Hopefully you caught my update from Colorado. That pretty much sums up the first half of the trip. I should mention my acclimatization technique. I flew into Denver on about 3 hours of sleep since my airplane seat didn't recline, drove directly to Breckenridge at 9,600 feet, drank copious quantities of high alcohol beer and the following morning departed for an 8 mile winter backpacking trip (read - heavy load) at high altitude thus breaking just about every rule for avoiding altitude sickness/acute mountain sickness. Nevertheless, it worked and the worst symptoms I had were shortness of breath while carrying a 40 lb. pack and getting
outpaced on the mountain by
Jeb.
Continuing where I left off,
Jeb and I planned to summit Quandary Peak which is one of Colorado's 14,000 ft. mountains. I'd been to the top already, but that was 5 years ago during the summer. The night before, we rented snowshoes and prepared for the climb with a sampling of
microbrews. The morning was clear and bright, perfect for a summit day, but painful for a couple guys who had gotten cooked by the sun the day before. Upon ascending the east ridge, we realized that snowshoes were more of a novelty than a necessity for this climb, but I continued to carry mine.
Jeb broke trail through the snow and I literally followed in his footsteps. We ascended 3500 ft. over a little less than 3 hours. Not bad considering the snow cover and my lack of
acclimatization, but I
summited this same peak in less than 2 hours in the summer 5 years ago when I had spent a month living in
Leadville.
Jeb on the roof the world.
We were excited to have the summit to ourselves for our entire stay, a very rare occasion during the summer, but more likely as fall and winter close in. This was
Jeb's first 14'er since becoming a permanent resident and my first winter summit. We called our friend Matt V. in TN and bragged to him since he was working.
The descent was unremarkable except for the 60 degree temperature - much hotter than we would have liked. I also used snowshoes for the first time and I found them surprisingly easy.
The following day, Jeb worked while I met a few of his partners and toured the hospital. They've got a great set up and spectacular setting nestled between Breckenridge and Frisco, but the storm is coming and the forecast includes hip, tib-fib and ankle fractures with a slight chance of shoulder dislocation. When ski season hits, the population quadruples, the hospital averages 4 surgical fractures a day and Jeb's playtime is over.
That evening we planned our next hike and overnight. Our goal was to utilize one of the 1oth Mountain Division Huts for an overnight stay, but most of the huts hadn't opened yet for the cross-country ski season and the ones that were open could be accessed by four wheel drive. Since it wasn't much of a hike in to the hut, we just planned a separate hike to be followed by a short drive to the hut.
The hike was near the old mining town of Climax through the valley and onto a ridge on the west side of the Tenmile-Mosquito mountain range. The snow hike was relatively easy and the payoff was unobstructed views of an impossibly rugged sawtooth ridge to the northeast with Clinton reservoir to the southwest.
Action shot for my sponsors, Mountain Hardwear, Osprey, The North Face and Stone Brewing.
After returning to the car, we headed back toward Shrine Mountain at Vail pass and the huts of Shrine Mountain Inn. We drove as far as we could with
Jeb's FJ Cruiser and backpacked the rest of the way to Walter's Cabin, one of the 3 cabins that makes up Shrine Mountain Inn (
http://www.huts.org/hut_details/shrine_hut_details.html). As it ends up, we had the whole 12 person cabin to ourselves. Running water, propane heat and stove, beds, flush toilet, electric lights, even a shower with hot water - luxury compared to sharing a two man tent in the snow with our breath freezing inside. In addition, when your backpacking entails a half-mile walk with no tent or stove, the list of luxuries we could carry grew to include a cooler with beer, an
iPod and portable speakers.
We stopped by one of the other cabins and had it's 2 guests over for dinner since we had extra. They were a nice couple from Summit County who had skied out.
They departed by 8 PM and when left to our own devices and an increasing BAL, we headed out to explore the (locked) upstairs of the cabin. We accidentally opened a window and climbed in to check it out. It was appointed about the same as downstairs except for a woodburning stove. We rationalized that we might as well use it since it was there and about 10 cords of seasoned firewood sat below the deck. We listened to Radiohead and watched the fire burn down to coals while sipping our final beers of the evening and relishing our crowning achievement of the trip - breaking and entering. But the window was open, I swear officer...
Sadly, I departed from Breckenridge the following day to ensure a prompt arrival at the airport the following morning. The good news was that I got to visit my friends the Pernas who had moved from Leadville to Denver. They are the family I spent a lot of my time with when I lived in Leadville/Twin Lakes a few years ago. There's never any lack of conversation when we're together as they are some of the most interesting, well-travelled people I know. Furthermore, they are very kind and generous - always willing to offer me a place to stay while traveling their fine state.
The flight home was as pleasant as possible considering my half-day of layovers. However, upon arrival to Lihue and seeing Em again, my excitement turned to anger when my luggage didn't arrive. Apparently, a four hour layover isn't enough time to get luggage transferred between flights. That makes Go! airlines 2/2 in losing our luggage. Their website is
iflygo.com and any questions about luggage can be emailed to
moron@iflygobutmyluggagedoesnt.com. I guess you get what you pay for. Thankfully my luggage was found mid-afternoon the following day and I could stop ranting for a few minutes to enjoy my time back with Em and Garyetta.
I'll leave you with this "stroke" of genius until next time.
We paddled 2.5 miles upsteam to the fern grotto which we thought woud be a serene, beautiful spot as it is only accessible by boat. However, on arrival, we were greeted by a large dock (currnetly empty), lots of concrete, signs, bathrooms, sprinkler systems, propane tiki torches, decks, tables, etc. Shortly thereafter, we heard loud music and the churning of a large engine which we soon figured out belonged to a barge (seriously) filled with about 150 people. We snapped a quick picture before the tourists unloaded and hit the water again quickly - but not before another barge arrived. Cheesy Hawaiian music played on a bad PA system while 15o tourists sat packed in like cattle, awaiting the disappointment of the fern grotto - what a beautiful scene...to leave in the rearview mirror.
