Met up with Homie and Aron after work at the Gregory TH. My plan was to put in a solid effort, but with the new snow that I knew would be mostly slush down low and who knows up high, I was not too committed to any aspirations of a fast time, just a solid workout. I started off up the Gregory Canyon Trail with John and Aron for the first few minutes, then upped the tempo a bit after the first bridge (this involved having to elbow Aron out of the way, as he was deliberately blocking ;)).
Conditions were very muddy, slushy and overall wet through Gregory. Once the trail leveled for a bit, there was plenty of packed snow, but it was wet and easy to sink in and slip, but nothing too terrible. I made the Ranger Cabin in a not too pressed 17:20. From the Ranger Hut, conditions improved somewhat and I just ran a steady tempo, going on the high side of moderate but never really digging deep and felt comfortable. I pushed a bit harder over the last 6 or so minutes, hoping to sneak in under 40. There were still some slushy/slippy areas that slowed things a little, but overall conditions were quite reasonable compared to the previous day. I left the Microspikes behind, as I figured they would just be balling up on such a warm day and I think it was the best decision for the conditions.
I made the 4-way in 35:59, then the summit in 39:38, where I made a u-turn and headed back to meet John and Aron just below the switchbacks on the ridge. I hiked back up with them and we all ran back down together at a cautious/converstional pace (down in 30). With temps in the high 50's it felt as though Spring has returned (temporarily at least).
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