct 37:22
chasm lake 47:46
gully entry 59:30ish
glacier rib ridge 1:02:30
cross lambs 1:08
entry to broadway 1:11+
broadway narrows down 1:13:30?
start Kieners 1:16:30
diamond step 1:31:30
Summit 1:34:51
top cables 1:39:39
bottom cables 1:40:40
MLW 1:53:00
cross trail 1:57:26
treeline 2:06:40
bridge 2:10:34
LPTH 2:19:37
— — —
Kinda forced this one a little more. When I set the previous Kieners FKT of 2:26:11 back in June 2012 I was so new to the mountain that I hadn’t downclimbed the Cables yet. Thus, that record was achieved via a 1:34:54 ascent and a 51:17 descent where I took the Keyhole Route to the Boulderfield and then all the cuts down from there. In subsequent years I knew there was room to take this record sub-2:20 just by taking the Cables descent. Then a decade went by and more than a few times I wondered how I ever managed to run to the summit via Kieners in sub-1:35. After today, I know there’s somebody capable of doing it sub-1:30.
My stomach was off when I showed up to the Longs TH, so after a bunch of faffing around taping my poor feet up (lots of blisters from the other day’s run in the rain, going sockless), I jogged around a bit but then had to spend a long minute or ten in the bathroom. With my f’ed up stomach I had no intentions of going hard up the hill and mostly used the first 20min as my warm-up just seeing where the body was. When I saw a 17 min bridge split I was like, “ok, so not so bad” and then sub-27 at treeline I was like, ok, might as well start putting some effort into it. The wind at treeline was what motivated me to do Kieners at all—I knew it’d be very blustery across Jim’s Grove/MLW/and the Boulderfield and it’s always sheltered in the Chasm cirque. Plus, Kieners is more fun than Cables.
It was plenty windy getting to Chasm Jct, but when I saw a sub-10 split from treeline I finally mentally committed to going as hard as I could to the summit, just out of curiosity. It worked out. Nailed my line around the lake and then up the gully to the Glacier Rib. I’d carried spikes with me to have the option of doing Kieners, but putting them on and taking them off always takes a couple minutes, so I just grabbed a couple rocks and kicked my way across Lambs, which was in almost perfect condition for such behavior. There had clearly been some rain/hail downpours yesterday as there were spots on Lambs that had been scoured down to ice (not where I crossed) and there were piles of hail still sitting on shady ledges. The trickle into Alexander’s was even back to a nice flow after being dry last week.
Broadway to the summit was just a hypoxic blur—I felt like I was moving so slowly—but I managed to get there in the elusive sub-1:35, 3sec faster than 12yr ago, lolz.
I really wasn’t psyched to run the downhill hard—I hadn’t eaten or hydrated well enough before this run—but once again knew I’d never forgive myself if I didn’t try to break the record. I figured I could at least go sub-50min down the Cables. Made it to the bottom of the newly-wet Cables a couple seconds slower than two days ago, but then felt particularly clumsy across the Boulderfield. I was just tired. My MLW split showed me to only be ~30sec or so slower than two days ago, so that re-lit the fire and I was much more on-point the rest of the way down. However, I rolled my right ankle HARD (the OTHER ankle to the left one that’s been bothering me all summer) at the start of the last cut (leaving the straightaway) and hobble hopped through a few steps before determining I could still run hard if I was just extra extra careful. And that was it. Broke 2:20 and sub-45 for the descent. I mostly credit the slightly faster descent today to Mutants instead of Prodigio’s and a tailwind through Jim’s instead of a headwind. But I was WORKED at the end whereas the other day I had finished almost feeling fresh. I chalk that up to poor hydration and fueling beforehand.
I know some people don’t consider it a legit Kieners ascent unless you climb Lambslide, but scrambling the Rib is always how I’ve done it in summer mode and how I did it going 2:26 12yr ago. Finally, I think I myself could go probably 2min faster or so on the uphill, just based on my treeline split, but maybe the more conservative start allowed me to go harder above treeline? Either way, I know sub-1:30 is possible for somebody. Overall, just really really happy to have finally cleaned this up after more than a decade and finally realized the sub-2:20 time I always thought was possible.
At the end, Hailey was like “why did you run so hard?” My response was that you don’t always get to pick the day that you feel good on, so if the legs are there you have to grab the opportunity. At my advanced age, I’m keenly aware that there’s NOT always another day/week/year to get things done. With the fitness I have right now it’s the old cliché—strike while the iron’s hot.