I needed a big leg day to continue my prep for Denali, so I decided to do Sugarloaf Peak with a slower group but carry a heavy load. Since I didn’t have any sand on hand, I threw a 50lb bag of water softener salt in an old backpack. That, plus 2 liters of water and snowshoes strapped on, amounted to 73lbs.
I’m almost done with a book called The Comfort Crisis where the author talks about the importance of doing things that extend our limits. Throughout this book, he tells a story about hunting in Alaska that culminates in hauling out 100lb sections of Caribou across no easy terrain. The whole book has been inspiring and helping to put my mind at ease about my next big adventure.
We started from Alta and followed the Devil’s Elbow ski run to the top of the Sugarloaf chairlift.
If you’re not ready to give up winter just yet, it was a gorgeous day to be out in the mountains of Northern Utah. I also love making first tracks in fresh snow!
At 2.3 miles in and 1,500′ up, I dropped the weight to 40lbs for the summit push and the rest of the day.
Mineral Basin, the backside of Snowbird where I just skied 3 days ago. I still need to hit that Unnamed peak East of East AF Twin to complete the Wasatch 11ers.
By now, I was on my trusty Tubbs Flex TRKs since my cool Limited Edition VRTs are still broken.
Sugarloaf Summit
I made it to the top in just over 3.5 hours… not too bad for what I chose to carry. It had to feel good since that’s what I’ll be carrying, and more, 2 weeks from now.
There’s Cecret Lake directly below…
…and Devil’s Castle to the south, another traverse I still need to do.
Here’s a view from the bottom now looking up from Cecret Lake.
Other than a non-eventful stroll down, off-trail through trees where possible, Alta has moved around A LOT of snow at mid-mountain for some reason.
Are they doing this to get a head start on some improvements up here??
It just seems odd, expensive and unnecessary without knowing the reason.
I mean, look at the trench we walked through earlier that day. Why not just let it melt out?
Either way, I’m hoping for a few more days like this before it’s time to finally put away the winter gear.
