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Peak(s):  Quandary Peak  -  14,272 feet
Date Posted:  07/20/2008
Modified:  07/21/2008
Date Climbed:   07/19/2008
Author:  rlynn
 The Legend of Quandary Peak and the Magical Trekking Poles   

Route: Quandary Peak - East Ridge
TH Elevation: 10,850
Summit Elevation: 14,265
Elevation Gain: 3,415
RT Length: 6.75 miles
RT Time: 5.5 hours
14er Count: 6



For the last 4 days I was planning on hiking Quandary Peak and had been asking friends if they'd like to tag along. It turned out that all my hiking friends were busy this weekend, so I decided there was no reason for me to not do it by myself. This would be my first solo ascent, and I was pretty excited for it.

Friday night I decided at the last minute to go to the Rockies game, and I hadn't had much to eat since lunch that day. In retrospect, this was probably dumb, but it didn't hurt me too much. So I got home from the Rockies game at 10:30 and fell asleep at 11:00pm. Three indescribably short hours later, I hear my alarm going off. I took my time getting ready because my goal was to leave Boulder by 03:00. I'm just about ready to get in my car to leave the house when I think, "Oh crap, a headlamp might be a good idea." The whole time I intended on taking it, but I'm sure you know how forgetful one can get with the excitement of the forthcoming adventure.

At this point I still hadn't had much to eat, but I had to get gas anyway, so I figured I'd grab some gas station grub. A bottled Starbucks frapaccino, a 32 oz Gatorade, and a pack of Powdered Donettes later, I was psyched and on my way.

02:50 - Depart Boulder

The drive toward Breck was pretty nice because there were only about 4 cars on the westbound lanes of I-70 - much better than the standard at 7am on a February Saturday.

04:40 - Arrive Quandary Peak TH

When I got to the TH, there were about 10 cars already there, so I'm thinking, "Great, there's gonna be a party train heading up the slopes with me." While I was lacing up the kicks and otherwise prepping for the trek, there were no other signs of life besides the cars. After the headlights on my car went out, I realized that starting in the dark by myself for the first time was actually pretty creepy - especially being in the foresty area in which I was. Several weeks ago I did a night hike of Bierstadt, but 6 others accompanied me, so it was a completely different experience.

05:00 - Depart TH

Looking up McCoullough Gulch Road, I could just barely start to see some ambient light, so it was necessary to still use my headlamp while in the foresty area at the start of the hike. Good thing I wasn't a complete idiot and remembered my headlamp before I left. The trail was fairly easy to follow, even in the dark. Although, because it was dark (and I was by myself for the first time) I was second guessing myself the whole time. However, I knew I was on the right track when I came across the large boulder on the right side of the trail near 11,000' as mentioned in Bill's route description.

Creepy section of trail - 05:07
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More and more light started appearing quite rapidly at this point, so I spent a lot of time taking pictures once I finally got into some clearings.

Clearing just below 11,300' - 05:19
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Looking east from the trail - 05:21
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Once I got to a more open clearing at 11,600', I saw to the east what appeared to be Gray's and Torrey's (if I'm not an idiot - please feel free to mock me if I am).

Gray's and Torrey's in the east - 05:30
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After about 05:30, it was no longer necessary for me to use my headlamp. So I packed it up and took the opportunity to change head gear from a stocking cap to a baseball cap and delayered a little bit since I was starting to perspire. After another minute or two I caught my first glimpse of Quandary Peak. Here I began to be concerned about the clouds behind Quandary. They looked like they COULD develop, but at this point they didn't look bad enough for me to turn around. They disappeared quickly and the weather couldn't have been any better.

Quandary Peak just barely in view - 05:33
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I finally came across the junction of the two trails as described in Bill's route at 05:42. It took me quite a while to get this far when it probably should have taken maybe 25-30 minutes. Turns out delayering, picture taking, tripod setting, and camera strap fixing takes a few minutes. Who knew? My pace was pretty slow because of all the photographs I was taking, but I had all day, so I wasn't trying to set any land speed records.

Another view of Gray's and Torrey's - 05:44
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At this point I'm now approaching ~1.25 miles in, and this is where I start to gain elevation a little more rapidly. Once I got on more of the west side of the ridge, the views started opening up quite a bit.

Looking west from the trail - 05:49
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Almost an hour into the hike, Quandary shows herself again with some sunlight on her east side. I was pretty impressed with the views thus far. The scenery to the west was quite spectacular.

Morning sun shining on Quandary - 05:56
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Sun, moon, tree, and ridge looking west - 06:00
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It wasn't until 06:00 when I first saw other hikers. They were quite a distance up the ridge on their way down when I saw them, so I went most of the hike without contact with anyone. That's pretty much what I was hoping for today since it was my first solo 14er, so I was in a good mood despite seeing 10 cars already at the TH.

