I think Kristine & I have lost track of how many times we have climbed the local 14er to Breckenridge, Quandary Peak, but despite being one of the easiest 14ers to climb in the state, it definitely has its advantages and benefits to climbers of all abilities and experiences. The standard east slopes route at around 5.5 miles roundtrip and 3,400′  vertical gain is a wonderful beginner hike in any season of the year. However, there are more difficult routes on essentially every other aspect of the peak such as the class 3 west ridge, the steep and direct Cristo Couloir on the peak’s south side and the tougher Quandary Couloir and Inwood Arete on the peak’s north side. I climbed and skied the Cristo Couloir in early June of 2011 with the dogs and good friend Caleb Wray and I’ve climbed the west ridge in the winter of 2011 with friends J Weingast, Jesse Hill, & Steve Cizik. I have yet to venture over to the north face, except for a north side McCullough Gulch winter camp one year, but look forward to doing so in the future. However, I, along with Kristine and the dogs, have probably been up the east slopes route 4 times a year on average for the past 6-8 years always in fall, winter, or spring. I honestly don’t think we’ve hiked up Quandary in the summer months yet. The moderate east face also provides for some nice ski-mountaineering and, if you are adventurous, some swiss-bob sledding. Quandary’s great winter access to trailheads, being only an hour’s drive away, relatively short roundtrip mileage, and ease of getting to above 14,000′ really make it a wonderful training climb for higher altitude mountains around the world. We always try and climb it several times right before embarking on any higher international climb. I believe I first climbed Quandary Peak back in June of 1998 as one of my first 14ers with my friend Andrew Norelli after we drove out from North Carolina for 5 weeks to venture throughout the west and climb mountains. I remember that was a tough day yet at the time had no idea it was one of the state’s easiest 14ers. Wow, was I ignorant. But, ignorance is bliss, right? Not that day – we were whooped. Anyway, here are some Quandary pics from over the years:

Me and the dogs on Quandary’s summit in March 2010 prior to leaving for Everest. Kristine & I tested out our Millet Everest boots a few times on Quandary before we left for Everest

Kristine after swiss-bob sledding down Quandary’s east face in her Millet Everest boots prior to leaving for Everest

Kristine climbing Quandary’s east slopes the weekend before we left for Everest in her Millet Everest boots. Our good friend, Ryan “Baba” Aldrich, joined us this day and is behind Kristine with his skis on his back

Rainier & Kona making their way to Quandary’s summit in March 2010

J Weingast, Steve Cizik, Andy Dionne, & Nico Cizik at our 11,800′ winter camp in McCullough Gulch at the base of Quandary’s north face in February 2011

Quandary’s summit with part of our Kilimanjaro team in May 2011 prior to our climb of Kilimanjaro 3 months later

Quandary’s south-facing Cristo Couloir in June 2011

Caleb, Rainier, & Kona in the Cristo Couloir about to enjoy some sweet spring snow

Me skiing Quandary’s Cristo Couloir in June 2011

Quandary’s west ridge in profile behind Kristine as she climbs towards nearby Fletcher Mtn’s summit in December 2011

Jesse Hill, Steve Cizik, & J Weingast on Quandary’s west ridge proper in December 2011

Here is a short video I shot of the fellas climbing Quandary’s west ridge proper in December 2011:

Kristine & I took our great friends & recent newlyweds Rob Casserley & Marie-Kristelle Ross up Quandary during their March 2012 visit as their first Colorado 14er. Of course, Rob has climbed Everest eight times, so it might not really compare, but he did enjoy himself tremendously. J Weingast & Megan Gilman joined us on this climb as well

