Quandary Peak: No Such Thing as an Easy 14er

Quandary Peak (14,265')

length: 6.7 miles
elevation gained: 3,256 feet

After two days of relentless clouds, rain, and snow, we were surprised to wake Tuesday morning to perfect, crystal-blue skies and zero wind. After a bagel and some tea, we drove the half-hour to the Quandary Peak trailhead on the north side of Hoosier Pass. We were the third car to arrive, and two other groups were preparing in the early-morning light as we strapped on our shoes and tightened up our jackets for the long day.

Ella excited for the first climb of the season:



For the first two miles we leap-frogged with the other two groups and spent some time getting to know them during short rests. It was a chill--though beautiful--morning. The rising sun cast pearls of light on the slopes of nearby mountains, all of which were covered in fresh accumulation from the past two days. We found ourselves de-layering as the day grew warmer and our bodies generated heat.

Here I am after shedding my jacket, still trying to wake up and keep the rising sun out of my eyes (Quandary is in the background and still quite far off in the distance):



At 12,000' we climbed past even the hardiest, high-altitude trees and began trudging through the snow, which was the standard for the rest of the climb. We climbed our way up the tortuous switchbacks that led to Quandary's east ridge. Ella and I both remarked how great we felt and how easy Quandary was.

The view up Monte Cristo Basin off Quandary's south side from around 12,500':

At 13,000' the trail level out and offered a brief reprieve from the otherwise relentless climb, but the main challenge loomed before us: the last 1,200 feet which ascended steeply through un-tracked snow. We overtook our new friends for the last time and began hiking up the final, daunting pitch.

Here I am at 13,000' with the last pitch behind me:

Somewhere around 13,500' the thin air began to take effect. I fell into my standard, super-steep climbing pattern of counting out forty steps on one foot, taking a short break, and counting out forty more. It was brutal terrain, and Ella and I (now out front) were breaking trail. This forty-step routine helps me to break the mountain into edible-sized pieces and gives my mind something to focus on other than how difficult climbing at this altitude is. It seems best not to think about how much climbing you still have to accomplish. Focusing on just forty-steps (well, eighty if you count both feet) keeps me from getting overwhelmed by what is still ahead. Slowly, steadily, we progressed towards the summit.

I couldn't help, at this point, but remember how not long before I'd dared to call Quandary the easiest 14er I'd ever climbed. It now seemed funny that I had allowed myself such a thought since I hadn't really climbed it yet. Quandary has a reputation as being on of the easiest 14ers, and perhaps I too-easily bought into that notion. Though, ultimately, it may be true, it dawned on me as I struggled up this last thousand feet that there is no such thing as an easy 14er (driving up Evans or Pikes discluded).

From somewhere along the relentless final pitch:

Finally, we reached 14,000' and decided to sit and take a longer break. The summit was tantalizingly close yet frustratingly far. We ate a granola bar and gave our legs a rest before starting up the final summit push.

Me on the final push to the summit:



The final push was easily the hardest climbing of the day. The snow was deep and hadn't been touched for days. It was a fight to get a full breath at this altitude. I found it difficult to even make my forty steps. Twenty-five was all I could manage before keeling over my ski poles and gasping for air. With a few more climbs, I hope, this will improve. Though it was only 1/4 of a mile and 250 vertical feet, the climbing was slow going. Finally, after three and a half hours of climbing, we made the summit.

Ella making the final heave to the summit:



As usual from the summit of a great mountain, the views were simply amazing. We could spot some familiar peaks. Lincoln, Cameron, Democrat, and Bross were visible to our immediate south (we'll be comin' for ya soon!), Pikes Peak could be seen off to the southeast, the Maroon Bells, Pyramid, Capitol, Snowmass, and even Mt. Sopris could be seen far off to the west. We could also see much of the northern portion of the Sawatch range. It was still a cloudless blue day, and there was no wind. Neither of us could remember the last time we were on a summit with no wind.

This was the view to west from the summit (note the small but distinct shape of the Maroon Bells in the distance in the center):


And here was the view to the north:



There were very few exposed rocks on the summit, and therefore no place really to sit. So we stayed for a few moments, snapped off the obligatory summit-victory photos, and began our descent:




The descent was, of course, much faster and easier than the ascent, and we passed numerous groups still on their way up. It was a particular source of pride to me that we were the first on the summit today. Not that climbing a mountain is a race, but I was encouraged that we had climbed so solidly on our first mountain of the season. Many groups were eager to ask us how much farther they had to go. In the cases of the parties still quite far down the mountain, we had to gently break to them the bad news. Several groups thanked us for breaking trail or "kicking steps" for them.

