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OK -- so I had to do Quandary -- everyone who was anyone doing 14ers had done it, and I just hadn't gotten around to it. So, instead of slogging up this thing during the summer, I decided to do an early spring ascent.
I met with the people I was climbing with at 5:00 a.m. in the Wooley Mamoth lot on I-70 and Morrison Road. Everyone showed up on time, and we were driving to Breckenridge by 5:15 a.m. We stopped for coffee at Starbucks in Breckenridge (no local shops were open). We arrived at the trailhead about 7:10 a.m. and met one other person (a Breckenridge local) there. We were on the trail by about 7:30 a.m.
The hike up the trail through the trees was do-able in boots and yak traks, but we encountered several snowshoers and skiers. The trail was covered with pretty deep snow in places. We saw the snow cave someone else described on their trip report.
Started getting some good views once we hit treeline.
Nonetheless, boots and our yaks were all that was necessary. It was a sunny day, but very windy on the ridge.
It was slow going up the ridgeline where there were no traverses in the snow, just straight up the ridge.
Four of us summited about 11:15 a.m. It was a beautiful day up on top, and there was no wind on the summit. We spent about 30 minutes at the top. Lonnie (my 12 year old and an old hat at the 14ers) and I had our lunches.
There were some great views that day.
I got a pretty good close up of Grays and Torreys Peaks.
On our way down we crossed paths with Horton, the Quandary Dog. It was amazing how Horton held onto the side of the mountain on slick snow with his toenails.
He was pretty happy going uphill with a guy who was skinning up.
Our return was uneventful, but we did have to put on our snowshoes as the snow was like soup in places. Even with the snowshoes we were slipping and sliding. The group was so much fun!
Well, back to the car around 3:45 or so and off to Breckenridge Brewery to celebrate the nice day.
Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):
We thought sure the weather was going to turn for the worst Saturday, so we headed up Friday! Looks like you guys had simliar conditions to what we had. Great report!
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