Intense. I want you to bag the traverse in a day, but preferably alive. Looking forward to the third, successful posting.

JG

i will fight no more forever traverse

1. Terrain familiarity. I totally agree. Aside from our North Ridge mini-epic, we did really well with the route finding but still all the little two minute- I poke around this corner, you poke around that corner- add up for sure. I knew this would be an issue but I did not think we would get lost on the North ridge. We may have put our guard down a bit trying to hurry and really paid for it.
2. Near soloing. I am not ready to leave the rope behind yet, although I hope to someday. I think that it can be done in a day with a rope. I do not think that it is possible to be uber-fast (sub 10 hours) with a rope. Once we were on route on the North Ridge we climbed the chockstone chimney and the two pitches above in less than 45 minutes without ever simul-climbing. I think that the weight of the rope is more of a burden than the time lost by roping up if you and your partner solid and dialed. That said, if you roped up for every 5.5 or 5.6 move the traverse would take forever. Our plan was to rope up for the 2 pitches coming out of Gunsight, which can be avoided, 4 pitches on the North ridge and the 1 pitch on the Ice Cream Cone. Other than that the rope was away. So 5-7 pitches of roped climbing depending on what you decide to do coming out Gunsight. I think that it can be done in a day that way. Maybe I am delusional.
3.We both trained almost exclusively by trail running and we both felt great. Granted throw the Cloudveil on top of that and I am sure I would be using other adjectives to describe how we felt. We weighed our packs before and they were 16 pounds each including a liter and a half of water. We rarely had that much water with us as water was accessible in many spots. Which I think is another key: knowing exactly where there is and is not water. That would allow you to carry a minimal amount of water. For example we both filled up at the Koven col but we should have just had a drink as there was water almost all the way up Owen, but without knowing where our next water source was we both played it safe and filled up.

I completely agree that the Cathedral Traverse is awesome! It stands as one of the most fun days I have ever had in the mountains. I would recommend doing just the Cathedral in a day over trying to do the Grand Traverse in multiple days. But somehow I have become obsessed with the idea of doing the whole thing in a day. Sufferfest and all.

Thanks for the input. I think 300 and something miles in a day on dirt bike sounds like a sufferfest! Nice work!

Andy

To do the GT in a day, in my opinion, needs a few things to pull it off.
1. Terrain familiarity. You need to do every aspect of it, at least once, before pulling it off. There’s too much route finding to slow you down.
2. Near soloing. If you could solo, and leave the rope behind, you could travel so much faster.
3. A summer of scrambling with 25lbs on your back, then attack the GT with a 20lbs pack.

Lastly, I think for mere mortals, the Cathedral Traverse is great. Man, that Cloudveil traverse is way harder than you’d think, and imagine doing it with tired legs.

Andy