Mike and I tried this on May 27, 2000, with me
summiting but Mike having to bail because of bad knees.
Following is a trip report I wrote that day. Photos follow.
Well, the weekend hasn't turned out like
planned so far. We went up to the base of Quandary
Pk. (14,265' - one of the easy 14ers, although
less so when covered with snow - read on) SW of
Breckenridge and car camped last night. It snowed
about an inch or so overnight. We then hit the
trailhead for Quandary at 6:20AM with a day that
started mostly clear and rapidly became very clear.
We broke out of the trees in under a mile, and then
it was just a two mile ridge walk to the summit.
"Just" in this case, however, was on
packed, icy and blown (and blowing! It was WINDY this
morning) snow, which was very hard when we started up
it. With a 38 degree incline on some of the upper
slopes, a little care was in order to not start
sliding in a way that couldn't be
stopped.
At about 13,000' I noticed Mike had
stopped back behind me on the ridge. This isn't
that unusual (to go up somewhat spread out), so I
just kept going. Then I noticed he wasn't coming
up any farther. At first I figured the slope with the
fresh snow on top of the old hard pack was perhaps
keeping him down below. He didn't appear to be
waving or trying to attract my attention, and I
didn't want to lose the 250-300' elevation
gain I had made above him by that point. So I kept
going and summited at 9:00AM, and after spending
about 15 minutes up there admiring the views
(especially of the Sawatch Range to the W and SW, and
the Gore Range to the N - both spectacular) I headed
back down. I met a man on the way up that told me
that Mike had hurt his knee and was headed back down,
but going slowly so I should be able to catch
him.
Coming down between 9:15 and 10:00, the snow
had already softened so much from the sun that what
was somewhat anxious going in places on the way up
due to hard snow and slope angle was reduced to
plunge stepping and post holing on the way down - not
scary at all - just work.
I caught up with Mike at treeline, and we went
the rest of the way down together. He was hobbling
some, and in pain, but mobile. It turns out he had
been stepping across a boulder field and had not
realized where he was stepping was actually a hole
because it had new snow in it and blown across it,
and his foot went into the hole, his body leaned one
way, his knee the other, and pop! (both of Mike's
knees have been "trick" [read as
"shot"] since he was in junior high - not
that it minimizes this incident - it is just that his
knees are problem areas). We made it back to the car
by 11:00AM, and were eating in Breckenridge by 11:30,
and were home around 2:00. He seems to be OK now, all
things considered, but will probably be sore for some
days.
I will probably go up and do some hiking and
bouldering tomorrow and Mon., but won't be
camping tonight and tomorrow night, as planned. Sigh.
Oh, well. At least the injury wasn't serious. AND
I summited. :-) One lesson learned - on this trip, in
an interest to be "lightweight," I
hadn't taken a camera, since I knew Mike had his.
The result? I will have no pictures of this trip,
other than what's in my head, and a few ant-like
specks, (one of which will be me) on the slope far
above that Mike took from where he was stationed
before he began his descent.
Official trail guide mileage and elevation
gain: 6 mi. round trip, 3,365' elevation gain.
Round-trip time, 4.67 hours. Given that the guidebook
says this route should take 6.5 hours in the
*summer*, I don't feel bad doing it in about 25%
less time, given the snow, and the descent with a
slow partner.
We saw about 10-12 other people. Two we met on
their way down - they had gone up starting at 2:00AM
to get to the top before sunrise, and then had spent
a very windy and cold time up there waiting for it
(they wore crampons, which I would have too if I had
been on those slopes in the dark dead of night). I
followed, then passed, a skier (he climbed up in
boots) on the final summit block, and then talked
with him at the summit. He was getting ready to ski
down one of the S. side couloirs (imagine skiing that
same 3,365' down in less than a mile, as opposed
to three - that's basically a 60 degree slope).
We probably met about 7-10 more people on the way
down. For a 14er, that's
"uncrowded."
As the trip report noted, I didn't take a camera,
so I have gleefully ripped a few photos off the Web just
to show what it looks like.
