Mount Princeton

Mount Princeton
Date Climbed: 5/12/16
Climbing Partners: None
Elevation: 14,197

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            drweiss2

         Daniel Weiss

     The rumble of the truck was comforting as I slowly wound my way up highway 287 to Buena Vista. It was around 2 AM and I had woken up just an hour ago. I still had two hours until I made it to the trailhead, but that at least gave me time to wake up. This is one of my favorite parts of the climb: the easy drive up, radio playing in the background and the steady hum of the engine that promised safety and warmth. In my rearview mirror, there was not the usual black void of a midnight drive, but a yellow blur. As Mount Princeton was my goal, I had brought along my four-wheeler in order to make quick and easy work of the road up to the radio towers.
     Two hours later, I was at the winter trailhead, with a clear four wheel drive road ahead of me. I quickly hopped out of the truck, untied the four-wheeler and put down the ramp. I turned on the engine and the gas, pulled the clutch, pressed the start button and... nothing. Just a slow dead rattle as the engine sluggishly attempted to turn. It could have been the cold air, but having just charged it, it should have been able to start. I tried once more, praying it would start. Again, a dead battery. There were two options: start walking from here, which would double my mileage and make it nearly impossible to get down before the snow softened and avalanches became a real danger. The only other option would be to drive my huge truck up the extremely narrow road and risk getting stuck, or worse sliding off a cliff. I had turned back enough on Princeton and was not willing to concede defeat yet. So as the sun rose, I began the slow, rocky drive up the narrow Mount Princeton Road.
     I was much more worried about this road than the hike ahead. Should I make it to the radio towers, I would have a relatively quick and straightforward climb. The problem was there was no way of knowing how far down the snowline was. Should I run into impassable snow too far down, there would be no place wide enough for me to turn around. And a road this narrow and steep would be near impossible to back down (especially with an ATV blocking my rearview mirror). Slowly the miles passed by. An hour (and some very sketchy turns) later, I ran into some deep snow. Unwilling to risk getting stuck, I found the nearest switchback and managed just to find enough room to turn around and park. It couldn't be much of a walk to the radio towers, and that was good enough for me.
     I was already more than an hour behind and I would fall even further behind because of the snow, but with a good forecast, I knew I had time to give. I began the long hike and within half an hour had reached the radio towers. another 40 minutes and I was at the end of the road and beginning the treacherous hike across the Princeton Trail. Normally, this hike would be quick and (14er-wise) easy. With snow, as I have said before, there was no such thing as easy. With a winter like snowpack and rapidly warming temperatures already, I decided to play it safe and leave the trail, hiking up and down multiple hundreds of feet around avalanche chutes. The work was exhausting and the progress slow, but I refused to quit with such good weather.
     Thankfully, I had been training and working out in order to prepare for the upcoming spring climbing season, and the extra energy helped. Unfortunately, even though I was able to make progress across the first few chutes, I had two giant (and filled) avalanche chutes between myself and the ridge connecting Tiger Peak and Mount Princeton. I could either cut straight across them, risking a huge avalanche, or go up and over (as I had the others) which would add a lot of time and increase the danger on the way down. I decided to play it safe and go up and over again, but this truly slowed me down. By the time I was on my way over the last major avalanche chute, it had been over an hour and I had only made a few hundred feet of progress.
     By now I was on the ridge and had a straight shot at the summit. Unfortunately the snow was just soft enough for me to sink in a few inches, creating slow progress on what should have gone by quickly. Already exhausted, I was at the decision point. Should I turn back, knowing that the snow would grow softer and more dangerous every minute I delayed? Or should I continue and conquer the summit I had already suffered for? I decided to just put my head down and push through. Step by step, breath by breath, I made my way across the rugged ridge, occasionally passing by cornices the size of buses, forcing me to stay back many feet from the edge which looked so invitingly smooth and easy to travel across.
