That John Denver is NOT full of s@*#, Man!
I hadn't been above 14,000' since climbing Pyramid Peak (left side, 2nd prominent ridge back) nearly 2 years ago so I was chomping at the bit. Pyramid Peak was also the first mountain I ever climbed in my life... how weird and ironic? (July 21, 2001... a very memorable and auspicious date for me). Here's the view from the summit of 14,092' Snowmass Mountain which...
Aron and I climbed together via the seldom traveled "S-Ridge" on the West side of the mountain. What a happy lookin' fella. Incidentally, he climbed the entire day and therefore a lot of technical rock without the use of a prosthetic for his missing right hand; not easy... nice work, homey.
The Bri fro was in full effect and we had a gorgeous, off-the-charts, top-quality climb. One of the top 3 or 4 in my life. We started with a semi-off-trail wilderness approach after a 4:30 wake-up call and 1 1/2 hour drive, then climbed beautiful, solid granite for the entire 2,000 vertical feet of the ridge itself. Incidentally, Aron was mildly bummed that I wasn't looking at the camera in the photo below. Obviously, the ridge was fairly exposed to some serious drops. Would you rather insure the safety of your hand-hold or risk a precipitous drop by looking at the camera? I'm just being dramatic; it wasn't nearly that intense.
The obligatory "Consider your future" shot; The S-ridge is the one in the middle-top that's in the shape of- well- an "S."
This is also not nearly as intense as it looks, but it's a cool photo. This is where we stopped for our post-hike, pre-climb lunch at 9 AM. There was an easy way on to this beautiful rock bench where we dined, but Aron made me climb it. We were at about 12,000' at the time.
The obligatory summit pseudo-karate kid pose. Nicely done, Lefty.
The obligatory Rocky pose.
And of course, a photo for posterity. I have to say, almost all of my most memorable and exciting wilderness experiences have been with Aron- from 26 mile hikes to skiing 13,000' mountains to relaxing afternoon hikes, we've been through 'em all.
14,130' Capitol Peak in the background; our descent route is the ridge in the foreground. Nappy!
Looking down the S-ridge with a tired Bri Guy about 100' from the top.
The intrepid climbers after a quick natural rinse from an afternoon rain shower on the way out... safe & sound.
And of course, the route: Green = up, red = down.
The gully in the center is how we accessed the ridge on the way up. I went in the gully, Aron chose the rib in between the 2 gullies for technical variety.
Snowmass was the only 14,000' peak in the Elk Range near Aspen that I had never climbed. It was a beautiful, memorable, and pivotal 10 hours of my life, and it was truly inspring to stand atop that peak after the transition and life change of the last 2 years. It feels good to visit your soul from time-to-time.
posted by bri guy's country @ 6:13 PM
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