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| Hike & Climb | 29.00 Miles |
10,741 AEG |
| | Hike & Climb | 29.00 Miles | 17 Hrs 10 Mns | | 1.82 mph |
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| 10,741 ft AEG | 1 Hour 15 Mns Break | | |
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| partners | | Saturday night 10pm, we meet at I-17 and Happy Valley Road and leave Phoenix.
Mission is to Summit Brahma Temple and return within 24 hours.
1:12am we arrive at the Park and start hiking from the axillary lot near South Kaibab trailhead. Weather is nice as we descend via headlamps and moonlight. We pass by Bright Angel Campground at 3:33am and several people are getting up and ready to exit.
We pass Phantom and see more people getting ready to depart. Up Clear Creek Trail we go and within a half hour no more headlamps required. It's before 5am and we are well on our way. Then up Sumner wash and the crack in the Redwall. It is a beautiful morning and we are all in good spirits.
We head along the familiar path from our trip just over a month ago. It was on Mothers Day that we were last here and encountered snow and freezing temps. Today is Fathers Day and it is warm and toasty. The climbs along the way to the base of Zoroaster go well. Then the final class 4 climb comes. The moment of truth. This is the one we struggled with for 3 hours last time and couldn't get up. Was it us or was it the weather that put the kibosh on our success getting up last time? Dave goes first and in 1.6 seconds is up the wall and standing on top. Wait did that really happen? Yep! Then Joe contemplates the climb for a bit and cautiously checks things out. He allows me to go and I make it up without trouble. Then with some assistance of a second rope Joe gets to the top of the wall that stopped us in our tracks last time.
From here to the summit is relatively easy. As we pass the Zoroaster/Brahma Saddle we pass a 5 gallon water cache. Someone dropped it here on January 2, 2014 via helicopter. (Haley I thought I said to have the chopper pilot put it on Isis) We continue on and skirt the south/western side of Brahma. Then we find our route up and start our ascent. It's a nice climb with amazing views. After due diligence we reach the summit. Yes sweet summit success! Wow the weather is perfect and the 360 degree views are outstanding. We hunt for a register excited to sign in and see who has been here before us. Wait where is the register? Could it be there isn't one? Sure enough no register so we put up a makeshift one with a Gatorade bottle and a Juan Jaime's pen.
After considerable time spent enjoying the summit it was time to reverse our tracks. Down we went. At the sketchy wall I down climbed and Dave and Joe chose to rappel. Once in Sumner Wash the sun was starting to bake. We hoofed it quickly to Phantom Ranch where we enjoyed some lemonades and a quick splash in Bright Angle Creek. South Kaibab Trail was our way out and well before dark we were back where we started. On the way home we grabbed a quick bite in Flagstaff.
Just before 10pm I dropped the boys off at their cars on Happy Valley Road and I-17. We had done it. We left Phoenix just under 24 hours ago, we made it to the Canyon, summited Brahma and returned unscathed. Boom! |
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