     Soon I was looking up the long steep slope which led directly to the summit. I could see evidence of avalanches directly across the faint trail I could pick out. Thankfully, the snow at this elevation was still frozen solid, and the danger of any avalanche was relatively low. I took a deep breath, put my head down, and decided to go straight up the slope, ignoring the trail altogether. Step, breath, step, breath, step, breath. It was hard work, but the time spent on Insanity (a DVD workout system) seemed to be paying off. Once I had a rhythm, I simply ignored the desire to stop and take a break and pushed. After 20 minutes of solid front pointing straight up the slope, I noticed the angle give way and a cold blast of wind forced me to look up. A little off to my right was the summit, and below me were thousands of feet of snow and rock. A new energy seemed to flow through me and I quickly skipped (more like stumbled) up to the summit, heart pumping. The exhilarating feeling of accomplishment washed over me and I fell onto my back, breathing heavily and sucking in all the water I could get. It was so peaceful. Not a soul for miles around. It was blue bird days like this that I lived for. Where I could sit on a summit and reflect on the beauty that God has made for us. Even the harshness of winter had its own beauty, which I throughly enjoyed and even preferred on most summits. But it was nice to still have the feeling in my toes when standing on a summit for once.
     After a few pictures and a quick lunch, it was time to continue down. I refilled my water bottle with a spare liter I had and began the slippery walk down. In order to save time, I decided to glissade down. Just as I sat, I felt my water bottle slide out of its pocket and quickly roll down the slope. I lunged for it, but the snow was too solid and the bottle gained speed and was out of reach long before I could reach it. I watched it slide thousands of feet, traveling faster and faster as it made its way down to the basin far below. I was speechless. All of my water had just tumbled down the mountain and I still had the most dangerous, hardest, and hottest part of the climb ahead. I stood up and decided to hike down instead considering my last blunder. Thankfully, the ridge went much faster as I was able to follow my footsteps back down. Once across the ridge, I was faced once more with a major decision. I could go over Tiger Peak, which would allow me to get a 13er in, and which would be much safer, but much more difficult, especially without water. The other option was to risk the avalanche chutes once again, now with much warmer temperatures.
     I decided that the best course of action was to run the risk of avalanches rather than dehydration (and extremely hard work). Because I had used so much energy getting up, I had almost none left to work up and down the chutes again and decided to cut straight across the steep slopes following the summer trail. At first, the snow was in great shape and the risk of avalanche was small. But as I made my way down, the snow grew softer and softer under the intense sun. Half way across, I was committed and I was sinking past my boots (a sign of wet slab avalanches). Knowing my life was at risk I moved as fast as my weary legs would carry me across the last two dangerously steep slopes, sinking up to my knees at times, praying for protection. Thankfully, nothing eventful happened and I was standing on the road, looking back at Princeton.
     The climb was in the bag, and all that was left was a difficult drive back down the narrow road (but at least that didn't involve walking). Unfortunately, the sun had done its job and the "easy" hike back down the snow filled road was an exhausting slog which took much longer than it had on the way up. Every step was either so slick I fell or so soft that I sunk up to my waste. A section that had taken only ten minutes earlier in the morning now took half an hour. After another hour of painful potholing, the road dried out and I was able to walk on dirt and mud. The rest of the hike was downhill and the truck soon came into view, and not a moment too soon! I threw my backpack into the back and gratefully gulped down the gallon of water I had saved for my return. I felt dizzy and weak from so much exertion and so little water. Dehydration had set in, and I had made the right decision avoiding the climb over Tiger. The narrow road was slow going but uneventful. I eventually made it back to the highway and set the truck on cruise control. Another 14er down, and a season of snow climbs ahead. 
     Although my desire to summit the 14ers had diminished, my desire to find technically challenging peaks was very much alive. As so many mountaineers before me had experienced, with every 14er I conquered, I wanted a bigger and more technical challenge. As Aconcagua loomed closer, climbs like "Super Star" and "Dragon Tail" appealed more and more. 14ers are amazing and beautiful climbs, and character building. Great for a big mountain experience right in your backyard. But they are not very remote compared with the peaks of South America, Alaska, and the Himalaya. I can only hope that God will continue to open doors that will allow me to lead an expedition to South America and the famous Aconcagua.

Mt. Lincoln

Mt. Lincoln
Date Climbed: 6/22/15
Climbing Partners: Katie and Charlie
Elevation: 14,286

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            drweiss2
            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.