Mt. Blue Sky Trip Report 06/21/2013

Peak(s):	Mt. Blue Sky - 14,268 feet
Date Posted:	06/21/2013
Date Climbed:	06/08/2013
Author:	Kyle Kaufman

Mount Evans Climb
My girlfriend and I have both had goals of climbing 14ers in Colorado. She has lived here her whole life and I lived here when I was a kid for 8. I moved back to Colorado from Minnesota and I wanted to start achieving my goal of climbing 14ers. We decided to start with a small elevation gain and picked Mt. Evans as our first. We woke up June 8th at 5am and loaded everything up in our Rav4. We got some food and left Littleton to Mt. Evans. We reached the summit lake in about an hour and 45 minutes at 7:45. We started at the summit lake parking lot and started to walk our way up. We found an opening with out snow near the north east face of Mt. Evans. We hiked diagonally to reach the north east side. We came across a nice steep area with hard packed snow that we had to get on our hands and knees (we had no crampons or trekking poles, lesson learned). As first timers we were a little nervous crossing nothing but snow since the slide down if we slipped did not look pleasant. We finally got to the end of the snow and started climbing upwards since we were now on the north east face. The hike up was good. We stopped every 30 yards or so to catch our breath and drink water. We found out quickly that most people that come to Mt. Evans actually end up just driving straight to the top. There was only one group of hikers that came up after us on the same side we were. We reached the parking a lot about an hour and a half later and saw how full the parking lot was already getting. We spent some time looking at the views surrounding us and took some pictures. We then proceeded to climb to the summit. There were some trails but we couldn't seem to stay on one so we ended up just climbing the large rocks to get the top. After hiking 2.6 miles with an elevation gain of around 1,300ft we reached the summit in two and a half hours. The view was incredible and definitely worth every second. It was cold and very windy at the top. We stayed there for about 30 minutes taking in the view and also taking pictures. We started to descend and we felt like taking the road down instead. Ended up being incredibly long and tiring going down that way than down the mountain the same way we came up. Oh well haha. We absolutely enjoyed every second of the hike and we are planning our next 14er and cant wait! KWK Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Mount Evans Climb

My girlfriend and I have both had goals of climbing 14ers in Colorado. She has lived here her whole life and I lived here when I was a kid for 8. I moved back to Colorado from Minnesota and I wanted to start achieving my goal of climbing 14ers. We decided to start with a small elevation gain and picked Mt. Evans as our first.

We woke up June 8th at 5am and loaded everything up in our Rav4. We got some food and left Littleton to Mt. Evans. We reached the summit lake in about an hour and 45 minutes at 7:45. We started at the summit lake parking lot and started to walk our way up. We found an opening with out snow near the north east face of Mt. Evans. We hiked diagonally to reach the north east side. We came across a nice steep area with hard packed snow that we had to get on our hands and knees (we had no crampons or trekking poles, lesson learned). As first timers we were a little nervous crossing nothing but snow since the slide down if we slipped did not look pleasant. We finally got to the end of the snow and started climbing upwards since we were now on the north east face. The hike up was good. We stopped every 30 yards or so to catch our breath and drink water. We found out quickly that most people that come to Mt. Evans actually end up just driving straight to the top. There was only one group of hikers that came up after us on the same side we were.

We reached the parking a lot about an hour and a half later and saw how full the parking lot was already getting. We spent some time looking at the views surrounding us and took some pictures. We then proceeded to climb to the summit. There were some trails but we couldn't seem to stay on one so we ended up just climbing the large rocks to get the top. After hiking 2.6 miles with an elevation gain of around 1,300ft we reached the summit in two and a half hours. The view was incredible and definitely worth every second. It was cold and very windy at the top. We stayed there for about 30 minutes taking in the view and also taking pictures.

We started to descend and we felt like taking the road down instead. Ended up being incredibly long and tiring going down that way than down the mountain the same way we came up. Oh well haha.

We absolutely enjoyed every second of the hike and we are planning our next 14er and cant wait!

KWK

Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Comments or Questions

cftbq	Lesson 6/21/2013 10:02pm Yes: If there's any snow, take at least microspikes! And maybe an ice axe, since then you can really enjoy those time-saving glissades. Congrats on getting started!
No Malarkey	Cool Day! 6/22/2013 3:14am Hey Kyle and GF, thanks for the report. Yes indeed microspikes and at least poles ... ice axe much better in many situations. There is a place on this forum where folks sell their gear, or if you click through to one of the outdoor store links provided on the site, I would imagine it just might give a few nickels to help support 14ers.com. Keep moving, and hang tough on your hikes in the hills!

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