Climb up North Maroon Peak September 11, 2008

Well its been awhile since I have made an entry on the travel blog.  These pictures are from a successful climb of North Maroon peak near Aspen Colorado.  Alan Bartel, my dad, and I made the round trip in around thirteen and a half hours parking lot to parking lot.  It was a long day.  We left the hotel at 4:30am or so and set off from the trail head at 5:30am and didn’t make it back to the car until around 7pm.  The climb went well and the weather held up for us.

checking the map

creek crossing

rock scrambling

A moment to take in the view

Summit at last!!!

There was a family of mountain goats that tracked our progress.

Climbing Ben Nevis April 26, 2008

These are some pictures that I took of our climb up Ben Nevis. Ben Nevis is the tallest mountain in the UK and tops out at 1,344 metres (or 4,406 ft if you like your altitudes that way) and the base is quite close to sea level so the altitude gain is similar to a 14er except you get to keep your breath. We set out in the morning from our hostel which was at the base of the mountain and hiked back down to Fort William where we picked up some last minute rations and then set back up towards the peak. We made it to Lochan Meall an t-suidhe (the lake which was at about 560 m) by around 5 pm where we ate some dinner and then set up camp. The weather that night was calm at times but mostly gusty winds and it got a little chilly.

We got up around 9 and put our stuff in genes tent, that he got for free for spending more than 65 pounds at a backpacking store, and started up the mountain. At around 800 m we started to hit snow. The snow was fairly frozen and slick. It would have been nice to have some crampons and an ice axe but I had left mine at home in my basement. Wei and I pressed on and Gene went back to hang out in the tent. There were plenty of tracks to follow because the weather the day before was super nice. Normally, like the day we had chosen, there are low clouds that cover the last 300-400 m of the peak and make it hard to see where you are going (aka white out conditions). Armed with a great map that I picked up in town for 13 pounds ($26 better be great) and my gps marking tons of way points as we went we made our way up into the clouds where snow met sky.

This mountain has a series of cliffs and gullies that one can easly fall into if visibility is bad. We had been warned about them and took great caution not to get too close. Eventually we found to top where it was quite windy and white. Not much of a view but there was a survival hut to check out. We took some pictures and then headed down. On the way down the snow was a lot softer then on the way up. We made it easy on ourselves and did some glacading. Once back to the tent we met up with Gene and packed up. When we got back to town we checked into a cheep hotel and then treated ourselves to a nice steak dinner. It was a good day.