Mount Timpanogos
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| Mount Timpanogos | |
|---|---|
 The west side of Mount Timpanogos above the smog |
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| Elevation | 11,749 feet (3,582 m) |
| Location | Utah, USA |
| Range | Wasatch Range |
| Coordinates | |
| Topo map | USGS Timpanogos |
| First ascent | Unknown |
Mount Timpanogos is the second highest mountain in Utah's Wasatch Range (second to Mount Nebo). Timpanogos rises to an elevation of 11,749 feet (3,582 m) above sea level. The mountain towers over Utah Valley, including the cities of Provo, Orem, Pleasant Grove, American Fork and others. Timpanogos is a Paiute word for "river of rock" — dominated as it is by large talus cones of limestone and dolomite. The exposed portion of the mountain is entirely comprised of rock from the Pennsylvanian period, and is about 300 million years old. Local residents tend to shorten its name to Timp.
A debate rages over whether the mountain harbors Utah's last glacier. A semipermanent snowfield feeds Emerald Lake; the snowfield is often misnamed a "glacier." In the 1990s, the snowfield melted completely, exposing a crevasse in the talus. The crevasse revealed solid ice beneath the surface. A Washington State University glaciology team analyzed samples of the ice to determine if it was truly glacial, but its results were inconclusive.
From a distance, by using a little imagination, Mount Timpanogos has the profile of a sleeping woman, which a "legend" (actually a fabrication by a BYU professor) says is the young Indian Princess Utahna.
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[edit] Hiking Timpanogos
Mount Timpanogos is one of Utah's most popular hiking destinations. There are two main trails to the top: one starts at Aspen Grove with a trailhead elevation of 6,910 feet (2,106 meters), and the other starts at Timpooneke campground in American Fork Canyon at 7,370 feet (2,185 meters). The Timpooneke trail was recently measured with professional surveying equipment and was found to have a length of 7.38 miles. The Aspen Grove trail has been measured with the same survey equipment to be 7.31 miles long. (Some otherwise reputable guidebooks still assign the trails erroneous distances of 8 and 9 miles. In 2006 the United States Forest Service finally incorporated nearly correct mileages into its trail maps.) A third trail, abandoned but in very good shape (with a piped spring), leaves from the Alpine Loop summit to Horse Flat, and then crosses Robert's Ridge to eventually link up with the Aspen Grove trail at 8500 feet. Hikers on all three trails climb through montane forest, subalpine and alpine zones. The hike is marked by waterfalls, conifers, rocky slopes and ridges, mountain goats, and a small lake, Emerald Lake, at 10,380 feet (3,164 m). A short diversion will lead hikers past a World War II bomber crash site.
Until 1970, there was an annual Provo event called the "Timp Hike" which sent thousands of people up the mountain's slopes. From 1911 to 1970 this one-day event (which took place generally on the third or fourth weekend in July) attracted thousands of people to the mountain. It also created the need for infrastructure, such as the stone shelter built in 1959 near Emerald Lake and a smaller metal shack on the summit (this was used as an observation deck complete with brass rods etched with notches aligned with various landmarks). The hike caused environmental damage to the mountain, and was finally cancelled to help preserve the delicate mountain ecosystem. Despite the presence of the existing structures, the mountain was designated a wilderness area by the U.S. Congress in 1984.
Since 1982 the Timpanogos Emergency Response Team ("TERT") has been established on the mountain on weekends to provide first aid, rescue and communication. Since TERT began its tenure no fatalities have occurred on the mountain, despite a number of hikers' close calls.
Marathon and ultramarathon runners often train on Timpanogos, reaching the summit in a fraction of the time it takes the average hiker. The record to the summit via Timpooneke is 1:15:36, established August 12, 2006 by a member of the Sojourners Running Club. Ben Woolsey, a retired postal worker from Utah County, regularly places a summit register on the mountain. At one time he held the record for lifetime summits. Phil Lowry now holds that record at 361.
The snowfield is one of the major sources of injury or death to hikers on Timp. Of the thousands who hike the mountain every year, hundreds are unprepared for this high-angle alpine environment. Improper clothing, lack of arrest devices, insufficient snow travel skills, and poor judgment contribute to the several life flight rescues required on the mountain every year.
