The Sextuple Mount Timpanogos

For more than 100 years, Mount Timpanogos (11,749 feet) has been the most popular hiking destination in Utah. Timp towers over the valley floors below by more than 7,000 feet – an impressive sight that draws hikers of all ages to its trails. A single round trip to the summit on the trail covers about 14 miles and climbs about 4,500 feet. (Compare this to about 4,460 feet elevation of climbing down into the Grand Canyon from the South Rim (Bright Angel trail) and back with about the same mileage, you just do the down section first).

When I meet people locally for the first time and they recognize my name, most of the time they ask if I am the guy who ran up and down Timp five consecutive times. I sheepishly admit that I am that person. Ten years ago I accomplished that feat. I am still the only person to accomplish a Quint Timpanogos. Three times since then, I went up with the hopes to do six, but each time I only did two or three and came home vowing that I would never try again to break it. I would tell myself that it is just too stupid and hard. Others have had their eye on this record. In 2013, Jennilyn Eaton attempted to break it, but was turned away by bad weather before her third summit. I’ve wondered if this record would ever be broken.  I was ready to try again.

While it may seem that these repeat trips are pretty insane, they actually have trained me to be very mentally tough, to continue when everything screams at me to stop. This helped me to have the mental toughness to avoid quitting during 100-mile races, to do well in loop format courses, and have the mental toughness for fixed-time races.

How hard is a Sextuple Timp?  It is about 84 miles and 27,000 feet elevation climbing.  It has nearly no flat portions, no dirt roads, lots of technical rocky sections, and reaches above 10,000 feet altitude for 29 miles.  It is harder than running down into the Grand Canyon to the river and back six times.  I believe that it is quite a bit harder than finishing Wasatch 100, even though it has fewer miles.  To add to the difficulty, if you do this self-supported and without pacers as I did, you have an aid station only every 14 miles which can be 4-6 hours apart.  I knew going into this, just how hard this attempt would be. With my tough training this year I felt more ready than ever to try to break this crazy record.  When I was running my Quint Timp ten years ago, a wise observer on the trail commented that it was a record “for the criminally insane.”

A few days earlier I joined Phil Lowry for his 500^th career Timp summit.  It had been a year since I had been on top of the mountain and I had missed the experience.  For me, it was my 81^st career summit.  During the run, I learned that others were attempting some very difficult adventures in the Wasatch Mountains over the next few days and I considered if I should join in and do something very hard.

So, on a whim, with time off work, and with only the dog at home (wife out of town), I decided to fully turn my attention to the mountain.  I made preparations.  My car at the trailhead would be my aid station.  I prepared two coolers, one with drink and one with food.  Food included burritos, chips, candy, cookies, gels, and soup. The best thing I included was some soft greasy bacon. I also brought bedding for the back of the SUV.  I planned for the possibility of needing to sleep some between trips 5 and 6.

I put together a goal sheet to keep me focused on getting this done.  I also planned for the time needed between each trip.  This wouldn’t be a race.  I didn’t care very much about time, the end goal was six trips, not how fast I could do it.

	miles	Goal	Quint 2006
Start 1	0	0:00	0:00
Summit 1	7	2:30	2:34
Finish 1	14	4:20	4:15
Start 2	14	4:40	4:33
Summit 2	21	7:30	7:30
Finish 2	28	9:30	9:44
Start 3	28	10:00	10:07
Summit 3	35	13:00	13:00
Finish 3	42	15:00	15:12
Start 4	42	15:30	15:27
Summit 4	49	18:30	18:37
Finish 4	56	20:45	20:51
Start 5	56	21:15	21:20
Summit 5	63	24:35	24:41
Finish 5	70	27:00	27:24
Start 6	70	28:00
Summit 6	77	31:30
Finish 6	84	34:30

Trip 1: 4:02 starting at 4:48 p.m.

