Man, this blog has been neglected lately!
Things have been crazy lately in the having-copious-amounts-of-fun sense of the word. My parents came up for Christmas and we spent the week at a condo in Keystone. Josh and I skied while the 'rents hung out with the dogs, walked around town, went to Breckenridge, etc. Each night we had lavish meals full of wine and great conversations. Seeing as my parents don't ski, they grew a little bored after 4 or 5 days and decided to head back early - which meant Josh, Maddie and I had the digs to ourselves. It was the best of both worlds - lots of family time plus a few days of peace and quiet.
And we skied. We skied lots. I am still pretty bad but getting better, and more importantly, I am loving it. After our first day in Keystone I was seriously about to throw in the towel. Sure I'm not in the best shape I've ever been in, but there were people out there who were 50 pounds overweight and standing on the side of the run smoking for god sakes and I couldn't ski?! By the end of the second day (and our first time night skiing - which was totally kickass) I was doing better and by the end of the third day I was absolutely HOOKED. Now I finally "get" it. And its super fun.
We spend most of our time at A-Basin, which I much prefer to the other places we have been - way quieter, way more lay back, way less crowded, way better snow. What's not to like? Ok, so when it is cold up there it is really cold ... as in -33 windchill on Saturday cold ... but I can deal with that.
The day after my parents left two of our friends from Kansas came in town. We had a great time catching up and hanging out. We went up to A-Basin one day to ski (see previous mention of -33 windchill) and we were going to go back yesterday but the weather wasn't looking too promising. It turns out that they shut down I-70 yesterday evening and those lucky enough to make it home at all spent six hours driving back from the mountains, so I think we made the right choice. Instead of freezing our tails off we spent the day hanging out in Boulder, eating gelato, and trying to stay warm.
Now it's New Year's Eve and our friends have gone home and we are laying low for the night. We are exhausted. Tonight we will grill up some buffalo steaks and drink wine. Tomorrow if the weather holds we are headed back to the Basin. Have I mentioned that I love skiing?
Hope you all (if you are still around!) have a wonderful and prosperous New Year.
[Editor's Note: This post is being written after having imbibed copious amounts of cold medicine - I blame any typos, grammatical errors, etc. on my currently very spacy brain]
I know, I know. I haven't been great about the blogging thing lately. But I have been busy. And there has been a lot to talk about and it all became a little overwhelming.
First and foremost, I passed the bar. Yup, last week I received the joyous phone call that upon reviewing my exam, the good people at the Board of Law Examiners decided that I am indeed qualified to practice law in this state. While I am still not sure that I will ever actually USE said law license, I'm not going to lie, I am pretty freakin' happy to have passed. :)
After having weathered all sorts of "where do we spend the holidays?" drama, our little family decided to head to the mountains for our first Thanksgiving in Colorado. We staye at a friend's little cabin in Park County, took ski lessons and then skied two days at Breck, had Thanksgiving dinner at a bar, and drank copious amounts of microbrew. It was one of the best Thanksgivings ever.
Skiing .... having never done it before, and being a total chicken, I think i did pretty well. I have a harder time letting go than Josh does, and I'm sure I look incredibly nervous, but I can honestly say that its a lot of fun. I will admit that I have only been on the easiest of slopes and am not ready to step up the game much, but I think I will really enjoy it. We have plans (if my current snifflyness allows), to go both days this weekend which I'm super excited about. Every run gets better for me so by the end of Sunday I should be hitting the double black diamonds. Ok ... maybe not ....
Other than that, not much else is new here. We have been climbing in the gym quite a bit and are looking forward to finally getting outside. Climbing is by far my favorite thing I am doing right now - I absolutely LOVE it. If I'm feeling well enough we are going to hit the gym with some friends tonight.
Ok, this cold medicine is making it increasingly difficult to form coherent thoughts, so I am going to sign off. Hope you all had a very happy Thanksgiving!
Wow, I have been especially lax about updating my blog lately, which is really too bad because I have all sorts of updates to give!
He's a total doll!
I have been managing to stay crazy busy, despite my current lack of employment. The job search is practically a full time job of its own. I just got a great contact for a job that I am really excited about. There's also several pending applications that I am waiting to hear back on. Since I only missed passing the bar by one measly point I am appealing my bar results. The good people at barbri say there's about a 50/50 chance that it might actually be succesful, so its definitely worth the try.
