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PROVO — Climbing a mountain is challenging enough, but a man has taken the challenge of climbing Mt. Timpanogos to a whole new level.
Phil Lowry has reached that mountain’s summit 552 times in 30 years and he now believes he is the first climber to reach the summit in every month of the calendar year after an Easter Sunday climb.
“We booted up our snow shoes and just made it up there, and we made really good time,” Lowry said of the latest climb. “We did it in 3 hours and 25 minutes.”
Since he started in 1988, the Utah National Guardsman has seen his average time to the summit go from roughly 4 hours to below 2 hours in ideal conditions.
Each season, Lowry said, brings its own challenges.
January weather can bring deadly conditions with high winds and extremely cold temperatures at high elevations.
“You just have to hit it just right,” he said.
Lowry actually does not hold the record for the most times reaching the Timpanogos summit.
That title is believed to be held by Ben Woolsey.
Lowry said he has been jokingly called obsessive-compulsive because of his dedication to scaling Mt. Timpanogos.
“I think anybody who climbs mountains has some kind of disorder,” he laughed.
He said the feeling of reaching the summit makes it worth it.
“It’s very tangible, it’s right there — the effort, everything is right in front of you,” Lowry said. “There’s nothing like that feeling.”
