After scrolling through my Instagram account a couple of months ago, seeing photo after spectacular photo of the magnificence that is the state of Colorado, I decided I had to witness it with my own eyes. I booked a ticket in a hurry and 2 months later, I was sitting on a flight from Perth to Los Angeles (actually Perth-Sydney-Auckland-LA), gleefully anticipating what was to come. Not only was I going to be immersed in the beautiful scenery of Colorado, a bucket list destination for years, but I was going to meet an amazing girl that I couldn’t stop thinking about. Yes, it was a long flight.
After spending a couple of days in Los Angeles with a partner from previous Cambodian escapades, I was back at LAX, bound for Colorado. On the flight to Denver, she couldn’t take her eyes off the window that overlooked the spectacular terrain we were flying over. It’s possible that she’s actually been drooling a bit, a combination of lust for nature and delusions from lack of sleep. I ran into the beautiful girl mentioned above and we rented a car at the airport, crashing in Denver at night. We were ready to go west in the morning.
Sailing towards Breckenridge in the morning, we were greeted over the first ridge by large timber estates high up in the rolling landscape. These were mixed between beautiful pine trees and large oak trees. Prime real estate in anyone’s book. Then it started to snow… None of us had ever driven in snow before, so a bit of excitement washed over us, as new experiences often do.
The first ride on ‘Breck’ was to the beautiful Hanging Lakes which only took a couple of hours back and was pretty crowded the whole way. The highlight for me was having a ‘shower’ under an icy waterfall at the top. Cold is a pretty decent understatement, that shit was creepy.
The next day, I passed up an amazing whitewater rafting opportunity to climb one of Colorado’s infamous ’14ers’, mountains that reach over 14,000′ (4,240m for those of us using the correct way of measuring). Even though the weather was unsettled at best, which is what I came to Colorado to do, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity. I chose the eastern route on Quandry Peak as my goal due to its relatively easy path and lack of technical challenges.
Calling a local outdoor recreation store the morning of the climb, I purchased a pair of snowshoes, which I was informed was a necessary piece of equipment with the conditions as they were (As you can see I was well prepared ..) It was mid-May, but the snow had lasted and held, falling well past the traditional ski season. Unusual weather patterns seemed to be a common trend on this trip, Hollywood Boulevard was flooded, and Texas also had a combination of deadly flooding and a tornado upon my arrival.
I was dropped off at the Quandry base mid-morning and off I went (this is really not recommended as an early start tends to avoid storms that develop later in the day). There were a couple of people in the parking lot walking around, but otherwise I was completely alone on the mountain the entire time. I guess that’s not a good sign for what’s considered a pretty popular hike. Fortunately, there was a fairly well covered snow path leading up the first half and I was able to follow at least some sort of tracks to the top.
After 30 odd minutes of hiking it started to snow and didn’t really subside until well into the descent. It wasn’t too heavy, but combined with the wind blowing past the tree line, it made for a chilly ride. When I got to the tree line, I was faced with quite an ominous scene. The neighboring peaks to the south were shrouded in a dark cloud and it would not be long before Quandry too was engulfed.
Pushing, I managed to get to the top about 2 1/2 hours after starting. By this time, the cloud had really moved in and the top of the mountain was in the midst of a pretty decent fade. I had heard a lot about this phenomenon before (mainly tips to avoid it at all costs) and was a bit giddy from having yet another new belt experience. That lasted until I realized I could barely see my feet.
It was hard to follow any of the tracks I left on the ascent, so I was left stumbling blindly, hoping to head in the right direction. Fortunately, the eastern route in Quandry is a fairly gentle incline with no cliffs or drop-offs, so I was pretty safe in that regard. However, I still wanted to avoid getting completely lost as I had no idea where I was or where other roads or trails that circled the mountain led. Not much luck in that regard.
I managed to get off the ridge and got a glimpse of the world around me again. Realizing it was out of the way but thinking I might trip over it at some point, I hit the tree line again and found some ski trails that I thought would take me where I wanted to go. Mistaken. They took off in another direction entirely, by which time I was so lost that I kept following them anyway, hoping they would eventually lead to a different path or start of a route.
The problem was that no one had been walking that road, so there was no snowpack. It was also early afternoon, which meant the snow was turning soft and slushy. Great hiking conditions. Snow really is a terrible thing. You’re excited and happy the first time you see it again, but it doesn’t take long for reality to set in and remind you of what a bastard substance it really is.
It was a constant battle to get back down the mountain. She cavalced every step, often falling waist deep in the muddy white goodness. Several times I had to bend down and remove my snowshoe by hand as it had lodged a meter or more below the surface. Yes, I was wearing snowshoes, it was that soft. Luckily there were some small trees I could use to get out, I have no idea how I would have managed otherwise.
The ski slopes eventually led me back to the start of the route I came from and wearily pulled out onto the road to wave at a passing car. The descent had taken me as long as it took me to get up originally. A nice old lady picked me up and after a very enthusiastic rant about the Amish, she dropped me right off at a local watering hole. That proceeded to be a very messy night.
*Be sure to check out this article with images at 7summitsproject.com
