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Today is my 42nd birthday. I’m leaving for Colorado in just a few hours. I’ll be spending the week in Durango and meeting up with Alan Arnette, Patrick Vall on Friday. Robert LeClair will join us a day later when we all take the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad Train to the Needleton stop and begin the 6+ mile hike 3,000 feet up to Chicago Basin. Once there we’ll establish camp and prepare for summit attempts on Eolus, Sunlight, and Windom.

I’ll probably be attempting Eolus on Sunday morning. It will be an alpine start – probably before 4am. The same goes for Windom on Monday morning. You should be able to track my progress via my SPOT satellite messenger. Just refresh this page for updates.

Here’s the general plan as it stands now:

This is the hike up to Chicago Basin. Over 6 miles and about 3,000 feet of elevation gain. We’ll be packing in about 50 pounds worth of gear and food each.

Chicago Basin Approach
Route Details | Route Photos | Route Maps

Mt. Eolus will be my first attempt at a class 3 climb. It’s famous for a somewhat exposed section called The Catwalk (video). To be honest the exposure isn’t keeping me up at night. I’m more worried about my conditioning. I’ll deal with the exposure if and when I get there.

Mt. Eolus
Route Details | Route Photos | Route Maps

I’m really looking forward to Windom’s west ridge. This will probably be attempted early Monday morning.

Windom Peak
Route Details | Route Photos | Route Maps

A summit attempt probably isn’t a realistic option for me on this one but I’ll make the call after seeing what happens on Eolus and Windom.

Sunlight Peak
Route Details | Route Photos | Route Maps

Here you can see all three routes leading out of Chicago Basin.

This trip is amazing in so many ways. It’s a chance to spend time with my friend Alan Arnette who will hopefully finish climbing all of Colorado’s 14ers with a successful summit of Sunlight. It will be my first climbs with Patrick and Robert, both of whom have been a great source of information, encouragement, and humor over the past couple of years. And we get to do all of this in a remote and unbelievably beautiful place. I don’t know if I’m ready, or if I’ll succeed, but I’m going to try. I can’t think of a better way to start year number 42.

SummitPost is nice starting point for research and routes – not to mention some amazing photos of the mountain.

Life has been challenging since our return to Houston in late April. The economic nosedive created significant challenges at work for both of us and I was hit hard by flu. We’re hanging in there though. Jermaine has moved on to a new job and I’m training hard again after a longer than expected recovery period.

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.

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.

It’s almost time for our next challenge. We’ll be meeting Alan Arnette and his buddies Patrick and Robert in Colorado at the end of April for an attempt at three 14ers over four days. We’ll be updating this post as the pre-climb preparations progress. Check back for updates.

April 19, 2009
Avalanche picture seems to be looking better. The CAIC has reduced the threat level from “high” to “moderate”. It doesn’t look like the Sawatch range got as much snow as some other areas on Saturday.

April 19, 2009
More shopping today with some of the additions, mostly minor stuff, added to John’s gear page.

April 18, 2009
Leaving in less than a week. Avalanche danger is significant thanks to recent storms and it’s sparking some discussion in the group about alternative routes – even alternative mountains. So far the consensus seems to be that warmer temps will melt or consolidate recent snowfall but we’re all keeping a close eye on conditions and possible alternatives.

April 8, 2009
Communication between all the climbers is increasing as we nail down the final details of the trip. We’re still sorting out details about plans about food and tents but it’s all coming together nicely. Jermaine’s gear shipments have arrived. More detail about his gear will be posted soon. We leave for Colorado in less than two weeks.

April 1, 2009
Gear shipments continue to arrive for both of us. All of the major purchases are in – or will be within a few days. The trip is about three weeks out and everything seems to be coming together.

March 22, 2009
A short list of some of the gear John will likely be taking on the Colorado trip has been added to the site.

March 19, 2009
John here, I’m completing most of my new gear purchases for April’s climb this weekend. This morning I picked up a Mountain Hardwear Sub Zero Jacket, Black Diamond Contact Strap Crampons, REI Switchback gloves, Julbo Dolgan glasses, REI Merino Wool Expedition socks, a JetBoil Personal Cooking System, and Outdoor Research Expedition Crocodile gaiters. This round completes most of the big purchases. I need to buy new base layers and small miscellaneous stuff and I’ll be done – for now.

March 19, 2009
Considered buying snowshoes ahead of the climb but REI rents them to members for next to nothing. Rental should cost us about $30 per pair for 4 days while buying a decent pair would run $150-$250 dollars.

