On the road at 4AM (ugh...) and stepping off from the Greys Peak trailhead at 7AM. Awesome hike! Mostly well worn trails with some rock scrambling thrown in at times. Hit the top of 14,270 foot Grays Peak around 8:45. Good time, but I was pushing it pretty hard.
Small world, on the peak of Grays I met a duo from Boulder who were attempting to climb all the 14ers and drink a micro from Oskar Blues at the top! So there are more members of the high altitude drinking team!
Took about 45 minutes for the HABDT to cross the ridge from Grays to Torreys, where of course we all had another beer. These two peaks are in the middle of the continental divide, and any way you looked all you could see were more mountains. Woohoo!
Left Torreys in good shape and was back at my jeep around 11:30AM. I knew my next stop was in Fairplay to scout for CoTex, but I decided to drop by Quandry Peak along the way for an attempt at a third 14er.
Things weren't looking too good as I arrived at the Q trailhead. There were some pretty funky clouds in the sky, and this is an area known for pretty violent storms. Of course, that didn't phase me, and I began my ascent.
Kept looking skyward, but the clouds couldn't decide what to do. It was still nice out, but I could hear a lot of rumbling off in the distance. But the clouds weren't moving, so I kept on heading up.
At treeline, about 1/3 of the way up, I just had an eerie feeling. Still couldn't figure out what the weather was gonna do, so I decided to fire up a cigar and hang out for a bit, hoping the weather would clear.
After about half an hour the weather hadn't done anything, but I still had a gut feeling to head down so I did. And not two minutes after I turned around the storm hit. Pretty violent hail, lots of lightening, high winds. The whole shebang. Heard two thunder claps that were louder than any explosion I heard in Iraq. I'm sure glad I stopped to have that stogie, or I woulda been up on an exposed ridge during all of this, and not down in the relative safety of the forest. Hell, can't say for sure, but it's quite possible a Philly Blunt saved my life!
Keeping up on the internet posts, I know there were people exposed on the ridge during this, and I hope they made it down alright.
Pics of the adventures can be found here.
6 comments:
Looks way cool, I totally have trail envy.
How many times do you read the line "a philly blunt saved my life," specially coming from such an anti-hippy like you
How am I the anti-hippie?
Do you not count last year's Pikes Peak Ascent as shitty mountain weather? I guess you must have gotten up too fast and mist the worst of it.
Nope. I finished under sunny skies and warm temps. I was in the mall drinking coffee during the bad weather.
You really got some absolutely beautiful scenic shots on this trip. Too bad my out-of-shape arse couldn't make it up that mountain because I'd love to see those views in person!
YOU went to a MALL??
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