Since I have no real commitments at the moment I decided to help out my friend Lisa who runs Las Vegas Lab Rescue by fostering one of their dogs. He is an absolutely adorable little black lab/pointer mix. He got here last weekend and the first day was a breeze. Things have gone downhill from there. Its not that he's bad, not at all. He is a GREAT little guy and if we were in the position to adopt another dog, I think we would maybe be keeping him. The problem is that he is still very much a puppy and has a lot of puppy energy. My apartment has suddenly started to feel very small and cramped! He needs some space to run and play. We've fallen pretty hard for him tho ... how could we not?
I'd love to be able to find him a home locally so that we could continue to see him. I can't wait to see how he blossoms once he gets to stay in one place for a while!
Let's see ... what else? Yesterday I tried my hand (more like, my forearms) at rock climbing. I LOVED it and actually did better than I thought I would do. I have a bit of a fear of heights and my first trip up the wall left me a little shaky, but once I got used to it I was very comfortable up there. Unfortunately my way-under-utilized-this-summer arms tired out pretty quickly, but I will definitely be goign back. And I can't wait to try my hand at real live rock!
Anyway, my still sore forearms are starting to hate this typing thing, so I'm gonna end this post. More updates soon. I promise.
Note: This is a trip report from 9/30/2007 - just getting it up.
Amy and Christian picked us up early (well, technically they picked us up LATE ;)) the Sunday morning and we headed for the mountains. I was so excited that I hardly noticed just how nasty the roads were. I-70 and Fremont Pass were snowy and icy and we saw several accidents en route to Leadville. I don't think any of us thought we would actually make it up the 4wd road to the TH. But with HolySchist's expert off-road driving (and my ability to resist the urge to puke from motion sickness ;)) we easily made it to the TH.
The dogs ready to go.
We finally hit the trail around 9.
Despite the reports of the nasty weather from the previous day we had GORGEOUS weather! The combination of the mountains with the bright blue sky and snow set the stage for the day perfectly.
We were a little ways down the trail past Clohesy Lake when we realized we missed our turn. We backtracked a bit until we found the correct trail. The detour (and the standing around talking about which way we were supposed to go ... and waiting while Christian ran back to the car to grab the forgotten route description) cost us some time, but it also gave us a chance to get some great pictures!
josh in front of mt. huron
The trail we were supposed to take cuts up to the left from Clohesy Lake and then turns right toward the gully and climbs up above treeline. This part was fun and easy (at least going up).
The group on the trail.
Eventually we emerged from the trees and followed the trail up to the base of what we not so lovingly referred to as the "Grassy Knoll of Death" (GKoD). I read in one report that the GKoD rises 1,500 feet in about ¾ of a mile. I'm not sure if that's right or not, all I know is that this sucker was steep and not especially fun. There was no trail going up the slope - you just had to pick your way up. It felt like it took forever!
Christian and Walter on the GKoD
the group on the GKoD
me on the GKoD
When we were almost to the top of the slope we stopped for lunch. We couldn't believe how beautiful the day was! Still not a cloud in the sky.
Mountain Maddie hanging out at our lunch spot
We were finally nearing the end of the GKoD and beginning of the fun part!
josh with Missouri's west ridge in background
The scramble up to the ridge was really fun. This was only the second time (first was on Yale) that I've really gotten to do any scrambling, and I loved it! We finally made it up onto the ridge. Here is jasper9890 checking things out ...
The ridge, for the most part, was pretty easy. There was one part that was a little tricky (14ergirl said it was a class2+/3 move) but we made it down that pretty easily. There were a few places where the trail sort of sloped down and there was some loose dirt. I am certainly not the most sure footed person in the world, and these parts made me a little nervous, but nothing too bad.
After what seemed like FOREVER we finally made the summit. Altho it was windy the weather was still absolutely BEAUTIFUL. Not a single cloud in the sky!
A bunch of summit shots ...
josh and Mountain Maddie ... their 4th 14er summit together
josh and I
Amy and I at the summit
After enjoying the view for another 30 minutes or so we finally started to head down. The trip back down was slow and uneventful. I am still ridiculously slow going downhill and the rest of the group was VERY patient with me, which I am very grateful for (thanks guys!)! The problem was compounded by the fact that I was re-breaking in some boots that I hadn't worn in a while and my toes were killing me with every step down!
