Unroped, of course.

After a family reunion in Santa fe, I found myself with a free day and a rental car. A quick search on mountain project revealed that the knife edge would be the best way to elevate my heart rate for a couple hours.

It was a good choice. It took me about four and a half hours, up from the piedra Lisa trailhead, over to the crest and down chimney canyon. I ran what I could and walked what I couldn't. 10.5mi, 4400 ft of climbing, according to strava.

The ridge itself was great - the rating of "easy fifth" seems about right. I found it a bit easier than the entrance to cocaine gully at Smith; the downclimb sections were comparable to the uberfall.

Giving me a good incentive to keep the pace up were the big clouds ballooning over the ridge. The trail showed signs of recent rains, and after topping out the ridge, the damp and loamy forest made me worry about how much rain customarily falls there. The clouds, though, stayed politely to the east until I was down.
After, the folks at the stone age gym in Albuquerque were extraordinarily gracious about letting me take a shower before my flight.
Rack: guide tennies, 3 liters of water, two cliff bars and an espresso cliff shot.

Soundtrack :

Crash of rhinos - knots
Desaparacedos - read music, speak Spanish
Ted Leo & the Pharmacists - the brutalist bricks
Lady lamb the beekeeper - ripely pine
The national - trouble will find me