School is over and my time in CO for the summer is beginning to wind down before I head back to Pittsburgh sometime next week, so I was hoping to get some teeners done in the mean time. All of my friends for the most part have put away their winter gear for the year leaving me high and dry with no one to ski with. This being the case I packed up my car in Boulder, and headed off for Lake City to see what the south had to offer in terms of snow for this time of year. My previous trip to Lake City ended in disaster in the form of a deer.
I was excited to get my revenge on these mountains that had put me out of driving commission for almost two months and ruined what were supposed to be the biggest climbing months of my year. I had expected to solo this trip, but another guy was solo camping in his car just like me for the same purpose, so we decided to join forces.
"Roughing it":
The sunrise came early over Handies peak:
And over Silver Creek Gulch:
Me skinning up the basin:
Tandem skin tracks in the inch of graupel that fell from the sky the night before:
Cresting our first ridge with the summit of Redcloud peaking its head out in the distance:
Taking a breather with Redcloud in the background:
Wetterhorn showing us a glimpse of its awesome east face:
On the summit of Redcloud, looking over the mile long ridge towards sunshine:
Summit scenics, still plenty of snow in these here parts:
You dont tell me what to do sign, I do what I want(in retrospect maybe I should have listened, but everything turned out just fine):
Fun ridge climbing:
A fun little couloir:
Dont worry, Im not as close to the cornice as it looks. the summit of sunshine in the distance one more pitch up:
At this point there were gusts to about 70 mph and for minutes at a time, winter whiteout conditions while ascending the ridge:
Do I look happy? Thats because I am happy, within spitting distance of our second 14er summit of the day:
Proud summit pic atop sunshine peak our second 14er of the day:
Scenics:
Uncompahgre Peak:
Jason getting ready to drop in:
The ride down:
Finishing up the figure 8's:
My best attempt at figure 8's:
Looking back up the drainage towards sunshine:
The final stream crossing:
Back at the car for the start of a hail storm, perfect timing:
Saying hello to a small herd of local Bighorn Sheep:
Another great day in the mountains, with two days worth of sunrises and sunsets:
I was excited to get my revenge on these mountains that had put me out of driving commission for almost two months and ruined what were supposed to be the biggest climbing months of my year. I had expected to solo this trip, but another guy was solo camping in his car just like me for the same purpose, so we decided to join forces.
"Roughing it":
The sunrise came early over Handies peak:
And over Silver Creek Gulch:
Me skinning up the basin:
Tandem skin tracks in the inch of graupel that fell from the sky the night before:
Cresting our first ridge with the summit of Redcloud peaking its head out in the distance:
Taking a breather with Redcloud in the background:
Wetterhorn showing us a glimpse of its awesome east face:
On the summit of Redcloud, looking over the mile long ridge towards sunshine:
Summit scenics, still plenty of snow in these here parts:
You dont tell me what to do sign, I do what I want(in retrospect maybe I should have listened, but everything turned out just fine):
Fun ridge climbing:
A fun little couloir:
Dont worry, Im not as close to the cornice as it looks. the summit of sunshine in the distance one more pitch up:
At this point there were gusts to about 70 mph and for minutes at a time, winter whiteout conditions while ascending the ridge:
Do I look happy? Thats because I am happy, within spitting distance of our second 14er summit of the day:
Proud summit pic atop sunshine peak our second 14er of the day:
Scenics:
Uncompahgre Peak:
Jason getting ready to drop in:
The ride down:
Finishing up the figure 8's:
My best attempt at figure 8's:
Looking back up the drainage towards sunshine:
The final stream crossing:
Back at the car for the start of a hail storm, perfect timing:
Saying hello to a small herd of local Bighorn Sheep:
Another great day in the mountains, with two days worth of sunrises and sunsets:
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