Mt. Spalding, Bierstadt, Evans

Mt. Spalding, Bierstadt, Evans, August 5, 2001

Sunday, August 5 EB, Eric, Gordon, and myself went to climb Mt. Spalding and Mt. Evans from the Summit Lake trailhead. After climbing Mt. Spalding we saw Bierstadt and decided to bag that one too. It looked easy from where we were. All the hard stuff was hidden.

Here we are, poised for adventure :-)

Unfortunately the sharp horned goats are ready for adventure too.

We ate the goats and with the new energy we charged upward to the summit of Mt. Spalding! 13,800 feet, whew! Gordon has a funny look on his face because he had to eat the goat's lower intestine. At least it was better than Gu, he said.

Then we saw another peak in the distance, it couldn't be more than a half hour away. We might as well bag that one too.

2 hours later we are within reach of Bierstadt's summit. Here is EB climbing the treacherous flank. EB has a habit of smiling when death is in the air.
We came across the sawtooth ridge behind EB. We started at the upper left side of the peak in the background and traversed diagonally down to the right to hit the ridge. It was exciting.
Mt. Spalding is beyond the peak behind EB and to the left. Mt. Evans is beyond the peak behind EB to the right.

Alas the summit of Mt. Bierstadt! The summit of Mt. Evans should only be a half hour from here, at most. We took the direct route, descending all the way down to the bottom of the valley and back up to the top of Mt. Evans. All in under 2 1/2 hours. An hour from Mt. Evans' summit it started to lightening behind us. Then it started lightening around us. But due to our vast experience we knew what not to do and how not to get hit. Kids, don't try this at home. Pulling from our best wisdom, we ran to the summit as fast as possible, slapped the hightest rock and ran down. At the bottom of the cone we asked a ranger, "Was that stupid of us? First he nodded his head, then said "It wasn't wise." But that's ok, we're not mad at him, not everybody can recognize genius, not even some of your friendly park rangers.

	Here we are, poised for adventure :-)
	Unfortunately the sharp horned goats are ready for adventure too.
	We ate the goats and with the new energy we charged upward to the summit of Mt. Spalding! 13,800 feet, whew! Gordon has a funny look on his face because he had to eat the goat's lower intestine. At least it was better than Gu, he said. Then we saw another peak in the distance, it couldn't be more than a half hour away. We might as well bag that one too.
	2 hours later we are within reach of Bierstadt's summit. Here is EB climbing the treacherous flank. EB has a habit of smiling when death is in the air. We came across the sawtooth ridge behind EB. We started at the upper left side of the peak in the background and traversed diagonally down to the right to hit the ridge. It was exciting. Mt. Spalding is beyond the peak behind EB and to the left. Mt. Evans is beyond the peak behind EB to the right.
	Alas the summit of Mt. Bierstadt! The summit of Mt. Evans should only be a half hour from here, at most. We took the direct route, descending all the way down to the bottom of the valley and back up to the top of Mt. Evans. All in under 2 1/2 hours. An hour from Mt. Evans' summit it started to lightening behind us. Then it started lightening around us. But due to our vast experience we knew what not to do and how not to get hit. Kids, don't try this at home. Pulling from our best wisdom, we ran to the summit as fast as possible, slapped the hightest rock and ran down. At the bottom of the cone we asked a ranger, "Was that stupid of us? First he nodded his head, then said "It wasn't wise." But that's ok, we're not mad at him, not everybody can recognize genius, not even some of your friendly park rangers.