Looking east - 06:06
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The sun became visible over the mountains to the east just after 06:00, and it provided some nice warmth. It was slightly windy in the open areas, but most of the time it was pretty calm before gaining the ridge. I spent another 15 minutes hiking without taking any pictures, which I believe was the longest stint of the day with my camera off. I was enjoying the stunning views when I came around a bend and was surprised to see this guy...

Magnificent mountain goat - 06:20
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I think this was probably the highlight of the day. I've never seen a mountain goat this close before, and these animals are simply beautiful. Their coats are a pure white that looked amazing in the morning sun. He sure wasn't afraid of me and minded his own business munching on some grasses while I passed by just a few feet away from him. I saw one other goat later in the day, but the first encounter took the cake. My timing was just right because I never saw any others nearly as close as the first guy.

The trail was easy to follow the whole time and never had to do any routefinding. Although, I was extremely happy to see several "karens" just in case I happened to get lost (see )

A "karen" ensuring I'm on the right track - 06:34
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It was at this point where I finally gained the ridge and I could see the rest of the route up the ridge. There was a flat section just above 13,000' about 100 yards long, which was very welcomed after a lengthy section of substantial elevation gain.

First hiker I came across, pic taken from flat section at ~13,000 looking northwest - 06:47
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The last half mile of the hike was extremely steep and took me about an hour to complete.

The remaining route as seen from just above 13,000' - 06:51
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About halfway up the last stretch of the ridge I saw an apple lying on the corner of a switchback. I noticed it had only 1 bite taken out of it. I thought that was pretty weird and did not pack it out at this point. I did have a ziploc bag, but it was currently occupied by my PB&J. I made a mental note of where it was and decided I'd pick it up on my way down.

I was about 10 minutes from the summit when I took a short break to hydrate and grab a quick snack. It was at this point that I realized my trekking poles SUCKED. I don't know when it happened, but the picture says it all.

WTF?!? - 07:39
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It was exactly four minutes later when I took another quick break to drink some water. It was at this point that I realized my trekking poles REALLY SUCKED THE BIG ONE.

You're kidding right? - 07:43
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07:50 - Arrive at Quandary summit

When I finally arrived at the summit, there were 3 others already chilling out. It was nice having the summit almost all to myself, and I'm glad I departed as early as I did. About an hour later is when I could see the entire conga line coming up the ridge. It took 2:50 for me to get from TH to summit, which was pretty acceptable with all the time I spent taking pictures.

View from summit with the group in front of me, looking southwestish - 07:50
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I spent 45 minutes on the summit eating my PB&J and jerky, drinking my water, and chatting with the group that was there with me. The views were quite amazing for a class 1 14er. I was pleasantly surprised, and I'm glad I did it by myself. I could see Gray's and Torrey's to the east, Sherman and Gemini (again, I hope I'm not an idiot) to the southwest, and Massive (that's what the other group pointed out) to the north. I enjoyed my time on the summit and decided to descend before it got too crowded on the ridge.

08:35 - Depart summit

About 2 minutes into my descent I came across something quite surprising. After the previous happenings with my trekking poles, I was thinking there MIGHT be a chance to find the parts that had broken off. My hopes weren't high, but there's always a chance.

What were the chances I'd actually find this? - 08:37
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I must have done a really good deed sometime this week because Karma, though most times a bitch, decided to be good to me.

About 15 minutes later, a good portion of the way down the final ridge, I came across the same apple I had talked about earlier. However, this time I noticed something REALLY weird. When I picked it up to put it in a ziploc bag, it appeard to have 2 bites taken out of it. I really hope it was actually 2 bites when I first saw it and maybe didn't see the whole thing, but I don't think that was the case. Gross.

I was down to the flat area at ~13,000' in about 35 minutes and I was making pretty good time. That's where it stopped. I'd say that I spent 15 minutes total letting ascenders pass because there were so many of them. One reason I figured Quandary was a good first solo summit was because it would be busy enough I wouldn't have to worry had I gotten hurt in some way. Well, if I had gotten hurt, it would have been a bad situation anyway. I would have gotten in the way of all 45,000 people that climbed it. Good thing I didn't get hurt.

A little bit farther down the trail I saw a lady on her cell phone chatting away. I'm pretty sure she was talking to her hair dresser I just don't get that. I bring my cell phone, but I only keep it on to check the time.

So I'm making my way down the trail, stopping every so often to let people going up have more room. I know there was a thread discussing whom should move, ascenders or descenders. I don't think there's an actual RIGHT or WRONG way to do it, but I always offer the trail to whomever I encounter, whether I'm going up or down. Personally I prefer giving the right of way to the downclimbers as that gives me another chance to rest on the way up. I don't think momentum has much to do with it on the way up. I find it's easy enough to start up again.

