This weekend we accomplished one of the goals on our Colorado bucket lists: we climbed a fourteener! A 14er is one of the nearly 60 mountain tops (last I heard they counted 54) that reach 14,000 feet or higher. The one we climbed is called Grays Peak. We had never climbed to the top of a mountain before so we had no idea what we were in for. These last few weekends we had tried to prepare for inclines by going to Devil’s Backbone in Loveland and other close spots, but nothing would prepare us for what we went through in terms of length and altitude.
Grays (left) and Torreys (right) Peak in the distance
We met at our friends Kelly and Todd’s house just after 6am and arrived at the trailhead that is located near the town of Georgetown right around 9am. We arrived a little late, but still managed to find parking. We started the trailhead at about 11,000 feet (Greeley is close to 4,000) and would ascend to over 14,000 ft over the course of about 3.5 miles.
The trailhead starts below treeline, so there was quite a bit of pine trees and plants.
First part of the trail (Kelly and Todd walking) -still lots of plant life
Slowly though the trees thinned out until there was just low-lying brush and then just a little bit of tundra plants left. We saw a lot of wildflowers including Colorado’s state flower, the columbine.
Pretty wild flowers with mountains in the distance
Columbines growing wild
The beginning was somewhat steep but not too bad. It had a low-grade meadow in the middle that was great for catching my breath. My heart was pounding pretty hard and I could feel with each step that I was getting less and less oxygen. Thankfully Britton offered to be the mule and carry our backpack full of food and supplies.
Britton and me
We got to a point where many people were second-thinking whether or not to keep going up. I was getting winded and feeling strange with just a few steps. I had to scale boulders that were about half the height that I am. A few people were turning back. Not even the plants dared to live much further up. We sat at this juncture and had a snack for a little while. It was breathtaking in more than one way.
Looking down into the valley from whence we came as the sun and clouds chased each other
It was tempting to stop. I was spent. We had been climbing for about 2.5 hours by then. Kelly and Todd had kept going ahead of us, so it was just Britton and me alone. People said it would be about another 45 minutes to the top if we kept walking. I didn’t know if I could do more, as it was getting steeper and steeper and the air was thinning with each step. But I convinced myself to continue to do what we had set out to do: climb a Colorado fourteener.
Some people had plenty of energy (see the guy on the rock)
Soon, Britton became worried about me as my hands started turning purple and splotchy. I felt a little nauseous, I had to sit down about every 100 steps or so. He was so great. He was very patient with me and was supportive of whatever decision I needed to make. But I pushed on. Even when I felt like stopping, I kept going. I kept counting my steps. 75 steps. Sit. 50 steps. Sit. 40 steps. Sit. Finally we started hearing people coming down who had made it to the top. “Just two or three switch-backs and you’ll be there.” That really helped in keeping me motivated. “Is it worth it?” I asked more than once. “Totally!” was the response. Just. A. Few. More. Steps. I think I probably was not fully hydrated and maybe had a touch of altitude sickness. I’m not sure, but I felt like I was dragging my body along.
Finally we looked up and saw Kelly and Todd waving at us from the top. They had been there about 25 minutes already. I pushed on and through to the zenith. Victory! It was an amazing accomplishment for me. Many moments of doubt, but I pushed through it. Through the pain and discomfort. We were there!
On top of the world! With Todd, Kelly, me and Britton
It was absolutely gorgeous and much more difficult to me than I thought, but totally worth it. After climbing this mountain I know that at least half of anything you do is mental. You can psyche yourself into or out of anything. I almost wanted to cry with feelings of relief and achievement. It was incredible.
View from the top –looking toward Torreys
We had thought we might also try climbing the neighboring peak, Torreys, but everyone felt that we had done enough for one day, plus it looked like a rain storm might come in. Britton and I reached the top of Grays at about 12:30pm. It took us about 3.5 hours.
Coming down I felt great. With each step I was getting more oxygen and energy. I was even able to jog a few areas! We made it down in only about 2 hours. By 3pm we were loaded and ready to take on the crazy I-70 Sunday traffic.
Coming down off the mountain. Look how barren and rocky it is! Like walking on the moon!
It was an absolutely amazing experience in more ways than one. If you ever have the opportunity to climb a Colorado 14er, I would whole-heartedly recommend it. And just remember, a mountain is conquered one step at a time.
Fun at the top
Look in the river