This video isn’t mine but it brings back great memories of our Mt. Eolus climb last year. The Catwalk was the part that I anticipated and sort of feared the most but it was an absolute blast.

No new climbs are scheduled at the moment but I will think about that early next year. In the meantime, I’ve managed to deal with a pretty painful problem with a tendon in my left foot and get back in the gym. I’m not sprinting up 100 stories of stairs three times per week right now but I’m putting in a solid hour five days per week. I’ll be adding another 30 minutes of cardio to each workout next week.

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.

This video was shot by a guy who climbed Belford a couple of weeks after I did last year. It doesn’t look like he had much more snow to contend with but the wind sounds worse – and it definitely looks colder. We had awesome weather with only a few heavy gusts in the last few hundred feet.

YouTube scouting continues. This series certainly looks less sketchy than some of the other Wetterhorn videos that I’ve posted.

My YouTube scouting of Wetterhorn Peak continues. This one has bit of a, um, pucker factor. By the way, thanks to Jeff Valliere for emailing me some background info on this climb.

I have seen Everest described as a simple “walk-up” meaning that no actual climbing is involved so I thought a quick review of what defines climbing might be helpful. I will use the South Col route as the example.

One point to keep in mind that the base definition of “technical” often means that climbers must use crampons and an ice axe. This implies skills with snow travel, crevasse rescue and self-arrest techniques – all of which are needed for a safe Everest climb from base camp to the summit; and back.

People seem to confuse technical difficulty and overall difficulty when discussing climbing. It’s important to remember that a walk-up can be physically challenging (for most), dangerous, and even deadly.

A really impressive video for an impressive first 14er summit:

Blanca Peak is the fourth highest summit in Colorado and highest in the Sangre de Cristo Range. It is most easily accessed via Lake Como trail, a.k.a. the “Trail of Tears” by the King family. Most of this video was shot in September of 2009, though there are shots of Blanca’s east face from the Huerfano River side shot in June of that year and a nice time lapse shot from companion peak Little Bear in 2007. This was brother Matt’s first 14er summit; a worthy accomplishment coming from Lincoln, NE. Look for very cool time lapse of Little Bear as seen from Blanca.

There’s more on Blanca over at 14ers.com.

If I attempt Wetterhorn this summer it will be my first class 3 climbing. It looks challenging – mentally and physically – but if training continues to go well this summer I think it’s within reach.

A nice view from Wetterhorn Peak in Colorado – possibly my next summit attempt later this summer.