Mescalito! It's hard to say without an exclamation. What a beautiful peak perched back in Pine Creek Canyon. This effort came after many days spent climbing and scrambling around trying to find the most efficient way to the top. The direct walk-off/rappel has a work-around variation that keeps it within the scramblers domain. Once I had the route dialed I decided to give it a speed effort.
Being January, temps have been fairly cool, so I waited til mid-morning to go for it, hoping it would warm up a bit, which it did. I had a long sleeve thin running shirt on, shorts, knee high socks to mitigate the scrub oak damage, Hoka Speedgoat 4's, hat, shades, Naked belt with 500ml water and 1 Cold Brew Coffee Gu gel. I took off down the trail feeling very light. The run into the canyon went smooth, I stayed at a comfortable pace, hoping to save myself for the steep slabs. I made it to the base of the scramble in 25 minutes, which gave me hope that a 45 minute ascent was possible. A minor route finding blunder on the way up and a couple of moments lost in the grandeur didn't allow a summit until I was 52:42 into the effort. I still felt good and ate the gel as I walked off the peak. I drank most of the water as I made my way down the slabs and dropped back into the south fork of Pine Creek. Running down the wash was a blast and I made good time all the way out. I could clean up a couple sections to make it faster, but its possible to lose time other places on any given effort, so all in all, I think this one went pretty smoothly.