When Fitness Saves Your Life
I want to share a story about a time when fitness saved my life. If you are short on time, there is a TL;DR at the bottom!
Lone Peak is one of the tallest peaks in the Salt Lake Valley, and one I have struggled to face my entire life. Lone Peak’s elevation is 11,253 feet. The elevation gain to get to the peak is 5,554 ft. That is over a mile off the ground. It is known for its steep exposure on all sides, a Class 2-3 scramble finish to the top, and breathtaking views across Utah County, the Salt Lake Valley, and the Rocky Mountains to the North, East, and South.
Many of my cousins and brothers hiked this peak growing up. Up until this year, I’ve always said I would never hike it. I have a slight fear of heights and was concerned about the exposure at the top. My aunt had said she hiked it when she was 12. Surely if she could do it at 12 years old, I could do it at 31! So, out of nowhere this Summer, the courage came and I decided if I was ever going to hike this mountain, this would be the year. I was acclimated to the elevation and my fitness was the best it has ever been. I convinced a friend to join me and we made it happen on 9/9/23.
Getting to the top:
The route we chose was supposed to be 16 miles round trip. We made it to the top with minimal issues. The trail was difficult to stay on but we had a map and navigated our way to the summit. It was absolutely incredible. The views were spectacular. We were literally looking down on other mountaintops. My fear of heights was there but we were able to work through it and conquer this beast. My friend was super supportive and gave me an out if I needed to but we made it. I’ve hiked several mountains in my life but this one felt different. I had been so scared of this hike, never thinking I’d ever attempt to make it to the top. It’s hard to describe the feeling of standing there on that peak. I was amazed at the majestic beauty around me and felt a confidence I hadn’t felt in some time. When you accomplish something you thought you would never, ever, ever do, that has a lasting effect on you.
Getting lost:
We made our way down the scramble which went better than I thought. We were on the trail and things were looking great. We got off the trail a bit at some point and then we realized there were some gray clouds coming our way. Shortly after, we saw lightning. We quickly realized we were in a dangerous situation. We were still very high up on this mountain, over 9,000ft high, in open areas, with lightning and a potential storm. Our initial thought was to get to lower ground, so we did. While trying to find the trail, it looked like it was just over to the right of us. We worked to get to lower ground quickly, and gradually make our way to our right but we didn’t seem to get any closer to the trail. In total, we encountered 4 lightning strikes. There was some rain, but thankfully it didn’t pour on us.
We were completely off-trail and many miles away from our starting point. We had to lower ourselves from steep rocks and navigate through thick brush terrain. Every attempt we made to get over toward the trail just led to thick brush and a steep gulley. At one point looking down into the valley, we could see the parking lot but had no visible way to get there. It was discouraging and frustrating, and the anxiety was rising. My phone died by this point as well, fortunately, my friend had been saving hers for the way down. Our little dot on the map wasn’t making any headway to the trail.
After at least 1.25 hours of being off trail, we realized we needed to hike back up if we wanted to get back to the trail. This terrain was steep. I was climbing up rocks on all fours, gripping the rock with my trail running shoes, hoping they wouldn’t slip. The moment I gained any traction I would make a burst up the mountain to get to a safe place to rest. My legs were cut up, it was still sprinkling on and off, and we were exhausted. (We started this hike at 5:10 AM and it was about 5:00 PM at this point.) We climbed 782.8 ft in elevation through thick steep terrain on this mountainside to finally make our way back on the trail (that’s over 2.5 football fields high).
Finally finished:
We still had several miles to hike back down but I’ve never been so relieved to see a trail. I welcomed any and all switchbacks at that point. Overall we were lost for a little over 2 hours with some significant elevation change off trail. By the time we made it back to our cars, it was 10:30 PM. We were on that mountain for 17 hours. It was the hardest thing I have done in my entire life to this point. As we were walking down the mountain I just remember being so thankful for my body. It held up so well. It was strong and fast when I needed it to be. Yes, my legs were tired, but they felt strong.
Realization:
Aside from conquering a fear, one of the coolest things to realize through this experience was that my past training worked. The programming I wrote for myself worked. It did exactly what it was supposed to; build my fitness and capacity. I didn’t spend all year preparing for this hike. I did spend time building my strength, capacity, power, endurance, coordination, and fitness in general. At one point I went as far as to say my fitness saved my life. If I had been unfit, I very well may have needed to be rescued off that mountain but my fitness held true. My body was physically prepared for the task and I felt good all things considered.
There were so many life lessons I learned through this experience, and I’ll take it with me for the rest of my life. I’m grateful for a friend who kept her cool and got us back on the trail while fighting through her own challenges. I’m grateful for cell phone service so we could contact people with updates on our situation. I’m grateful for the crew that started hiking up the mountain and met us with all sorts of supplies and kept us going on the way down. I’m grateful for a healthy and strong body to carry me through those challenges and for the time I invested in training this year preparing myself for things I didn’t know I would have to experience.
We see the effects of deconditioning in older adults, but fitness can impact your life today.
Don’t wait to build it up. One day, it could save your life.
Will I hike Lone Peak again? Probably not, but who knows, I’ve surprised myself once already, maybe round 2 will come again. I do know I’ll continue to build my fitness so that if I want to, I’ll be ready for that, or anything else life throws at me.
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TL;DR
I hiked this super hard mountain called “Lone Peak” with over a mile in elevation gain even though I always said I would never hike it. I overcame my fears, and made it to the top. We got super lost on the way down, and had to hike through thick steep terrain in the midst of lightning and rain. Over 2 hours later and 780 ft of additional elevation gain we found the trail again. From start to finish it was over 17 hours of hiking. I realized through this that the programming I wrote for myself was very effective. My body was prepared and handled this challenge extremely well. Fitness saved my life, it got me off that mountain in good condition. If I had not been training, it would have been a disaster. You never know when you will need fitness in your life, it could be sooner than later. Don’t delay any longer, start building your fitness today.
Written by Dr. Annalee Scott, PT, DPT, CSCS (AKA - Coach Lee)