In preparation for our upcoming Aconcagua trip this December to gain some altitude and to join in on the annual 14ers.com winter welcomer gathering, we headed over to Quandary this past Saturday and had an enjoybale 4-5 hrs on the mountain despite a not so ideal weather forecast. It was really wonderful seeing folks again whom we had met previously on mountains around the state as well as meeting new folks. The weather forecast all week was showing not such a great day on Saturday with winds gusting as much as 55 mph and wind chill temperatures well below zero. However, we went anyway and the weather actually didn’t seem as bad as forecasted. It was a hike on snow the entire way amongst loose rock and some scree and with the temperatures and wind it certainly felt like winter was here! I wanted to at least see the organizer this day, Jim DiNapoli. Since we got started near the rear of the pack, we slowly made our way up to the front meeting and greating folks along the way. By 13,500′, we caught up with Jim who had organized the entire day through 14ers.com. Jim is a winter climbing wizard as well as a great rock climber. He is currently trying to climb all of Colorado’s 14ers in winter, a hefty goal to say the least. I bet he will accomplish this goal most definitely. We saw him years ago on our way into Willow Lake  and Kit Carson & Challenger Peaks in the Sangre de Cristo Range. Kristine & I kept saying how we only wish we could be in the kind of shape Jim is in when we are 58 yrs old. Jim is amazing! He’s in better shape and younger at heart than most people I know my age! It was great to see him again for sure and the three of us had a great time breaking trail up to the summit. Once we crested the short summit ridge, the visibility really dropped and the wind and cold seemed to increase exponentially. Once on top, Jim took a few pics as I had forgotten my camera. However, the dogs were cold, really cold. Kona was shivering even in her doggy fleece and old down vest we had put on her. Rainie was having issues with her paws icing up. I believe the recorded temperature & windchill on top by another 14ers.com member 30 minutes later was 4 degrees and -19.2 degrees with windchill. Not your normal October 27 temperatures! We needed to get the dogs down so we departed the summit while Jim stayed up on top to wait for the other 14ers.com hikers. We chatted with several of the other 14ers.com hikers on our descent as they were still ascending wishing them luck. We arrived back at the truck around 1pm. Here are a few pics courtesy of Jim:

Me, Kona, & Kristine at about 13,800′ on Quandary’s east ridge during for the 2012 14ers.com winter welcomer gathering

Me & the dogs making the final steps up to Quandary’s summit ridge

Jim & I on Quandary Peak’s summit on October 27 for the 2012 14ers.com winter welcomer gathering

And last, but certainly not least, my dad harvested the biggest (in terms of physical size, weight, and rack scoring) white-tailed buck ever taken at Chalk Hill Farm in the mountains near Sparta, North Carolina. What makes my dad’s accomplishmnet that much more impressive is that he harvested this monster buck with his bow! The 218.2 lb 10 point buck scored an unofficial 138 1/4 which puts my dad and his buck in the Pope & Young record books! Congratulations, Dad, on a buck of a lifetime! No one deserves it more than the huntmaster of Chalk Hill Farm himself! Maybe its a good thing Kristine & I are not traveling back home for Thanksgiving because I certainly do not want to try and follow my dad in this respect! Good luck Uncle Bryan, Lee, Cole, & Ransome! 🙂 Here is a picture of my dad & his monster Chalk Hill buck:

My dad and the biggest buck ever harvested at Chalk Hill!

This past Sunday, August 19, I joined my good friends Andy Dionne, Brett Wamsley, and Reid Jennings on a climb of one of my favorite Colorado 14ers, Capitol Peak. I truly always enjoy going back to this majestic mountain as it is the most dramatic mountain in our state in my opinion. Many people call Capitol Colorado’s hardest 14er by its easiest route and I would tend to agree. In terms of scrambling and exposure, it has all the of the other tough 14ers beaten. However, in terms of objective danger, i.e. rockfall, etc,  I think a few others have Capitol beaten. I tend to think of it as the Grand Teton of Colorado with its most impressive north face standing as one of Colorado’s highest mountain walls above Capitol Lake. Andy is currently trying to finish up his goal of climbing all 55 of Colorao’s 14ers and Capitol would be his last of the tough peaks. Brett will be climbing Aconcagua with Kristine & myself this coming winter as Brett’s girlfriend, Maura, will be coming into Aconcagua basecamp with all of us, so this was a great kick-off to Brett’s training. Also, this was his first really tough climb and he did extremely well. This was my 3rd time up Capitol and always enjoy going back with good friends.

Reid backpacking in the 6.5 miles to Capitol Lake as the towering north face of Capitol looms behind

