Seven Steps And Three Breathes: Our Oddesey To The Top of the Rockies

July 10 2006

My Wife and I flew into Denver on Saturday afternoon, to a strange weather system that had held out for days. We stopped by REI in Denver to grab some fuel and supplies and then headed out west on I-70 towards the Central Rockies. We had planned on staying at the Nordic Lodge in Twin Lakes (which was great) for one night and have a go at Mt. Elbert the following morning. As we woke up to the same bad weather we decided to wait it out another day and do an acclimatization hike, while exploring Independence Pass. The rain came and went most of the day but the gray sky persisted and blocked any hopes we had of seeing the ridges above us. Heading back to The Nordic Lodge around 6:30 PM we extended our stay another night and fell into many small cycles of sleep. Awaking naturaly around 4:30 AM we went to the window to check the sky and to our delight the sky had completely cleared. Packing up and breakfast was now our first priority and the excitement that flows in your viens when you know you'll have a go for the summit put smiles on our early morning faces. Starting on the trail around 6:00 AM we watched as the alpenglow lit the surrounding mountain walls in a pinkish orange bath of light. The first thousand feet was smooth and as we aproached timberline we knew an even and relaxed pace would surely serve us our summit. Seven steps and 3 breathes we synched our pace and quickly became entraced by the repetitiveness of the counting. Time seemed to dismiss itself from our existance as we climbed higher and higher up the mountain. As we rounded the final steps up to obtain the ridge we knew we had made it and there were only steps between us and the top of not only colorado but the whole Rocky Mountain chain. We sat at the summit all by ourselves for about thirty minutes before descending. On the way down we saw lots of curious marmots as we stopped for lunch. We were back at the car around 3:00 PM and sat in the car while the day played in repeat our oddesey to the top of the Rockies.

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