Third times a charm...

Kit Carson Peak (14,165') has been an elusive 14er to climb for me.  In 2009...on 2 respective trips...Kit Carson Peak thwarted my best efforts to gain the summit.  The June 2009 attempt brought 6 hikers together with varied climbing skills.  The snows from winter 2008-09 were still on the mountain - areas that required crampons and an ice axe.  Half of our team only made neighboring Challenger Point (14,081') but an iced over ledge system called "The Avenue" stopped us.  The September 2009 attempt brought 5 hikers together again but hours and hours of rain, groppel and hail throughout the night only iced the rock up.  It was not meant to be...

Fast forward to early August 2010 and the snows are a distant memory - winter 2010 is only months away though...  Ben Kubczak and I were the only folks able to give Kit Carson/Challenger Point a go this past weekend.  The plan, as suggested by Ben, was to make this a day hike versus an overnight backpacking trip.  The 14 miles round trip and 6250' gain/loss would have been easier broken into two days, but the advantage of 1 day was the ability to travel light.  And heck, it would be a challenge - I'm always up for a challenge.

I drove to the Willow Lake trail head Friday night and slept in the 4Runner for the first time.  Another perk of this "new to me" vehicle, I can lay down easily enough complete with pad and sleeping bag - couldn't do that with the CRV.  Ben met me at the 4x4 turn-off at 3:30 AM Saturday and we were on trail by 4 AM.   Walking through he woods by headlamp with only a sliver of moon was great.  The air was still and the forest not quite awake.  Ben noted that someone had seen a mountain lion here recently...ggggreeeeaaaatttttt....

We made Willow Lake in 2 hours 45 minutes and pumped water to refill our bottles.  From there, we began the climb up towards Challenger Point.  The standard trail is nothing more than a scree slope with some boulder hoping  thrown in for good measure.  Ben made it about halfway before calling his summit bid due to changing weather.  I decided to continue to get a fuller weather picture on Challenger Point.  I gained the summit and after evaluating the weather, decided Kit Carson was a go.  I met up with 3 other folks who had the same plan and from Challenger, we began the trip over to Kit Carson.

Kit Carson is a complex mountain with 3 summits - Kat Carson, Kit Carson, and Challenger Point (although some give it the nickname of Johnny Carson!)  The easiest way to summit Kit Carson is to use the ledge system (The Avenue) around the back side of the mountain to an easy Class 3 scramble to the summit.  From Challenger summit to Kit Carson summit was 45 minutes.  #47 in the books!  I enjoyed the scenery for 20-30 minutes, took some pictures, texted Karen, and then began the long hike down to the 4Runner...7 miles away and 6250' down.

I met Ben back at Willow Lake and we hiked down the mountain to clean clothes, sandals and the thought of pizza/beer in Salida.  After a hearty dinner, we departed to separate cities - me (Denver) and Ben (Colorado Springs).  The ride home was tough - I was very, very tired and drank coffee to keep awake.  Fortunately, the trip went well and I parked the car at home, left all my gear in the car, and promptly walked into my apartment and crashed for 10 hours.  I feel much better now...

Next weekend is the Eolus group trip north of Durango with my regular climbing partners, Alan Arnette and Patrick Vall as well as some new additions - John Little and Anne/Kevin Martin.  Looking forward to it!

Climb On my friends!

It's "new to me"...

After 8 years of trusty, reliable service by my 2002 Honda CRV, "she" is officially retired!  Going places that it probably shouldn't, crossing Colorado streams for, as the 2002 Honda commercial advertises, "adventures in reality", numerous trips to Moab/Boise/Salt Lake City/Albuquerque/every place in Colorado, it was time to seek a replacement.

After months of researching different types of SUV's, CUV's, rugged station wagons and the like, I made my way to Mountain States Toyota last Saturday on the pretense of looking at a new vehicle.  The sales consultant who met me asked very focused questions of what I was looking in a vehicle - easy - a vehicle with good ground clearance, can get me, my gear, and my climbing partners to a rugged trailhead, is comfortable to drive, doesn't mind a 4x4 rock-strewn "road", and not $30K.  At that point, he directed me to a line of 12 used Toyota 4Runners - all quite nice.  Some were newer, some were low miles, some were "Toyota Certified", some were 2.9% financing for 60 months, and some had the aroma of way too much perfume/smoke.  What caught my eye was this beauty - a dark blue, 2006 4Runner SR5 with sunroof, skid plates, 6 cylinder, nice rims and a good price.  Qualifying for 2.9% was a major perk as well.  I spent most of Saturday afternoon test driving, asking a lot of questions, negotiating for new mats/new tires, deciding how much to put down and how much I could afford with monthly payments.  Time well spent.  By late afternoon, I was driving my 4Runner home and dreaming of new summits that the 2010 climbing season brings.

As one of my regular climbing partners, Patrick Vall, said and I quote..."I'm just glad you can't use your lame "my Honda can't make it up that road" excuse any more when we go 4-wheeling to get to a trailhead. My 160K mile 4Runner thanks you! I'm looking forward to sleeping while you drive;)"

Pretty much covers it...Climb On!