At the end of the day we were tired but not exhausted and headed to Breckenridge for a sandwich. We were pleased with the perfect day and glad to check the first of many fourteeners off our list.

Rain Delay

After weeks of hot, dry weather, a cold/rainy front moved in (as per Murphy's famous law) on our first weekend. Our plan was to begin climbing today but a mid-June snowstorm kept us off the trail today. According to all the weather projections, tomorrow is supposed to be considerably better, so we are re-arranging our plan to begin tomorrow. We haven't yet decided if that means we'll have to forego one of our rest days or return home a day later in order to fit in the six mountains we planned to climb this week. Hopefully we will see more of that beautiful weather that has been the norm the past month.

Tomorrow is the Day!

(note: the date of this blog post is when I started working on the draft, not when it was published. The publishing date was Saturday June 12, 2010) The day has arrived at last. The time for our "Summer of Fourteeners" to begin is here. The past month of training, exploring, and waiting for the snow to melt has been incredible. I only hope that it will be dwarfed by the adventures ahead.

Here are the totals from the last month of training/hiking:

(since May 17th)

miles hiked: 88.17

elevation gained: 30,791 feet

miles jogged: 21.47

miles biked: 61.57

The second two weeks of our training month was just as, if not more, exciting than the first two weeks. Here are some of the highlights:

We started Week 3 with a trip up to the Maroon Bells. Though I've seen the Bells from the tops of nearby mountains like Castle Peak, Mt. Sopris, and others, I had never actually been to Maroon Lake. It is incredible that after thirteen years living in the Roaring Fork Valley, I've missed out on this wonder. On our visit, the majestic Bells did not disappoint.

We got an early start from Glenwood so we could beat the 8:30 gate closure on Maroon Creek rd. This way we could avoid having to pay to take the bus. It was a beautiful morning despite a few threatening rainclouds to the west. We misjudged, however, the amount of time the drive would take in the morning rush hour and passed through the gate at 8:15, just a few minutes before the closure. Phew! We arrived at Maroon Lake to find eye-blue skies and a panorama view that, although I had never seen it in person, was already familiar. Surely this is one of the classic photographs of Colorado:

It was a little too windy (and the lake, therefore, too choppy) to get the famous mirrored-reflection of the Bells in the water that you see on phone books, King Soopers cards, and tourist guidebooks.

We began our hike in good spirits, planning to make the two-and-a-half mile journey past Maroon Lake to Crater Lake with good time. From there we intended to hike a few miles past Crater Lake toward Maroon Pass to get a little beyond the well-beaten path.

These pictures show the Bells and the Sleeping Sexton emerging over the last ridge before we dropped into Crater Lake:

When we arrived at Crater Lake, the weather was still holding, but the sky was dampening under a gloss of thin clouds. We set the camera on a stump with a ten-second delay and took this picture of the two of us:

The melt was at its peak and Crater Lake was overflowing its banks, swamping the trail in several locations, so the journey to the far-side took some time.This picture looks back on Crater Lake:

Not far past Crater Lake we quickly encountered some snow and the remains of a relatively fresh avalanche. We were right at the very foot of the Bells now, and we could see the ski tracks of a few few hardy souls that had skied the so-called Bell Chord Colouir between the two massive peaks.

Some ugly clouds had moved in, and we reached a section of (arrg!) post-holing, so we decided to call the day short. Though we didn't make it as far as we intended, it was an excellent day in one of Colorado's most beautiful places. This last picture looks up at Pyramid Peak and Thunder Pyramid as the rain/snow began to overtake us:

We knew it was going to be difficult to top the Maroon Bells, but we had quite a few more hikes we wanted to accomplish before D-Day, so we kept plugging away. The next hike we undertook was Lookout Mountain east of Glenwood Springs via "Suicide Ridge". This ultra-steep climb gains over 2,000 feet in about a mile and a half and was a good test piece for those steep fourteener ridges we would be climbing soon. Suicide Ridge, as opposed to the far more mellow Boy Scout Trail, is the most difficult way to climb this mountain. Needless to say it was a struggle. I guess a trail doesn't get the moniker "Suicide Ridge" for no good reason. From the top we were rewarded with a hawk's view of Glenwood:

The following day we climbed to the bridge past the three-mile marker on Glenwood-area standard No Name Creek. This mini-waterfall has always been one of my favorite sights in No Name Canyon:

On Sunday, one week before D-Day, we ventured back into the high country to take on Cathedral Lake, a gorgeous trail that I had hiked once about six years earlier.

