South to north. Unsupported (alone, carrying all water and nutrition from the start, no tram station refill). Forest service is closing the crest for 2 years to do brush clearing and renovations, so it seemed like fate that i had to try.
Peter Yeo set some unforgiving splits and chasing them took a lot of faith—that each climb would end, that i made the correct turns, that my watch distance was accurate-ish.
Beautiful day: cool, sunny, and breezy. The few annoyances were treacherous mud and snow patches, some deadfalls i had to skirt or climb over, and a lot of grasping scrub oak on the final descent. I had one bad fall near the pino junction (straight onto my already-hurt shoulder, just my luck) but adrenalin is a hell of a drug.
Huge thanks to Madeline Fresonke for picking me up at the end.
This was hard (for me), but for anyone who wants to try in the future, I do think there's a some time on the table, particularly in
- the middle section where i fell
- the tram to crest parking lot section, which was the most muddy/icy
- a few miles of the final descent, if scrub oak is ever cleared
Come and take it!