We started at 4:20 am, making quick work down to Purgatory Flats where we ran quietly under a full moon. We crossed the Animas in 57 minutes, then continued our shuffle along the river. We made it to the Needle Creek Register in 2 hours and 14 minutes. As we made our way into the Basin, we encountered daylight and our first people. The climb up to Eolus/N. Eolus felt harder than it should - Nerd Clusters and Oreo Cakesters helped with a boost, along with several dozen marmot sightings. We crossed the Eolus catwalk before making our way up the Eolus face. Route finding proved more challenging than expected but we reached the summit in 5 hours and 45 minutes. After quick work up N. Eolus, we made our way back down to Twin Lakes in 6 hours and 51 minutes. The approach to Sunlight reintroduced fatigue, with loose and slippery gravel. We reached the summit of Sunlight in 7 hours and 58 minutes; we only touched the summit marker, not the summit block. Heading to Windom, we traversed slowly across snowfields on the upper basin, attempting to limit the post-holing in warm snow. We reached Windom in 9 hours and 20 minutes and made our way back to Twin Lakes and back into the Basin. It was quite warm at this point and several dunks in the Needle Creek pools were helpful. We reached the Needle Creek Register in 11:56 feeling the long day on our legs as we puttered along. It wasn't until we reached the Animas that we realized we still had a chance at the FKT, and Flannery decided to push the pace a bit on the climb out from the Animas to test our gumption. Right before reaching the Trailhead, we came across the most beautiful sandy brown bear, who was as startled to see us as we were to see it. It was a lovely omen to end our adventure, colored with much conversation, candy and climbing. Weather held all day and if anything was warmer than we would hope, but we felt lucky to avoid thunderstorms.
Splits: Animas River: :57
Needle Creek Register: 2:14
Twin Lakes 1: 4:43
Eolus: 5:45
N Eolus: 6:12
Twin lakes 2: 6:51
Sunlight: 7:58 (only touched summit marker, not summit block)
Windom: 9:20
Twin Lakes 3: 10:07
Needle Creek Register: 11:56
Purgatory Bridge: 13:18
Trailhead: 14:20:47