FKT: Henry Pratt - Castle Point (NY) - 2024-03-15

I hadn't been up in Awosting Reserve for a while, and wanted to scout a few things out in the area, so thought I'd give this FKT a good shot on the way up. I'd say it's either the hardest or second hardest ascent in the Gunks (52 to Sam's Point is also a doozy). Nice spring day for it. I worked pretty hard--like, 5k-level-I-think-I'm-going-to-die-when-will-this-be-over hard, which is not my favorite, but no way I could have pulled it off otherwise. The route I took is the variant that Matthew Matta used on the previous FKT, with the final rock scramble rather than going around the Castle Point carriage road. When I hit the carriage road and turned right before the scramble, I looked at my watch and had less than two minutes left to get the FKT. Made it by 11 seconds--man, that was close. I stood on Castle Point admiring the view, feeling sorry for myself but happy I still have some degree of wheels at age 50. Then I went and ran around up there for another couple of hours. Mad props to Matthew, Aimee, and anybody else who tries this one out.