Pfeifferhorn Trip (Well, Almost)

Greg and I went up into Little Cottonwood Canyon in Utah this weekend to go backpacking up to a mountain called the Pfeifferhorn. Round trip, we probably walked about 10 miles, but it was a very steep 10 miles. We had SO much fun! We started in the canyon right below Snowbird Ski Resort and walked around one ridge and then straight up through another one until we reached Red Pine Lake (which was beautiful, as you'll see in the pictures). Then we hiked even further up to Upper Red Pine Lake, which was at the base of this steep and huge mountain we had to climb up, and that is even before we got to the base of the Pfeifferhorn. Once we summited the first huge mountain (which was probably about 1000 feet high from where we camped), we had to walk across this ridge of giant boulders with gigantic cliffs on each side (the ridge was probably only about 10 feet wide so you can imagine how scary it was). Once you make it across the death ridge, the Pfeifferhorn is right in front of you and it is HUGE (to say the least). It looks like it is just straight up, and it is about 1300 feet high from the ridge (which is already super high itself). Long story short, I just couldn't do it. I was just too overwhelmed by the cliffs and looking at the mountain in front of me. I just stopped and told Greg I couldn't handle it and that I was super freaked out. Luckily Greg had already done this trip with his dad last summer, so he was very understanding of how I was feeling (I felt like I was going to die; I am VERY afraid of heights), and we turned around to go back down the first mountain and back to where we had camped. It wasn't a cake walk, let me just say. In total, from the bottom of the canyon where we started to where we climbed and then had to turn around, it was about 4000 feet that we summited (that's in about 5 miles). It was a tough hike (especially with backpacks) but it was DEFINITELY worth it.

One day, I will get to the top of the Pfeifferhorn. That is my goal.

Until then, you can enjoy the pictures we took while on our trip. We took about a million.

It was gorgeous. So green. And the weather was nice and cool.

Our first view of the canyon from up high. You can see the road just barely down at the bottom.

The trail took us right next to this beautiful river. 

Greg thought this picture was kind of dumb because I made him lean on the tree, but I think it's cute!

I'm glad we got this picture of this butterfly. It was huge!

Another view of the other side of the canyon. We were getting pretty high up by this point.

Some pretty flowers on the trail.

There's the road in the canyon. At the bottom of the canyon is the Salt Lake Valley.

We found another spot where the trail took us right next to the river. Gorgeous.

You can barely see us, but we are in this picture!

Since it was such a steep hike, I took quite a few breaks because I was so worn out. Greg pointed out that every time I stopped, I would try to get the subject off of how I was stopping because I was tired and I would say something like, "Look how beautiful those flowers are!" or "Wow, this shade is really nice." In this picture, I saw the rocks in the background and wanted to take a picture (my "reason" for stopping to take a break).

We found some snow on the trail. Who would've thought? It's been like 90 degrees here every day!

Finally! We made it to Red Pine Lake. Didn't I tell you how gorgeous it was? (Notice the gigantic mountain in the background as well. The next morning, we summited that baby)

On our way up to Upper Red Pine Lake.

That is one tough pine tree.

Gorgeous view. You can see part of Red Pine Lake down there.

And that's what we had to climb up to get to the upper lake.

Got our tent all set up!

There were TONS of rocks up there. Greg kept making the comment that "the mountains are falling apart." They really looked like it. (To the left in the background of this picture is where we had to summit the next morning)

Mountains surrounded us while we camped. It was amazing.

The sunset.

The very next morning, this is what we woke up to. And yes, we hiked all the way to the top of it.

The view of the valley from a little ways up the mountain.

About half way up.

Even though this picture is hideous, it's the only one we took at the top of the mountain, so it'll have to do.

Look at how amazing this is!

This is the view of the other side of the mountain. I'm pretty sure you can see Mount Timpanogos in the  background. Utah Valley is just over those mountains (in fact, we could see where Lehi and American Fork were).

This is the view of Mount Pfeifferhorn from the top of the mountain we just summited. It looks nuts, right?

This one isn't my picture, but I found it on the internet so I could show you how intense this thing is. On the left, there's the ridge that you have to walk along (about 10 feet wide) and then you can see just how steep and crazy these cliffs were. You can't see it here, but on the other side of the ridge, there were just as crazy cliffs as the ones shown here. Then, notice how steep the actually Pfeifferhorn is. It's crazy. I couldn't do it this time. But one day I will.

This one shows more of how the ridge looks. The cliffs are crazy too.

Greg found some really pretty flowers while we were up there.

This is a view of the mountain we summited. Steep huh? I had these terrible running shoes on that were SUPER slippery. I blame those shoes for part of the reason for why I didn't get to the top of the Pfeifferhorn.

Another view of the mountain.

I just love this picture. On the left, I was 12 years old. My dad took me backpacking in the High Sierras in California. On the right, I am 20 years old. Now my husband gets to take me on backpacking trips :]

And these were our nasty legs and feet after the trip when we got home. 

Greg and I had a BLAST. We cannot wait until we go on another trip like this. Maybe next time we go up there, I'll be able to summit Mount Pfeifferhorn. Until then, I guess I'm just a little too afraid of heights!