Cathedral Lake trail starts in the upper reaches of the Castle Creek Valley near the ghost town of Ashcroft and famed restaurant, the Pine Creek Cookhouse (excellent, high-high end food, by the way). The upper Castle Creek Valley is home to some amazing sights. This photo looks south up the valley from the trail not far from the trailhead:

Cathedral Lake trail is considerably steeper than Crater Lake trail and gains about 2,000 feet in just two and a half miles. It is beautiful, and while we sweated our way upward, we were rewarded with breathtaking sights of the high peaks of the area including Malamute and an unnamed thirteener just to its north:

After cresting a steep section of switchbacks, we were almost at 12,000 feet. I knew we were very close to the lake at this point. The trail, however, disappeared suddenly under three feet of snow. It was slow, frustrating progress, and we alternated every few steps between being able to float on top and sinking thigh deep. We followed as best we could a trail laid out by some snowshoers ahead of us and tried to keep in high spirits. We were admittedly unprepared for post-holing through three-feet of snow:

After cussing and struggling for the better part of half an hour, thinking all along that we had to be getting close, we suddenly encountered the very snowshoers that we had been following, returning the other way and asking us where the lake was. Turns out, they were not the best group to follow, and we had overshot the lake by about half a mile. We turned to the south and saw the lake below us, mostly frozen and glacier-blue in color. We could tell from here that if we wanted to get to the lake, an ugly amount of frustrating post-holing was in our future. We gave it an honest effort but soon gave up.

This photo shows Cathedral Lake below us. The teal, glacial blue color just doesn't quite show up in the photo:

Having had a pretty substantial workout, and seen yet another amazing Colorado high country basin, we turned around and hiked out in good spirits. We would have liked to have made it to the lake, but that journey will have to wait for another time. We decided to view the day as a good learning experience and good practice for the snow that we will undoubtedly encounter this summer. This last photo looks up at Cathedral Peak (13,943') on the hike out:

Our next adventure was one of my off-the-beaten-path ideas and a place where I thought we could get some experience with difficult, un-roped scrambling and climbing (a necessary evil in mountaineering). It was a small mountain just north of New Castle and a place that Ella and I had climbed before (but never summitted). We gave the mini-mountain a shot and made it about 5/6ths of the way to the top. The climbing was loose, exposed class IV with an occasional 5.0-5.4 section. Here is an overview of the peak and the route we attempted:

I was shaky and nervous and did not climb as well as I had on our previous attempt at this route. Ella did much better than me, and I made her turn around at the base of the last forty-foot class ~5.2 pitch before the summit. I guess I didn't have my fifth-class free solo (climbing term for un-roped) hat on that day.

Here is Ella at the base of the first wall, about to tackle a lengthy, exposed 5.0-5.2 section (I cheated and instead climbed a fourth-class crack not far to the right):

On Wednesday we climbed the strenuous Storm King trail. Storm King is an interesting, introspective hike through the burned remains of the 1994 South Canyon Fire that took the lives of 14 wildland firefighters. The hike follows the route the firefighters took on that fateful day to the grave/memorial site. This was a tragedy beyond measure and visiting the site where it took place is always a little bit emotional. The hike itself is steep and exposed to the sun, as there are very few trees left to provide shade. The thermometer touched the mid-eighties as we hiked. Surely, we lost a pound or two in sweat alone.

The last training hike of the summer I undertook alone (Ella was at orientation for her upcoming enrollment in Colorado Mountain College's nursing program). I decided to tackle a 10.7 mile loop in the Flattops called the Devil's Causeway trail. Devil's Causeway is a steep climb to a dramatic escarpment in which passage takes you over a three-foot wide cliff with drops of several hundred feet on each side. I got an early start from New Castle and arrived at the trailhead at about nine o'clock in the morning. It was a clear day but unsettled weather was moving in. A strong breeze ripped across Stillwater Reservoir. I had this entire basin to myself for most of the day, which was both exhilarating and oddly intimidating. This first photo shows Flat Top Mountain as viewed from Stillwater Lake near the trailhead:

At 12,354 feet, Flat Top Mountain is the tallest point in the Flat Top Wilderness area.