After briefly saying hi to Ted & Christy Mahon at the trailhead, who were finishing up one of their ridiculous 8 hr trail runs, Reid & I backpacked in the 6.5 miles to Capitol Lake Saturday afternoon/early evening in a quick 2 hrs and 20 minutes to find Andy, Brett, & Maura fishing in Capitol Lake. It was a nice evening of camping and sleeping out under the stars. We woke up at 5am and were on the trail at 6:15am after some oatmeal and coffee. The weather could not have been better and the fun and exciting northeast ridge, aka knife-edge ridge, was a great scramble as always. Everyone did great and we all summitted around 9am. We ran into Alan Arnette and his crew just after the knife-edge ridge portion of the scramble and were able to chat with him on the summit for a bit about big mountains and plans in the works. It was great to see him again and it looked as if his crew was having a wonderful day. I think the last time I saw him was at his 7 summits presentation in Vail this past winter. Check out Alan’s awesome blog and site at www.alanarnette.com. We then descended back to Capitol Lake and met up with Maura at 12:15pm. Sometimes on these types of peaks, going down takes as long as going up. After a quick dip in Capitol Lake, Reid & I said our farewells to Andy, Brett, & Maura and boogied out to the trailhead arriving at 3pm. A great 24 hrs out in the backcountry and I think it helped to cure my jetlag from Australia. A few Capitol pics below:

Some initial scrambling at sunrise en route to the boulderfield that leads up to the point called K2

Capitol’s northeast ridge from the summit of K2 (13,664′)

Brett crossing Capitol’s knife-edge proper

Reid on an airy portion of Capitol’s northeast ridge proper

Capitol Peak summit (14,130′) – Congrats, fellas!

I mainly just wanted to do a quick TR to give an idea of snow conditions on Harvard & Columbia for those looking to get out in the upcoming weeks. In an effort to get in a long 14er day in preparation for our upcoming Everest climb, my wife, Kristine, good friend, J, and dog, Kona, & I hit up Columbia last Saturday. After a cowboy camp at the winter TH around perhaps 9,000′ (3.8 miles from the summer TH of N. Cottonwood), we hit the trail around 7am. Kristine & I on snowshoes and J on his plastic mountaineering boot/AT setup we had used on Denali years ago. There was a decent broken trail all the way to treeline which was extremely helpful.

Kona crossing the 1st bridge after the summer TH

It was definitely a slog to Horn Fork Basin, but was a nice day. We broke trail over to the west rib of Columbia and made our way up.

Kona with Columbia behind

Harvard blanketed

J & Kristine making their way up Columbia’s west rib

Yale’s Silver Creek Cirque

Kristine making her way to Columbia’s south ridge

Southern Sawatch (Princeton, Yale, etc)

We gained the south ridge and headed north to Columbia’s summit

Here is a little video I took of Kristine & Kona topping out on Columbia:

Me, Kristine, & Kona on Columbia’s summit around 2pm (7 hrs after we started)…a new 14er for Kristine & Kona

Looking west on the descent

Looking back at Columbia’s west rib from Horn Fork Basin

J was the smart one and got down quick on his skis. Kristine and I and Kona got back to the truck at 7pm. All in all, a great day and good training climb (18 miles RT, approx. 5,000′, and 12 hrs RT).

My girlfriend, Kristine, and I and our dogs, Rainier and Kona, thought what better way to spend Christmas Eve than to climb Mt. Elbert in winter. So, we packed it up and headed down from Vail to the South Elbert Trailhead and started skinning up the 4WD road at 9:15am.

Kristine skinning up the 4WD road

Rainier ready to hike w/ her boots on

Despite a few setbacks w/ our skins and a few blisters, we made it almost to treeline on a decent packed path and then broke our own trail from there on.

Kristine breaking trail above treeline

Kristine with Twin Lakes below

It got so warm at one point skinning up the east ridge, the shirt had to come off – amazing considering it is winter on CO‘s highest peak

Then, we left our skis at around 13,000‘ on the east ridge because the remainder of the route was very dry in terms of snow cover and wouldn‘t be very fun rock hopping in our skins and skis. So, we hiked the rest of the way to Elbert‘s summit in our tele boots.

Kristine climbing above 14,000‘

Rainier & Kristine climbing to Elbert‘s summit

Then, around 3pm, we all reached Elbert‘s summit w/ high winds and cold temps, but fairly clear for a winter summit.

Kona and Kristine on Elbert‘s summit

Me and Kristine on the summit

All four of us on Elbert‘s summit (Merry Christmas Eve from the top of CO!)

Elbert casts its shadow on the Arkansas Valley below at dusk

The Box Creek Cirque couloirs on the way down (Gotta come back and ski one of these)

Mt. Massive to the north at dusk

Kona & myself skiing down the east ridge at dusk

We got back to the car at the South Elbert Trailhead at 6:15pm (a 9 hr ascent and descent, 11.5 miles and almost 5,000 vertical) and a great way to spend Christmas Eve w/ Kristine and the dogs. We even got a little full moon skinning in at the end of the day back to the car.

Hope everyone has a happy holiday!