I knew I’d be able to cut time off my previous attempt from May. Back then, it was just a question of whether I could complete the route: this time was all about fixing the mistakes I made in that first attempt, which I did quite well! Route finding was spot on almost the entire day (one tiny section of backtracking was necessary at the last trail junction with less than a mile to go #facepalm), my fueling was just about perfect, and although it was brutally tough fighting through quad cramps for the last few hours, I stayed on pace pretty much all day! Starting at 7:45am meant the last push to Kepros was in the dark, but finishing at 8:20pm meant I had the perfect temperatures all day. My dad, Patrick, was my support crew for the whole day, meeting me at the start and end of each climb so I could resupply. I had a pacer for the climb and descent of Lucky Peak (my friend, Braden Holbrook), and my dad, Patrick, paced me on his mtn bike on the road section from Bonneville Point to the Kepros trailhead (a section I now refer to as the “suicide stretch” because it’s so tough). My brother, JP, paced me from the Kepros trailhead to Kepros Mountain and back.
My more extensive write-up is on the Strava activity, but the highlights (i.e. time at each of the peaks) are as follows: Mt. Heinen in 1:06, Cervidae Peak in 3:40, Lucky Peak in 6:00, and Kepros Mountain in 11:30. Final time of 12:34:47 was just over my goal of 12:30, but I’m well satisfied with the complete, almost mistake free day I put together!