The concentration of oxygen at sea level is about 21% and the barometric pressure averages 760 mmHg. As altitude increases, the concentration remains the same but the number of oxygen molecules per breath is reduced. At 12,000 feet (3,658 meters) the barometric pressure is only 483 mmHg, so there are roughly 40% fewer oxygen molecules per breath. – The OA Guide to High Altitude

I was the second person at the trail head. The weather didn’t look great, it was damp and cloudy, but wasn’t especially threatening. I expected light rain, possibly even hail, but didn’t see either during the hike. The trail itself was pretty muddy from showers the night before but that didn’t present any real problems until the final 400 or so feet.

I moved quickly through the initial switchbacks. This is an amazing beautiful trail through alpine forest, small streams and waterfalls, and small lakes. I had the trail completely to myself until I reached the highpoint. Traveling solo in this kind of territory is new experience for me but I loved every minute of it.

I didn’t really notice the altitude until 11,300 but even then it didn’t give me too many problems. I had a little less power but felt great. Very few breaks were required throughout the hike and when I did stop to catch my breath I noticed that my recovery time was much improved. The few breaks that I did take lasted no longer than a few seconds. It felt good to keep pushing up.

Somewhere around 11,400 or 11,500 you leave the treeline and Engineer Mountain comes into view. The scene is stunning and well worth the hike. My camera phone doesn’t do it justice.

First View of Engineer Mountain from Pass Creek Trail

A couple hundred yards up the meadow and you run into intersecting trails at the “T”. I was feeling strong so I took the steep rocky, and today quite muddy, path directly up Engineer. What followed was a bit of a struggle but fun. Slipping was a constant threat but my trekking poles and careful foot placement kept me moving up despite the mud. I had to occasionally move off trail a few feet but eventually made it to an awesome bit of rock that allowed amazing views of the valley and rock glacier to my left.

iew from 12,050 Feet on Engineer Mountain

It had taken me less than two hours to reach this point. That’s not record time but I’m happy with the way my body responded to the altitude. I even briefly considered moving further up to around 12,500 or so but decided that I didn’t want to tackle the even steeper muddy trail above.

I hung out at 12,100 for a while. A trio of college girls (or recent graduates) caught up with me and said they were going to the summit. I wished them luck before tackling the steep muddy descent. The descent turned out to be easier and faster than anticipated – largely because I moved a few feet to the right of the trail, into a rocky gully, and avoided the mud. Once I was back to the intersecting trails heading down was predictably easy and fast. I moved quickly and only stopped to chat with hikers on their way up.

This hike was worth the trip in itself but my main goal was to test myself and get some altitude prior to our 14er attempts. That adventure starts Saturday morning with a 6 mile hike 3,000 feet up to about 11,200. I’m a little more confident (just a little) after this morning’s hike.

The initial couple hundred feet was pretty tame dirt trail but I eventually found a steep, rocky, section that took me pretty directly up another 400 feet. The hiking was easy from then on but beautiful. Most of Durango was in view directly below me.

Steam from the Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad train as it pulls into town.

Locals apparently spend a lot of time up here. There were several structures built from dead wood and stone – like these impressive chairs.

I eventually picked up about 1,000 feet of elevation before heading back to the hostel. Friends and family think I’m nuts for hiking the same day I arrived but it felt great to get moving – not too challenging at all.

Today will be a full rest day but there may be another hike Thursday. There are some easy trails nearby that pick up a couple thousand feet to 12,000. Whatever I do will be relatively easy because I don’t want to go into Saturday’s 6 mile +3,000 foot hike, and the climbs that follow, tired.

Training

15 months and just over 100 pounds ago I decided that I was going to climb mountains. It was a horribly unrealistic goal for an overweight asthmatic who lives at altitude zero in Houston, Texas but that was the point. I knew that I’d need a significant challenge to keep me motivated to become physically fit. Besides, I’d always wanted to climb. One of my co-workers at the time, Jermaine Gonzales, had similar goals and decided to commit himself to the challenge as well. To further ratchet up the pressure I told everyone I knew about our goals and went public with it by launching neverstopclimbing.com. I was committed and begin training two hours, or more, almost every day.

We reached our first summit just five months later with a climb of Guadalupe Peak in West Texas. The hike to 8,751 feet is very strenuous but not difficult by climbing standards. Still, it was progress and it allowed me to turn my focus toward a significantly more difficult challenge – Colorado’s 14ers.

Climbers, real climbers, were following our progress by this point and we were receiving lots of encouragement and advice. However, climber Alan Arnette really went above and beyond in offering support. After the successful summit of Guadalupe Peak he invited us to Colorado for an April attempt at a Belford, Oxford, Missouri combo – a significant challenge for guys in our position.

