REPORT: 5th Alpine Lakes Grand Tour – The Final Chapter – Supported FKT – 35:31

Christof Teuscher

On Oct 7, 2023, ML and I went back to the 85mi-ish Alpine Lakes Grand Tour for a supported FKT attempt. In 2019, we had set an unsupported FKT in 35:44 (see REPORT: Alpine Lakes Grand Tour FKT). We figured we could go lighter supported (duh!) and perhaps even go under 30h (lol!). Perhaps not surprisingly, the sub-30 dream went to die quickly because of significant blowdown on some trails, a bee/wasp attack, larches, mountain goats, tired bodies, and 4 year older bodies. There were also rocks. And granite slabs. Nevertheless, we were able to set a new supported FKT in 35:31, a modest 13min faster than our unsupported 2019 FKT. This was most definitely the final chapter on this route. We said this before.

The Alpine Lakes Grand Tour

The Alpine Lakes Grand Tour was initially proposed by Erich Sach as part of the 2014 UltraPedestrian Wilderness Challenge (UPWC). The (tor)tour starts on Snoqualmie Pass, leads through the majestic Alpine Lakes Wilderness, includes a traverse of the Enchantments, and ends after a long slog at the Snow Lakes trailhead just outside of Leavenworth. The route is closer to 85 rather than the advertised 75mi.

The Alpine Lakes Grand Tour is more like 85 instead of 75mi.

Alpine Lakes Grand Tour elevation profile. The further you go, the more challenging the climbs become.

In 2019, we were sure we would NEVER do this again. EVER. We were obviously wrong.

List of successful and unsuccessful attempts

The 2019 trophy.

Some pictures of the 5th — and most definitely last — edition

For a detailed report of the route see the 4th unsupported FKT report. We shall only share some photos with captions of the 5th supported FKT. Enjoy!

5:09am start on Oct 7, 2023, at the Alpental Ski Area parking lot on Snoqualmie pass. What could possibly go wrong?

Amazing fall colors welcome us soon.

A forest.

A cold hot spring past the Goldmyer hot springs.

Christof was attacked by bees or wasps (it was too dark to see what it was). That led to a fierce allergic reaction and swelling on various body parts. The journey continued nevertheless.

Making our way to the Dutch-Miller gap.

Getting to the top of Cathedral Ridge.

Ursina had set up our first “aid station” just before the Paddy-Go-Easy trailhead. She also brought us fresh pizza from Cle Elum. We refuled, reloaded, and got ready for a long and slow night.

See you in the morning!

The night was indeed long and slow. We encountered some significant downfall on some trails. Navigating over or around tree nests takes time and energy.

Ursina was sleeping when we reached our second and last “aid station” at the Eightmile Lake trailhead. There were fresh burgers, beer, and still some pizza leftovers. We quickly ate breakfast and go ready for the big climb up Aasgard pass and the Enchantment traverse.

Colchuck Lake

Let the larch madness begin…

Feeling a little tired.

Still going strong!

Some decent views were enjoyed.

Nothing too special.

Oh hello!

After a seemingly endless descent from the Enchantment core area, we arrived at the finish! We had to run quite a lot to beat our 2019 unsupported time. 2023 finish time: 35:31:15

Post-adventure refueling happened at the Mule & Elk Brewing Co. in Cle Elum.

Thanks

A big thanks to Ursina for the support!

Data and stats