Hello everyone.
Last weekend, John Shunk and I were supposed to go climb the Maroon Bells doing the traverse from north to south. On our way down there on Saturday afternoon, we ran into overcast skies. When we got almost to Leadville, there was snow on the road and it was raining/hailing on us. The upper mountains had a fresh coating of snow. We stopped in Leadville to grab a bite to eat, and discuss our plans. Due to the loose nature of the rock, and the exposure on our planned peaks, we eventually decided that we didn't really want to be on these peaks with the fresh snow and ice on them. We decided that we would do Mt. Belford and Mt. Oxford instead, with maybe Missouri mountain as an option too.
While we were talking over our plans over dinner, another group came up and asked if we were going to climb Mt. Elbert. Apparently, they were going to climb it, and the fresh snow had them worried. We told them not to worry about it, and wished them good luck on their climb. We left Leadville under clearing skies. After a short drive (28 miles, I think) we arrived at the trailhead in the dark. We were discussing whether or not we were going to do Missouri mountain. I thought we should hike up to treeline and bivy there which would take 2000' off of the climb tomorrow. We would be more likely to get the third peak in that way. John didn't bring any bivy gear though, and he has a sleeping bag from the 70's I think. It's good to about 20 degrees, but requires an expedition sized pack if he wants to carry it anywhere. Eventually we decided to sleep in the van, do Belford and Oxford, throwing Missouri in at the end of the day if we felt up to it. I think Belford and Oxford would give us almost 6000' of elevation gain. If we also did Missouri, that would make it 7400'. That's alot of up! Same as Pikes peak. Just thinking about that trip makes me tired. We had a comfortable night sleeping in the back of my van, which turns into a bed. The sky was clear all night, with lots of stars. My alarm went off at 4:30, and we were on the trail at about 5:20. John was in the lead, and he took off like a bullet. I tried to keep up for awhile, but then decided I was wasting too much energy that I might need later on the climb. Later on he told me he was going fast because he didn't want to hold me back. I don't think he had to worry much about that.
Started getting light at about treeline. We got to the north shoulder of the mountain and continued to follow the switchbacks to the summit. There was a cold breeze blowing, making me wish I had brought something to cover my face with. John was wishing he brought the shells for his mitts, his hands were freezing. We stopped to put on some extra layers. Sunrise came to us at about 13,200'. We continued on and made the summit in a stiff, cold wind. We took shelter on the back side of the summit to block the wind while we grabbed a snack. This leg of the trip took us 3 hrs.
We saw another guy on the summit that had come up behind us. He was packing very light, and he didn't stay anywhere for long. We headed out for Oxford, and went down the steep ridge to the saddle. On the saddle, the winds were even worse. As a guess, I would say that the winds were blowing a steady 30-40 mph with gusts up to 50 mph. My nose was the only thing not protected from the wind most of the time, so I put some chapstick on it which seemed to help. We made it to the summit of Oxford about 55 minutes after leaving Belford. Found a good spot behind some rocks to hide from the wind. It was nice sitting in the sun out of the wind, so we stayed for awhile. When I stood on the summit to pose for my summit picture, I almost got blown over a couple of times.
There were beautiful views everywhere though. We could see more fourteeners than we could name. We could even see Pikes peak off in the distance. I think you can see that thing from everywhere. In the other direction we thought we saw Pyramid.
Time to head back to Belford. Made better time in this direction. The wind was beginning to die down, and it felt a little warmer. Took us 45 minutes to get back.
There were a bunch of people on top of Belford, so we stopped to be social.
This was going to be our decision point about Missouri mountain. John told me to go ahead if I felt up to it. I thought I could probably make it up there, but I would be too tired on the way down. I decided against it. It'll be there next time, besides, I don't have to kill myself EVERY weekend, do I?
We headed down, down, down. This is one steep trail! Saw several other people on their way up. We made it below treeline and the trail got even steeper! I was glad we had come up in the dark, so I didn't have to see what torture I was going through. It was bad enough going down. Made it back to the van 2 hrs after leaving the summit. Awesome trip. The trees are beginning to change colors. It was beautiful.
Our total hiking time was about 6 hrs and 40 minutes. Our total time up and back was about 8 and a half hours. The alloted time in the guidebook was 12 hours. Not too bad, I think. Time to start breaking out the winter equipment though.
We drove back through Leadville, and stopped for food again. Then back home.
Chris M Long ---------------------------(end of broadcast)--------------------------- Terms and conditions for this server: send any email to info@climber.org Administrative commands like unsubscribe send email to lists@climber.org Help: Try rockies-owner@climber.org first, then email admin@climber.org