I started my quest at 4:48 p.m. with no fanfare at the Timpooneke trailhead. It was a hot afternoon but I knew I would quickly run higher into the cooler temperatures.  I’ve run up this trail so many times that I know every turn and most of the rocks.  Phil and I even name rocks along the way.  I love the quote in the movie, “The Count of Monte Cristo” when Edmond tells the priest that he has counted the 72,519 stones in his prison walls.  The priest replied, “But have you named them yet?”

As I reached the large open basin at 10,000 feet, at about 4.7 miles, the wind was stiff and some clouds looked threatening.  But I lucked out and missed the passing storms.  Once past the saddle on the western face of the mountain, the wind was really blowing very hard and I stopped to tighten my hat.  As I made the steep climb to the summit, it blew hard against my back and I felt pretty cold.  I didn’t bring up a jacket for this trip so just dealt with it.  I made it to the top in 2:22, which for me is a comfortable pace. I signed the summit register, took a quick selfie, and then headed down to quickly get out of the wind. On the way down, I started to run into friends who were out for an evening run on the mountain.  I let them known that I would be back up but I kept secret that I was attempting six trips. With all my previous failed attempts for six, I knew failure was likely again this time, and didn’t want to make a promise that I couldn’t keep.

My pace down was good.  If I try to go too fast, I always fall.  At nearly 58 years old, I can no longer tolerate falls. They really batter me, are a shock to my system, and take a long time to heal.  So I know on this pretty technical trail what pace is safe for me. I returned to my car in 4:02.  Six years ago my fastest Timp trip was 1:57 to the top, and a speedy run down for a total trip of 3:10.  I did have a nasty fall during that run down.

I spent 19 minutes at my car, resting, eating, drinking and spilling Coke all over me.  After I cleaned up, I grabbed things I would need for a night trip (lights, jacket and gloves), filled up my bottle, and restuffed my pockets.

Trip 2: 5:06 starting at 9:21 p.m.

My second trip went well. I finally felt warmed up. Dusk arrived and I ran with my green flashlight and a red headlamp to get people’s attention. The green/red light effect looks pretty crazy from a distance. If hikers see you coming at them looking like a traffic light or a Christmas tree, they are more likely to step out of the way.  During one of my trips at night during this adventure, a group coming up actually hid from me as I came toward them. They turned off their lights, went off trail, and watched me pass. I’ve been told before that people actually start thinking my lights belong to an alien because they look so strange and are moving so fast.

Most of the day-hikers exited off the mountain for the night but there were still plenty of trail runners going up and down. It was helpful for my motivation to have friends to see now and then. The wind had calmed down but it was cooler.  Right before the saddle I stopped to put on my jacket, gloves, and hat.  That made things much more comfortable during the push to the summit.

Some people are afraid about the one-mile section between the saddle (city overlook) and the summit.  But if you know the route, it really isn’t very exposed at all.  Heights scare me, but not this section.  On the final 300 feet of climbing you have many choices for routes to the top.  There is a worn route that most people take involving switch-backs.  But you can also go nearly straight up the ridge using rocks as steps.  I usually take the more direct route, but when the wind is howling and in the dark, I prefer to stay pretty far away from the cliff to the left.  Going down, I prefer trotting and jumping down the direct route.

This time, my time to the top was a solid 3:01.  I am happy with a consistent three-hour ascent when doing repeats. The trip down went fine.  Some early hikers started appearing on the trail.

I returned to my car after a 5:06 trip.  My time for doing the double including stops was 9:27, about right on my goal.  It was 2:15 a.m. and all was quiet at the trailhead.  I was feeling great but did have a problem foot.  The rugged rocks take a toll and cause bruised ankles, arches, and can start to develop blisters on the feet.  I took time to clean the foot, put on a new sock, and switch out the shoe.  That would solve my discomfort.  With good foot care, I never developed any blisters during this adventure.  My stop was for 30 minutes this time and I ate very well. I learned that the creamed chicken soup I had in a thermos really hit the spot.

Trip 3: 5:23 starting at 2:45 a.m.

