Toby Guillette: Athlete, Adventurer, Social Media Expert

The original plan was to attempt the Williamson/Tyndall route on 6/18 in the Sierra. This 32-mile day would involve about 20 hours of effort from 6200’ to the 14000’, back to 12,000 and then to 14000’ again before returning to 6200’. There were 4 of us training up and planning for this huge day which requires being totally dialed on every level to even attempt. Of course any plan is subject to change, especially when weather conditions and life in general factor in.

The approach
Williamson
Tyndall

To simulate for this extreme altitude, Josh (from the Mt. Whitney trip) and I headed to El Cajon Mountain out in Poway off the 67, one of the hardest trails in SD I can get to in 20 minutes. It’s also home of the Gut Check Fitness King of the Hill: El Cap trail race on October, 22. So I’ve been out there a couple times for recon and the 11-mile trail with 3600’ gain and loss feels like uphill both ways. If you go check this place out, bring a couple liters of water with you.


Next up, Jess (from the Grand Canyon R2R2R run), Josh and I attempted the Cactus-to-Clouds trail on San Jacinto.


After cramps and nausea I pulled the plug at 10.5 miles and 8500’ gain, opting not to complete the 22-mile route with 10,400 gain. This was a good wake up call for me because the rapid elevation changes are what we would see in the Sierra. I began questioning my preparations and adjusting my training plan.



The next weekend I formed a team with my buddies Airey and Nick to tackle the Equinox Adventures Mt. Laguna Adventure Race as a training day. We had an absolute blast on the mountain bikes, trekking of trail and orienteering for 5 hours through the fun and challenging course.


The next weekend I returned to the 28th Annual Bay 2 Bay Regatta, but this year entered in the 5-mile sit inside kayak division. Only having trained in a boat twice and watched a couple instruction DVDs, I went for it. I paddled as strong and efficiently as possible to a first-place finish!


That very same day, after a 2-hour nap in the middle of the day, I drove out to Cuyamaca State Park at midnight and helped pace my friend Rebecca for the final 28 miles of the San Diego 100 Mile Endurance Run, logging a solid 9 hours on my feet.


The week of the big climb finally arrived and our plans for the Sierra fell apart from there being too much snow on the route -- far from ideal conditions for a car-to-car attempt. Having the vacation day already scheduled, I ran an idea by Burt who said, let’s go for it.


Mt. Charleston sits at 11,918’ in Spring Mountains National Recreation Area to the west of Las Vegas and can be easily seen from the Vegas strip when there’s snow on the peak. After a little research we drove out to Lake Mead on Thursday.


Friday we hit up REI in Henderson and picked up a map and chatted with a couple folks at the store who knew the area. With the beta they provided we scouted a 20-mile loop that would let us see a huge chunk of what Spring Mountains National Recreation Area has to offer, if conditions permitted.


Saturday we drove out and parked at Trail Canyon (7,600’) and began the 8.5-mile ascent. The day was beautiful; sunny, blue sky and temps were ideal.


We jammed up the well-maintained trail and finally hit snow on the North Loop Trail at 10,000’. After negotiating a few sketchy traverses, the route opened up to a 1000’ snow ascent to the peak.


It was fun playing in the snow! I used Kahtoolah Microspikes, which worked great for traction and kicking steps in the late spring/early summer snow conditions.


I took a ton of GoPro HD footage during the day that Alicia is going to help edit into another video soon so stayed tuned for that.


On the summit we saw some folks ascending the South Loop trail which looked clear of snow. We waited until they topped out and confirmed snow conditions were clearer than the way we came up.


So we began our descent with 6 miles of rolling alpine meadows and bristle cone pine trees above 10,000’ before a 3000’ snow-patched descent into town. The last mile we walked through town stoked on our day and the beautiful loop we put together. What a great trip!



Burt was an awesome climbing partner and we want to go back in August when the route is clear of snow to do the loop again but add Mummy and Griffith Peaks:



I'm signing off through the July 4th weekend. I wish you all a happy and healthy start to your summer!

~T