The snow grew steadily deeper as I hiked around the lake and towards a steep bowl that is the only practical route onto Devil's Causeway from this trailhead. It wasn't long before I was forced to strap on may gaiters to wade through knee-deep snow. The cliffs on the south side of the Causeway towered above me, and beautiful spines of water trickled down them. I could tell from the amount of snow still remaining on top that my ten-mile loop was probably over-ambitious. I instead re-set my goal to reach just the Causeway itself.

After over an hour of struggling through snow, I finally reached the bottom of the steep bowl. From close range it was steeper and more foreboding than it had appeared from a distance. A wide cornice at the top blocked any easy passage and the only way around it was up the steepest part of the slope. I could see, however, that people had been skiing down my route, but the tracks were old and faded, and it was clear that nobody had been this way for quite some time. After a lengthy ponder, I decided that to try the ascent alone on such a windy day was not the best decision. Despite being equipped with crampons, an ice-axe, and gaiters, I reluctantly decided to turn back.


I stopped for a snack at a flat spot on the trail overlooking Little Causeway Lake and had the distinct impression that the entire basin was on display only for me. There was not a sign or sound of any human activity. The only noises, in fact, were the warbling of birds and the squishy gurgle of the melting snowpack. It was truly magical moment.

At the end of the hike I knew that my training was officially over. For the past three months (the last month especially) I have been working hard to prepare for our long awaited summer of mountaineering. The time has come at last for the real adventure to begin.

Two Weeks to Go!

Hello everyone! We are now halfway through our month of training and have only two weeks left to go. Although the official "Summer of Fourteeners" hasn't even begun, we have already discovered some amazing places and had some unbelievable experiences. Here are the numbers behind the last two weeks of training:

miles hiked: 57.50
elevation gained: 18,926 feet
miles jogged: 12.57
miles biked: 34.89
push-ups: 175
squats: 250
curls: 300
calf-raises: 370

Exactly two weeks from today we will be departing on the first of our four major trips for the summer. I can only hope that the next two weeks are as fun and enjoyable as the last two and that they are only a tiny taste of what's to come in the many climbs and hikes we will be doing later on.

Some highlights from the last two weeks:

Among the first places we explored was the area just north of New Castle off the Colorow Trail. We found a massive cliff set/sandstone formation that is very difficult to see from anywhere besides this remote vantage. These amazing cliffs are so remote and hidden, in fact, that even after living less than five miles away for ten years, I had no idea even of their existence until doing this hike.


A few days later, on a hike in a similar location, we were approached by a desperate faun whose mother was mysteriously absent. It was clear that this poor baby deer was on the brink of starvation, but, sadly, there was little we could do to help. It tried to follow us for a while but soon gave up. Not far away we found a kill site with several half-masticated deer corpses and tried not to guess that one of them could have been this baby's mother. This was a sad reminder of the brutal nature of nature.



To begin week two, I explored Main Elk Canyon, northwest of New Castle. Main Elk is a relatively short, beautiful hike into a narrow defile that is lush with ferns and a canopy of green pines and aspens. The following picture is taken near the canyon's mouth looking upstream:



The day after hiking up Main Elk I explored nearby Hadley Gulch, which is an off-shoot of Main Elk. The trail here is very steep and a good test for my leg muscles in preparation of much harder climbs ahead. As it winds tortuously to the top, the trail offers impressive views of the nearby canyons as well as dramatic formations in the top layer of limestone. Sport climbers covet the area for some very good climbs as well as for the "Fortress of Solitude", a formation that boasts several 5.12-5.14 climbs. I have heard the Fortress described as the "future of sport climbing in America".
Some sights along Hadley Gulch trail:







This past Wednesday Ella and I hiked up Williams Peak just west of the Sunlight Ski Area and looped down Babbish Gulch, which divides Williams Peak and Sunlight. This beautiful hike offered views of the Fourmile area and the Elk Range to our southeast. Williams Peak's summit is just over 10,000 feet and spring had not yet greened the aspens in the area. In the following picture, taken from the summit of Williams Peak, you can see the southern flank of Mt. Sopris (12,953') on the left, Capitol Peak (14,130') in the center, and Snowmass Mountain (14,092') just to the right of Capitol. I admit that with just over two weeks until our first fourteener, it was disturbing to see so much snow still on these tall mountains.