We trained hard but the initial attempt didn’t go well. Deep soft snow, heavy packs, and fitness levels that had improved, but not improved enough for the challenge, stopped the attempt in the first few hours. It was a very painful physical and emotional failure. It was time to go back to Houston and regroup.

After returning to Houston we faced different challenges. Jermaine was laid-off and I was laid up with a bad case of the flu. Climbing goals moved to the background for 2-3 months. Eventually those difficulties passed and I resumed training. In July I called Alan Arnette and suggested that we try again. Plans came together quickly for a September attempt. Unfortunately, Jermaine’s work situation wouldn’t allow him to train or climb for some time so I would be the only one making this trip.

The Climb

We set our attempt for Saturday, September 26th and it turned out to be a perfect day for climbing. Two days of relative cold and snow had faded and we were left with clear skies and relatively mild temperatures. We started off, before dawn, at about 6 AM. It was in the upper twenties (F) but I was comfortable in a synthetic tee and Marmot PreCip. One of the tough parts of this climb (okay, almost all of it was tough) is the start. You don’t get to ease into Belford. Leaving the trailhead you cross a bridge over a fast moving stream and then move almost immediately up, and up, and up. The switchbacks are steep and tough on the lungs. This is where Alan’s advice on pacing myself by using the short step and rest step really helped. Slow and steady beats sprinting and stopping but mastering that is far more difficult than it sounds. It’s something I would struggle with the entire day. Still, it paid off and we maintained a 700 foot per hour climb rate for the first couple of hours. It wasn’t a blistering pace but it was workable.

My second challenge of the day came at the next stream crossing. The stream is fast moving but not especially deep or dangerous. It’s just that you have to cross the 15-20 foot span on three small (and very bendy under my weight) tree trunks that span the gap. It takes a fair amount of balance since each trunk is a different size and flexes differently. I did far better than I’d hoped and we continued up along the other side of the stream, and it’s waterfalls, to the abandoned trapper’s cabin that marks the beginning of the basin that leads to Belford’s west ridge.

It was here, just after passing the cabin, that I got a view of Belford’s snow covered Northwest ridge. It was awe inspiring and more than a little intimidating. I’d looked at hundreds of photos of the ridge before the climb but none of them prepared me for the scale and steepness that loomed ahead. I immediately had doubts about my ability to summit. The ridge rises over 2,300 feet in less than a mile – factor in snow, mud, and the altitude and it’s quite a challenge for your first 14er.

The base of the ridge is just over a mile from the cabin and the altitude gain is gradual. However, it was here that I first started to really feel the altitude. My pace slowed and my doubts increased but we made it to the base of the ridge and discussed our approach. The initial 300-400 feet was intimidating since it’s nearly vertical. Again Alan cautioned me not to focus on the summit and instead focus on shorter, less intimidating, goals. From here on out the physical challenges (for me) would be immense but the physiological challenge of pushing myself higher and harder than ever before required constant focus and commitment.

The trip up the ridge was initially pretty encouraging because the progress in altitude was immediately noticeable. However, getting to the summit, another 2,000 feet higher, would prove to be quite a challenge. I didn’t have any signs of altitude sickness, my leg muscles felt really strong, but the lack of oxygen just left me feeling like I was operating on progressively less power. I later told Alan that it felt like someone had a power knob and turned it down a few notches with every 500 foot gain. Above 12,000 feet everything was more difficult. Above 13,000 feet the game changed entirely, and above 14,000 feet I was sucking more than the Houston Texans on game day.

The Summit

Alan showed great patience with me as we progressed (slowly) up the ridge. However, time started to become an issue. We needed to make the summit and be off the ridge, if not the trail entirely, before sunset. Descending the steep ridge in snow, ice, and mud would be challenging , time consuming, and very dangerous in the dark. At about 13,700 feet he issued an ultimatum – summit by 2 PM or call the climb. That left us with an hour to climb the remaining 500 feet. That’s a challenge that seems trivial at sea level but I didn’t know if it would be possible at the time. It would become even more challenging as we neared the false summit at nearly 14,000 feet and were blasted by strong cold winds that took my breath away. I really didn’t need breathing to become more difficult at that point. With 200 vertical feet and thirty minutes to go I was determined but I can’t say that I was confident. Nevertheless, we scrambled up the remaining rocks and snow to reach Belford’s summit block at 2:05 PM. Thankfully, Alan bent his timeline just a little.

The Descent

The summit visit was short. My primary focus was hydrating and fueling up for the difficult descent. I sat down, rested, and tried to take it all in but I didn’t really think much about the moment until much later. I knew getting down would be tough. Fifteen minutes later we were on our way down. Alan led the way and found a much steeper but more direct path down to the ridge. It was during this descent of the false summit that I had a rock slide away under my foot and took a pretty hard fall – destroying one of my Leki trekking poles. This was a pretty significant liability for me with the steep and slippery 2,300 foot descent ahead. Alan and I tried to bend the bottom third of the pole back into position but it was fractured and broke off entirely. I’d have to descend with one pole that was much shorter than the other. Alan is pretty nimble and graciously offered me one of his poles but I wasn’t going to let my fall jeopardize his safety (even a little) and refused.

