My boyfriend dropped me at the TH in Frisco just before 7am and I started running exactly on the hour. The start is always rough, going straight uphill. I did this route last year and I knew that Victoria is only half way there, so I was less intimidated by Peak 1 looming in front of me looking still so far away. It took me around 1:15 to summit Peak 1. I made an attempt to memorize all of my peak summit times but forgot before I even made it to the next one. This was my first time doing it alone (I ran the whole thing by myself, wanted to fall in the unsupported category) and tried to stay on the ridge proper as much as possible. There was one section from Peak 3 to 4 that my route choice wasn't the best, leading me to some high exposure, class 4+ terrain. Peaks 1-5 are always my favorite, and I passed lots of people doing the traverse today as well.
Peak 5 is always so demoralizing. I love rock and crawling up the mountain on all fours, so seeing the tundra ahead of me and just how far it is to Peak 10 is always a bit of a downer. But I knew that I'd be moving faster with more runnable terrain. I took one spill and rolled one ankle, both on the only section of the traverse that was actually on an established trail.
The final scramble up Peak 10 is my favorite. I reached it 4 hours and 32 minutes after I started from the trailhead in Frisco. There was skiing competition going on (???) so I had to dodge lots of people carrying skis and boards on my way down.
I descended mostly off trail, cutting the switchbacks where I saw the road made a turn. Once I got to the chair lifts, I went straight down under the one that went almost all the way to the bottom, the finished opening my stride on the fire road to the finish.
I brought 1150kcal of Spring Energy gels, 1L of electrolytes, and an energy bar. I finished everything except my bar :) I ran out of water at the top of Peak 10, but luckily clouds rolled in and descent didn't take me very long. I took most of the pictures on the first 5 peaks, the ones that always excite me :) The rest was more of a survival mode :)
It was an amazing day outside!