Finished the 14ers and WFR

I finished up the Colorado 14ers project with 57 summits. I skipped Culebra for various reasons - mainly the price.

I updated my page on it here - although the individual peak trip reports are slow in coming.

http://www.electricant.net/grundyman/co14ers.html

Then I hurt my knee - good timing if there ever is good timing to get hurt.

Then we were at the Yoga Journal Conference in Estes Park taking a bunch of various (but not too energetic for me) classes and teaching slackline and continuing to study up on the WFR materials and taking the online test. (WFR = Wilderness First Responder - medical training for a wilderness setting). I took advantage of the wifi at the Conference to finish up and then drove back to Bishop to clean up my place and prepare for the WFR course there.

The WFR course was intense. Lots to learn in 5 long busy days. It is a course I think everyone who does somewhat dangerous things in remote places should consider doing and it could save someone's life. Originally we planned to do shenanigans when class wasn't in session. In reality Sam and Raquel were busy packing for leaving the country and we all had class stuff to review. It was still fun to have a few of the people staying in the CoG with me.

WFR class

The YogaSlackers who took the WFR class

After the WFR and Sam and Raquel's departure Nalumon came to visit. We managed to climb, slackline, hotspring, boulder, and she was busy emptying, cleaning, and repacking her turtle shell. (evidently the now clean CoG floor expanse is good for that). We also managed to watch some movies and eat lots of good food.

Jill at the Happy Boulders

Nalumon at the Buttermilks

Nalumon Slacklining at the park

we baked pizza and pies.

and enjoyed the sunset at one of the Long Valley Caldera hot springs. ahhh

more 14er action and a break at the OR show

I have now finished the Elk and San Juan 14ers (21 total). Nalumon joined me for the last 4 - as well as support car and hiking companion for a number of the other peaks.

Then I went down to the hot lowlands to the Outdoor Retailer show which was a bit of a break in some ways, but grueling in others. I did get a new pair of lightweight Leki poles and a few other things for the rest of the 14ers and there are some potentials in the works which will be pretty exciting if they pan out.

I started a trip report page for the 14ers which is just a skeleton right now but I hope to complete all the links some day. This isn't going to happen while I am out climbing peaks.

http://www.electricant.net/grundyman/co14ers.html

Sam waits for a mtn goat to yield North Maroon to him

Meanwhile I have been busy plotting out the next section. My tentative schedule is below (subject to change based on all sorts of factors). If you want to join in for one or more of these adventures get in touch - I am on T-Mobile so my connectivity is pretty poor, but hopefully I can get messages. Contacting Nalumon or Sam and Raquel might be more successful at least some of the time. Generally I try to get an early start (6 am is often the goal although sometimes it ends up being more like 7 or 7:30) to avoid the afternoon storms.

Aug 9 Mt Holy Cross

sometime between the 9th and the 16th, probably trying to avoid the weekend and taking the 15th off unless that seems like a good idea.

Gray and Torreys
Evans and Bierstadt
Quandary Pk

Aug 16th Sherman
Aug 17 Lincoln, Bross, Democrat, etc
Aug 18 Elbert
Aug 19 Massive
Aug 20 Missouri, Oxford, Belford
Aug 21 La Plata
Aug 22 Huron
Aug 23 Harvard and Columbia
Aug 24 Shavano and Tabeguache

Then on to Fort Collins for the Wanderlust 108 on the 27th.

After that I plan on finishing any peaks in the area before heading down to the Sangre de Cristo range.

Sam and Raquel finish the catwalk to Eolus

a welcome sunrise high on the buttress to El Diente

Colorado 14ers

As some of you may know, I am attempting to climb the Colorado 14,000 foot peaks this summer. These are known as 14ers and there are somewhere between 53 and 73 but most put it between 53 and 57 or so (sub peaks that have less than 300 feet of prominence are the reason). If they are nearby to another 14er and easily done or considered a significant peak (like N Maroon and El Diente) I plan on doing them too.

In any case, I was going to do these with Sam and Raquel who last year got me to run an Ultra (100K race) but didn't finish it themselves. They sent a list of days and I came up with a brutal schedule to try to squeeze all the peaks in - then the available days became less and less - so I am trying to fill in the rest of the peaks myself.

Right after Wanderlust Colorado we started strong but with only 3 days in the Elk Range -

July 4th Castle and Conundrum
July 5th Pyramid Pk
July 6th Maroon and N Maroon peak (with a rather exciting traverse between them)

Fisheye pic on the summit of N Maroon

Later I got Capitol and Snowmass peaks. I did those as overnights hiking in to the base of the peaks with Nalumon but climbing them myself.

Nate took a pic of me posing on Capitol

here is a Video Nate made of Capitol - I joined him for most of the peak from the camping area and show up in the video about 1:40

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2tt9L4Vcks&feature=youtu.be

This is Nate coming back on the knife edge of Capitol - he is the one who made the video

Then it was on to the San Juans... Once again Sam and Raquel were able to do less days than originally planned. We didn't meet up as planned either and on July 20th I did the Wetterhorn by myself and then hiked back to the car where we met up and headed up Uncompahgre - too late to avoid the lightning which hit a little too close for comfort.  I was tired and moving pretty slowly by then too.

Then on a much longer drive to the Purgatory Flats TH where we hiked in from 5:30 to midnight to Chicago basin. There on the 22nd we did Sunlight and Windom peak one day and the 23rd Eolus and N Eolus. Then we hiked partway out. Nalumon took the train and joined us at base camp. She also was able to take more weight out with her making our packs lighter for the hike out. Then we went and did Sneffels the 25th before Sam and Raquel headed off to SLC.

Nalumon and I hiked into the Navajo Lake basin and up above the lake to a camp spot at the base of El Diente... The next morning on the 27th of July I started early and climbed El Diente, Mt Wilson, and Wilson Peak before returning to camp and hiking out.

Nalumon has been acting as "support car" and slowly acclimating to the altitude and hiking up hills and mountains. She has been a great help in keeping me properly fed and sane.

17 peaks in - although according to 14ers.com I've done 11 of the top 15 most difficult peaks so perhaps between that and getting somewhat acclimated to the altitude and long uphill days things will get easier? - probably not.

Hopefully over the next few days I can finish the San Juan 14ers before the OR show.

This is a pretty rough cut of what I've been up to - but I mostly haven't had much time and internet access. I hope to do a much more complete set of trip reports eventually with things like pictures and elevations and a count of tears and goats and so on...

Meanwhile you might be able to see where I am on the spot tracker...

http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0Dc9Uh3Nfi5gSoXCZcVqStstGq6beNZ8X