We started down again, quite fast, and I made do by switching off my poles so that the longest one was always on my outside hand and the shortest was inside against the higher slope. It was a bit of a pain but serviceable. I think Alan even found the slippery slope a bit aggravating, I heard “I’m sick of this snow” more than once, but we made it to the bottom of the ridge in less than two hours. It was a huge relief.

We encountered a lone climber at the base of the ridge who was scanning nearby Missouri Mountain. Two members of the team that has passed us earlier were missing and he was concerned. We stayed for a while and helped look for the missing climbers but saw nothing. We moved on after asking if messages needed to be relayed once we reached the trailhead. Moving on towards the cabin we encountered three more from the party who were also waiting for the missing pair. We told them that we’d just summited Belford and that it was my first 14er and their response triggered my first real reflection on what I’d just done. They were quite surprised and one of them said “Nice. That thing is straight up!” With the most dangerous part behind us it was finally a pretty gratifying moment. Again we offered whatever assistance we could but they seemed pretty confident that their team was coming down by an alternate route and we moved on. We encountered them again, much later on, and found that all members of their party had been accounted for – thankfully.

The ride back to Belford was fun. The pressure was off and there was obvious satisfaction at reaching my first 14er summit. It wasn’t pretty, didn’t break any records, but I did it and learned much from the experience. The altitude and cardio requirements were challenging but didn’t keep me from the summit. I had leg strength in abundance and the endurance to spend nearly a full day climbing and descending. I had no idea if asthma and high altitude would present a hard limit for me but on this day they did not and that too is encouraging. In short, I still have a ton of work to do but I now know, beyond all doubt, that I can climb mountains.

The only fitting way to close out this trip report is with thanks to Alan Arnette. His willingness to serve as a mentor is inspiring and something that I hope to be able to pass on to another aspiring climber someday. For now it’s back to training and eventually thoughts about the next mountain – sometime in 2010.

Final Thoughts on Gear

Marmot PreCip – Just an awesome jacket. Light, tough, great pocket setup, and workable in a very wide variety of temperatures. I never had to unpack my fleece although it was tempting at the summit where it was quite cold. Highly recommended.

Suunto Core Watch – I think the seal popped at 14k feet and the watch worked intermittently the rest of the descent. There might not be a better option for a climber’s watch but I’m pretty unhappy that it failed when I needed it most. It’s possible, likely even, that I didn’t get the seal set correctly when last replacing the battery but whatever the reason it looks like I need a new watch.

Leki Trekking Poles – Yes, one of mine broke but I don’t fault Leki at all. Great product.

Vasque Breeze Boots – I usually have quite a bit of foot pain on hikes of ten miles or more. These boots took 9,000 feet of alttidude changes, eight miles, snow, ice, and mud in stride. My feet never got wet and the toes never got too cold. I had less foot pain at the end of this climb than I’ve ever had for a day hike. I did have a blister on each big toe at the end of the day but think that was inevitable after the day we had and I didn’t even notice them until the boots were removed.

Green Superfeet Insoles – Also a great product. A significant factor in the decent state of my feet at the end of the day. Wouldn’t climb/hike without them.

REI Switchback Gloves – I just used the liners all day and they were completely comfortable even in fairly strong winds. I never took the shells out of the pack but have no doubt that they would workable in less favorable conditions.

Deuter Futura Pro 42 Pack – My all time favorite. We went light and I had less than a twenty pound load (mostly water) but this pack always rides and ventilates well.

Seirus Innovation Quick Clava – Used it above 13k when the winds picked up and the temps dropped. Does the job and really comfortable. Highly recommended.

Buff – Used when the temps were warm – above 30F. I also used it like a balaclava for a bit when the winds picked up without warning. Great product in the heat or cold.

Julbo Dolgan Glacier Glasses – Another indispensable product. These didn’t come off after mid-day and I didn’t suffer any eyestrain or snow blindness.

I leave for Colorado Thursday morning. I’ll have a couple of days in Leadville before meeting up with Alan Arnette for an early Saturday morning attempt at Belford and Oxford.

The first attempt at these mountains, earlier this year, was a posthole nightmare that took us to only 10,600 feet before turning back. We won’t encounter snow that deep or rotten on this trip although some early snow might make the trip interesting.

I’ll update this post periodically before the climb.

Final Pre-Climb Update
The weather forecast for Saturday’s climb is excellent. We were both able to safely cut some our heaviest gear since cold and excessive snow won’t be a problem. This helps.

