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Summit elevation: 14,265 ft.
Elevation gain: 3,450 ft.
Round-trip length: 6.75 miles
Began: 6:00 am
Summited: 11:15 am
Began descent: 11:45 am
Completed: 2:15 pm
Company: Jonathan
Well, ever since completing Mt. Bierstadt as my 1st 14er with Stephen, I couldn‘t wait to go for it again and see how round two above 14k feet went. I choose Quandary Peak because it seemed like a good class 1 route, and wasn‘t too long of a roundtrip.. both factors important to me in case I got sick again. I brought along Jonathan (a fellow law student) for his 1st Colorado 14er (although his 1st 14er here, he‘s a very experienced hiker).
We left Boulder early Sunday morning with Bill‘s directions and route description in hand. It was right-on (as if there was any doubt?). We started heading up the trail at 6:00 am, and that was very easy to follow. The signs that said ‘trail‘ pretty much get you through the trees and once you are out of the trees, you can see most of the trail ahead of you. I‘ll go ahead and say it was a great trail... well-maintained, easy to follow, etc..
Getting started:
It did not stay dark for long.. We got to experience an incredibly beautiful sunrise!
Here‘s a sample of what much of the trail looks like (rocky and well-defined). The rock isn‘t too loose, but just enough so that you need to watch your step.
Heading up the East Ridge.. you can see the hikers ahead of us to get an idea of where the trail is going. The Upper East Slope isn‘t quite in sight yet.
Me and Jon with the Upper East Slope behind us. From here, the summit is approx. a mile away. The ‘summit‘ you see in the picture isn‘t exactly the ‘true‘ summit but pretty much represents where the summit plateau begins. In this pic, Jon is thinking ‘yay, look how close we are to the summit!‘ and I‘m thinking ‘you‘ve got to be kidding me.. that thing looks steep and long!‘
The Labor Day weekend crowds heading up the steep Upper East Slope..
By the way, I got to meet to Coloradogirl65 who was attempting her 1st 14er. She was full of determination and was very inspiring for me. Congratulations on your first and I hope you had a great day!
This part was a WONDERFUL treat for me.. A momma and her baby.. you should‘ve seen the looks she was giving some of the dogs walking by.. ‘come near my baby and i‘ll run you off this mountain‘.. they hung out in that same spot for a couple hours at least.. were still there on our way back down.
Yay! I made my 2nd 14er summit! What a great feeling!
The reward for being up this high is absolutely indescribable.. Nothing like looking out over other peaks for as far as your eye can see..
Here‘s a summit view to the southwest...
summit view to the northwest..
summit view to the northeast with Grays and Torreys in the distance.. can‘t wait to stand on the tops of those one day soon!
Heading back east, down the same trail we took up.. The trail is clearly seen from here down the East Ridge.. however, don‘t be fooled, it‘s not as ‘flat‘ as it looks!
It was about noon, and the skies over Quandary‘s summit were still clear at this point. Unfortunately, this is the view east of what we were heading towards..
We kept a good pace going downhill (couldn‘t go too fast in some parts though thanks to some loose rock) and descended in 2.5 hours. We got to listen to some thunder on the way down, but didn‘t see any lightning. Fortunately the weather held out and didn‘t start to rain on us until the moment the parkinglot/road came into view. We ended up being thankful for the weather, because we got to see a rare sight (well, at least something i‘ve never seen before!) on the way back east on I-70. 2 full rainbows!
If you‘re wondering why it took a little over 5 hours for us to summit, it was because I got sick again! I suppose there were a couple moments where it would have been wise for me to head back down, but it was a pretty mild bout of AMS and I basically ended up taking 1.3 million ‘breaks‘ and promising myself that if it got worse I‘d turn around. Fortunately the taking it really slow and trying to eat and drink as much as possible helped- it didn‘t get worse- although it didn‘t really get better until we began the descent. I felt pretty good on the descent, and it felt like it went by really quickly. I think I must have looked pretty miserable on the way up the upper east slope because every single person coming down who passed me said ‘you‘re doing great! you‘re almost there!‘. So many in fact, that I became convinced Jon must be up there paying people to motivate me while they were on their way down, haha. It wasn‘t nearly as bad as the sickness I dealt with on my 1st though, so it‘s making me pretty hopeful about my 3rd...
Overall, it was an absolutely wonderful day, and I would highly recommend as a first one for anybody.. Beautiful views and not overly exerting... WE LOOOOOOOOOOOVE COLORADO!!!
Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):
Congrats on your second summit - I just had my second summit last weekend too! And as a recent law school grad I can tell you not to worry, once you get settled and used to the pace you will have PLENTY of time for fun!
We both made it!! It was so great to meet you and John, you were both an inspiration to me as well. I do know what you mean about the encouraging comments when heading up - I was slower than a snail but everyone kept up the "you're doing great" mantra. It was wonderful and very helpful.
Tell John hi! And I think we need to meet up again on another mountain
Good job on making it up despite getting sick! You are quite the trooper. I tell ya, next time I climb I am making sure cramps will not be a factor - I felt sick the entire way up too. I'm pretty proud of us!
Congratulations on your second summit, CarolinaGirl! You know what this means now, don't you? Give up law, move to the hills & work at a ski resort for awhile to satiate your growing mountain addiction! It's contagious.
I can't believe that throng of people moving up Quandary.
And you got to see some bad-ass wildlife! That usually makes my whole day.
What's next on the list?
for all the congratulations everyone.. i definately plan on doing more and more and getting in better shape and then learning how to snowshoe!
coloradogirl65-.. YOU rock and i will definately meet up with you on another mountain..
skasgaard- as for what's next on the list.. tough question. but i guess with my lack of camping equipment and/or room in my car to sleep, mixed with lack of time on my weekends, i will spend what's left of the summer in the front range . i know i'm not ready for anything harder seeing as i struggle a little bit on these 'easier' ones, but the daydreamer in me is just dying to do something super challenging..guess i will save all of the things i've been dreaming about for so long for next summer (when i'm physically cabable).. like long's and kelso ridge and others like that..
Way to go CarolinaGirl! Keep up the good work. Sounds like you've had a nice solid start to Colorado's 14ers.
And welcome to Boulder too. You have taste
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