Archive for the ‘Mountaineering’ Category

Mountaineering – Mt. Meeker (2nd Attempt via South Ridge)

Saturday, June 1st, 2013

Renewed Hope For Summit
Tilden on South Ridge of Mt. Meeker

Clare on Summit of Meeker (13,860 ft)
Clare on the East Summit of Mt. Meeker

On my birthday, Tilden treated me to a planned excursion up the South Ridge of Mt. Meeker. I met him at his place, in Boulder, at 4am. I was excited to be attempting a peak on my birthday, but the 3am wake up time put a bit of a damper on the start of the day. Oh well, such is the life of a *safe* mountaineer!

Mt. Meeker Ridge Route
Our Intended Route

We drove up to Nederland and then headed north. We were both excited to climb Meeker. I had already attempted it once before, but from the Long’s Peak trailhead and in fall.

We were not sure what we would find on the south ridge, in terms of accumulated snow. Would we need the ice ax, crampons, or both? Would we need pickets or ice pro?

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Hiking – Douglas County High Point, Thunder Butte (9,836 ft)

Sunday, April 7th, 2013

Mountain Gals Ready to Bag Another Peak
Georgia, Linda, Myself, and Erin. Our Target, Thunder Butte, in the background.

Summit of Thunder Butte
On Top of Thunder Butte! Pike’s Peak in the Background.

Linda and Georgia were going to hike up Thunder Butte, the high point of Douglas County, and invited Erin and I to join them. I thought it sounded like a fun and easily attainable summit.

Thunder Butte Topo
Our Destination!

I was looking forward to hiking a non-snow covered trail. It was the first big hike I had done since my ultra, so I wasn’t sure how my feet would feel. Both my big toenails had blisters underneath them, so I figured there would be a small element of pain. Tape goes a long way towards helping, but I also wore a thicker pair of socks.

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Snowshoe Hike – Fletcher via Drift Peak, Attempt

Saturday, February 2nd, 2013

Sunrising on Fletcher
I met Doug at 5pm and we drove to the Mammoth Ride Share Lot to pick up Bill. Bill works part time on Ski Patrol, so he’s a good guy to have on a winter adventure. Our objective was to climb the centennial Fletcher Mountain (13,951) via Drift Peak. Bill was on AT skis and Doug and I were snowshoeing it.

Mayflower Creek Trail

Unfortunately, we greatly underestimated the traffic on the slopes. We figured there would be a trail packed down all the way to the ridge, from the Mayflower Creek trail head. When we got to the trailhead, there was evidence the trail would be as we suspected, so we decided to leave the snowshoes in the car. It was nice hiking with lighter packs!

Thanks to Doug for supplying pictures, I forgot my camera…so all these are from Doug!

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Mountaineering, Chicago Basin Peak Bagging Extravaganza, Day 2

Friday, September 7th, 2012

CMC Peak Baggers on Windom Peak
Kay, Dave, Clare, and Wesley on the Summit of Windom Peak

CMC Peak Baggers Summit of Sunlight
Dave, Wesley, Clare, and Kay near the Summit of Sunlight Peak

For the CMC Centennial Celebration, we attempted to summit all 4 of the Chicago Basin 14’ers in one day. We made it within a few hundred feet of Eolus and had to turn back to camp. However, we did manage to back Windom and Sunlight, which was a great success. The following pictures are from the efforts of our fantastic day in Chicago Basin!

An extra special thanks to Dave for being such a gentlemen and offering a helping hand as I jumped off of Sunlight. That was a leap of faith which I was not quite ready to take without a spot from a friend! (more…)

Mountaineering, Chicago Basin Peak Bagging Extravaganza, Day 1

Thursday, September 6th, 2012

CMC Hikers Ready to Ride the Rails
Pictured: Dave, Wesley, Dennis, Clare, and Kay

Dennis & Clare in Chicago Basin
The Chicago Basin is Beautiful!

On September 6th, I led a CMC mountaineering trip into the Chicago Basin. As part of the 100th Anniversary Centennial Celebration, it was my 3rd, and final, trip to help the club attain all 100 of the highest peaks in Colorado over the course of 2012.

The posse of people I assembled to conquer the mountains were: Wesley, Dave, Kay, and Dennis. Dave was attempting to climb all the 14’ers in one summer and is a super fit guy from Texas. Wesley had done most of them already and had climbed Ellingwood Ridge of LaPlata with me in July. Kay had just done Little Bear. But most of all, I was psyched Dennis was hiking this trip! It was nice to be sharing a tent with my hubby vs some random CMC person.

I was also excited to ride the Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad for the 2nd time. It was totally neat-o the first time so I was sure I’d have fun on the train again! (more…)