FKT: Brannon Forrester - Crystal Range: Pyramid Peak & Mt Price Loop (CA) - 2022-07-07

Route variation
Standard loop
Multi-sport
No
Gender category
Male
Style
Unsupported
Start date
Finish date
Total time
4h 46m 12s
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Had a fantastic day out, and am thoroughly convinced catching a little bit of snowpack is key for doing this route quickly!

Started with 2L of Tailwind, and ate Spring energy gels and Bonkbreaker chews enroute.

I started around sunrise (about 6am) to avoid the heat, and made good time to Pyramid Lake.  I highly recommend closely following the GPS track through the lake maze on the way to Pyramid, as lots of wrong turns can cost you quite a bit of time.

The east face of Pyramid was of course in the sun, but there was a stiff breeze at the summit to cool me off, and once i dropped over to the West side of the ridge, I was in the shade again.  Lots of style points are to be had for staying on the ridgeline proper, but if all three summits are tagged, it's all good! 

I saw a large patch of snow with shallow suncups adjacent to a network of granite slabs below the ridge between Pyramid Peak and Agassiz, and dropped down to it.  The snow and slabs allowed me to run that section, crossing it in just a few minutes, then I proceeded to slog up the loose slope to the notch below Agassiz.  I tagged the summit and then scrambled down to the sandy slope leading up to Price and ran and power hiked up it, traversing the range in 50 minutes!

More snow below Price also sped up the descent; after carefully scrambling through the crux of the route (exiting the ridge from Price), I was able to hit the trail at Mosquito Pass in 40 minutes, including a stop to refill my handrunner in a snowmelt stream (no filter necessary!).

I had kept a close eye on the splits and knew I could break 5 hours at that point, and so just cruised it in, coasting through the last few miles of very rocky and broken trail from Haypress Meadows on down.  That section is way easier to run up than to run down!

Splits and pictures are on my Strava.