After NINE HOURS on the trail (including a few wrong turns, a nice long lunch break, and 30 minutes at the summit) we finally arrived back at the car and cracked open a few beers to celebrate a day well spent! We got off the 4wd road just before dark, stopped in Leadville for pizza (High Mountain Pies in Leadville has the BEST pizza!!!) and made the long drive home.
All in all, this was a great trip. This was only my 5th 14er (4 of which have been done in the last month - have I mentioned that I'm addicted?) and its definitely the one that has stretched me the farthest. I have a bit of a fear of heights and tend to panic when I get sketched out. There was a little while right before the summit that I found myself starting to get nervous and I was able to control that feeling and not let it overtake me and I am very proud of that. I'm used to pushing myself physically - I love how climbing 14ers makes me push myself mentally. I realize that in the grand scheme of things Missouri is NOT a tough mountain ... but it was the toughest I have faced so far.
As a general side note, the route description for this route says it is 5.5 miles. By the end of the day the gps read 8 miles - some of that was our numerous wrong turns - but I do think this route has to be more than 5.5 miles! Regardless, do not be fooled by the relatively short distance - this mountain was tough.
Also, this was our dog's 4th 14er and she did AMAZING. As I posted in the forum, we are still trying to figure out how to best keep her comfortable on the mountain. This time she went without a pack or booties and was still running circles around us at the end. She had no problems with her paws whatsoever. We made sure to give her more water and food on the trail this time, which may have played a role. She must have climbed that mountain three times over ... and still had energy to spare!
We had a GREAT time with our evil twins Amy and Christian (and of course the WalterDog)! Thanks so much guys for a WONDERFUL day!
Bar review course: $2,200
Price to take exam: $700
Extra fee for computer use on exam: $100
Cost of pencils, erasers, and earplugs: $10
Finding out you failed the bar by one point: PRICELESS
276 was the score I needed to pass ye olde Colorado Bar Exam.
275 was the score I got.
The crazy thing is that I'm just not that upset about it. Don't get me wrong, there were tears shed when I saw the pass list and realized my name wasn't on it. Failing anything pretty much sucks, especially for overachiever types such as myself. Oh yeah, I was upset .... but the strange thing is ... once I got over the shock there was a big part of me that felt relieved. It seemed like a strange reaction but when I called Josh to tell him I failed what he said seemed to express what I think a very big part of me was feeling ... "Great, now you don't have to be a lawyer!".
So now I'm not sure what I'm going to do. I'm sure I can pass the damn thing the second time around ... especially since I missed it by such a ridiculously narrow margin. But I need to figure out if that is what I want to do. The magnitude of the feeling of relief was a little bit alarming. I had managed to push my doubts about my chosen line of work out of my mind for quite a while ... and all those doubts suddenly came rushing back when I suddenly realized I had options. Yes, I feel like failing the bar somehow gave me more options.
So now I'm in limbo. I've got to figure out where this relief and these doubts are coming from and I need to figure out whether I want to shift gears or take the test again. Fortunately I have a while to get all of this straight in my head before I need to make any decisions.
Some dog lovin' friends of mine where in town last weekend. We took a trip up to Breck and stayed at a friend's cabin. There were seven of us total and everyone except me was a convert to the RAW doggie diet. Meg had her dogs with her and when dinner time came they asked if Maddie could have a turkey neck. I figured it couldn't hurt and it would give me a chance to see if I could watch her eat without losing my dinner.
It took Maddie about half an hour to get through that first turkey neck. At first she wasn't sure about it and didn't get that she really had to put some power into it to chew that thing into bite size pieces. It was dark out and we were feeding them outside, so I couldn't actually SEE what she was eating. Which was a good thing for me.
The next evening she got turkey neck #2 ... and I got to watch her eat it in broad daylight ...
Thus began our journey into the world of RAW. For the last week and a half Maddie has been on a half kibble/half RAW diet. She gets her super premium organic kibble in the morning and then a hunk of dead animal at night. So far its mostly been various chicken parts - backs, leg quarters, hearts, and gizzards.
And I have become a meat shopping maniac. For someone who went five years without having a bite of meat herself, my freezer is now full of the stuff. Now that I spend a lot more time perusing the meat section of the grocery store I am SHOCKED at what people actually eat. Yuck.
