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I LEFT AURORA AT 5 AM GOT TO THE TRAILHEAD AT 7:30. IT WAS A LITTLE BREEZY AND ABOUT 27DEGREES BUT LOOKED LIKE IT WAS GOING TO BE A NICE DAY. THIS IS 14ER #7 FOR ME SO I HEARD HOW THIS IS ONE OF THE EASIER HIKES LITTLE DID WE KNOW THAT WE WERE ABOUT TO GET A LITTLE MORE THAN WE BARGAINED FOR.
THERE WAS ONLY 1 OTHER HIKER ON THE MOUNTAIN TODAY. WE SET OUT PAST A COUPLE OLD MINING BUILDINGS WITH RELATIVELY EASY HIKING THE FIRST 30 MINUTES.
AS WE APPROACHED THE RIDGE I COULD HEAR WHAT SOUNDED LIKE AN AIRPLANE FLYING NEARBY ALTHOUGH I COULD NOT SEE ONE. WE GOT CLOSER TO THE TO RIDGE AND THE WIND BEGAN TO INTENSIFY I THOUGHT IT WAS JUST A GUST BUT IT BEGAN TO GET STRONGER THE HIGHER WE GOT. AS WE GOT TO THE TOP OF THE RIDGE THE WIND WAS HOWLING AND IT SOUNDED LIKE A FREIGHT TRAIN PASSING BY. IT KEPT GETTING STRONGER TO THE POINT IT LITTERALY BLEW ME OVER TO MY KNEES A COUPLE TIMES.THERE WAS NO PROTECTION AS WE WALKED PASSED THE SADDLE. DOUBTS STARTING CREEPING INTO MY HEAD WAS THIS GOING TO BE MY FIRST FAILED SUMMIT ATTEMPT OF MY SHORT HIKING CAREER ON MT SHERMAN ONE OF THE EASIEST 14ERS KNOWN TO MAN I COULDN'T LET IT HAPPEN. SO WE KEPT GOING 1 STEP AT A TIME.
TOWARD THE TOP THERE WAS A LITTLE PROTECTION AND WE WOULD STOP JUST LONG ENOUGH TO CATCH OUR BREATH BEFORE FIGHTING THE 50,60MPH WINDS.
MT SHERIDAN
TKO #1
FINALLY THE SUMMIT!
ALMOST BACK TO CAR
SOME WILDLIFE ON WAY HOME
ALL IN ALL IT WAS A GOOD DAY ONCE WE GOT OUT OF THE WIND. I GUESS EVEN THE EASIEST HIKES CAN POSE SOME CHALLENGES AND ONE MUST NEVER UNDERESTIMATE MOTHER NATURE.
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on Horseshoe...the wind in that area is brutal! I climbed Sherman in January one year and we had such great weather on the summit that some dudes had taken their shirts off! On the other hand, climbed Horseshoe in conditions similar to yours and I actually got picked up and blown about 5 feet...not very far but freaky nonetheless!
The exact same thing happened to me in October 2001. I was crab walking at times on the ridge and had to stop to catch my breath. I should never have topped it. I take that one as my ”hindsight is 20/20 moment” and will never put myself in what I think now was unnecessary risk. The winds were horrible from that valley behind.....not much protection on that ridge huh.
Reminds me of the saying, you don‘t climb the mountains, the mountains let you climb them.
I did Sherman a year ago with the same thought, easy. Several other people warned me about Sherman's notorious winds. I remember one small notch along the ridge where it felt like a hurricane (as your TR description indicates). Turned into a lesson on ”winter” summits can be like. It may be listed as easy, but this time of year, this is no easy mountain.
Congrats on the summit.
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