Mesa Quadrathlon

May 18, 2003

Yesterday I had “gone short” at a 5K road race, but today I wanted to “go long.” Once again left with no partners for the weekend and too wimpy to try a big mountain alone, I decided to link some of my favorite scrambles from the South Mesa Trailhead.

Up at 4:40 a.m. due to my senile 14-year-old Labrador, I worked in my office for a bit, read the newspaper, had some breakfast, and found myself at the trailhead before 7 a.m. I jogged up the Mesa Trail to the Big Bluestem and then back south when it intersected the Mesa Trail again before heading cross-country to the Fatiron. This was my third trip up here in the past two months and this time I avoided the Fatironette at the base and started directly up the Fatiron. This is an enjoyable two-piece 1000-foot scramble. The short, overhanging squeeze separating the pieces was a short bit of spice and soon I was on top, less than an hour after leaving the car.

I did the cool downclimb back to the ground and then carefully picked my way down steep ground back to the Mesa Trail. The runners and hikers were now out in droves and I couldn’t blame them. It was a gorgeous day and headed towards eighty degrees. I carried just a 50-ounce Camelback filled with Gatorade and my MP3 player. When I hit the Mesa Trail, I ran north to the North Shanahan Trail and then headed west to the base of the Slab. I climbed this 700-foot face via a fun variation to the right of Syzygy. I traversed along the ridge to the overhanging downclimb.

I picked my north through the woods until I encountered the Fern Canyon Trail where I turned and followed it east until I could head north, cross-country below the Goose Eggs. I continued through the woods until I hit Seal Rock, where I climbed up the East Face South Side. I had just done this route the past Wednesday. This time, after the starting section, I traversed over to the fingercrack that runs up the North Side East Route. It is not necessary to climb this crack, but it is so fun. I imagined I was soloing a 5.10 crack a la Peter Croft.

I tagged the summit and downclimbed the top half back to the shoulder of the rock and then headed down the Homie/Oveson downclimb for the first time. I found this steep, juggy descent quite pleasing. I trotted out the climber’s trail back to the Mesa Trail where I again continued north. I got to the Mallory Cave Trail and headed west on that, but only for a short ways before turning onto the Porch Alley climber’s trail.

I made my way to the base of the very fun Front Porch and ascended the middle of the East Face to the summit. I downclimbed off the backside via the cool descent that makes this scramble a joy. Downclimbing the Northeast Ridge, the normal descent, is a very unpleasant chore.

Now I was faced with the worst chore of the morning: the long, unbroken run back to the car. I descended back to the Mesa Trail and headed south. It was getting hot, but not too bad yet. I still had some Gatorade to drink and I had just finished listening to a cool book on my MP3 player (Da Vinci’s Code). I turned on the tunes and shuffled back to the car.

The roundtrip was just under three and a half hours, probably 12 miles or so, 20 or so pitches of rock scrambling, and just under 5000 feet of climbing. I was home by 10:30 satisfied that I’d earn my spot on the couch for the afternoon.

Location	Split	Elapsed Time
Base of the Fatiron	31:18	0:31:18
Top of the Fatiron	16:04	0:47:22
Base of the Slab	37:29	1:24:51
Top of the Slab	13:18	1:38:09
Base of Seal Rock	16:50	1:54:59
Top of Seal Rock	11:20	2:06:19
Base of the Front Port	30:01	2:36:20
Top of the Front Port	5:58	2:42:16
Finish at South Mesa Trailhead	46:04	3:28:22