The Almost- Summiting of Quandary Peak

Quandary Peak looms over Breckenridge, CO. at 14,264. 

My group started the hike around 8:00am, which seemed a tad late for me, I would have rather had my feet on the trail at 7:00 or earlier... 

The scenery was amazing, and once above tree line the mountain towers above,

 surrounded on all sides by peaks and valleys.

There is still quite a bit of snow up there, both in tree line and the snowfields above, so post holing was inevitable. 

After the first snowfield, the "spine" of Quandary lays ahead, and there are piles of scree and talus  between snowfields. There were also beautiful rusty orange lichon(or moss..not sure) attached to many of the rocks, and tiny flowers. 

TALUS!

"SPINE"

While climbing the "spine", I ran into one of the members of "Team Selfish", Pat and his girlfriend Julie on their way down from the summit!

How often do you see someone you know out on the trails? It was very very exciting! :) 

A little ways up the trail the trip leader was heading down and told us that the last three members of our group were 10 mins behind, and that we should wait and head down with them instead of summiting. We were both very disappoint and rather ticked off... especially when we waited an hour for them to descend from the summit. There was only 300 feet left to climb, unbeknownst to us, which made it more disappointing.

I stopped hiking around 13,900 feet, ate lunch and took some photos.

 My traditional carrot, an essential in my pack. 

Including one for my father...which was supposed to be a first 14er for fathers day, but he loved it anyways!

Angela and I with our "Almost summited" sign. 

The hike down went very quickly and soon we were back to the car, and stopped at the Breckenridge Brewery on our way back to Denver. 

Altogether it was an interesting day, though I was disappointed by not summiting, I did hike higher than I've ever been before, and know that I can handle the altitude now!

Quandary will not escape my grasp, I will re-attempt hopefully on July 8th, 2011. 

Craggity-Crag.

So today a friend of mine took me out to try rock climbing on North Table Mountain! There is quite a lot to learn, especially mountaineering techniques, however I survived! I was able to make it 30 feet up into a crevass, however it's very hard to remember you're attached to a belay device!

I have a fear of heights, which for some reason or another did not hinder my ability to climb up. Though I froze on a few occasions, for fear of falling....then I was reminded of the rope.

This is a short post, but I was very excited and cannot wait to go out and learn more! :)

Battle Mountain, Battle.

I hit a milestone this weekend!!  I've been in Colorado almost 10 months now, and I've finally hiked over 12, 000 Ft! The snow pack was still 7 feet in some places, which was amazing, apparently it was one of the snowiest on record!

I hiked Battle Mountain with the Colorado Mountain Club(CMC), which is very close to Chasm Lake, Longs Peak, and Mt. Meeker in Rocky Mountain National Park.

Meeker is on the Left,  then Longs Peak, and finally the giant scree pile on the right is Mount Lady Washington.

Beautiful shot of the diamond of Longs Peak!

 Alpine Forget Me Nots!

Fairy Primrose!

 I was worried that I wouldn't adapt well to elevation above tree line, but I survived swimmingly! :)

The storms were headed in as we were climbing down.

Altogether a successful trip!

Next Weekend... Quandary which is 14,265, My first 14er! :)

Exodus to the West

This is my first blog post, hopefully of many crazy adventures and projects.

I decided, in April 2010, that I was going to move to Colorado from the South Shore of Massachusetts. So at the end of August, I attached a small U-haul trailer to the back of my Subaru with some of my belonging crammed inside, and piled in with my dog Sappho and father. It was a warm day, and the sun was shining when I left my home state of Massachusetts for the world of possibilities that stretched before me in Colorado.

It was scary to leave New England, it was almost as if nothing had existed past its borders for as long as I could remember, and suddenly I was in another dimension, a wonderful dimension. The trip cross country ended so quickly, and soon my father was on a plane back home. It was truly a weird feeling to be away from everything I ever knew, but I honestly do not regret the move. Colorado instantly felt like home for me,  I haven't felt that way anywhere since High School!

Shortly after moving here, I joined the Denver Urban Gardens(DUG), the Colorado Mountain Club (CMC), Rocky Mountain Weaver Guild, and got a job as a shelver with the Denver Public Libraries.

I was 163lbs when I left MA, and it is 9 months later... I've lost 30lbs! I owe it to the fantastic farmers markets, my dog Sappho, and the amazing hiking in Colorado!

The more time I spend outside in the mountains, the happier I become. I set a goal for myself last April when I made the decision to move here, and that was to change my life and climb all of the 14ers in Colorado. These 54 peaks are the highest in Colorado, and I plan on climbing them all, though first I need to acquire more skills such as rock/ice climbing. This summer I plan on climbing 5 of these peaks, hopefully that will happen!

I started this blog to document all of my crazy adventures and ideas, from mountains to photographs to books to fiber arts. I hope that you will all enjoy reading these accounts from the life of a Colorado transplant.