Trail Run - Spooner Summit to Snow Valley Peak (12 miles)

Following the morning's exertions on the bike a trail run may not have been the smartest thing to do in the afternoon, but that's what we did. Sienna pulled out due to a nasty fall from her horse leaving Tony and me to do the run.

Looking at the map it seemed like a gradual climb up the Rim Trail to Snow Valley Peak, though we would be going from 7,200ft to 9,200ft. In the event, it felt like running uphill, with various degrees of stepness for 6 miles. It was pretty tough and I had to have more spells of walking than I would have hoped. I'm afraid I slowed us down a little, Tony seeming very fit.

After a while we broke through the trees to get some views of the lake.


After several miles we came upon patches of snow. The first of these were horizontal but we still trod gingerly since it became clear that the snow had a tendency to give way underfoot without notice or cause a sideways slip.

After about 4 miles we came upon Mike, an intern at work who I mentioned the run to. He's a proper cross country runner but despite that told us to look out for the patch of snow he slipped on. We saw it a mile further one, a good 12 inches of slip. Hald a mile later we saw a proper 20ft of slip and realised what he really meant! The patches of snow were quite icy and angled so were easy to slip on. Here's Tony near one such patch...


And here's Tony from near the top of Snow Valley Peak...


We couldn't get right to the top because the snow got a little deep but we were only a few hundred yards short. I don't much like the top much anyway, it's full of radio masts and the like...



Running back was fun. 6 miles but down hill all the way. I used to not like running down hill but now my legs are a bit stronger it feels almost as good as cycling down hill. Ultimately though, I was pretty glad when we reached the car. An excellent run.