I love this route so much. It's so brutal, beautiful and challenging to attempt at a fast speed. I was happy with my 2020 effort but there was so much room for improvement and I knew if I could make small changes and better choices over the 100 miles I could take hours of my time. I began at 2:25am from the Glacier TH and made my way up towards Downs Mountain. I hit the summit at 7:55am about 30 minutes ahead of my 2020 split. The rest of the day I moved pretty efficiently over the glaciers, Blourock Pass, and Knifepoint. Had some rain and snow hit around dusk as well as an exhausting swirling wind that didn't let up until dawn the next day. It was pretty chilly as well and I layered up with everything I brought. Night time travel was a bit slower than I wanted and I lost some time on Europe Peak (although I tagged the summit on this go round). I hit Photo Pass right before 7am and had a great second day moving southward. I went over Texas Pass rather than New York Pass this time to mix it up, although I'm not sure it made any difference time wise. I was out of the Cirque of the Towers by 5:30pm and made it all the way to the basin below Wind River Peak by sunset. The gully was just as terrible as I remember and I could not for the life of me move fast on that climb and my respiratory system was very inflamed. I summited Wind River Peak at 11:20pm, roughly 46 hours into the effort and over six hours ahead of my 2020 split. Unfortunately I had some serious navigation issues coming down the peak and had to make corrections over and over again. Unlike in 2020, I was doing this during the new moon phase rather than a full moon (or any moonlight at all) and it really screwed with my ability to set visual bearings. I made it to the Ice Lakes trail and was finally able to run again the final 7 miles to Bruce's TH in Sinks. I tapped the TH kiosk at 7:58am 53 hours 34 minutes and 20 seconds after starting and taking down my previous time by 6 hours and 5 minutes.
Some things to note: I did not sleep during this effort although I did a 9 minute yoga session with my eyes shut during the second day which seemed to reset my headspace. I used a Black Diamond 15L Distance pack which was a perfect size and could pack down as I ate through my food. I brought micro spikes but did not need to use them. Certainly would have saved weight there. I brought gloves, headband, a rain jacket, light down jacket, and rain pants which doubled as wind pants at night as I tend to run pretty cold. I carried bear spray. I used two soft flasks for fluids- one with a filter for water and the other to mix and hold electrolytes. Other than that the majority of the weight in my pack was food which was an equal mix of gels, chews and real food like chips/pasta/cheese/salami.