So far, so good. The only real change thus far has been the consistency of her poop, which went from mushy stinky mounds to nice round pellets that hardly stink at all. That's pretty cool.
Quandary Peak (14,265 feet)
Full moon climb
Sept. 26-27, 2007
I had been wanting to do a full moon 14er for a while but didn't know when it would actually happen. When I read on 14ers.com that people were planning on doing Quandary Wednesday night/Thursday morning I was just plain giddy. It sounded like SO much fun. Since I am still looking for a job my schedule is pretty flexible but I didn't think I would be able to talk the fiance into it. Well, to my surprise it didn't take much arm twisting and by 7 p.m. Wednesday night we were headed for the mountains!
Despite the fact that this was our second time at this trailhead, we had a hard time finding it. The turn off the highway is farther from Breck/towards the pass then I remembered it being. We had to turn around a few times in the dark to find it.
Me getting the dog ready - putting on booties and "musher's secret" ..
Full moon climb
Sept. 26-27, 2007
I had been wanting to do a full moon 14er for a while but didn't know when it would actually happen. When I read on 14ers.com that people were planning on doing Quandary Wednesday night/Thursday morning I was just plain giddy. It sounded like SO much fun. Since I am still looking for a job my schedule is pretty flexible but I didn't think I would be able to talk the fiance into it. Well, to my surprise it didn't take much arm twisting and by 7 p.m. Wednesday night we were headed for the mountains!
Despite the fact that this was our second time at this trailhead, we had a hard time finding it. The turn off the highway is farther from Breck/towards the pass then I remembered it being. We had to turn around a few times in the dark to find it.
Me getting the dog ready - putting on booties and "musher's secret" ..
A few shots before leaving:
I
By 10 we were headed up the trail, making good time. We attempted Quandary (had to turn back due to weather) back in October when we were still living at sea level. I was amazed at how much easier the trail was not that I was used to living at 6,000 feet during the week and playing at 10,000 feet on the weekends. The switchbacks passed quickly and we were soon above treeline.
The moon through the trees ...
Despite the chilly temperature it was a gorgeous night. The moon was so bright that headlamps were not needed and we could see the snow covered peaks around us. It was beautiful! We saw maybe 14-15 other people on the mountain that night which was a nice considering how crowded Quandary can be.
We made it up to the ridge and the temperature started to drop. My body was fine but my face was frozen ... and I love the cold! We hit the final steep part going up to the summit from the ridge and it really started to get chilly. There was some snow on top off to the side of the trail.
The wind at the summit was howling and the thermometer literally read zero degrees. We huddled behind the rock shelter for a few minutes and took some pictures. The second I took my gloves off my hands were FROZEN so there was no register signing ... get up and get down was the way to go! After a few minutes on the summit we were joined by a few other folks from 14ers.com who snapped a couple quick pics before heading back down. We followed shortly after.
family summit photo ...
My 4th 14er summit ...
The trip back down was uneventful but slow due to how hesitant I am going downhill. I am working on it though ...
The dog did much better this time than on Yale. In retrospect I think we need to be more careful about making sure she gets more water on these hikes, especially as the temperature drops. We need to be a little better about stopping so she can drink ... its hard to remember to do when its so cold and stopping just makes you colder! She didn't seem to have any problems with the cold, which made me happy. We kept her fleece on the whole time and even at the summit where it was freezing she seemed pretty comfortable. At the summit we covered her in an extra fleece and she found a warm spot out of the wind and curled up for a little while.
Climbing a 14er under a full moon was a pretty cool experience and one I won't forget soon! Number 4 is in the books.
Just for reference, this is what Quandary looks like in daylight (and with a lot more snow) ...
(pic snagged from 14ers.com - NOT my picture)
I
By 10 we were headed up the trail, making good time. We attempted Quandary (had to turn back due to weather) back in October when we were still living at sea level. I was amazed at how much easier the trail was not that I was used to living at 6,000 feet during the week and playing at 10,000 feet on the weekends. The switchbacks passed quickly and we were soon above treeline.
The moon through the trees ...
Despite the chilly temperature it was a gorgeous night. The moon was so bright that headlamps were not needed and we could see the snow covered peaks around us. It was beautiful! We saw maybe 14-15 other people on the mountain that night which was a nice considering how crowded Quandary can be.
