My buddy Brady and I decided to tackle Mount Elbert last Saturday, April 19th, 2008. (Read Brady's trip posting
here). At a lofty 14,440 feet above sea level, Mount Elbert is Colorado's highest peak, and this was our second winter attempt at climbing the mountain. Last year, we were unsuccessful at summiting the mountain from the South face trail, due to a combination of a late start time, and challenging snow conditions. But this year, we were determined to learn from our previous experiences, and successfully reach the summit. But unfortunately, Elbert had a different idea. As the title of this blog implies, we were denied! We didn't summit, but in many ways the hike was a great success. Elbert helped reinforce the importance of things like safety, preparation, anticipating problems, and sticking to your plan.
First of all, we had to turn around at around 14,200 feet. It was a tough decision, but we'll stand by it. While hiking Colorado's peaks, it's always a smart idea to have a turn-around time. In the summer, this is crucial to avoid afternoon thunderstorms, but it's also a good idea in the winter, to make sure you don't turn into a news story about mountain survival. Anyway, at 7:30 in the morning, at the start of the hike, we agreed to a turn-around time of noon. But when noon came, we felt we were close to the top, so we decided to extend. Then 12:30 came and went. Then 1:00. Finally, at 1:40, we reached the last snow field before the summit. Our estimate was that it could take us at least another 45 minutes to reach the top. Since this implied we would return to the car just as it was getting dark around 7:00, we decided we couldn't push it any further. We both were running short on food and water, and neither one of us had packed a headlamp. By pushing our turnaround time, we narrowed our margin for error, and we decided we couldn't afford to narrow it any further.
We started back down the mountain, and by 3:00 we were back below the treeline. Earlier in the morning, we were able to walk through much of this area without wearing our snowshoes, since the 4-foot base of snow had a fairly consistent hard shell on it. However, due to the warm spring temperatures, this snow turned into a wet, sloppy, mess by the time we returned to it. Instead of walking on top of the snow, we were often sinking through the snow, clear up to our hips, -which we found out is called "post holeing". Not only did this slow us down considerably, but it also put a great amount of strain on my snowshoes. Not long after we returned to the trees, the binding from my left shoe broke, leaving me with no way to attach my foot to the snowshoe. Since we still had several miles of deep snow
between us and the car, this was a problem! Luckily, I had packed an extra strap, and Brady (who will now be known as "MacGyver"), did a great job of strapping the snowshoe to my hiking boot. We continued through the snow, making post-holes, back to the car. About 1/2 mile before we reached the car, my other binding lost a rivet.
This reinforced to me that our decision to turn around at the summit was the right one. If we had decided to go for it, my snowshoes still would've broken. However, the second one would've broken while I still had a lot of snow to work through, just as night would have been falling. No thank you -I don't want to be stuck at night, in late winter, in the Rockies, without snowshoes or a headlamp!
So there were some good lessons for us. First, this is the only time I've ever not stuck to a turn-around time. And unless there's a really good reason, I plan for this to be my last! Second, I'll continue to make an effort to be prepared. In hindsight, I could have used more water or food. But being prepared with an extra strap for an emergency saved my hide. And the last take-away: don't forget the sunscreen!!!! I applied some at 4:30 in the morning, but it had worn off by early afternoon. Now, I'm sunburned between my eyebrows, and on my upper lip. The uni-brow sunburn is not a good look.
Bottom line, although it was disappointing to not reach the top, I'm happy about what happened. We were given enough of a taste of how quickly things can go bad, and there's no question we're going to be stronger hikers because of it.
Enjoy the pictures!
Within the last several years, I've been trying to incorporate woodworking back into my life. Over a year ago, I started on my latest project -a dining room table. While surfing online one day, I found this great solid cherry arts and crafts style table... but it was sooooo expensive! So, I decided to try and build it myself. (This picture is from the furniture maker website.)
