Plan assessment

[troy32]

Myself and 4 others making trip Aug 7-12, 2019. Staying in Silverthorne. All reside at altitude of 1100-1200' elevation and only 1 person with experience at these elevations, will be first 14er attempts for 3 of the 5 people in group. Plans are to arrive 8/7 and get one of the hydration IV's done, 8/8 spent acclimating by hanging out, 8/9 planning on Grays/Torreys with 0300 start time under the full moon, 8/10 possibly a few hours rafting, 8/11 Quandary with 0400 start time. Does a full moon generally provide ample light on the trails? Do the trailhead parking lots remain full overnight when there is a full moon?

[Pops921]

The plan looks ok.

If it is clear, a full moon may be enough - but everyone in group should have a headlamp. Headlamps are not expensive, do not weigh much and they are handy to have. I carry a Headlamp on every hike day or night. There was a recent rescue on La Plata - that ended well , because the climber had a flash light to signal the rescue helicopter. He was not hiking at night, but fell and slid off trail and night came .

Parking should not be a problem at those times.

[nunns]

The plan looks ok.

If it is clear, a full moon may be enough - but everyone in group should have a headlamp. Headlamps are not expensive, do not weigh much and they are handy to have. I carry a Headlamp on every hike day or night. There was a recent rescue on La Plata - that ended well , because the climber had a flash light to signal the rescue helicopter. He was not hiking at night, but fell and slid off trail and night came .

Parking should not be a problem at those times.

+1.
What is a hydration IV? Surely not literally an IV? Not necessary IMO. Drink lots of water; stay off the sauce and the caffeine, and you'll be fine.
Take a headlamp definitely, even if you don't think you need it, for the reason mentioned above. You idea of leaving the trailhead early is a very good one.

Sean Nunn

[OG_hokie]

Moonlight is great above treeline and you avoid the crowds. Below teeeline ya kinda need headlamps to move reasonably fast or the pesky rocks in the trail will sneak up on you.

I've noticed alot of people sleeping at trailheads recently. I recently did Elbert starting at 10pm and 50% of the lot was full and we saw no one on our way up.

[peter303]

Moonlight is great above treeline and you avoid the crowds. Below teeeline ya kinda need headlamps to move reasonably fast or the pesky rocks in the trail will sneak up on you.

Plus tree roots and side brush.

[troy32]

[/quote]

+1.
What is a hydration IV? Surely not literally an IV? Not necessary IMO. Drink lots of water; stay off the sauce and the caffeine, and you'll be fine.
Take a headlamp definitely, even if you don't think you need it, for the reason mentioned above. You idea of leaving the trailhead early is a very good one.

Sean Nunn
[/quote]

Yes, Hydration IV is an actual IV drip. I did it last year on my first time out to climb and several others did it too without anyone having any symptoms from the elevation. Who knows, maybe I'm just a sucker for a placebo, but I consider it to be a good extra investment for us folks inbound from 1100' elevation... Yeah, I probably could get same type of hydration benefits from just drinking a couple Pedialytes or a couple bladders of ORS, but it worked last time so I'll stick with it. Gonna avoid anything more than a couple beers a day out there - atleast until we're done with our climbs. Definitely will have headlamps with an extra set of batteries.

[BillMiddlebrook]

Skip the drip and drink some water.

Just like all of those people who buy O2 at Walmart when they get here. Don’t waste your time or money

[globreal]

That's good that you will have two nights at elevation before you climb. That certainly won't hurt. And the best advice to avoid AMS (acute mountain sickness), is to just go extremely slow. Slow enough where you can talk with your partners.

Have you considered reversing your peaks? You could give yourself a slight advantage by climbing Quandary first. That one is 6.75 miles round trip and 3,450 vertical gain as opposed to Grays/Torrey's which will be 8 miles and 3,600 vertical gain.

And if you have the will power (I often do not!) save the beers until after your climbs. Alcohol before a climb does NOT help. Trust me.

Good luck.

[cottonmountaineering]

That's good that you will have two nights at elevation before you climb. That certainly won't hurt. And the best advice to avoid AMS (acute mountain sickness), is to just go extremely slow. Slow enough where you can talk with your partners.

Have you considered reversing your peaks? You could give yourself a slight advantage by climbing Quandary first. That one is 6.75 miles round trip and 3,450 vertical gain as opposed to Grays/Torrey's which will be 8 miles and 3,600 vertical gain.

And if you have the will power (I often do not!) save the beers until after your climbs. Alcohol before a climb does NOT help. Trust me.

Good luck.

Coors light is the nectar of the mountain gods imo

[Above_Treeline]

I live well under 1000', and I don't know that I ever remember having trouble going up to go skiing. Some people do though. I think even significant trouble is possible at ski lift elevations.

Probably won't know til you get there, and get up to altitude, unfortunately. But living at low altitude doesn't mean that you can't handle high altitude. I think I talked to one person who lived in CO, even, that had a hard time above 10k' Depends on the person

I like to start hydrating night before. I include electrolytes generally. I just carry some cheap (about $2) but good flashlights + extra batteries in case I get back late . Full moon is pretty bright, I'd probably still want a flashlight, though