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Page Type:
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Trip Report |
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Lat/Lon:
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89.99581°S / 81.56625°W |
Date Climbed/Hiked:
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Aug 10, 2015 |
Pyramid after being up 24hrs
Aug 10th 2015 I finally stepped up my game and achieved one of the most difficult colorado 14'ers. I didn't save my times but I believe I might have started around 5am. I normally try to start at 4am. Luckily this time I actually paid attention unlike the week before where I completely missed crater trail, but did see 2 moose. It was cool seeing headlamps up way higher. I felt like I was making good time even for not being to well acclimatize. I kept at my own my place. When I made it to the amphitheater I noticed a few climbers ahead. This was the first place I've ever heard rockfall. Wow, that echo throughout the amphitheater was terrifying. I never saw where the trail went and cut across the talus. Going up the gully the altitude started to hit me. I started doubting myself but time wise and weather wise everything looked ok and I pushed on. When I got on top of the ridge I relaxed for a moment as one climber passed me. I watched him as he started the ridge which he followed false cairns that brought him higher then he had to, i did the same thing as well. After my rest and staring at the the rest of the trail I was excited. My first class 4 mountain. The ledge jump was a blast. I get scared jumping over water but this I was fine with ha. Then the super narrow ledge was fun too. I got to a section where a mountain goat and its baby were above me and where I had to go. Shooing them away wasn't going to work so I thought of the next best thing! I peed off the trail a bit in hopes they would go to it. Sadly that plan failed and I traverses a little above them on the side on some narrow ledge. When I got to the green wall I had to wait for a couple of parties to come down. A woman almost got hit in the head from a baseball size rock that just whizzed by. Going up the green wall was a blast. I loved the class 3 and 4. I wasn't to bothered by the exposure. I did cut my knee and got blood on my shorts but that happens a lot. The weather was still nice and I pushed on. I ended up missing the top part trail and cut over to the left and summited. It was an amazing feeling. I might have teared up for a second. That was definitely the best view I have ever seen. I also had the summit alone to myself. I ate a small snack and some Nike energy chews. Mountains goats were walking around. I summited a little later then I normally like to but it was a beautiful day. Three more guys made it up to the summit. I didn't feel like going down the hard part by myself and waited for them. We were the last ones on the summit for the day. After a long break we headed down. We found the right way to descend and going down was way easier route finding then on the way up. I made till after the jump fine but then I started to go slow. They went ahead and we were going to meet up on the bottom of the gully but I told them they didn't have to wait. They waited a while but took off and luckily because I was going extremely slow. I could only take a few steps and them had to stop. It was bizarre and I've never experienced anything like that. I was getting mad at myself and yelling at myself as I took forever. I took another break on the bottom. I kept paying attention to the weather but it remained nice. I thought maybe if I used the bathroom I would feel better so I dug a whole and took a crap and accidentally peed on the back of my shorts. That was gross and annoying. It didn't help. The walk across the talus was relentless in my condition. When I got to the snow I put on my rain pants and tried to slide down and that might have only saved me a few minutes as I struggled doing that. I had no cell reception to call or text a friend and kept making my way. It took 4hrs to get back to the tree line. Yes 4hrs! I was going that slow. It was nice being able to see the crater trail. Then I decided I'll try and take a power nap. I set a 15 minute timer and laid on some grass on the trail just below the lower amphitheater. Two flys kept bothering me as I tried to rest my eyes. After trying for around 10 minutes i rolled up and immediately vomited four times between my legs. No gagging it just came out effortlessly. After that I felt completely fine. I finished the 2nd half in a hour. Besides getting sick the climb was a blast. My favorite so far. An eight mile round trip sadly turned into a 12hr day. Thank the mountain gods the weather stayed nice all evening in the elks!!