14ers....

[norther practitioner]

So, I got invited to do a backpacking trip with some friends from all over Colorado and a one or two guys from out of state. During the trip I'll have the oportunity to climb 3 or 4 14ers (14,000' peaks). Since I've been out in Colorado up until this week I hadn't really even thought about hiking one, this weekend, to see if I had the mustard to do one, I decided to go on a little adventure. So Saturday, I got my gear together and headed up and got to summit two 14ers in one day. One being Torreys Peak and the other being Grays Peak. They are right next to each other, and it's almost a shame to not do both on the same day once you are up there.

Anywho, this was the start of a short training session to get me ready for a six mile hike in with a ~50lb pack and the possibility to summit a few more 14ers (14,059 foot Sunlight Peak, 14,084 foot Mount Eolus and 14,087 foot Windom Peak are the usual suspects in this 'hood) if I decide to go (I'm still a little aprehensive about going, but am leaning seriously towards going).

[norther practitioner]

Day one: Saturday, like I said before I hiked Torreys and Grays peaks. I summitted Torreys first, I believe the trailhead was at about 11,000 feet, and I made it in about 2.5 hours (got to pass a lot of lowlanders in the first half mile or so). I descended to the saddle in a few minutes it seemed (~20 minutes), ate some snacks and rehydrated a bit, and took my time to summit Grays, overall, between the descent and ascent it was about an hour. The peak was busy and there was some potential weather blowing in so I got in front of as many groups as I could and the descent took almost 2 hours with anywhere from a slow pace to a light jog down the hill. The descent was easily harder on the joints than the ascent.

[norther practitioner]

Day two: Sunday, wow, the quads are super sore, but the rest of the body is feeling surprisingly good. Today we went to the zoo, so I didn't do too much. Did pushups and crunches, with some other bwes thrown in. One being where you lay on your side, prop yourself up with your forearm, put your other hand behind head, and then I did a few leg raises from this position, and I also did some dips. I'm going to try and get some core work in during the next week and a half.

[Chief Fox]

Hey NP, Nice job. I actually participated in the Pikes Peak Ascent this past weekend. You start at 6,295 ft and finish at 14,110 ft. With a net gain of 7,815 ft. I completed the race in 4:36. I've had this hip injury all summer and haven't been able to train properly. I really think that doing 14ers is mostly mental and being prepared. After I finished a storm moved in and we were all stuck at the top for over 4 hours. It was hell but still worth it. Pikes Peak is the only 14er I've ever done (4 times). I think I may do some more of them in the future. Don't trust anyone below 14,000 ft.

[norther practitioner]

That is a lot of verticle......



Today I hiked a little over 5 miles at between 7200 and 8400' took about 2 hours.

Tonight I'll try to squeeze in more bwe stuff.

[norther practitioner]

Just did one set of pushups and two sets of crunches last night, just got home from a 13.5 hour day at work, so, I'll just do the same as last night, and try to get another hike in tom. I'll load up my camel back with as much weight as I can and do another 5 miles if I have time.

[norther practitioner]

We got rain up in the hills today, so I skipped the hike and will do it tom.

Today I spent time getting some of my gear ready and bought some more stuff. I have the pack I'll be using so I'm going to load it up tom. and do a 4-6 mile hike with that on and try to get it adjusted accordingly.

Later I did calf raises and some squats.

[norther practitioner]

So Saturday was an interesting day to say the least. I decided to go out and do Mt. Bierstadt and possibly continue to Mt. Evans. I got to the trailhead of Bierstadt at about the same time as most of the other people doing it that day. Made good time going towards the top of Bierstadt, I think I summitted that in under 2.5 hours. Met up with some cool people hiking towards Mt. Evans, so I joined up with them. We were going down the sawtooth when things started to go not quite as planned. There was some crazy sections threw here and we deceded too far down a boulder field, to only have to climb back up, then up and around some small cliffs to get back on course. Finally to the section we needed to be at, and we were way behind schedule. When you are climbing in Colorado this time of year, you can expect some sort of weather every day, usually moves in sometime in the afternoon, and we were at about 11:30 now. We decided to go ahead, as the skies weren't threatening yet. We come over the next ridge when we see some clouds moving in, but at this point, we are closer to Evans than to Bierstadt so we made the decision that the top of Mt. Evans could be the safest place for us as you can actually drive to the top of it (N. Americas highest paved road) and there are bathrooms and what not to take shelter in. We cross another technical section and only have about a half mile to go when the snow starts to fall. I rushed the summit and my two climbing partners weren't too far behind. By now it was dumping snow (actually grappel, snow that is really wet, gets blown into each other, and feels like a softer version of hail, still hurts), and the lightning is hitting the ridge where we just were and it looks like the storm is blowing right for us. We took shelter near the bathrooms whilst getting wierd looks from people ****ed off because they just drove to the top of the mountain, paying 10 bucks to not be able to see crap. We were contemplating now how to go back and get to our cars. As now, our route that we hiked in on, would be too slippery to take a chance on, as on slip could mean severe injury or death. So, we hitch hiked down the mountain, to a town 30 miles away from where we parked. Making a ton of phone calls, we found a ride back to our cars, 12 hours after we started.

Lesson learned, Colorado Clouds ain't nuttin to F*ck wit.

Today I am mildly sore (as opposed to last week when I was wickedly sore), I attribute that to last weeks hike and not having to down hike.



Today I'll do a lower elevation hike in the Boulder area, probably only do a few miles.

[norther practitioner]

EPIC
I didn't get all 3 14ers in because of weather, but got one in, and another peak that was 13,800'. I'll post my trip report after I get some real sleep.