Well, my birthday was last week (June 24) and my only wish was to go camp at my most favorite camping spot on the planet – on the summit of our local Red & White Mountain (11,200′). Kristine made me a wonderful filet dinner on my birthday which surpassed that of the Sheridan Chophouse down in Telluride. It was absolutely awesome. Most of my good friends tend to be younger than I am, and many continually remind of that fact that I am older than they are, but good Kristine always reminds me I am still young. In fact, at a recent wedding down in Tampa, FL, with my good college friends and fraternity brothers, some 20 something kids came up to me after the 80s ballad blaring reception and and said “Wow, you guys rock. How old are ya’ll?” I thought it was hilarious and responded by saying “Well, most of us are in our mid 30s, but we are all your age (or younger) at heart.” Anyway, some pics of our Thursday night camp up on Red & White Mountain’s summit are below:
Kristine & Sarah hiking up to Red & White’s summit plateau
Kristine, Sarah, & our “clown” tent
Mikey, Rainier, J, & Kona watching the sunset
Alpine glow on Eagle’s Nest, Mt. Powell, and Ripsaw Ridge in the Gores
Sunset from Red & White Mountain
Sarah & Keith enjoying the view
Kristine & Kona
A great campfire and outstanding views of the mountains, valleys, & constellations
Wanting to do a scramble or couloir climb on Saturday, our Crestone Traverse climb changed to a Holy Cross Couloir climb and then finally to a shorter scramble over in the Tenmile Range near Breckenridge mainly due to the ever-changing weather forecasts around the state. We’ve been constantly heading over to the Tenmile & Mosquito Ranges this spring for adventures and they never disappoint. These peaks are high in elevation, are close in proximity to Vail, there are great skis and climbs, and most trips make for great single half-day or day outings. Mikey, J, & I met Reid at the Spruce Creek trailhead around 6:30am and had a great morning ascending the classic scramble up the the east ridge of the high 13er, Father Dyer Peak, and then making the fun traverse over to the low 13er, Mt. Helen, and back down to the trucks. This loop was just what the doctor ordered – short enough to avoid the incoming thunderstorms and really fun scrambling high on ridges. The loop was about 7 miles and 4 hours roundtrip with maybe 3,500′ of vertical gain. This was good scrambling practice for Mikey & Reid in preparation for the Crestone Traverse as I hope to take these guys down there in 2 weeks if the weather forecast looks favorable for the Crestones. Enjoy the following pics of our Father Dyer Peak – Mt. Helen outing:
Father Dyer’s east ridge in full profile above Lower Crystal Lake. This ridge is really fun and easy class 3 scrambling
The boys on Father Dyer’s east ridge
Reid topping out on Father Dyer’s east ridge
Father Dyer summit (13,615′) at 8:15am. Notice the storms in the sky behind us. This wasn’t too inspring but fortunately the storms skirted us
J on some solid rock on the traverse to Mt. Helen
The boys on a class 2 section of the traverse
The more difficult center portion of the traverse involves class 3/4 scrambling if you stay on the ridge proper, which we did for maximum fun
J on a potential low 5th class downclimb
Mikey enjoying this scramble
Reid
J sky walking on the traverse
One more tower and then the difficulties ended all too soon before the Father Dyer Peak-Mt. Helen lowpoint at the saddle
J enjoing a tower view along the ridge traverse
Reid and the difficult portion of the ridge behind him
Mt. Helen summit (13,164′) around 9:30am
Looking back at Father Dyer Peak and the traverse to Mt. Helen. Pacific Peak is in the distance on the left side of the picture
Father Dyer’s east ridge as seen from Mt. Helen’s summit
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