March 13, 2009
We’re launching the TeamNSC Stimulus Package next weekend. Companies like Mountain Hardwear, MSR, The North Face, REI, Outdoor Research, Action Wipes, Clif Bar, Asolo, and Jetboil are all going to get a little TeamNSC love as we continue to gear up for the Colorado 14ers and beyond. It’s the least we can do.

March 7, 2009
Phone meeting with Alan Arnette to discuss gear requirements. Discussed the possibility of taking sturdy three season tents and agreed that they may be viable but will re-assess as the climb nears. Wind chill is hitting -15 to -25 currently and that’s a bit on the chilly side. However, there’s still some concern that we may see warmer than usual weather, which could trigger some instability, as the climb nears – especially on Missouri. We’ll just have to wait and see what happens.

March 4, 2009
We both ordered the Mountain Hardwear Exposure II Bibs. There’s more info on those at REI’s site.

March 1, 2009
We found Mountain Hardwear Exposure II Parkas on sale at REI and each grabbed one. Along with REI Power Stretch Fleece shirts for the middle layer.

Mount Oxford is one of three 14ers will be attempting in April. The plan, as it stands now, is to move across the saddle from Mount Belford before descending and attempting Missouri Mountain the following day.

Weather
NWS Forecast

Trip Reports
Summit Post | 14ers.com

Photos
Summit Post | 14ers.com | Google Images

Maps
GeoHack – Satellite, Topo, etc.

Routes
Summit Post | 14ers.com | Trails.com

Discussion
Twitter

Photo Credit: Jokermanj – License

The best part of this project has been, without a doubt, the connections we’re making with climbers around the world. Our next climb is a perfect example of that.

We’re just getting started here but climber Alan Arnette has been a major source of support for us – providing much needed feedback, climbing tips, contributing a post to We Never Stop, and even volunteering to be the subject of our first climber interview. Now he’s offered to host our next climb – a valuable learning opportunity for climbers in our position.

The plan (it’s still evolving) is for the two of us to meet Alan and two of his experienced climbing buddies (Patrick and Robert) in April for camping and crampon/ice axe assisted climbing in the snowy Collegiate Peaks section of Colorado’s Sawatch Range.

Day 1
Drive to the trailhead and hike, likely with snowshoes, to a camp at 11,500 feet.

Day 2
Climb a long ridge to the summit of Mount Belford (14,197 ft – 4,327 m). We’ll break there before making our way over the saddle to the summit of Mount Oxford (14,153 ft – 4,313 m). From there we’ll make our way back to camp for the night.

Day 3
We’ll be climbing early – up a fairly steep snow wall before turning up a steep, somewhat exposed, ridge and heading for the summit of Missouri Mountain (14,067 ft – 4,288 m). We’ll return to our initial camp from there.

Day 4
Break camp. Search for steak and beer.

Needless to say, we’re pretty geeked out about all of this. It’s the perfect challenge for us at this time and fantastic learning opportunity. We also expect it to be a hell of a lot of fun. You can’t ask for more than that.

Stay tuned for more updates as planning and training continues.

Note: The photo of Missouri Mountain is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 License by szczepan1990.

Guadalupe Peak is Texas’ highpoint and a natural choice for us as we put our initial training to the test and prepare for higher, more difficult, peaks.

On a clear day, the view from the “Top of Texas” (8,749 feet, or 2,667 meters) is outstanding. The trail is very steep, but is well established. Some areas are exposed to cliff edges. It is rated strenuous, with 3,000 feet of elevation gain. The round trip distance is 8.4 miles, and generally takes 6-8 hours. Avoid the peak hike during high winds and thunderstorms.

The hike up is relatively safe but reaching the summit of Guadalupe Peak does present some risk:

The Guadalupe Mountain area is one of the windiest places in the nation. Winds in excess of 100 mph have been recorded and high winds are common year round. Bring your Wal-Mart tent at your own risk.

Mountain Lions and rattlesnakes are located in this area. Read all the precautions and warnings at the ranger station. Despite their presence, I haven’t seen any snakes (although I only go in winter and they are probably hybernating) nor lions in 7 trips to the Guadalupes other than some lion tracks in the snow. Dawn is the most likely time for a lion encounter.

Snakes aren’t a concern, ditto for mountain lions really, but weather is. November is typically fairly mild in that part of Texas but it is entirely possible to catch a strong cold front that time of year. Still, life-threatening temperatures are unlikely (we will be prepared for colder than expected temps) but wind could be a problem. When isn’t weather a problem on mountains?

We plan to spend two days on the mountain, spending one night at the high camp at 7,700 feet. That will allow us to summit before dawn and capture the sunrise if weather permits. On a good day the view is incredible. Check out these amazing photos of Guadalupe Peak on Flickr for proof.