Mt. Wire, Spandex on Fire

I didn't know about this run until Michael at Wasatch Runner suggested this as a good run even in the cold of winter. I enlisted the help of my favorite pilot & now just spandex wearing(sans shorts) friend Tom to make the summit with me.  The trail & accompanying views were so spectacular I headed back the next day to make another summit.  Another reason I love being back in the Wasatch Mountains.

The trail did prove rather slippy with the snowpack & lack of sunlight.  Here we are at the ridge, at about 6,600' with another 500' to go.   We looked happy until we realized the last bit was quite steep. 

Tom, I'm proud of you for rocking straight spandex, quite the view from the dairy air.

The next day the sun came out & so did the inversion.  You could cut that crappy air with a knife.

On the summit you find a few random things.  A marker, a now unused airport beacon, & two microwave repeaters facing each other.  The boards were once used to beam microwave radio signals over the mountains, now they look like poorly positioned drive-in theatre screens.  At least place them far enough apart so you can park some cars between those things right?

Tom eyes wide unopened at the top.

30 second timer equals great full body shot of some serious spandex.  Don't act like you're not impressed, I'm just gonna walk this situation off...

The aforementioned microwave repeaters. 

Apparently 70% of the smog in the Salt Lake Valley can be attributed to automobiles.  

Looking confused or amused, I can't recall which emotion it was.

The interesting thing about Mt. Wire is that you can spot the summit from the trailhead, it is roughly where the period is after "end here" some 2,000 plus feet above.  The Empire State Building is only 1,454' high to give you an idea of how much of a climb it is.  Maybe we should have just run up a few flights of stairs instead.