The view to the west/northwest from the summit of Williams Peak:


The view back at Williams Peak from the ridge at the head of Babbish Gulch:


Yesterday we decided to return to the same region. This time, however, we set-up a car shuttle and started at Marion Gulch outside of Carbondale and crossed over into Babbish Gulch where our other car was waiting. The backcountry between Marion Gulch and Babbish Gulch was only lightly trodden, and we found some amazing sights including teal-blue springs, green meadows, and towering vistas of Mt. Sopris and the other Elk mountains.
This teal-colored pool was even bluer before Keebler and Mia (dogs, not humans, for those of you that don't know them) jumped in for a swim:

Mark and Ella hiking through just one of several beautiful, green meadows between Babbish Gulch and Marion Gulch:

A striking view of Mt. Sopris, Capitol Peak, and Snowmass Mountain:


And finally, to close off the first two weeks of training/hiking, I hiked to the top of Grizzly Creek in Glenwood Canyon today. This has been a favorite hike of mine for over a decade. It is a beautiful eight-mile roundtrip to the top, and today was a perfect, azure-sky day. Unfortunately, since it was Memorial Day weekend and nearby favorite Hanging Lake trail was closed, there were many other hikers.

That's it for now. What a great couple of weeks of hiking. I hope everyone is having a great summer. Only two weeks and counting until the real adventure begins! Happy trails!

Summer is Finally Here!!!

Well, ladies and gentlemen, the summer has finally arrived. This past week I completed the last of my finals at college, survived the extensive debauchery of graduation weekend, and began to prepare for our long-awaited "Summer of Fourteeners". In one month (June 14) we will climb the first of the twenty-seven fourteeners that we plan to ascend this summer. With the beginning looming, the time has come to notch up my training program, so I am going to embark on an ambitious agenda that will include running, biking, weight-training, and a long series of very difficult day-hikes around the Roaring Fork Valley. Our upcoming adventure has been long planned and much anticipated, and I can't even begin to articulate my excitement now that the time has finally come. The high country and the backcountry have meant so much to me all my life, and this summer represents the most ambitious and extensive outdoor adventure that I have thus far participated in. I am excited that to share our experiences with everyone here on this blog.

Best wishes to all and I hope everyone has a very happy summer!

Summer of Fourteeners 2010

This summer we are going to spend a good deal of our time in Colorado's backcountry seeking the state's highest points. For us it is a chance to do something to refresh our lives from the stagnation of the daily grind that everyone seems to know all too well. In this blog our goal is to keep our friends and family informed of our progress as we travel around the state and share photos and stories from these unbelieveable places for anyone who is interested.

Friends and family that are interested in joining us: we are more than happy to have company! Please contact us and view our tentative list of dates and mountains and let us know which you are intersted in hiking with us.

Trip #1

Quandry Peak (June 14) (mon)

Mt. Lincoln (June 16) (wed)

Mt. Cameron (June 16) (wed)

Mt. Democrat(June 16) (wed)

Mt. Bross (June 16) (wed)

Mt. Sherman (June 18) (fri)

Trip # 2

Mt. Huron (June 23) (wed)

Missouri Mountain (June 25) (fri)

Mt. Belford (June 27) (sun)

Mt. Oxford (June 27) (sun)

Mt. Harvard (June 30) (wed) **3-day Backpack trip (6/29-7/1)**

Mt. Yale (July 1) (thur) **3-day Backpack trip (6/29-7/1)**

Mt. Princeton (July 3) (sat)

Mt. Antero (July 5) (mon)

Mt. Shavano (July 7) (wed)

Mt. Tabeguache (July 7) (wed)

North Massive (July 10) (sat)

Mt. Massive (July 10) (sat)

Mt. Elbert (July 12) (mon)

Trip #3

Holy Cross (July 20) (tue) **2-day backpack trip (7/19-7/20)**

Grays Peaks (July 22) (thur)

Torreys Peak (July 22) (thur)

Mt. Bierstadt (July 24) (sat)

Mt. Evans (July 24) (sat)

Pikes Peak (July 27) (tue)

Longs Peak (July 30) (fri)

Trip #4

Snowmass Mountain (Aug 9) (mon) **8-day backpacking trip (Aug 8-15)**