I've been thinking about this route for a while now. Bill Briggs' record from '92 looked really attainable and it turned out to be a nail bitter towards the end. I hope more folks get out on this route since it is such a classic, plus great Nolan's training. The day went really well! Water was everywhere, even up at 12,500. This would have been much harder given a dry fall such as last year. Hard parts included dropping off the north side of Harvard and dropping off the south side of Oxford. Otherwise things went smoothly. Did a short bushwack from the Elkhead Pass trail over to the saddle between Iowa and Missouri. I decided to drop down into Missouri Gulch on the standard trail and climb back up to Elkhead Pass rather than descend the east ridge of Missouri. That climb was rough. I would say Bill's effort is more impressive considering technology and gear differences back then. Either way a stout route with stout times!
Splits:
- Start (Pine Creek TH): 0 (6:33am)
- Columbia: 3:30 (10:03am)
- Harvard: 5:03 (11:36am)
- Missouri: 7:49 (2:22pm)
- Belford: 9:13 (3:46pm)
- Oxford: 9:44 (4:17pm)
- Finish (Pine Creek TH): 11:56 (6:29pm)