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Showing posts with the label traverses

A Mid-Summer Dream

The Lisa Cottonwood Traverse  By Lead Guide Tyson Bradley  Ten minutes after leaving the trailhead we start climbing.  Water-polished granite in a steep-sided gorge requires our full attention. Scanning for hand and footholds with headlamps, our bodies and minds must wake up, although it’s only 4 am! Most big mountain scrambles require a long, boring slog up a trail before the fun begins, but not Lisa Falls. It’s one of the many great attributes that sets  this class 4 scramble route at the top of my Wasatch summer fun list.  It’s also cool and shady here, and we’re wearing extra layers, in spite of a forecast high of 100 in SLC. An hour into the odyssey the friction moves on smooth, white granite gets even more committing. To avoid the beautiful pour-offs along the watercourse, we must climb up and right, away from the creek and stem up a flaring chimney feature. Pulling out of it onto easier ground I traverse back left then up again, catching a glimpse of the strea