It was my fourth time around these parts, but only my second summit of Mt. Stone33. In April and May, I lugged skis up and thrashed through the steep trail and brush with them, only finding skinning solace above treeline, but by the time my third attempt came around, it was dry enough to easily find the summit. This time, armed with my prior experience of the area, and my quick friend Jean-Michael, I donned my brand new running vest and hit the ground running.
We're not professional runners by any means, but we're good scramblers and good routefinders, I think we set a respectable time, only stopping about three short times to wait for water to refill from some snow near the top, take some pictures on the summit, and again refill at the lake on the way down.
On the way up, we took a steeper route, which was better than all of my previous attempts, but on the way down took a variation that followed a shelf leading back to the lake, and managed to stay on the correct trail, which blew even our way up out of the water, not a single bush needed to be whacked, and the trail was solid and easy to follow.
Speaking of whacked, we each killed our fair share of thirsty mosquitos and insufferable flies. I ended up with 47 bites, maybe if you're faster you could escape with less. This time of season, maybe the record could be measured by fewest number of bites instead of shortest time. Speaking of season, there is now NO mandatory snow walking, you'd have to go out of your way to find some, yet there's still a patch or two giving off water.
All in all, this was a great day, and it was fun to fit so much climbing in and still get home in time for a late lunch.