We made it up to the ridge and the temperature started to drop. My body was fine but my face was frozen ... and I love the cold! We hit the final steep part going up to the summit from the ridge and it really started to get chilly. There was some snow on top off to the side of the trail.
The wind at the summit was howling and the thermometer literally read zero degrees. We huddled behind the rock shelter for a few minutes and took some pictures. The second I took my gloves off my hands were FROZEN so there was no register signing ... get up and get down was the way to go! After a few minutes on the summit we were joined by a few other folks from 14ers.com who snapped a couple quick pics before heading back down. We followed shortly after.
family summit photo ...
My 4th 14er summit ...
The trip back down was uneventful but slow due to how hesitant I am going downhill. I am working on it though ...
The dog did much better this time than on Yale. In retrospect I think we need to be more careful about making sure she gets more water on these hikes, especially as the temperature drops. We need to be a little better about stopping so she can drink ... its hard to remember to do when its so cold and stopping just makes you colder! She didn't seem to have any problems with the cold, which made me happy. We kept her fleece on the whole time and even at the summit where it was freezing she seemed pretty comfortable. At the summit we covered her in an extra fleece and she found a warm spot out of the wind and curled up for a little while.
Climbing a 14er under a full moon was a pretty cool experience and one I won't forget soon! Number 4 is in the books.
Just for reference, this is what Quandary looks like in daylight (and with a lot more snow) ...
(pic snagged from 14ers.com - NOT my picture)Note: This report is actually from last week. After posting it on 14ers.com and myspace I forgot to actually post it on my blog.
Mt. Yale
Sept. 8, 2007
After last weekend's hike up Mt. Elbert we were ready for a new challenge. Thanks to the suggestions of some folks here on 14ers.com we chose to climb Mt. Yale on Saturday and planned on tackling Belford and Oxford on Sunday.
We set up camp Friday night at the Collegiate Peaks campground, which was outside Buena Vista and about a mile from the Denny Creek TH. We got there late, set up camp in the dark, cooked some brats on the fire and passed out. The alarm was set for 4 a.m.
After five fabulous hours of sleep the alarm went off and we stumbled out of the tent to fire up the Jet Boil, which I had just purchased with a birthday gift card from REI the day before. Oh how I LOVE the Jet Boil!!! I LOVE my coffee and the iced coffee we had been drinking in the morning when camping just wasn't cutting it. Within five minutes I had a steaming cup of liquid sunshine. There is nothing better than hotcoffee when its near freezing at 4:30 in the morning!
We were on the trail by 5:20 or so. I really enjoyed the fact that this trail was pretty gentle for the first few miles - gave the legs a chance to warm up before the real work began. This was the first time we put booties on Maddie's feet and they worked great! This was just a cheap pair which were pretty much shredded by the end of the trip - but now that we know she will wear them, we will invest in a better pair. Someone on the mountain suggested dogbooties.com - we will be ordering some from them this week! Here I am adjusting one of her booties!
The sun was mostly up by the time we broke treeline and started the steep climb.
After the sun came up, but while we were still in the shade of the mountain, the temperature dropped into the 20s and the dog started to shiver. She gets cold very easily (she's a skinny girl with a short coat - not much insulation there) so we put her fleece on and she looked much happier.
Maddie just below the saddle:
When we got up onto the saddle and I finally got a close up look at the rocky approach to the summit I got a little nervous. I have a slight fear of heights and claustrophobia (which manifests itself when I feel 'stuck') and I was afraid I would freak out on the rocks. Here I am still smilin' ... hoping that smile wouldn't fade!
We checked out both sides of the ridge and decided the left (east) side was the way to go - which was the WRONG decision. We somehow ended up way below the ridge on lots of loose rocks. I was surprisingly mentally ok but I worried a lot about Maddie and was starting to regret taking her up there. We safely made our way to the summit tho - and the view was AWESOME!!! Here's a bunch of summit pics ...
Me on the summit
jasper9890 and Maddie on the summit - their second 14ers! I LOVE this pic of them!!
and the whole famn damily ... under a BEAUTIFUL Colorado blue sky!
