On Saturday we met Nathan and Stacy (and Emmie) up in Boulder. Nathan is a C-17 pilot in the Air Force and a friend of mine from CU. He met Stacy at CU and they later married. We had lunch at Panera at then went to the CU Eastern Washington game together.
It was a great time. Eastern Washington is a few miles outside of Spokane. So, Stacey and I had a connnection to our opponents as well, making it more interesting.
Ralphie is the best mascot, period. She almost outran her handlers at the start of the game. The game was a close affair, with CU narrowly winning in the final 2 minutes. It was exciting, although you couldn't tell from Julia's reaction.
Uncompahgre Peak - 14,309 feet
Wetterhorn Peak - 14,015 feet
Combo - 13 miles
Jason and I arrived at the Castle Lake Campground on Thursday at midnight. Thankfully, Josh had arrived earlier and put up the tent for us. We crashed as soon as we arrived and got about 5 hours of sleep.
The trip up Uncompahgre was great. The peak is the 6th highest in the state and the highest in the San Juan range. We had great weather the entire time. The peak itself looks like a fortress on a hill, so it dominates the landscape. The views from the top of Uncompahgre were spectacular. Not only is the surrounding area green, but the rock formations and the sheer drop offs are breathtaking. Josh, Jason, and I took some pictures at the summit and then went our separate ways.
Last spring Jason and Josh had summited Wetterhorn, a nearby 14er. I called my attempt off near the top, so this was my chance at redemption. In order to make this work, Josh had to go back to my truck at the Nellie Creek Trail Head (Uncompahgre) and drive to the Matterhorn Creek Trail Head (Wetterhorn). There, he met up with Jason and me as we completed the 13 mile Uncompahgre-Wetterhorn combo loop.
This was the biggest hike I had attempted to date. King-Sized Snickers at 510 calories a pop and Red Bull helped me get through the 4,500 vertical feet and 13-mile day. We descended the back side of Uncompahgre and walked across the valley floor until we met up with the Wetterhorn trail. In all honesty, by the time we had started climbing Wetterhorn I was shot. Towards the summit, I could feel my body looking for any calories it could find after every step. Unfortunately, I couldn't eat enough to keep up with the demand. In addition, I don't have any "reserves" to draw from. The mountain had won last time, so I was determined to keep moving despite having no energy available. Towards the top we dumped our packs and I didn't even care to bring my camera to the summit. I didn't care at that point and it was one more thing to carry. A short scramble later I was on the top and then back down to my pack to eat another Snickers bar. 4 more long miles down the mountain we met up with Josh.
The next day we attempted to climb Handies, but the rain and thunder turned us back. We called it a weekend due to weather, and I headed home Sunday morning. It was a great trip. If you've never been down to this area of Colorado I'd highly recommend it. If you don't believe me, just look at some of these pictures.
Music by Hawk Nelson (Friend Like That, Things We Go Through)
Thought I’d let you all know what I’m doing this weekend, since it seems to be growing into quite the adventure. After work today I’m heading down to the Uncompahgre National Forest to climb some 14ers with Josh, Jason, Chad, and depending on the mountain, some of Josh’s family. The peaks are circled in yellow on the map of Colorado and are located near Telluride. Clockwise starting from the top left they are Wetterhorn, Uncompahgre, Redcloud, Sunshine, and Handies.
Before I was certain I could take Friday off my plan was to go down on Sunday, meet up with everyone, and just climb Handies. However, I was able to get Friday off and it opened up the whole weekend. After giving it some thought, we realized that it would be possible for me to hit all 5 of the 14ers in the area this weekend. The other guys have already done some of the peaks in this area, so Josh encouraged me to take advantage of the opportunity so that I wouldn’t have to make the 10 hour round trip more then once (as they have done).
So the weekend is shaping up like this:
Thursday – pick of Jason in Woodland Park, drive to Lake City, Colorado and setup camp.
Friday – Josh, Jason, Chad, and I are going to pile into the back of my truck at the lower parking lot on Uncompahgre and 4WD up another 3.5 miles or so up the road. Having a 4WD vehicle on this 14er cuts 7 miles off of the slog. Since Jason’s family isn’t coming in until Friday night, Jason and I are probably going to break off after summiting Uncompahgre and continue on towards Wetterhorn. For those of you with good memories, Wetterhorn is the peak I attempted spring of 2007 but didn’t make it to the top. So, I’m excited that this time I won’t have to deal with the snow, wear snowshoes the entire way, nor have to use crampons and ice axe. Josh and Jason will head back to the car and head down the highway a few miles to meet us at the Wetterhorn trailhead, where we’ll pop out. Chances are we’ll have radio contact between the two groups the entire way, if not cell phones.
Saturday – if there are no takers in our group, I’ll get up early and join up with someone that will undoubtedly be doing the Redcloud and Sunshine loop. It’s less miles then the day before, so it should be an easy couple to bag.
Sunday – Handies with Josh’s family and friends. This climb will be quite the cool down after Friday and Saturday. I predict it will feel like a walk in the park after the previous two days. Drive back to Colorado Springs.
If all goes as planned I think the total mileage will be close to that of a marathon, but up and down mountains. Good thing it’s going to be spread out over 3 days and I’ll have nothing to do afterwards but eat and relax. Should be a great time regardless! 
