Colorado

June 2010


We are in Colorado, climbing as many mountains over 14,000 feet high as possible in the next five weeks. So far we have climbed one (Mt. Sherman) on June 10 - I am on the summit in the photo on the left - and attempted a second (Belford) on June 12. The attempt was thwarted by heavy snow at 13,000 feet - the photo on the right shows the early snow fog before it really started coming down! We had to turn back when we could no longer see the trail and the rocks were becoming dangerously slippery. Even while camping at 10,000 feet, we regularly are pelted by snow and sleet. Summer comes late to the high mountains!

We are recognizing the frustration of trying to prepare for a 19,000+ foot mountain (Kilimanjaro) in a country where the the highest mountains are only 14,000 feet. But we are doing our best, climbing one day and resting the next two.

Success on June 15! The weather cleared and we summited Belford. We rise at 4 am, start hiking at 5 am, and are done anywhere from 3 to 7 pm. The days get long and sleep feels pretty good!

On June 18 we summited Huron Peak, making it our third fourteener and fourth attempt in 9 days. The weather has cleared and the days are cloud free. The early starts mean that we do a lot of our heavy climbing before the sun becomes too blazing.

On June 21 we backpacked 7 miles into South Pine Creek valley, to attempt to climb Oxford from a seldom used side. The high valley was beautiful, but the trail was almost nonexistent - after 5 hours of thrashing through aspen thickets and scrambling over boulder fields, we turned around. I was quite cranky and scared that we would not be able to find our way back, but my wonderful husband with his strong sense of direction found us a much better descent route that we had in ascending. On June 23 we hiked back out of the valley, with Oxford yet to be climbed.

I am re-examining my commitment to climb Kilimanjaro, given my reaction to the failed Oxford attempt. I am still planning to do Kili, but this has been a good reminder to me that for a goal to be strongest, it has to come from within myself. The Kilimanjaro climb is mostly my husband's dream, not mine. I am welcoming the increased fitness that I am experiencing in preparation for the climb, but if it weren't for Dave, I would not be doing this. We shall see if my motivation is sufficient for me to ultimately summit.

July 2010

I ended up, after six weeks in Colorado, summiting on three mountains (Sherman, Belford and Huron) over 14,000 feet high. Dave summited six mountains. On some of the days when I did not summit, I did significant climbing (on Princeton I went over 3,000 feet), so I feel that I continue to be reasonably ready for Kilimanjaro. However, the novelty of mountains always wears off sooner for me than for my husband, Dave. We slept for most of the six weeks at 8,500 - 10,000 feet, in national forest sites. It's not the 15,520 of the high site at Kibo, but it's not bad for the continental US.