| Make like a Marmot!! |
The original plan was to climb Bierstadt, cross the sawtooth, and then continue on to Evans. I left Denver by 4:00am, had enough gear to spend the night if necessary, etc., etc. Best laid plans, right?! Well, just when I was about to ascend the ridge to continue on to Evans, I did another sky check at around 10:00am (thank goodness). There were clouds. Dark clouds. Scary clouds. Clouds coming out of nowhere and moving very fast. Soooo, I turned around and began to climb back up to Bierstadt. Fast. But not fast enough. Just below the summit, all Hell broke loose. I descended about an hundred feet, ditched my pack a small ways away, jammed myself into a rock crack (that‘s the Marmot part) and said a LOT of cuss words. It was hailing, there was lightining, and lots of thunder. After about 15 minutes or so it made its angry way straight toward the summit of Evans. There was more nastiness coming in from the south, but I saw my window and took it. I don‘t think I‘ve ever climbed and then descended so fast. As I was hoofiin‘ it out of there, THERE WERE STILL PEOPLE CLIMBING UP!!!!!! I told everyone I saw what I had just gone through, and that as they could see, round two was heading our way, but they were supremely unconcerned. Sure enough, just as I hit the bog bridges, it let loose again with thunder, lightening, and rain. You could not even see the summit of Bierstadt any longer. Met two great guys from Ft. Fun while hauling butt down the mountain - Hi Buckethead!! So, be careful - weather is moving in very early - around 10:00am or earlier. Guess I should have begun around 3:00am... 
|
|
Go To Top
|
