Quandary Summit and Breck/Keystone Extreme

So I thought I should also update the other 14er summit I did this summer, this time with my good friend Kyle!

We actually got up about 4:30 am for this hike and were at the trailhead ready to go by 5:30am. Not too many cars here and a couple cars even had a couple people sleeping in them. Here's a before shot of me, armed with GPS and ready to rock!

This was Kyle's 1st 14er and it's basically right up the long side of the mountain, turn around, and come back. It's not very technical, just very long! The sunrise on Quandary was amazing but to our backs. Kyle is a pretty fit dude and we had been at elevation for a few days so he was up for the challenge. He set a pretty rippin' pace early that I struggled to keep up with (I pride myself on being average speed but all day long endurance) but eventually he leveled off and we were able to find a great pace we both could maintain for the duration of the hike. We made quick work of the mountain early passing everyone we saw and we hit the false summit (which isn't very false) in under an hour. I snapped a black and white shot back with one of my next conquests, Grays and Torreys in the background. Looking towards the sun caused a neat haze.We also spotted mountain goats down the mountain towards the resevoir! First goats I've seen in my (5-7 14er climbs)The last part of Quandary is steep and relentless but we were pretty sure we would have a clear summit and with no one else so we hauled up to the top passing the two people that were in front of us! And we were alone! Kyle's first 14er summit! And here's my summit shot too! Elbert and Massive are in the background, way back there! Summit certified!And then a father/son combo from Chicago came up and took this photo for us! The view to the north was stunning. That's the upper part of McCullough gulch. Kyle was not afraid to live on the edge on the way down. The weather was beautiful! We saw no less than 500+ people accending on a perfect Thursday morning so glad we got there early. There was a school field trip, a group of maybe 50 people each with balloons to let fly at the summit to honor a friend who died exactly a year ago and loved climbing. Many retirees who didn't even care of they made the top, etc. Oh yeah and 6 non-people too! Some mountain goats! They were curious and probably looking for food and standing right in the trail! Too much fun! We kept making our way down the mountain and were to the treeline in no time. Going down is easier on the lungs but harder on the joints but we made it down with no injuries or falls so all was well! Here's me in standard warm weather Colorado climbing gear. The road back to Breck has a pull out to view Quandary. My camera viewed us and Quandary. What a fun day with a good friend, perfect weather and a nice sense of adventure!We then met up with Hez and Jess and got our spelunking on. This was a pretty cool gold mine and freezing cold in there!Jess and I went around Breck to find our favroite spot, a nice mountian stream with a little ropes course action!And no blog post would be complete without the trip to Keystone. Because Jess was pregnant no biking for her so it was just Kyle and I again. Keystone is the single most fun you can have on a mountain bike as far as I've experienced. Shuttle up and then dozens of different routes down. The easy routes are some sweet flowy and rocky singletreack! Perfect! You can also opt for harder routes with drops, stunts and features. What to do, the double black diamond bypass or the triple black diamond corkscrew?Why the corkscrew of course! It's hard to ride when you are shaking in fear but I had no choice but to not crash! Here is the finish (a reenactment) but it shows the whole thing. Pretty cool, I've missed seeing this stunt on previous trips so glad we saw it this time! Kyle liked bombing steep, rocky drops! This was just the start of a black diamond natural terrain trail with rocks, jumps, ledges and many successive drops. No problems! That pretty much catches you up on my Colorado Adventures for 2009. Thanks for reading!