We hung out on the summit for a half hour or so. Josh put a few of his extra layers on the rocks at the summit and the dog curled up and took a nap. She LOVES laying in sunny spots and this was the ultimate sunny spot! After the rough trip up I was a little worried about the trip back down the rocks. Someone on the summit suggested staying on the left (west) on the way back down and that was ten times easier! Josh guided Maddie back down the rocks (it was adorable to watch), picking her up a few times to get over some of the trickier parts.
The rest of the trip down was uneventful, but slow going. I need to learn to walk downhill better. When we got back to treeline we took off Maddie's pack and booties (which were pretty much completely shredded by this point) which seemed to put some pep back in her step. She was surprisingly exhausted after this one so we decided to bail on our planned day 2 (Belford/Oxford). The booties did a good job of protecting her feet - we will definitely be investing in more!
I was pretty grumpy on the trip down - I think in part out of my frustration at having to go soooo sloooow (I'm working on my descending tho ... really!) and I think in part because I forgot to eat anything after lunch on the summit. I know from my triathlon days that low blood sugar leads to a grumpy gatorchick! I was VERY happy tho that this time I had NO problem with the altitude. I've never gotten altitude sickness too bad - but I usually get headaches. Not this time!
The hike back to the TH once you got below treeline was BEAUTIFUL and very enjoyable. The aspens were just starting to change color and the rushing stream was just gorgeous!
So, 14er #3 is in the books. I'm especially happy about this one because I was expecting to be scared of the scambling and I wasn't - I LOOOOVED it! It was like a puzzle that you had to figure out. There will be no more 14ers for the next couple weeks due to other commitments, and by then I'm expecting the weather to have turned in the mountains. But I'm REALLY excited to get out and do some winter 14ers (and we've saved some of the "easiest" 14ers for worse weather - we still haven't done Bierstadt, Quandary, or Grays and Torreys) .... !
All in all this was a great trip and probably my favorite 14er to date! Thanks for reading!
We set up camp Friday night at the Collegiate Peaks campground, which was outside Buena Vista and about a mile from the Denny Creek TH. We got there late, set up camp in the dark, cooked some brats on the fire and passed out. The alarm was set for 4 a.m.
After five fabulous hours of sleep the alarm went off and we stumbled out of the tent to fire up the Jet Boil, which I had just purchased with a birthday gift card from REI the day before. Oh how I LOVE the Jet Boil!!! I LOVE my coffee and the iced coffee we had been drinking in the morning when camping just wasn't cutting it. Within five minutes I had a steaming cup of liquid sunshine. There is nothing better than hotcoffee when its near freezing at 4:30 in the morning!
We were on the trail by 5:20 or so. I really enjoyed the fact that this trail was pretty gentle for the first few miles - gave the legs a chance to warm up before the real work began. This was the first time we put booties on Maddie's feet and they worked great! This was just a cheap pair which were pretty much shredded by the end of the trip - but now that we know she will wear them, we will invest in a better pair. Someone on the mountain suggested dogbooties.com - we will be ordering some from them this week! Here I am adjusting one of her booties!
The sun was mostly up by the time we broke treeline and started the steep climb.
After the sun came up, but while we were still in the shade of the mountain, the temperature dropped into the 20s and the dog started to shiver. She gets cold very easily (she's a skinny girl with a short coat - not much insulation there) so we put her fleece on and she looked much happier.
Maddie just below the saddle:
When we got up onto the saddle and I finally got a close up look at the rocky approach to the summit I got a little nervous. I have a slight fear of heights and claustrophobia (which manifests itself when I feel 'stuck') and I was afraid I would freak out on the rocks. Here I am still smilin' ... hoping that smile wouldn't fade!
We checked out both sides of the ridge and decided the left (east) side was the way to go - which was the WRONG decision. We somehow ended up way below the ridge on lots of loose rocks. I was surprisingly mentally ok but I worried a lot about Maddie and was starting to regret taking her up there. We safely made our way to the summit tho - and the view was AWESOME!!! Here's a bunch of summit pics ...
Me on the summit
jasper9890 and Maddie on the summit - their second 14ers! I LOVE this pic of them!!
and the whole famn damily ... under a BEAUTIFUL Colorado blue sky!
We hung out on the summit for a half hour or so. Josh put a few of his extra layers on the rocks at the summit and the dog curled up and took a nap. She LOVES laying in sunny spots and this was the ultimate sunny spot! After the rough trip up I was a little worried about the trip back down the rocks. Someone on the summit suggested staying on the left (west) on the way back down and that was ten times easier! Josh guided Maddie back down the rocks (it was adorable to watch), picking her up a few times to get over some of the trickier parts.
