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Last year my daughter Kelsey tried a couple of mountains, but never quite reached the summit's. She was born premature and as a result has struggled with asthma. Always a fighter though, she has never kept still and has never let her asthma stop her. Armed with inhalers and prednason, she and I headed for Bierstadt, arrival, 4 am. She informed me that she loves starting the hikes when it is still dark outside, who am I to argue. The air held a refreshing chill, its scent fresh in the early morning hours. Kelsey's excitement was contagious.
The walk through the willows was uneventful in the dark and we made it past them before the sky's started to light up in pre-dawn grey. Her excitement only grew the closer we got to the top, by now we could see a few people behind us making their way up. Kelsey was on her game today, breathing great, no coughing, we were good to go. She was pushing me, not the other way around, which was a good sign. The higher we got we began to hear the Pika's waking for the day, their distinctive chirps ringing through the air. By now, the sky's were bright enough to make out details at a distance. Suddenly my daughter shouted "Deer". My head snapped up to see and took a minute to register that indeed, I was staring at several Bucks. I wouldn't have been surprised if they were Elk, but they were definitely deer. Oh yeah, its hunting season, these guys were up high to avoid the hunters. We continued on as the deer were not sticking around to find out what we were. On up into the steepest part of the climb, which considering other mountains, is not bad at all. We started to see the Pika now, cute little critters and they were in abundance. We got a little further up the trail and stopped for a short breather, not bothering to sit down when my daughter asked me "what is that?" My response, "what is what?" Apparently her eyes are a lot sharper than mine because it took a few for me to see what she was pointing at. A Ptarmigan, perfectly camouflaged. Hunger started to show up, our stomachs making some odd sounds, so, at the suggestion of my daughter, we stopped and ate one of our sandwiches, giving us a boost in energy. Within minutes we were at the top ridge just before the summit boulders, the sun breaching the ridge line. We continued on up into the boulders, by this time we saw two guys heading up towards us. Surprising to me, we were the first on the summit for the day, my daughter taking the lead. We held the summit to ourselves for about 5 minutes which seems to me to be a long time for Bierstadt. The two guys made it up and were nice and took a photo for us. They headed for the sawtooth as we headed back down. We saw the last of the Pika before they remained behind us. We finally spotted what was to be the only Marmot we would see on this hike. Here come the people, more and more, the mountain turning into a busy metropolis, people of all ages enjoying the outdoors. We started hearing reports of a moose in the lake below. This would be the best photo I would get, as it vanished into the willows before we ever got close. We made it, the summit and back, arriving back in the parking lot at 9:45am. My daughter never had an asthma attack, her strength and attitude making this day memorable for both of us. A great day!!
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I'm an asthmatic as well. I used to have it really bad with cold/allergy/exercise induced. So hiking 14ers used to be really hard. Now, with proper medication to reduce inflammation, I have few problems.
Having 30% lung capacity myself this really resonates with me. Great job to both of you! Kelsey: excellent work overcoming what life has given you and best of luck in your continued journey.
Welcome to a community of people who climb mountains not only for enjoyment but also for self-fulfillment!
She loved the comments and she loved the climb. She really wants to get into technical climbing as well so I am in the process of getting us both enrolled in a class. Soon enough she will be outdoing me, which means probably next week.
This is so cool. Kelsey looks very happy and her determination is really inspiring. Very neat that you guys were the first on the summit, too.
What a great experience for you and your little girl... nice work to both of you!
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