I knew trip 3 would be critical.  If I felt good after this trip, it would be very likely that I would continue to finish all six.  My uphill muscles still felt great, with no soreness.  It felt like I was cruising up the trail very fast, but when running at night, speed can be very deceptive.  For a typical 2:30 ascent, I usually reach the rock slide area (3 miles) at the one-hour mark.  I was surprised that at the one hour mark I was still a half mile away from the slide.  I tried to step up the pace.

People wonder about the night wildlife on the trail.  The only things I look out for are moose and porcupines.  For this adventure I only came upon a moose once and it was off trail crashing through the brush to get away from me.

I reached the top at dawn after a 3:00 ascent. Three!  Only a small handful of runners have accomplished a triple. This was probably the sixth time I had run a triple.  A few hikers I passed were getting clued in that I was doing repeats.  They would usually ask, “going up again?”  I now let them know that this was my third trip and to a few explained that the record was five.  It was funny to hear their stunned reactions.

As I was finishing up my third trip, I was finally feeling pretty exhausted.  I realized that I was only half way through my quest and it all seemed impossible and very daunting. I forced myself to not dwell upon it and reminded myself that I simply feel about the same as I do at the half-way point of tough a 100-mile race.  I could do this.  I also would think about a very tough local runner, Jennilyn Eaton, who a couple days earlier had completed the Millwood 100, a course, not a race, that goes up and down the toughest trails in the Cottonwood Canyons and Millcreek Canyon above Salt Lake City.  She pushed through that tremendously difficult adventure and finished.  I could push through mine too.  No quitting!

I finished trip 3 in 5:23 for a total Triple Timp of 15:20, just eight minutes slower at this point than ten years ago when I was still a young pup of 48.  15:20, and I was only half way!  There were no thoughts of quitting and I knew if I finished the next trip that I would go for it all.  It was now 8:08 a.m.  My stop was for another 30 minutes.  I applied sunscreen, changed into a fresh shirt, and grabbed sun glasses.  My feet felt relatively fine so I didn’t make adjustments.  During the night I traveled with just one water bottle but for the day I grabbed my second handheld bottle.  One bottle was filled with Ensure and provided 500 calories to get to the top.  On the way down I would eat items from my pockets.  During each trip I refilled my bottles from the little stream of snowmelt that you pass by above the basin.

Trip 4: 5:21 starting at 8:37 a.m.

Doing this adventure without using a crew or pacers for company makes this extra challenging, especially mentally.  I’m the only one making decisions and the only one pushing myself on.  It was nice to run into people who knew who I was and introduced themselves.  Now on trip 4, I revealed to anyone who asked, that I would be attempting six.

My 4^th trip was one of my best and easiest trips.  With the daylight I could run faster, was more alert, and I was very pleased with my uphill strength. I could still trot uphill. It was nice to see people now and then.  I reached the top in a solid 2:59.  My last three climbs had been 3:01, 3:00, and 2:59.  That was pleasingly consistent.  The trip down went well except that the last three miles became very hot, into the 80s.  I finished trip 4 in 5:21, for a total Quad Timp of 21:20.  I had now accomplish a quad three times.  The only other person to do a Quad Timp is Dallan Manscill.  Things went so well that I actually thought about the possibility of doing one extra trip for seven.

With less than a half mile to go I came upon a surprising change on the trail.  While I was up on the mountain a large aspen tree fell right across the trail and now was an obstacle to get over.  It made me wonder if anyone saw it fall or at least heard it fall.

But when I got into my hot car, I realized that I was in some trouble. I felt badly overheated.  I blasted the air conditioning and noticed that the outside temperature was 85 degrees.  I was so glad that my coolers included ice.  I drank several cans of cold Gingerale and concentrated on eating, drinking and cooling down.  If things didn’t improve, I wasn’t going to continue.  I soon started to feel better but still dreaded the thought of going back out into the heat.  I convinced myself to just take my time until I felt ready.  I changed out my other shoe and cleaned both feet.  My stop was for a long 1:10.  I was ready to continue.  I didn’t take a light with me, confident that I could finish this trip before dark.

Trip 5: 5:57 starting at 3:18 p.m.

