High Places

Over the last few years I’ve climbed nearly 30 individual peaks, many of them multiple times. It doesn’t matter if it’s pushing 100 degrees in the middle of summer or 0 degrees at 2:00 in the morning in the middle of winter. I climb Mountains. It’s just what I do. Some people think it’s crazy other people think it’s a waste of time, but for me it’s become a very rewarding game.

When I was younger, I was horribly afraid of heights. I remember shopping at the Cottonwood Mall with my mom and plastering myself against the wall furthest from the railing of the second floor because I was scared of falling off. As an ironic choice of hobbies, I decided to pursue Mountaineering and Rock Climbing. It doesn’t really make sense as to why I did that, but I did and here I am. Overcoming my fear has become one of the primary motivators for me and so far, I’m winning my little game.

Last night was another chance to gain some elevation and take advantage of the local mountains. It was another chance to play my game with heights. I got off work a little after 5:00 and headed home to change, eat and grab my gear. The plan was to meet my friend Ammon at the Little Cottonwood Canyon Park and Ride and then drive up to Alta to climb the Devil’s Castle.

We met a few minutes before 7:00 and drove up LCC to Alta and the Cecret Lake Trailhead. The sun was already pretty low in the sky and I knew we’d be pushed for time. It took us about 15 minutes to hike to the lake. From there, it’s a steep climb up the lower slopes of Sugarloaf Peak to the ridgeline of the Devil’s Castle. When we made the ridge, the sun was setting and I knew we’d be hiking out in the dark.

We continued moving towards the summit knowing that the more technical stuff was still ahead of us. We made good time crossing the ridge to the Devils castle and began our picking our way up and down the steep points on the ridge towards the summit. We came to a point where the summit was visible and paused to determine if we had enough light to bag the peak and make it back through the technical and exposed sections of the ridge before the light ran out.

We decided that we would continue, but turn around in 8 minutes regardless of how close we were to the summit. We climbed the last few near vertical sections to the summit and signed the summit log. It was an exhilarating feeling to look around and see both sides of the summit drop off hundreds of feet to the valleys below. I thought to myself, “You won another round of the game”. Unfortunately, we couldn’t stay. Light was fading fast and I didn’t feel like crossing the narrow ridge in the dark.

We made it though the last few technical stretches as the last bit of twilight left the sky. We took out our headlamps, and started again down the lower slopes towards the lake in the dark.