We probably won’t be able to communicate once the climb starts since the area is somewhat remote. However, we will be carrying a SPOT Satellite Messenger that will allow you to track our progress via the link below. The SPOT should be active by 6am when we hit the trail. Its signal may not get out at times so don’t be alarmed by whatever you see.

Thanks again to the many of you who have been supportive of this effort.

Routes
Mt. Belford – Northwest Ridge (Standard)
Mt. Oxford – From Mt. Belford (Standard)

Satellite Tracking
SPOT Messenger Updates (?)

Twitter
TeamNSC – We’ll be sending periodic “OK” status updates to this Twitter account from our SPOT satellite messenger in addition to any other updates we can get out.
Johnwlittle (John Little)
Alanarnette (Alan Arnettte)

We may not be able to respond to messages during the climb but we might be able to read them so feel free to send them on. We’ll reply when we can.

Photos
Photos will be posted on Flickr

Weather
National Weather Service

Our trip to Belford was a fantastic, if difficult, learning experience. You can learn a lot from falling face first in deep snow every 30 seconds for hours on end. So, the plan now is to take those lessons and return to Belford-Oxford in early October when the weather is admittedly somewhat unpredictable but likely less challenging than the conditions we faced in April.

Details are still being worked out. Jermaine might not be able to make it but Alan Arnette and Robert LeClair are apparently ready to go. The goal now is to finalize the plans by September 1. Stay tuned for updates.

Update:
We’ve moved the date up a couple of weeks so I will be heading to Colorado in September. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like Robert will be able to join us.

I’ll post a full trip report Monday. Many thanks to all of you who followed along and offered advice and support. The adventure will continue.

“Getting to the top is optional, but getting down is mandatory. A lot of people get focused on the summit and forget that.”
- Ed Viesturs quote

We leave in two days so final preparations are underway. I spent part of the afternoon test packing my backpack to make sure that it would hold everything we’ll need to establish our camp in Missouri Gulch. So far, so good. Here’s what’s in (or on) the pack in this photo:

Sleeping bag
Foam sleeping pad
Inflatable sleeping pad
Jetboil stove
2 heavy base layers – tops and bottoms
1 Fleece pullover
2 expedition weight wool socks
2 pairs of liner socks
Black Diamond Mercury Mitts
REI Switchback gloves
Lightweight gloves
Glacier glasses
Goggles
First aid kit
Assorted personal hygiene gear
2 Nalgene bottles – 1 insulated
1 10L MSR Dromedary bag
Crampons
Balaclava
Buff head wrap
Ice Axe
Knife, lighter, firesteel, compass, other basic survival gear
Map
Down jacket
DSLR camera
Headlamp
Small flashlight
6 freeze dried meals
4 packets of tuna
5 packets of oatmeal
7 packets of energy chews
6 packets of cytomax powder
2 packets of instant potatoes
10 tea bags
5 instant coffee packets
12 Clif bars
6 powdered soup packets
1 thermos

You can see more detailed information on my gear here. Thankfully, most of this will only be on my back day one. Once we establish camp I’ll be packing a much lighter load.

Outer
Top – Marmot PreCip
Top – Mountain Hardwear Exposure II Parka
Bottom – Mountain Hardwear Exposure II Bib

Middle Layers
Top – REI Power Stretch Half-Zip

Base Layers
Top – REI Heavyweight MTS Long-Sleeve Crew
Bottom – REI Heavyweight MTS Bottoms

Gloves
REI Switchback Gloves
Black Diamond Mercury Mitts

Head
Seirus Quick Clava
Teotepec Buff

Eyes
Julbo – Dolgan
Oakley Proven OTG Goggles

Socks
Liner – Smartwool Merino Liner
Heavy – REI Merino Wool Expedition Socks

Boots
Asolo AFS 8000
Vasque Breeze GTX
SuperFeet Green Insoles

Gaiters
OR Expedition Crocodiles

Backpack
Kelty Coyote 4900 (Replacing 2009)

Crampons
Black Diamond Contact Strap

Ice Tools
Black Diamond Raven Pro Ice Axe

Sleeping
Sleeping Bag – ALPS Mountaineering 20F Crescent Lake
Inflatable Pad – Therm-a-Rest TrailPro
Insulation – Therm-a-Rest RidgeRest

Poles
Black Diamond Alpine Carbon Cork
Leki Trail Makalu (broken on Mt. Belford)

Cooking
Jetboil Personal Cooking System

Light
Black Diamond Spot
Brinkmann 1 Watt L.E.D. Flashlight

Hydration
MSR 10L Dromedary w/ Hydration Kit
Nalgene Water Bottles

Tent
Kelty Grand Mesa 2
4 Season to be added soon

Watch-Altimeter Suunto Core