I had indeed recovered well.  Thankfully I was never badly dehydrated, just over-heated.  As I reached the snow banks up on the mountain, I feasted on snow balls and mixed snow in with the fluids in my bottles.  The Ensure slush was heavenly!  It was exactly what I needed at the time.  My strength increased immediately.  One interesting observation during my long hours on the mountain was noticing the melting snow fields. Each time I passed, they were smaller. Some would entirely disappear during my adventure.

As I was climbing I knew that I had passed the 60-mile mark and climbed more than 20,000 feet so far.  I was starting to feel fatigue and I was slowing down.  I kept telling myself that I was on my next to last trip. I was amazed that my legs enjoyed pushing up the trail.  My main concern was for my feet.  That really was the only place I felt pain.  I wore max cushioned shoes (Hokas), but still the sharp rocks would at times hit my feet the wrong ways and hot spots or bruises would develop.

Up in the basin I met a group of hikers that were pretty fascinated in what I was doing, asking several questions.  Unlike other groups, this group truly understood exactly what was happening.  As we parted, a man in the group asked: “How will I know that you make it?”  I told him to just Google for my blog.  Hopefully he reads this.  I appreciated their encouragement.

In the late afternoon, the day hikers had all exited off the mountain and from the saddle to the top, I had the mountain to myself.  I watched something incredible happen.  Without people around, the mountain goats started to appear all over the place. They were a sight to see and I really liked watching them prance up the mountain with speed, getting away from me.

It then started to rain.  The jacket I had with me helped, but after running for more than 25 hours, the weather elements can quickly lower my spirits and raise my concern.  The rain was only soaking for a few minutes but the wind was pretty stiff.  I begged the skies above to improve and they did.  No thunder storms came by and as I neared the summit, the rain stopped.

I reached the top in a slower 3:24 but I felt very pleased.  Five summits were complete and I’ve done this twice now!  It would be downhill and then just one more hill to go in order to reach six.  I could do this.  My trip down felt slow.  My joints were feeling the punishment and a few walking stretches took place more often.

Thoughts of quitting arrived during this trip down. “Tying the record is good enough.”  “You can stop.”  But each time I reminded myself that I came to do six.  I would think again that Jennilyn didn’t quit the Millwood 100 a few days ago.  Quitting wasn’t an option unless something was really going wrong.

I finished trip 5 in a slow 5:57 for 70 miles a total time of 28:27.  I was pretty sleepy and exhausted.  I had not had any good sleep in nearly 40 hours.  As I was coming down on the last trip, rocks started to look like sheep and goats, typical sleep-deprived hallucinations.  I contemplated stopping to sleep for an hour or more, but instead I had driving thoughts to just get this over as quickly as I could.  I decided to forgo any napping attempts. But then I felt a bonk arriving.  I was depleted of calories and needed to take my time eating. Bacon seemed to really help. Things improved and after a 38-minute stop, I was again on the trail for my sixth trip.  I was ready to do one more night trip.

Trip 6: 6:50 starting at 9:53 p.m.

Initially I felt great.  I wondered if I could do a quick 5-hour round trip.  I wanted to try, so I pushed the pace hard for the first three miles up.  But then, things started to unravel.  My usual altitude/fatigue-induced stomach problem arrived again and I slowed way down.  I did my best to baby the stomach but eventually threw up everything before reaching the basin.  I was glad that I had the foresight and for this trip wore a little camelback filled with extra food and drink. The cold Coke tasted fantastic and the chocolate milk helped a bunch.

After the basin, above 10,000 feet, I really started to feel rotten.  My respiration and heart rate just wouldn’t slow down.  My lungs were sore from all the heavy breathing for hours. After resting for a few minutes, the heart rate was still 130-140.  This was the first trip that I would stop for rests.  I rested for a few minutes after every mile.  I started to have thoughts about turning back.  But I only had 1.5 miles to the top.  I needed to continue but also be very careful.  I slowed my pace to something that could just be maintained without stopping.  But still I did stop occasionally to rest my eyes and catch my breath.  On the final trip from the saddle to the summit, big rain drops started to fall and it became very windy.  That made me angry and I called out for it to stop.  It soon did stop.  I felt dizzy at times as I climbed. I stopped to rest, and I made sure that I took all the safest routes.  I yelled out to myself, “Don’t fall off a cliff!”

