This is where we breaker up...

First climb of this season was a grudge match against Bierstadt.

Last year I was sick on this climb, not in peak shape and suffered the entire climb. The mountain took a lot out of me and although I did gain the summit that day it was not as enjoyable as it should have been. This experience put a powerful thought in my mind that shaped my preparation for this year.

I'm happy to say that I did keep what I learned last year and executed my plan to a fairly high level of success. Yesterdays climb was right at about double the speed of any other 14er to date. I wanted to take this summit, look at my watch, and see a time under noon.....So when I looked at the time yesterday and it was 9:33 am it was a great feeling to see the work of the last few months pay off. The stage was set for this earlier in the year when we also smashed our time at Green mnt. So obviously I am happy but I also know this is not my limit. Not at all really and I could have done more this year...I will do more next year and already have a gameplan that will be finalized soon.

Anyhow, before the vids an interesting note is that this mountain brought me another powerful lesson from this climb. I might have to climb this one every year in order to learn the lessons for the next season if this keeps up.

Getting close to the final approach the wind started getting brutally cold. I had stopped to do something learned from watching more experienced climbers and that is to take 5 before the final approach just to relax, eat some food, and enjoy the moment. As I was eating half a bar I heard a guy say to his climbing partner "Man this wind is crazy" his partner says to him "Yeah.....this is where we breaker up". I was reaching into my pack right then to grab my hat and gloves and could feel the windbreaker touching the back of my hand. I thought....yeah, this is where we breaker up isn't it? As it went I wound up using my gear to a much higher degree than before. It's easy to just get in the zone and get to the business at hand when climbing. Well, it got me to thinking about suffering. Suffering is inevitable but there is stupid/unnecessary suffering and strategic/planned suffering. The take away for me is to tune into the experience more and not suffer stupidly. I could have easily continued up the final approach without my wind layer and just been more uncomfortable. Maybe I am doping a lousy job of explaining something that sounds as simple as this sounds but nevertheless, I'm continuing to learn from the trail lessons that carry further than they first appear.

First vid is a shaky panorama from the summit. It was very cold and windy (sorry about the sound quality) and apparently I was a little out of breath. ;)

The second vid is my attempt to illustrate the idea of "easy" 14ers. The idea came to me last year on Grays when I heard a first time climber complaining loudly that the description of it being an easier climb was misleading. Pretty soon his group gave up the fight and headed back to the trailhead angry with the idea they had been mislead. Well, they were not mislead. If you don't need ropes and helmets for instance it is an easier 14er.... But that don't make it a casual stroll.