In 2012, I had set my goal set to summit Mount Kilimanjaro. I started training at Beaman Park in Nashville, TN, which had very steep inclines that made it a great place to train at. I also trained in the Smoky Mountains in preparation. To make sure I was definitely ready, I decided to fly out to Colorado to make sure I was ready for the high altitudes.
Having never climbed in Colorado before, I called out there in February to see when a good time might be to come to climb. The rangers told me the roads to the trailhead were still completely covered in snow and were impassable by vehicle. They said to wait until late April. I went ahead and got my flight scheduled for the last Friday of April. Yes, I know I did not give myself much time to acclimate as Leadville is already 10,200 feet.
I got into Leadville that Friday night and then took off for the trailhead Saturday morning. When I arrived at the trailhead, two other cars were there. I met three other people, another guy and a couple, to go up the mountain with at around 6:30 am. Unbeknownst to us, we would be the only ones on that mountain the entire day. It was about 23 degrees out with gusts of wind up to 50 mph making the windchill 4 degrees. That had little effect on us, as we were all dressed appropriately.
We started out at the Mount Massive parking area on Half Moon Creek Road.
We continued up the Colorado trail. I have to say that the Colorado trail was, in my opinion, the hardest part of the climb up. After about maybe 1500 feet up, we ran into about 4 feet of snow. We would easily post hole without snowshoes. You can see all of the post holes we did.
When we got to the Mount Massive trail, which you turn to the left on from the Colorado Trail, there were patches of snow all over the place. The trail markers were buried, which was our first mistake. We continued up the mountain and got past the treeline. As we continued on, it started to snow. We got to 13,800 and finally had to turn back. When we headed back down the mountain and back to the treeline, we no longer saw the footsteps that we were depending on. We spread out in a straight line quite a distance across so that everyone could find our way back to each other. No one saw anything that looked familiar. We decided to continue down and still saw nothing familiar. Finally, after about three more hours of spreading out and searching, I heard water to the right side. I assumed it was the water flowing into Willow Creek that you cross on the Colorado Trail on the way up to the Mount Massive trail. I told them that if we followed the creek, we should find the crossing at the Colorado Trail. We all decided to go down that creek. To get to the creek, there is a very steep descent you have to go down to the water for probably about 60 feet. It is one of those that you are on all fours or you will roll down. Just before going down, I got this pic. It was the last picture I got before my iPhone died from the cold weather. The iPhone is horrific in cold weather conditions below 40 degrees.
We got down the hill to the creek. The woman in our group was already freaking out and crying. I tried reassuring her that anywhere water flows, you should be able to find civilization. The conditions of the creek were pretty bad. It is all grown up around it and there was ice and snow. Sometimes we would post hole and sometimes we would go right through the snow and into the creek. Other times where there was ground, it would be so saturated from melting snow that you would immediately sink into the ground. Following the creek is a very slow process. We followed the creek for quite a distance and never found the Colorado Trail crossing. By this time, the woman was really freaking out. She was wanting me to hit my SPOT GPS SOS button to get help. I tried to tell her that if we continued, we would be fine. The husband talked to her and finally calmed her down. I continued to tell her that we were all fine and that I had extra supplies with me, including shelter and fire, if we needed to stay the night. The other guy was cool in following me. We continued and she ended up slipping and spraining her ankle.
By this time, I ended up calling Sawatch Backcountry in Leadville to ask for help on directions. They are your best bet in the area for help. They know the area better than the forest rangers do. She said that we were on the right track and that we should be coming out at a trailhead near the hatchery, but would have a very long walk back to the cars. It was while I was talking to her that my iPhone completely died. At this point, I was feeling very confident and so were the others, except for the woman who we were now trying to help down with a sprained ankle. We continued on until the creek began curving around and around in S formations. We decided to take a long break. We all just laid down on the ground and took a short nap. We were exhausted. It was unknown to us that the next curve was the beginning of civilization. We got up about an hour later and took off again. There it was. A four-wheeler trail was in front of us. We followed it for a while and found the trailhead at the fish hatchery. We were all exhausted and made a huge error. We continued on down from the trailhead, instead of turning right to take us the right to the road. We followed the barbed wire fence and finally came out on a farm that was private property. We followed his dirt driveway to Halfmoon Creek. Out of shock, we were almost near County Road 11, which was a LONG way from the trailhead where our cars were parked, roughly 7 miles. We decided with her sprained ankle, the husband and wife would stay behind while the other guy and I walked back to the vehicles. We left most of our supplies with them and began walking back. I don't know how long it took, but it seemed like we would never make it back. We finally got there a few hours later and drove back to get the other couple.