Finally the summit hut arrived through the dark.  My trip up was a slow 4:06.  It was my 87^th career Timpanogos summit. Two guys were camped out in the little summit hut sleeping, with their gear all over the place.  With their junk all over, I couldn’t sign the register, but I did take time for what turned out to be blurry final selfie. The blurred picture is probably an appropriate metaphor for what I was feeling at the time.  I did have some feelings of celebration.  I did it!  Six consecutive summits!

Now, it truly was all downhill.  I was so pleased to again be running downhill.  I picked my way carefully, but quickly, down the summit ridge and then started to run again.  With each 1,000 feet down, I would feel much better.  The combination of altitude, fatigue, and age had finally gotten to me on this sixth trip.  With three miles to go, feeling recovered, I turned up the speed looking very much forward to heading home.

With a couple miles to go a girl in a group of hikers asked me a concerned question, “Did you go up alone?”  I smiled, replied “Yes,” and thought to myself, “If she only knew!”

I finished trip 6 in 6:50.  There was no celebration.  I was sleepy and exhausted and quickly drove home. It felt similar to finishing one of my toughest 100-milers.

So, finally after 10 years, the record is broken.  The Sextuple Timpanogos was accomplished in 35:55.  I especially pushed the last two miles hard to come in under 36 hours.

Will anyone ever do seven?  Good luck with that!  I think the record is safe, especially if done solo, self-supported.  But I hope others try because it is an amazing experience just to attempt.  Thirty-six hours on this mountain that I love and respect was an unforgettable experience.  Yes, I love the mountain, but coming down for the sixth time I vowed to never run that trail again.

	miles	Goal	Actual 2016	Quint 2006
Start 1	0	0:00		0:00
Summit 1	7	2:30	2:22	2:34
Finish 1	14	4:20	4:02	4:15
Start 2	14	4:40	4:21	4:33
Summit 2	21	7:30	7:22	7:30
Finish 2	28	9:30	9:27	9:44
Start 3	28	10:00	9:57	10:07
Summit 3	35	13:00	12:57	13:00
Finish 3	42	15:00	15:20	15:12
Start 4	42	15:30	15:59	15:27
Summit 4	49	18:30	18:58	18:37
Finish 4	56	20:45	21:20	20:51
Start 5	56	21:15	22:30	21:20
Summit 5	63	24:35	25:54	24:41
Finish 5	70	27:00	28:27	27:24
Start 6	70	28:00	29:05
Summit 6	77	31:30	33:11
Finish 6	84	34:30	35:55

Postscript

Three days later, Craig Lloyd and Scott Wesemann (my friends) set out together to do as many Timpanogos repeats as they could.  Little did I know that they had planned this adventure months ago and were totally surprised when they both saw me on the trail earlier this week.  Craig had schedule retraints and had to drop out after accomplishing five trips in 26:49.  Scott went on to match the new record of six, and like me just couldn’t go out for a seventh.  He accomplished it in 36:31.

Here is the new Timp repeat list (in order of who did it first):

3- Chris Myers, Davy Crockett (seven times), Dallan Manscill, Phil Lowry, Brent Rutledge, Craig Lloyd, Scott Wesemann (two times), and Taralyn Summers.  (I likely have missed others.  Please let me know if you know others who have accomplished 3.)

4- Davy Crockett (FKT) (three times), Dallan Manscill, Craig Lloyd, and Scott Wesemann

5- Davy Crockett (two times), Craig Lloyd (FKT), and Scott Wesemann

6 – Davy Crockett (FKT), Scott Wesemann

None of us pushed hard for time, we just wanted to get the job done so the fastest times are soft. Will names be added to this list?  I’m betting that quite a few more will be added.  It won’t take ten years, and I think that someone will do 7.