Most people to this point asked, "How much farther?" I like to be encouraging, but I don't want to give false hope. So to most of them I said, "You're getting there. It's slow going, but just one foot in front of the other." I finally get to treeline and start to get back into the foresty area and when I got to the big boulder on the west side of the trail, I came across a family with a 4 year old and what looked like a fairly newborn infant. I really can't accurately guess his age, MAYBE a year? The father then asked me, "So how much farther to the summit?" This was about 10:15, which isn't terrible. But the thing that got me...he asked how much farther when they were 10 minutes INTO the hike. It seemed like they weren't aware at all of how long the hike was (didn't know whether is was 1 mile or 10), but wanted to summit anyway. I don't know if that was the case, but that's sure what it seemed like. Hopefully they didn't run into any problems.

About 5 minutes from the TH I saw some flowers, and I decided that I need to do some artsy fartsy stuff.

Purty flowers - 10:26
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About 30 yards from the TH I came across a plastic grocery sack hanging from a low lying tree branch. It caught my attention and it was some canine defecation. Not knowing how long it had been there, I decided to go ahead and pack it out. I'm guessing whoever left it there was probably going to pick it up on the way out, but I decided I'd do it anyway, just in case.

10:30 - Arrive at car

All in all, it was a great day. I'm glad I went solo, and Quandary is #6 on my 14er checklist. It's nice to now be able to use TWO hands to count my 14ers. The trail was extremely easy to follow the whole way and the small amount of snow toward the top is easily avoidable. Just be sure to start early on this trail because if you don't, it gets VERY busy pretty quickly.

Thanks for reading.

Ryan



Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20


Comments or Questions
cftbq
User
Good for you!
7/20/2008 4:22pm
Some people show a lot of reluctance about setting out solo for any 14er. As you saw, route finding really isn‘t much of a problem on a lot of them. Q makes a nice night hike, too, what with the views from the top. (We did it last August, getting to the summit just in time for sunrise; now that‘s a cool experience!)


CUaaron25
User
Nice
7/21/2008 6:24pm
picture of the moon just over that ridge!!!


CUaaron25
User
sorry
7/21/2008 6:25pm
I hit submit twice and can‘t figure out how to delete the second comment.


rsincavage
User
Nice goat!
7/21/2008 9:17pm
Bummer about the poles, though. I‘m hoping to do some peaks in the Elks and San Juans in August if you‘re interested before heading back to school.


TriAnything
User
Nice
7/21/2008 10:59pm
Nice report... made me laugh at a much needed time here at boring work!


rlynn
User
Thanks all
7/22/2008 6:40pm
53 - my poles are Mountainsmith Incline 7075‘s. I got them two years ago, and to this point I have only used them on Sherman, G&T, Bierstadt, and Quandary. I may go to REI to see if they can help me out at all with replacements.

Steph - I‘d be up for that. I‘m starting to feel the need, the need for exposure.


rlynn
User
Rev -
7/22/2008 6:40pm
My last day of work is Aug 15, so I could possibly be persuaded. I think I‘m doin Humboldt next weekend, Yale the weekend after - so that leaves me the weekend of Aug 9 and (possibly) Aug 16.


Yog
User
Trekking Poles!
8/28/2008 12:37am
I laughed quite hard reading about and seeing your poles! I go through trekking poles A LOT and have had that same thing happen to mine...usually due to crossing boulder fields etc. I‘m also very glad you found some Karens to keep you company on the way up


rlynn
User
I went in to REI yesterday
11/30/2010 5:28pm
to see if they would help me out at all with those trekking poles. The guy I talked to said there wasn't much they could do in the way of repairs, so he just gave me my money back, no questions asked. I ended up just using that $ toward a new set, Black Diamond Trail Backs, hopefully they'll last longer.


KentonB
User
Awesome!
1/5/2011 5:15pm
I haven‘t done Quandary yet. I think I‘m going to save it for a winter ascent and/or hike the Class 3 section on the West ridge.

Just to satiate my curiosity, what kind of trekking poles do you have? Judging from the baskets, they look almost new. I‘m surprised they gave out on you so quickly!


Ridge runner
User
good job bro
2/1/2011 12:24am
Congrats on your first solo! It‘s amazing how we can second guess ourselves when on our own, but the more you do it the more confident you become. Now we just need to get you a helmet and started on some more class 3 stuff. Kudos for picking up that trash, karma should be returning for you again.


LoneStar
User
Nice Report!
2/5/2011 12:22am
Thanks for the great pix, especially the ones with the moon hovering overhead. When I hiked in May, the route above treeline was snow-covered, so your pix help me see the true nature of the landscape. Nice report!



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