Summits

I felt a little bit off this summer. My schedule never seemed to settle. I was consistent looking for a new apartment on the weekends, and climbing and working on the weekdays. I had planned to do a wide array of 14ers over the course of the summer, but never got to them.

I did, however, get a few in this September. Quandary, Bierstadt, and Evans fell in quick succession. Quite a shift given that previously I had not done any peaks in September, but it was quite fun. I have found, and I don't know whether this is a normal situation or not, that the weather was much more cooperative in September than in July or August. I didn't encounter any major storms on the three peaks I bagged.

In any case, here are a few pics from the hikes.

Quandary: Looking West from the summit.

And looking east, back where we came from



Beirstadt was my first solo fourteener. I only saw 8 other people on this hike, which is a record low for a 14er. The first pic is me on the summit. I tried to get Grays and Torreys in the background.

The notorious sawtooth between Bierstadt and Evans.



Evans was by far the easiest 14er I've ever done. It helps when you can drive up to 12800 feet. But, we saw six mountain goats on the mountain, all told. That's six more than I've seen before.


The required summit pic.

On the way down, we got a fantastic view of Colorado's fall colors.


There was talk of doing Sherman the weekend after Evans, but those plans never panned out.

Overall, though, I would call September a very successful month for 14ers.