Erik and I had a bet going on about what the gender of my sister Molly's baby. Well since she had a boy, I lost. The penalty, climb Longs Peak.
For the record I have never climbed a mountain. I have hiked, but this was a step above and a couple notches below legit rock climbing. It was one of several 14-ers in Colorado. A 14-er is a mountain at or above 14,000 ft elevation at the summit.
So since we were starting in Fort Collins, we were at an elevation of around 5,000ft. Then we drove to the base (9,000 feet) which is just outside Rocky Mountain National Park and very close to Estes Park. We arrived just a little after 5 am. Some people were just coming down from the mountain. I guess people like to mountain climb at night...um no thank you. We logged in and there were already over 2 dozen who have already hit the trail. Our goal was to summit by noon at the latest. Apparently there can be nasty storms that come in the afternoon that are very dangerous. Several people die on the mountain every year. I of course found this out AFTER we climbed.
We finally made the summit at 11 am, about 6 hours after we started. I must be honest, we almost didn't summit. There is a part on the climb called the Key Hole. It is an area where all the wind gets bottle-necked and can almost blow you over. If that wasn't enough, once you get through the key hole the back side of the mountain pretty much goes straight up. At one point I became very scared and panicked. As I type this right now, I get back some of that adrenaline rush as I am recalling the adventure. We headed back towards the key hole, with me feeling very disappointed in myself. We worked and hiked for so long and not to summit? This would just not do. So after we sat and I gathered up some gumption, we trekked on back up the mountain.
At one point, I was hyperventilating and crying, all the while, Erik behind me and encouraging me until I was able to calm down. We finally made it to the top with our hands red and swollen from climbing in the shadows and snow of the back side of the peak.
YAY, the summit! Now I can enjoy my gummy bears. Ones I had been saving to reward myself at the top, but the view was way better than any German made gummy bear. Marmots everywhere sun bathing and a sea of "mountains beyond mountains".
I felt so proud of myself. I did it. I then turned to Erik to tell him that I was happy we did it, but I probably wont climb a 14-er again. Then a fellow climber chimed in behind us, "Oh don't worry, Longs is one of the hardest ones, the rest are a piece of cake".
WHAT?! I just assumed all the 14-ers were this hard. At first I was a little peeved that Erik failed to mention this little detail, but in hinds sight, I am glad he didn't. I probably would have backed down.
Speaking of backing down, we finally needed to head back down so we make sure we get back down before it starts to get cold. We headed back down and passed a handful of people coming up the mountain. Some people hike up 1/4 of the way up in the afternoon and camp out and finish the next day.
We finally made it to the bottom in about 12 1/2 hours and pretty worn, but not defeated. We were able to take lots of pictures and I wanted to save them till the very end of the blog. So here they are. Enjoy!! We sure did!
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