What did I learn from this?
Having never climbed in Colorado before, I called out there in February to see when a good time might be to come to climb. The rangers told me the roads to the trailhead were still completely covered in snow and were impassable by vehicle. They said to wait until late April. I went ahead and got my flight scheduled for the last Friday of April. Yes, I know I did not give myself much time to acclimate as Leadville is already 10,200 feet.
I got into Leadville that Friday night and then took off for the trailhead Saturday morning. When I arrived at the trailhead, two other cars were there. I met three other people, another guy and a couple, to go up the mountain with at around 6:30 am. Unbeknownst to us, we would be the only ones on that mountain the entire day. It was about 23 degrees out with gusts of wind up to 50 mph making the windchill 4 degrees. That had little effect on us, as we were all dressed appropriately.
We started out at the Mount Massive parking area on Half Moon Creek Road.
We continued up the Colorado trail. I have to say that the Colorado trail was, in my opinion, the hardest part of the climb up. After about maybe 1500 feet up, we ran into about 4 feet of snow. We would easily post hole without snowshoes. You can see all of the post holes we did.
When we got to the Mount Massive trail, which you turn to the left on from the Colorado Trail, there were patches of snow all over the place. The trail markers were buried, which was our first mistake. We continued up the mountain and got past the treeline. As we continued on, it started to snow. We got to 13,800 and finally had to turn back. When we headed back down the mountain and back to the treeline, we no longer saw the footsteps that we were depending on. We spread out in a straight line quite a distance across so that everyone could find our way back to each other. No one saw anything that looked familiar. We decided to continue down and still saw nothing familiar. Finally, after about three more hours of spreading out and searching, I heard water to the right side. I assumed it was the water flowing into Willow Creek that you cross on the Colorado Trail on the way up to the Mount Massive trail. I told them that if we followed the creek, we should find the crossing at the Colorado Trail. We all decided to go down that creek. To get to the creek, there is a very steep descent you have to go down to the water for probably about 60 feet. It is one of those that you are on all fours or you will roll down. Just before going down, I got this pic. It was the last picture I got before my iPhone died from the cold weather. The iPhone is horrific in cold weather conditions below 40 degrees.
We got down the hill to the creek. The woman in our group was already freaking out and crying. I tried reassuring her that anywhere water flows, you should be able to find civilization. The conditions of the creek were pretty bad. It is all grown up around it and there was ice and snow. Sometimes we would post hole and sometimes we would go right through the snow and into the creek. Other times where there was ground, it would be so saturated from melting snow that you would immediately sink into the ground. Following the creek is a very slow process. We followed the creek for quite a distance and never found the Colorado Trail crossing. By this time, the woman was really freaking out. She was wanting me to hit my SPOT GPS SOS button to get help. I tried to tell her that if we continued, we would be fine. The husband talked to her and finally calmed her down. I continued to tell her that we were all fine and that I had extra supplies with me, including shelter and fire, if we needed to stay the night. The other guy was cool in following me. We continued and she ended up slipping and spraining her ankle.
By this time, I ended up calling Sawatch Backcountry in Leadville to ask for help on directions. They are your best bet in the area for help. They know the area better than the forest rangers do. She said that we were on the right track and that we should be coming out at a trailhead near the hatchery, but would have a very long walk back to the cars. It was while I was talking to her that my iPhone completely died. At this point, I was feeling very confident and so were the others, except for the woman who we were now trying to help down with a sprained ankle. We continued on until the creek began curving around and around in S formations. We decided to take a long break. We all just laid down on the ground and took a short nap. We were exhausted. It was unknown to us that the next curve was the beginning of civilization. We got up about an hour later and took off again. There it was. A four-wheeler trail was in front of us. We followed it for a while and found the trailhead at the fish hatchery. We were all exhausted and made a huge error. We continued on down from the trailhead, instead of turning right to take us the right to the road. We followed the barbed wire fence and finally came out on a farm that was private property. We followed his dirt driveway to Halfmoon Creek. Out of shock, we were almost near County Road 11, which was a LONG way from the trailhead where our cars were parked, roughly 7 miles. We decided with her sprained ankle, the husband and wife would stay behind while the other guy and I walked back to the vehicles. We left most of our supplies with them and began walking back. I don't know how long it took, but it seemed like we would never make it back. We finally got there a few hours later and drove back to get the other couple.
What did I learn from this?
- If there are snowy conditions like this, take surveyor flags or tape to mark your way up
- Take a GPS with you.
- Bring extra external batteries for your phone.
- Of course, have the survival gear just in case you can't get off that day.
- Take a GPS satellite transmitter. If you are out of cell range, you could be screwed.
