Mountaineering – San Juan Peak Bagging Extravaganza, Drive Out

August 14th, 2013

The San Juan mountains of Colorado have some of the most rugged, remote, and beautiful peaks. Erin and I wanted to try our hand at bagging several summits in one long weekend. Our three day schedule was jam packed:
Day 1: Handies Peak (With optional Bi-Centennial Pt. 13,795)
Day 2: American, Jones, and Niagara (As many as we could get of these!)
Day 3: Redcloud and Sunshine (With optional Centennials Pt. 13,832 and Pt. 13,811)

Thus, on a Wednesday, I drove to Erin’s and we filled Bertha with mountaineering gear, coolers, beer, and camp chairs. We were both giddy with excitement; to get the heck out of Denver and into the mountains.

Road to American Basin
Bertha on Cinnamon Pass Road

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Mountaineering | Comments Closed

Mountaineering – Hagues Peak and Mummy Mountain, RMNP

August 10th, 2013

Climbergirl on Summit of Mummy Mountain
Summit of Mummy Mountain (13,425 ft)

Climbergirl on High Point of Laramie County
Summit of Hagues Peak (13,560 ft)

On Saturday, I joined Linda, Tom, and Georgia in a peak bagging adventure, involving two 13’ers in a remote corner of Rocky Mountain National Park. The main crux with these peaks is the weather. How would we fair if confronted with afternoon storms, so far from the trailhead?

Hagues Peak and Mummy Mountain Topo
Topo Map of My Route

The highpoint of Larimer County, Hagues Peak, is a remote peak in Rocky Mountain National Park, requiring a strenuous, yet scenic hike, from the Lawn Lake Trail Head. While I was there, I figured I’d go for Mummy Mountain too. Mummy Mountain is the 8th highest peak in Rocky Mountain National Park, but it is too short to make even the Tri-Centennial list (top 300 highest peaks in the state of CO).

Hagues Peak and Mummy Mountain Elevation Profile
From the elevation profile, above, you can see how bagging these two peaks in a day is a challenge! It’s just over 18 miles round trip with 6,200 ft of gain, to climb both peaks.

I was prepared to meet the challenge, but what about Tom, Linda, and Georgia?

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in Mountaineering | Comments Closed

Mountaineering – Ice Mountain & North Apostle

August 3rd, 2013

The Apostles In Summer
The Apostles

Ice Mountain Summit (13,951 ft)
Ice Mountain Champions

North Apostle From Ice Mountain
The Ridge to North Apostle from Ice Mountain and the 14’er Huron in the Background

Doug on the Summit of North Apostle
Doug enjoying the view of Huron (behind him) from North Apostle.

Doug and I left Denver mid afternoon on Friday, drove to the Apostles trail head, backpacked in a few miles, and camped above 11,000 ft. We woke up at 4:30am, climbed Ice Mountain and North Apostle, packed up camp, and hiked back to the trail head (in hail & rain), and drove back to Denver. A most excellent 24+ hours!

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in Mountaineering | Comments Closed

Trail Running – High Lonesome Trail Loop, Hessie Trailhead

July 27th, 2013

Tilden Running on Devil's Thumb Pass Trail
Tilden Running on Devil’s Thumb Pass Trail

On Saturday, Tilden and I ran the High Lonesome Trail Loop; up Devil’s Thumb Pass, across the Continental Divide, and then down the King Lake Trail. It took us about 5.5 hours, with an average rate of 20 minutes per mile (including the uphill portions!).

Clare at Devil's Thumb Lake (11,100 ft)
Climbergirl At Devil’s Thumb Lake (11,100 ft)

I was very happy with the run, as I haven’t been running in a while, outside of the occasional 20 minutes in the gym. My knee was bothering me a little bit on the way down, but other than that, no other problems.

Also, bonus points for Tilden. He brought his water filter, so we never had to carry more than a liter of water which really made the run go more smoothly. Not having to carry the extra weight was super nice!

High Lonesome Loop TOPO Map

The High Lonesome Loop is roughly 16.4 miles with several thousand feet of gain, in an amazing alpine setting. I would estimate about 85% of the run is on single track, with the rest being on a gravel road.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Running | Comments Closed

Mountaineering – Mt. Bierstadt, Northeast Face Via Abyss Lake

July 20th, 2013

Mt. Bierstadt USGS Summit Marker

Climbergirl on Summit of Mt. Bierstadt (14,060 ft)

Every weekend, there are hundreds of people summitting Mt. Bierstadt via the standard West Slopes, from Guanella Pass. I was purposely putting off climbing Mt. Bierstadt because of my dislike for encountering hoards of people in the wilderness. Back in 2008, I had climbed Mt. Evans via the 2nd Apron and that was super fun…until I got to the summit and encountered the masses.

Flexing Our Muscles Below the Sawtooth

In talking with Erin about this, she suggested we overnight at Abyss Lake and climb Mt. Bierstadt from the Northeast side. We talked about doing the Sawtooth over to Evans, while we were there, as it looked like a bunch of fun.

Doing Mt. Bierstadt via Abyss Lake, turns the experience into an overnight backpack, which adds a bit of adventure and a great deal of mileage. It was 23.4 miles round trip with about 4,600 ft of elevation gain.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Mountaineering | Comments Closed

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »