So far I am up to 33 peaks for the year. I set a goal to climb 52 peaks in 2010 and I know I will reach it. This is the most important fitness goal I have this year because it is hard and will require sacrificing a lot of my time to get it done, plus I know it will help keep me in really good shape and keep my legs strong for any races or adventures that I want to participate in.

Because I have a full time job and family responsibilities, finding time to climb a peak every week usually requires me to get up early, like 4:00-4:30 AM. I have never once felt bad about sacrificing my sleep to get into the mountains. Ever! It makes my day every time.

I also have a goal to do at least 52 trail runs this year as well. I can usually do the trail runs at the same time I am climbing a peak, but some peaks are just too steep to run.

Probably the most exciting climb I have done this year was climbing North Timpanogos via the Grunge Couloir. The Grunge is a steep chute that goes right up the back side between the two north summits of Timp. If you ever drive the Alpine Loop check it out. It doesn't really look climbable, and just looking at it makes my heart start to beat. What makes the Grunge really sketchy though is the rotten rock and constant rock fall that bombards the route. Rocks shoot down the slope like missiles and taking on one of these pieces of mountain shrapnel would certainly make for a bad day, if not your last.

I did the climb with Matt Van Horn and Dustin Erickson. We had an incredible climb and almost perfect conditions in the couloir. I wrote up a trip report and it made the cover of summitpost for over a week. You can read that here:
http://www.summitpost.org/trip-report/628827/Gettin-dirty-in-The-Grunge-Couloir.html

Also, to see a video of our climb check out this link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82ZI-oyo6y8