Bald Mountain Hike

This was my first hike. I've documented it for posterity, and hoping there will be more. It took place during a company outing to Park City, UT on October 1st, 2016. Here's the overall route:

The full route starting at St. Regis on the left, ending at Stein-Erickson.

We started up the mountain behind the lodge I was staying in (the company had two; St Regis, and Stein-Erickson). We took switchbacks up the side for about an hour to get to the top. That was fun, though my heart was really pumping. The starting elevation was about 7400 ft., so there wasn’t as much oxygen as I was used to. At the top, most of us decided to go further. One of the guides took about a fourth of the group down, and the rest of us went around, and eventually ended up at Stein-Erickson. 

That's when the real hike began. Nichols, an Australian co-worker asked where a particular service road went. When the guide said it went up to the top of the next mountain, we had already decided to keep pushing. This time, there were only six of us, plus the last guide; a stocky dark-skinned guy with short slightly graying hair, and a white polo. The hikers included Nichols, Wesley, Westin, Jared (one of the Linux guys on my team), and Nicolette, our compliance attorney. We started up the road which became very steep, very fast. It took us through the woods until we came to a clearing; it turned out to be a ski slope. At that point, the guide had to get back to meet up with another group. We went straight up the slope until we hit the trail, maybe 150 feet or so. It doesn’t seem like much, but the grade made for a grueling climb. Once we hit the trail, I started to get very tired, and started to lag behind a bit. Nevertheless, I kept pushing. After another 1000 feet more or less, my fingers started to swell, and started getting numb at the tips. That’s when I had to stop and rest. It took maybe 5 or 10 minutes to get rid of the light-headedness and tingling, so we pushed on. The remainder of the climb, up to about the last 500 feet was much of the same; light-head, tingling, swelling fingers, and nausea started to set in. Wesley, one of the traders hung behind the rest of the group; I suspect it was to help keep an eye on me (I was the oldest of the team, and it was showing). We finally found a service road which then turned and led straight to the top. The walking path continued around the back of the mountain.

We decided to head straight up the service road. This was where the hike got really hard. It was so steep I could only go 30-50 feet before I had to stop and rest for three to five minutes. It went on like that for seven or eight cycles, until the grade started to get more even (still ascending, to be sure, just at a much more tolerable angle). I went around, climbed up a short embankment, then the last path to the summit. I was so hot and tired, I could hardly move. I thought when I got to the top that had I known further down what laid ahead, I would have quit, believing I could not do it, but I did. It was the most demanding physical activity I have ever done, and I loved it.

Elevation Profile

Details:

Starting elevation: 7440 ft.

Peak Elevation: 9344 ft.

Distance: 5.94 mi.

Time: 2.5 hours

Weather: Partly cloudy, wind ~ 10 mph, 70 deg F.

From left to right: Brian (joined up at the top), Nicolette, Nichols, Wesley, Jared, Westin, Rich (front row)