We must have made over 1000 trips down and up the Roaring Fork valley to Carbondale, Glenwood Springs and beyond over the last 15 years and this colossus of a mountain looms above you from almost every angle . Standing entirely on its own ( there are two peaks half a mile apart of exactly - sound suspicious to me - to the foot ) at 12,966 ft, it is majestic. Winter and summer alike . On so many occasions Mary and I have vowed we’d do it some time. We had rather assumed we’d have to do it over two days camping at Thomas Lakes and leaving our tent before dawn to beat the electrical storms that come in pretty consistently from 1pm onwards throughout the summer. There’s a small window though in the early fall when we’re through the monsoon season and before the first snowfalls arrive when the weather tends to be more settled allowing you to be above tree line for the whole day. Thus a single day ascent and descent should , even for septuagenarians, be possible. So this was it . Now or never. Age is not on our side to put it mildly .
So on Sat Sept 28 the alarm went off at 3am, in the car by 4am and walking at 5am. The pics tell the rest except that it was , for us a 13 hour day. With aching feet we shuffled back to the car at 6pm. Mission accomplished. 6 hours up, 7 down. The loose rocks and boulders made it more difficult than we anticipated. Book time says 8 to 10 hours. 15 miles . 4,500 feet of climbing.