The rest of the trip down was uneventful, but slow going. I need to learn to walk downhill better. When we got back to treeline we took off Maddie's pack and booties (which were pretty much completely shredded by this point) which seemed to put some pep back in her step. She was surprisingly exhausted after this one so we decided to bail on our planned day 2 (Belford/Oxford). The booties did a good job of protecting her feet - we will definitely be investing in more!
I was pretty grumpy on the trip down - I think in part out of my frustration at having to go soooo sloooow (I'm working on my descending tho ... really!) and I think in part because I forgot to eat anything after lunch on the summit. I know from my triathlon days that low blood sugar leads to a grumpy gatorchick! I was VERY happy tho that this time I had NO problem with the altitude. I've never gotten altitude sickness too bad - but I usually get headaches. Not this time!
The hike back to the TH once you got below treeline was BEAUTIFUL and very enjoyable. The aspens were just starting to change color and the rushing stream was just gorgeous!
So, 14er #3 is in the books. I'm especially happy about this one because I was expecting to be scared of the scambling and I wasn't - I LOOOOVED it! It was like a puzzle that you had to figure out. There will be no more 14ers for the next couple weeks due to other commitments, and by then I'm expecting the weather to have turned in the mountains. But I'm REALLY excited to get out and do some winter 14ers (and we've saved some of the "easiest" 14ers for worse weather - we still haven't done Bierstadt, Quandary, or Grays and Torreys) .... !
All in all this was a great trip and probably my favorite 14er to date! Thanks for reading!
Seven or eight years ago I climbed Mt. Sherman (14,036 feet). It was kind of cool but I wasn't hooked. Last October J and I made an attempt on Quandary but had to turn around just short of the summit because of ice conditions that we were most certainly not prepared for. This weekend I finally got my second fourteener.
Saturday afternoon the fiance, the dog, and I headed to the mountains to climb Mt. Elbert, which at 14,443 feet, is Colorado's highest peak.
We camped outside Leadville (our home away from home) the night before the climb. It was in the 30s at night but we were nice and toasty in our sleeping bags. That evening after setting up camp I went for a run along the gravel road that leads to the Elbert and Massive trailheads. Leadville is my favorite place to run, probably because of my LT100 aspirations. We dined on turkey dogs and sweet corn and turned in early, only to be interrupted by the folks at the neighboring campsite who were (quite literally) having an orgy (but that's a story for another post!!).
The alarm went off at 4 a.m. the next morning and we were out of bed by 4:30, stumbling around in the cold early morning air, wishing desperately that we had brought stuff to make hot coffee before our climb. By 5:30 we had gotten our stuff together and were leaving the traihead into the chilly dark morning. The first hour or so would be spent hiking through the woods by headlamp.
We hit treeline right around sunrise and the view was stunning. The sky was absolutely on fire and we stopped for a while to admire the view. Of course, no picture can do it justice.
We were the third group to set off up the trail that morning and quickly passed the two groups in front of us. The hike up was actually not too bad - near the top it started to get steep and rocky and there were places where you would take 10 or 20 steps and then stop to catch your breath. The climb up was hard, but it was the good kind of hard. After two or three false summits we finally reached the final climb up. Because we were the first ones up the mountain we had the summit to ourselves for a good 10 minutes or so before anyone else arrived. The view was absolutely incredible. The fact that we were looking DOWN on Mt. Massive, the second highest peak in Colorado, tells you how high we were. From the top we had an excellent view of nearby La Plata peak and the Bells and a whole bunch of other mountains whose names I don't know.
We took the oppurtunity to get a family photo from the top of Colorado!
Maddie was a proud little peakbagger at the top!
After 30 or 40 minutes we headed back down the trail. I could NOT believe the number of people who were on their way up. We probably passed a hundred people who were coming up when we were going down and I was so happy we started early to beat the throngs. The trip down was not nearly as fun as the trip up. 4.5 miles straight up means you have to do 4.5 miles straight down and by the time we got to the bottom my legs were quivering. But I was hooked.
We are planning another 14er for this weekend. And the next weekend. And the weekend after that.
One down, 52 to go.
