By: Dave Smithey

…Then, we started the climb. I am typically a mountain guy and have a strong sense of what it feels like to climb up, but getting out of the canyon is more like climbing out of a hole with very steep walls. It is relentless until the top. Rob was out in front when we started the climb and just kept opening up the gap. Matt and I maintained a nice comfortable steady pace until about 2 miles before the top, when Matt started increasingly leaning on his poles. We kept him fueled and soon enough, we reached the top, roughly 9 hours after we started. Tom met us at the trailhead with Snickers bars, water and a foam roller to work out the kinks before we headed back down…