Sniktau, Quandary, 24 hrs, winter ascent!

3 mountains in 24 hours

Maybe we do get better as we age? I dunno. I went climbing the last two days and I slept in a lil bit today but I am nowhere near as sore as I thought I would be. Started off on Thursday when I was on my way up to Breckenridge to camp out overnight and do a winter ascent on a fourteener called Quandary Peak (14,265feet), and decided to stop off at Loveland Pass and knock out a twelver (no not that kind of 12er! That comes later! lol) called Cupid. It went rather fast and having been up it once last winter and the three peaks to the right of it that are all over 12,000 feet, I decided why not go and bag the two to the left of it (which only one is a named peak called Sniktau). Sniktau is clearly visible from I-70 and is quite impressive. Here are some pics from the day there...





These were taken mostly from the summit of Sniktau and the last one was taken from I-70 near Frisco and Dillon. This is the Dillon Reservoir with Bald Peak behind it on the right. Bald Peak is sometimes mistaken for Quandary Peak which is not visible from I-70 like Torreys Peak (behind me in the summit self-portrait, been there done that!) and Grays Peak (behind Torreys).

After bagging the three peaks I decided to make my way upto Breckenridge and had to make a lil stop at the very popular Breckenridge Brewery. I know, I am a major beer conneseur! LOL! So I stopped in to that very busy beer brewery (see Im not the only one!) and had a Blackberry IPA and a couple Oatmeal Stouts. Good stuff I tell ya! Then it was off to the trailhead and into the -20 degree down bag for the night. Let me tell ya's, just cuz you might be toasty warm in a expedition sleeping bag does NOT mean you will always sleep well, if any, at 11,000 feet! Take my word for it.

Up at 7A.M. and ready to go get on the Quandary Trail, I get the call from Eric, "we cant get snowshoes, they are all out at the rental place." SHIT! "Ok, Im looking at the route and although I can assure you that we will be postholing some today I dont think it will be as bad as it usually is." So, "Lets just try and do it without them." And so we did! I had mine and considering I was the only one to summit that day, I wish I had taken them up. I have to give Eric and Sarah big ass props though. They came from 400 feet above sea level to 10,000 feet above and attempted to climb to 14,000 feet! Thats a very serious undertaking for those of you whom have never tried it. Eric who is 0 for 4 on fourteeners made it to around 13,500 and in 80-90 MPH winds with a -15 degree windchill, if not colder! Sarah had blue fingertips when I told her to go down and drink water and get those nubs warmed up. I have to tell ya's, the class 1 "Quandary Trail" is more like a class 2 in the winter and I keep forgetting how high winds accompanied with cold temps and deep snow, make it very hard to ascend in the winter! Here are the pics from the day...