I spent a majority of my summer in Salida, CO, a place where several fourteen thousand foot peaks dominate the skyline. The draw to climb them is inescapable….
With temperatures routinely soaring into the mid-nineties, I often felt trapped indoors. Without Maggie or any appreciable community in town, I also felt quite lonely. The job hunt was dragging on with little feedback from my applications. My anxiety would build until a massive cathartic release was necessary to restore some semblance of sanity. I found relief at 14,000 feet.
22 July 2023 – Castle & Conundrum Peaks
My friend Ryan had another weekend to bag some 14ers. It was time to explore a new mountain range – the Elks. While the Elk Range is a semi-contiguous arm east of the Sawatch Range, the geology is markedly different. Silt-stone, sandstone, and conglomerate give most of the Elks their distinctive “layer cake” look, and the rock is also notoriously chossy.
Ryan and I camped out by the Forest Service road and got moving at 5 am. A majority of our hike was on the dirt road, which goes all the way up to 12,800′. A jeep full of hikers offered us a ride half way up, but we declined, opting to keep the day human powered. Golden hour graced the valley as we climbed.
The first major obstacle on the trail is a steep, snow covered moraine. The snow was firm first thing in the morning, and I initially wished I had brought my microspikes for traction, but the snow field was fairly short, and we were back on rock before the snow became an issue.
From there it was a steep, steady climb up Castle Peak’s northeast ridge. There was plenty of choss and loose scree, but the ridge proper held some solid rock. Ryan and I were on the summit before 8 am. The view of the other five Elk Range 14ers was incredible!
The traverse over to Conundrum Peak looked daunting at first, but we made quick work of the descent and small climb up to tag our second summit of the day.
The real question was how to descend. We saw a couple of people glissade down a sketchy snow gully, which shaved off quite a bit of distance. It was tempting, but Ryan and I didn’t feel like we had the right gear, namely pants or an ice axe, so we hiked back over Castle Peak and down the way we came.
It was an awesome day exploring a new mountain range. The road made for a lot of easy walking, but at 11 miles with 4,800 feet of vert, it still felt like a big day. We refueled with burgers in Aspen and very quickly felt too poor to be within the city limits…
29 July 2023 – Mount Antero
A gleaming off-white pyramid, Mt. Antero stands proudly over the Arkansas River valley. The peak looks quite aesthetic from below, but the standard route follows a jeep road up to 13,700 feet. Wanting to avoid road walking, jeeps, and people, I found an off-trail route up Antero’s northeast ridge.
I got started around 5:30 am near the Colorado Trail at 9,000 feet of elevation. I was in for a vertical mile of elevation gain. The morning light came in as I gained the ridge. I was struck by a bright orange sunrise shortly after leaving the trail as I romped up through the spruce and pine forest. I startled a grouse into a tree, which equally startled me.
Routefinding wasn’t too difficult weaving through the trees. I hit treeline 90 minutes after setting off and finally saw the rest of the ridge that lay ahead of me. It looked absurdly long, but doable. I trudged on, through the tundra and onto to the talus. I don’t mind talus hopping, but it does quickly lead to sore ankles. I decided I would definitely be taking a different trail down the mountain.
The solitude and the views from the ridge were simply incredible. I took too many photos of Antero’s gnarly north face. Three hours in, I could start to see tiny specks of people on the summit, and half an hour later, I became a summit speck myself.
It was wild to look all the way down the ridge I had just climbed. I chatted with a fellow peak bagger for a while and we snapped photos for each other. I could have lingered on the summit longer, but the afternoon cloud cover was building, and I had only packed a smattering of snacks in my little running vest. It was mostly a race against hunger on the way down.
I jogged down the Little Brown’s Creek trail, which added a little distance, but it got me off the exposed ridge as afternoon thunderstorms were developing. A brief section of the Colorado Trail brought me back to my car just as thunder started rumbling through the valley. The hike was 14 miles with a cool 5,300 feet of vert.
Later that evening, I went to a BBQ and the house had an excellent view of Mt. Antero. It was awesome to see the entire ridgeline I had climbed earlier. Horrendous thunderstorms rolled through, and on my way home Salida was graced with a mango rain sunset.
4 August 2023 – Mount Ouray
A somewhat lonely mountain at the end of the Sawatch Range, Mt. Ouray is actually a 13er, but it’s only about 25 feet short of the magic 14,000 line. Once I noticed this oft overlooked peak, I couldn’t escape the idea of climbing to its summit.
Maggie and I had attempted Ouray in winter conditions back in March, but we bailed after a mile of floundering in the snow. The time came for my summer redemption run.
Morning is always magnificent in the mountains, with golden light shining bright on a lovely aspen grove as I set off. After that, it was about 2 miles of shady spruce and pine forest, just cruising uphill. I left the trail around at this point and started up a direct line towards Ouray’s north-east ridge.
It was wonderful hiking through a grove of bristlecone pines before they thinned out to steep talus. I felt like I was really dragging ass at this point, as the slope got quite steep, nearly 35°. It took me half an hour to cover 2/3 of a mile, but I had gained the ridge and it was straightforward from this point on.
The rest of the ridge had a little bit of fun, optional scrambling, which I opted for. The upper reaches of the peak were covered in grassy tundra, and I saw a few bighorn sheep hanging out at 13,000 feet.
I had the summit all to myself. While it’s nice to not be bothered by strangers, I often find happy like-minded people on these summits, and a little human interaction makes these trips more memorable. I scarfed down some lunch as the afternoon cumulus clouds began to grow.
I descended the opposite ridge I climbed to make a nice lollipop. The ridge down was much gentler, but I had a bit of route finding to get back to the trail. I found some twisted bristlecone skeletons down in the basin, a reminder that even the hardiest among us face mortality.
The peak bagging was a fun and beautiful way to pass some time. I felt strong and confident in the mountains. However, my solo adventures felt somewhat hollow and meaningless at the end of the day. It was time for a change of scenery with my one and only…
Distance Over Time 