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| 2ND TIME IS A CHARM ON DECALIBRON |
Our Group
PaulPerea(pizza eating fool)
weschun(Does well for having asthma)
globreal (motivated 14er man)
slopestyle(skied Democrat)
n_stitz(camped in tent behind our suv's)
After getting snowed off the mountain on my last attempt January 3rd 2009 it was time to get redemption and finish off the Mosquito Range. As usual I underestimated the difficulty of this route and have come the realization that any climb in the winter is at least twice as hard as in the summer. Five of us drove up late Friday evening and arrived at the trailhead parking lot and set up camp in our suv's while Weschun drove up Saturday morning. I thought I was slick and threw the seats forward laid out an air mattress,pillows and 2 sleeping bags before leaving Aurora. I didn't think I would get cold being protected from the wind so I just took my summer sleeping bags rather than my down bag(mistake). I about froze overnight for some reason I think it gets colder in the car than in a tent maybe the metal on the car or something I don't know but it dropped to -4 degrees.
Anyway 5am rolls around I am eager to start my car, get some heat going, change and get rolling. I won't mention any names but one of the members from our group lost a knee brace and so we didn't get going until I think 7am. Ok I'll give a hint his initials are greal(just kidding man I love hiking with you).
So we hit the road and made it to Kite Lake in about an hour the snow is packed well so no snowshoes were needed yet.
As we started up Democrat we had to put them on. We made it to the boulders took them off and started boulder hopping until we made it to the top of Democrat which was the hardest peak of the day because of the snow. We then Traversed to Cameron where the weather was perfect I was even able to take a 10 minute siesta and eat a slice of Tombstone pizza that I had prepared the night before. The guys said lets go so I got up threw the pack on and was amazed at the energy I had. I'm not sure if it was the pizza or the siesta that gave me my second wind but I jogged to Lincoln. I always wondered what it would be like to run at that altitude now I know. I made it there in no time while the others were not far behind. That showboat jog would later come back to haunt me on Bross as I practically had to crawl to the top of Bross and got a headache which went away after I took 2 Excedrin extra strength.
I ate another slice of the Tombstone pizza got my third wind took some photos and we were off back down the scree trail to the parking lot. I tried to glissade the gulley but the snow was way too soft.
We made it back to the car about 6:30 an 11 1/2 day.
Attached are some photos not in order and Britt will upload the group shots to his website.
Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):
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