Meet the patient we climbed for on Timpanogos!

After sickness prevented me from climbing this route in 2022 and avalanche danger stopped us again in February 2024, I wasn’t gonna let my partner bailing on me stop me from finally climbing this mountain. The traditional route up Timpanogos is a 14 mile pretty moderate trail that is extremely popular in the summer. The everest ridge on the other hand is an alpine route up the front of the mountain that a team of Utahns used to train for Mount Everest in 1992. The elevation gain was almost 7000 feet over the course of 5 miles as opposed to the ~2000 feet on the normal Timpanogos route.

My original plan was to do the climb in a single push, starting around 2:00 am but I didn’t own a car so I caught a ride down after class but needed to take public transportation back up the next day. I started up the Dry Canyon trail in the late afternoon up the the Big Baldy saddle. My pack was heavy and the sun was brutal but the trail was more or less a muddy creek and the irony of the name “Dry Canyon” was not lost on me

Looking back on Utah Valley midway up the trail

My fully loaded pack with tent, sleeping bag/pad, ice axe, crampons, food, camping stove, and winter gear

The last half mile felt much more “alpine” as it was covered in snow and was steeper and more difficult. Getting to the saddle was a relief because I could drop almost all of my weight and set up my “camp”. After setting up my tent and drinking some pine needle tea, I decided to hike up a smaller subpeak called Big Baldy which would only add a mile or two. From the summit of Big Baldy, I got an amazing view of my route on Timp and could barely make out the hut on the summit

My “campsite”

Enjoying some pine needle tea in the snow(I forgot tea bags)

The summit of Big Baldy

Looking down at the valley from the Big Baldy Summit

I had a great view of my route(marked in red) as well as the summit(circled). I could plan out how I was gonna navigate the crux and could more easily visualize where I was going

I had gotten to the saddle much faster than I thought and had a lot of time to kill so after dinner I read a book and watched the sunset. even though I was alone, I was so glad I was sitting on the side of a mountain in the snow instead of hanging around campus or studying in my dorm room. I was so excited for the next day and couldn’t wait to start up the route. At this point, all I could do was wait and watch the sunset

After a rough night sleep, I woke up 3 minutes before my 2:15 alarm and immediately started packing up my gear and cooking breakfast. My plan was to stash all my camping gear behind a tree and grab it on the way down which meant the only thing in my pack would be extra layers, snacks, and some water. After strapping on my crampons, I was very happy to feel the crunchy snow which would be perfect for kicking in steps, but firm enough to hold my weight. I could see at least 3 other headlamps already on the ridge, so I knew routefinding would be very easy for the first little bit.

The traditional route up the Everest ridge avoids the high avalanche risk gully and only briefly traverses it but since the snow was hard and had such a low chance of avalanching, I decided to cut some time by doing switchbacks straight up and get on the ridge as soon as I could. My inner competitiveness forced me to go quickly up this gully so I could try and catch the groups ahead of me. I caught the first group around the first of a couple “steps'“ which were basically just small exposed cliffs that one could either climb or traverse around. I, being much more comfortable on rock, decided to climb up the rock whenever I could. The routefinding was extremely easy but it was just really steep snow with the average angle of the ridge being 53 degrees so the pace was slow and I was freezing, even though I was generating a lot of body heat going up the mountain.

Looking down at my route about halfway up the ridge

The valley is always bright, even at 3:30 am when this photo was taken

This is what the steeper parts of the route looked like where a fall was unlikely but high consequence

The rest of the ridge and my route in full view. You can see the crux of the route which is a rock band just below the highest point in the picture

After chatting with the second party on the ridge which just turned out to be one guy, I had to just follow the ridge and routefind without any footprints which was again easy just very tiring. I thought that the other two groups were gaining on me so I again let my competitiveness take over and made the mistake of just pushing through and not stopping for breaks and water. I got to the crux around 5:00 or 5:20 and found myself extremely confused. It was still pretty dark and the only thing I could see was the 15 foot bubble of light that my headlamp shone on and from that small bubble, I had no idea where to go. The crux can be climbed by either going straight up some rock for about 60 feet, where the climbing is described as easy but very exposed. The other option is a traverse about 100 feet on steep snow which is again exposed but avoids any actual technical rock climbing. I was planning on climbing the crux directly but from what I could see, the rock around me was steep, vertical, and crumbly. It was nothing like the description and looked heinous. I decided to do a bit of the traverse and see what I could find. I ended up finding what looked like an easier(but still vertical) section of rock which I decided to climb up and check out. Using my ice axe and crampons to bite into small edges on the rock, I slowly worked my way up, zigzagging back and forth trying to find the best route. It was a relief to finally pull myself onto the snow where I could just kick in steps and feel much more secure. I had passes the crux and now, all I had to do was traverse the top of the mountain to the summit.

The sun was starting to rise right as I crested the summit ridge

Even though the distance from the top of the Everest ridge to the summit is less than half a mile, it felt like so much more. During most of the traverse, I was just facing the snow, kicking steps into the snow and using my ice axe to stabilize myself so I wouldn’t fall down the mountain. I wasn’t sure why, but my stomach was starting to really hurt but there really wasn’t anywhere to stop and my calves were burning. I had to stay pretty low on the ridge to avoid cornices, which is an overhanging crest of snow blown up by the wind. From the opposite side, it just looks like solid snow with rock underneath but if you step on it, then it has a high chance of collapsing with you on top of it.

Finally, I reached the summit only to find the hut covered in multiple feet of snow and barely enough room to lie on my back and wiggle into. I tried to drink some water and eat some food, but my stomach just wouldn’t have any of it. I couldn't stand the aftertaste of the water from the camelback so I just stayed dehydrated. I stayed on the summit for maybe 15 minutes, taking a couple pictures and trying to force down some food. I just wanted to get off this mountain. It felt strange, I had spent so much time and energy to get up here and barely spent any time on the top. I couldn’t really complain though, I was seeing some of the best views of my life right as the sun was rising. And I had the entire summit completely to myself

The C4KC goat on the summit hut

A nasty cornice on the summit with an amazing view in the distance

The summit ridge looked incredible.

On the summit with Joe’s picture. I was starting to hurt pretty bad and did not do a good job of disguising it

I started down the mountain and immediately got off route. I didn’t want to go down the way I went up so I tried a couple different ways and after all of them looked worse than before, I finally found a very steep face of snow to try and get down. After this, the descent was a slog, with a mix of glissading and just walking down. I passed 3 other groups on the mountain which surprised me because none of them were the same people I had passed on my way up. I got down the saddle, rested and talked to some guys that had ran up from the same trailhead as me. they were gonna get to the top of big badly and then run down. I started down the trailhead, my stomach absolutely killing me and the water still tasting awful. Even after I got down, I had walk an additional 2 miles to a bus stop, take the bus to the train station and then take that back to campus. I was so done and badly needed to sit down but right as I got to the bus station, one of the guy I met on the mountain offered to give me a ride to the train station and at this moment stranger danger was the last thing I was thinking of. The climb was incredible and despite feeling pretty bad the entire way down, I felt an amazing sense of accomplishment.

The video of my route from Big Baldy saddle to the summit from Strava

Looking down the way I came up, now in full light