FKT: Noah Williams - Mount Hope A (CO) - 2021-10-23

1:06:10 up, 1:42:17 RT. Decided to try this one pretty last minute. I figured FKT season was pretty much over for Sawatch mountains, but these south facing slopes have melted over the last week. So I realized I needed to make hey while the sun was shining. Noticing Joe DeMoore's 1:45, I figured I'd give it a shot. I know the Sheep Gulch side of Hope Pass very well, but had never done the east ridge of Hope. The best thing about this route is that it never lets up from trailhead to summit; a pure climber/descender route without much technicality. The 40-min warmup helped lessen that brutal punch in the first mile going up Sheep Gulch. It's always a treat to get off the mountain just before a squall comes in.