Mt Bierstadt 12/18/2009

I've decided to bring this blog out of hibernation. I stopped blogging because I felt I had nothing to add to the blog-o-sphere, and while that still may be the case, my mother has threatened to join Facebook in order to keep up with my activities if I didn't update this thing more often. So here it is... a bit late... but my first blog of 2010. And it's not about the bike! It's my trip report from my 40th birthday adventure, a hike up to the 14,060' summit of Mt Bierstadt.

I had been wanting to get back into climbing/mountaineering for a while. Last year it seems the bike always got in the way, but I'm not going to let that happen again. So with the big 4-oh coming up I decided to head out to Colorado, visit Ken and Laura, and attempt a 14er while out there. I chose Bierstadt because it's a fairly simple "winter" climb. I say winter, but since we climbed on Dec 18, it was not a calendar winter climb and therefore does not count as a true winter summit. Anyway, Bierstadt... relatively straightforward route with low to no avy danger... maybe the non-technical nature of this route lulled us into a false sense of security. Read on.

I researched the route we would be taking (the West Slopes) and noted that the Guanella Pass road to the trailhead was closed on one side of the pass due to rock fall, and that the other side (the one we wanted to take) was closed as well, but less than 2 miles from the trailhead. I mentioned this to my climbing partners but, and here is mistake number 1, NONE OF US DECIDED TO LOOK IT UP. We assumed the pass would be open from Georgetown so at 4:30am on Friday we set off and over 2 hours later we arrive at a road closure less than 1 mile up the Guanella Pass road. A construction dude working there said "Ain't nothing getting thru, not even on foot." Well damn. We had driven to the wrong side of the pass.

We decided to drive another 2 hours, around the base of the mountain, retracing our route all the way back to Denver, just to check out the other side of the pass. That way, we thought, we'd have an idea of where to go the next day, because that was now the plan... to climb tomorrow. We get to Grant and then decide to drive all the way up the pass road to locate the trailhead. When we got there the peak looked sooooo gorgeous off in the distance and it was a beautiful day and, well, mistake number 2, even though we were over 2 hours late from our intended start time, WE DECIDED TO TRY TO SUMMIT ANYWAY KNOWING FULL WELL THAT IT MIGHT BE DARK TOWARDS THE END OF OUR HIKE.

We park, get geared up and set off up the road past the closure. It's absurd that they have this road closed. It would have been perfectly passable by a 2WD vehicle.

Ken and I in the distance hiking the 1.5 miles of road before the TH.

Knowing that I am the weak link of this trio I have the mindset of "I cannot stop for anything. I will eat and drink on the move. Must get up the mountain." This was working well, for oh, the first 2 miles when my water froze because mistake number 3, I FORGOT TO TUCK MY HYDRATION BLADDER HOSE INTO MY PACK. It was frozen solid leaving me without water. Thankfully Sonja had an extra Nalgene bottle that she would share with me.

Ken and I hiking thru the willows.

I would keep on hiking everytime Sonja and Ken stopped to eat or drink, grabbing a sip of water from Sonja on my way thru. When Sonja would catch back up to me, I'd grab another sip of water and keep moving while she rested. This worked well except for the fact that I (mistake number 4) WAS NOT DRINKING NEARLY ENOUGH WATER.

The trail was boot-packed pretty much the entire way up to the ridge.

Ken aka Mountain Man.

At some point during the hike, Ken had to turn around due to hip pain. I was unaware that he retreated but when Sonja came up once again and told me, we decided to push for the summit even though I was starting to get poopy pants. It didn't help when Sonja and I took different paths (further up the mountain the trail is harder to find) and she insisted that I cross a snow and ice field to come over to her because "the trail's right in front of me." Bull shit! I was standing next to a 10 ft cairn but she could not/would not be convinced otherwise. I (mistake number 5) STUPIDLY WENT OFF TRAIL TO TRAVERSE OVER TO SONJA. That traverse had me wishing for my crampons that I had left in the car.

Once I connected with Sonja and we tried to ascend her route things went downhill quickly, both for my mood and the way I was feeling physically. I was really getting irritated now and decided to traverse back over to where I had been before listing to the "siren of the mountains." Sonja agreed and followed me. Once there, the rest of the hike was fairly simple, even though I was starting to feel worse.

Ascending the ridge.

Along the ridge before the final summit push.

The final bit of climbing before reaching the summit.

Finally at the top of Mt Bierstadt. That's Mt Evans in the background (of the Mt Evans Hill Climb Road Race.)

Once at the top I took a minute to take in the view, but really only a minute because I looked at my watch and realized we needed to get down fast. I did not want to be hiking thru the willows at night. I rushed down as fast as I could, but still was not eating or drinking nearly enough. By this point Sonja's water had frozen and every time I tried to eat it just turned into paste in my mouth.

Descending the route.

Me with the setting sun.

The final photo because it got dark soon after this was taken.

Our speedy descent had us at the trailhead just as it got dark, but with the full moon, we left the headlamps in the packs for the 2 mile hike on the road. We were so tired, hungry, and cold that we just wanted to get back to Ken and the car and didn't feel like stopping for anything, not even to put on our down jackets. I swore that I was getting frostnip on my arms at this point (not my hands though because I was wearing my BD Mercury mitts. They are The Bomb!) since the temps dropped fast and significantly once the sun set.

We finally made it back to the car which Ken had heated up for us, and then the 2 hour drive back to Ken and Laura's house where Laura had prepared homemade enchiladas. What a way to end the day!

Since this adventure I've invested in 2 large Nalgene bottles, one insulated cover for one of the bottles, and a thermos (thanks to Ken and Laura for that!). I've also vowed to THOROUGHLY research not only the route but trailhead status before my next mountain adventure.

Thanks Ken, Laura, and Sonja for making my 40th birthday a thing to remember. (I'm not going to blog about Cripple Creek. We'll keep that between us. Remember, what happens in Cripple Creek stays in Cripple Creek!)