Date Climbed: 6/22/15
Climbing Partners: Katie and Charlie
Elevation: 14,286
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Daniel Weiss
Just as winter began to set in here in Colorado, I attempted the DeCaLiBro. This is four 14ers in one day; Democrat, Cameron, Lincoln, and Bross. Unfortunately, I was ill prepared that day, and only got Democrat, Cameron, and Bross. With frozen water, no traction (crampons or micro spikes) for the snow, and winds around 60+ mph and no gloves, I doubt I would have made all four without injury. And for this reason, I returned to Kite Lake to finish off this part of the Mosquito Range.
We had a late snow this year, which delayed my attempt until I could drive all the way to Kite Lake. Finally, after watching the conditions reports daily, the report came in that the road was clear. I arrived just below the trailhead around 7 AM with clear skies and a great forecast. It would be clear and warm weather with only a light wind. This was a nice change from the bitter cold of winter and lightening storms I'd encountered on Bierstadt. All the same, I prepared for freezing temperatures and brought along all the gear I might need. I wasn't going to be turned around this time because of lack of preparation.
I hit the trail and made great time. Kite Lake was still frozen but flooding around its edges with all the rain and snowmelt. What had been a simple hop across the creek just months before was now a river crossing, hopping from one rock to the next to avoid getting my feet soaked. One of the major differences between winter and summer is the speed you can travel. In winter, it could take anywhere up to 7 hours or so to travel a distance of 3 miles. In summer, it would only take 2. Summer was finally here and I was glad to have a lighter load.
Although the trail was mostly dry, there were a few snowfields I had to cross, and even took out my ice axe to be on the safe side. On my way up, I passed two girls whom I noticed did not have an ice axe. Although they had walking poles, it might be hard to stop yourself if you were to slip even with poles. So I decided to slow down a bit and make sure they didn't slip or anything. I was surprised to see that they were keeping up with me even on the slick snow. Once in a while they would stop and look around, probably to evaluate the snow and look for the best way up. At the time I didn't realize it, but they had on micro spikes, which allowed them to get good traction along the snowfields, whereas my boots would slip every so often. Either way, I decided to hang back just to make sure nothing happened. As I made my way out of the lower basin around Kite Lake and into the Upper Basin, I decided to sit down and take a break since there was no need to rush on such a nice day.
Shortly after I had sat down, the girls caught up to me. I asked which 14er they were aiming for today, assuming they were going to hit Democrat like everyone else. They were, however, going for Cameron and Lincoln, just as I was. With DeCaLiBro, there is a trail junction where everyone going to Democrat must turn left and all of the other 14ers are off to the right. This means that if you are going for all four, you have to go up democrat, come all the way back down and go back up to Cameron in order to reach the other 14ers. For us, however, we only had to go over Cameron and take a short walk over to Lincoln. In other words, we were going the same direction. Since it was a nice day so there was no hurry and since we were going the same way, I asked if I could join up with them.
They agreed, and off we went. I was just glad to have some company. As we marched up the slope, we introduced ourselves. Katie had recently moved to Colorado and had already completed a number of 14ers, while Charlie had only completed a few. It was obvious that Katie knew quite a bit about mountaineering so I asked about some of the mountains she had climbed. To my amazement, she had been to South America and climbed a high peak down there, as well as some mountains in California, Alaksa, and elsewhere. She also turned out to be a descent rock climber. At first I had thought they were only some young ladies enjoying a nice hike. It was obvious now that Katie had much more experience than I did and I began to ask question after question about her adventures and where she'd been and what she'd done. I had watched all kinds of movies about mountaineering overseas, but it was pretty cool getting to talk to someone who had actually done it.
Hearing about her adventures made me slightly jealous as I have always dreamed about climbing in the Andes and doing some snow climbs in Alaska. As much as I have dreamed of it though, she had already done it. Although I have a few expeditions I am currently planning for next winter, none of them are like an expedition to the Andes or Alaska. It was exciting to meet someone else who had the same interests in climbing big mountains.
Time seemed to fly by and we were soon approaching the summit of Cameron. Up until that point, the wind had been calm (unusual given my last experience here). Soon, however, the wind began to pick up and push us slightly off balance as we walked on toward the summit. Although it was nowhere near as bad as last time, it was still annoying and a little chilly. Just as we summited, the wind became constant and strong. We had to yell to hear each other even though we were only feet away. Neither of the girls had gloves, so I knew we couldn't spend a long time in the wind (I had done the same thing and had lost feeling in my hands for a good couple of hours last time). I noticed we were standing on a snow bank and gestured to the other side. I crossed over to the other side and sat down behind the cover of the snow. The others followed and we began to add some layers. Katie said that her hands we ok, but I could tell Charlie was cold, so I handed her the inner linings of my gloves. After we had warmed up, we pulled out some food for energy and discussed moving further.
I already had my mind set; even if the others decided to turn back, I was going to get Lincoln in. I had prepared properly for the wind this time, and I wasn't letting anything stop me this time. It looked a long way off, but we wouldn't have to gain too much elevation now, which was great news. Katie was up for it, but Charlie was very tired. After a moment, she said that she was ready to go for Lincoln. We packed up and set off at a quick pace, hoping to get through the wind as quickly as possible. As we began to descend to the saddle, I was expecting the wind to pick up even further. Surprisingly, it became very calm, and I almost began to sweat with the added layers. I took off my gloves and unzipped my jacket vents. In just over 20 minutes, we summited Lincoln, and I had finished my 14th 14er!
After taking the obligatory summit photos and another quick snack, we began the long walk down. Unfortunately, we would have to gain a little elevation on the return, and after such a long time of rest, it was much harder to start another uphill slog. I felt much slower this time, but still not terrible. On our way down, we saw a man moving up the Democrat slope. He was making extremely slow progress. It was so slow at one point that I almost wanted to go up there and make sure he was doing alright. However, we decided he was still moving and there were others descending past him, and so moved on. We passed a few other groups on the way down, and were quickly back at our cars. Relieved to be done, we said our goodbyes and began the long drive back to Denver.
It was a relief to have DeCaLiBro done, and it was obvious it was time to take my climbs up a notch. So as I drew closer to Denver, I began to set my eyes on Torrey's Peak and it's classic Dead Dog couloir. I also began to plan a few expeditions to Long's Peak and the Grand Teton. It was time to try some more challenging peaks and hope that success there would give me the confidence I would need to one day take on a peak like Aconcagua and Denali. The 14ers are still my goal, but I am beginning to think I may have a shot at some of the Seven Summits. Only time will tell, but if God opens the door, I hope one day to achieve some of these summits, and maybe even Everest! But for now, Dead Dog was my goal, and it was time to start preparing.
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