Seven Summits FKT — Mixed Gender Team Unsupported
Barrett Kaasa, AJ Kaufman, Marie VanZandt
Using Patrick’s updated shorter course as a guide, we opted for a counterclockwise loop, starting at Lily Lake. It was a beautiful day!
Barrett was looking for a big day, with a strict “no running” criteria coming off an injury. AJ despises trails and has spent tons of time route finding in Desolation. I was down to hang on for the ride. The Seven Summits seemed to be the answer.
The journey started just after 4 a.m., picking our way up to Tallac and then skirting Gilmore Lake. We then popped off the well-established trails to summit Dicks and Jacks by 8:40 a.m. We dropped down to Mosquito Pass and took the slabs up toward Mount Price, Mount Agassiz, and finally topped out at Pyramid Peak around 12:30 p.m.
With the majority of what we thought was the work done, we imagined a 12-hour finish easily in our future. Slower going down Pyramid and then scrambling up to the Ralston Trail in the heat of the afternoon gave us a reality check. AJ pulled out watermelon for a Ralston celebration and 5th lunch. It was a final charge to get back to the car down through Tamarack “Trail.”
We finished the day in 13 hours, 38 minutes.
We found plenty of water on the route and took several breaks to scarf snacks and keep the machines fueled. It should be easy to grab some adventurous friends and slice some more time off this mixed-sex effort in the future.