Mt. Massive – Southwest Slopes
Date: July 30, 2003
Elevation: 14,421′
Rank: 2nd
Route: Southwest Slopes, Grade II, Class 2, 6.2 miles, 3960ft vert.
GPS: N 39° 11.233′ W 106° 28.483′
Team: Matt Esser (Toid), Mark Jaeger (Gugals)
Pre-climb: Anybody who has ever climbed a 14er knows what it takes to climb one. The last thing they want to do is wake up the next morning and even have to *think* about climbing another, let alone, actually doing it. Well, this is exactly what we did. We climbed Mt. Sherman the day before and were now going to climb Mt. Massive via it’s steepest route.
Climb: We forced ourselves out of our tent at 6am. The night went perfect. No bears or any other animals that could eat us appeared in the night. In fact, the night went so well, we fell asleep at 5:30pm the night before. That meant over 12 hours sleep! Yay! I thought Gugals would be harder to get up in the morning, but he got up soon after I did. We packed up camp and made our way to the North Halfmoon Trailhead.
On the way, we forced down our breakfast and were at the trailhead by 7am. We checked the register and found we were the first ones there. It took us a while to get ready, as I had a lot to do. I had to put first-aid on my ankle and heel where my blisters were, apply sunscreen to my body (be sure and check out the Sunscreen Nazi picture below), eat enough food, pack our backpacks, double-check route description, enter GPS coordinates and lock up the car! After all this we were on the trail at 7:30am.
The first thing we noticed when taking the Southwest Slopes route is that the route has changed. No longer does the trail leave the main trail after 1.3 miles like it is mentioned in Roach’s book. It’s now closer to 1.7 miles and at the other end of the meadow. We took a picture of the giant cairn that marks this new trail. The new trail goes directly up the cliff band that Roach says you skirt. This is pretty steep. Gugals didn’t enjoy this part at all. This is again where we split up. I went on ahead and we stayed in contact via radio. Another hiker had joined Gugals and traveled much closer to the same pace as he did. They would hike the rest of the day together. I would sprint on ahead.
Steep. Relentless. Unyielding. The new trail goes directly up Mt. Massive. It’s hard to even take a break on this steep of a slope. It has no sympathy for your blisters or your sore legs. Luckily, all I had was the former. I continued to power up the shoulder of Mt. Massive until I got to a snowfield which I skirted to the lefthand side. Once on the ridge at 13,000ft, I radioed Gugals to check in on him. He was doing fine, hiking with Dale, they were slowly making their way up. I didn’t blame them. This isn’t very easy.
As I pushed higher, the trail grew faint for a while, and then grew stronger the closer to the “saddle” I got. The reason I say saddle in quotes is because the previous trail reaches the saddle at 13,900ft. This new trail reaches the summit ridge above the saddle at 14,200ft and it’s closer to the summit. I radioed Gugals again and he was just now on top of the snowfield.
The summit ridge surprised me. You think because Massive is so big that it’s going to have a relatively big summit. This couldn’t be farther from the truth. There was a ridge that had a good amount of finding handholds and looking for foot placements while crossing. Don’t get me wrong, this wasn’t harder than Class 2, but I just wasn’t expecting it. I could now see hordes of Boy Scouts making their way up the standard trail. This didn’t excite me. As of now I’m the only person on the ridge. I wanted to get to the summit before the crowds arrived. I hustled on over, up and over, and down and up and over some more to the summit. What a great feeling! I had tried climbing Mt. Massive in November of 2001 but got turned back due to all the snow, but this time I made it! I took a moment and took in the view.
Shortly after sitting down and eating a snack, more and more people started showing up. Soon there was 30 people on the summit, and they were making all sorts of noise and well, I was humbled by the over-population on a 14er climb. At least we weren’t doing it on the weekend. I finished my feasting and made my way back to the turnoff point for the Southwest Slopes. It took me about 30 minutes. As I descended I spotted Gugals! He was climbing with Dale and they were just under 14,000ft. I quickly made my way down to them, walking on the route so they could see where to go. I told them about the colored wands in the ground to follow, but they were having trouble finding them. When I got down to them, the real story unfolded.
Gugals wasn’t tired, but he was scared from the cliffs he had to climb earlier. He asked about the summit ridge and I told him it had steep drop-offs but was relatively safe. He then asked if it was harder than Sherman. I said of course it was. He then told me he didn’t want to do it if it was scarier than Sherman. There it was. The truth had been told. Here we were at 14,000ft on the side of Mt. Massive and Gugals called it quits. It takes a strong man to do that. To work that hard and be able and say you are satisfied with how far you’ve come and turn around. I am proud of Gugals. We descended together from this point out, after taking some video camera footage of the clouds and surrounding peaks.
When we returned down the steep shoulder of Massive, eventually we arrived at the cliff section again. This time I gave Gugals one of my poles and went down with him to help him down this slippery section. After arriving at the junction to the flat trail, we cruised on back to the trailhead and rejoiced. We had just spent a day on Massive. And we loved it.
Drive: 1h
Ascent: 3.5h
Summit: 30 min
Descent: 4h
Drive: 4h
Total: 8h
Mt. Sherman – West Slopes
Date: July 29, 2003
Elevation: 14,036′
Rank: 45th
Route: West Slopes, Grade I, Class 2, 4.2 miles, 2140ft vert.
GPS: N 39° 13.5′ W 106° 10.15′
Team: Matt Esser (Toid), Mark Jaeger (Gugals)
Pre-climb: Gugals (college buddy) was in town, and we wanted to start off our trip right by climbing one of Colorado’s Giants! (haha) Sherman is deemed by many as the easiest and most boring of all the 14ers, so I had no particular reason to do it — until now. This would be perfect training ground for a flatlander to get acclimated with, before we tackle the harder ones.
Climb: Waking up at 3:30am is hard to do. However, if you live in Boulder, and you want to climb a 14er on the same day, it’s pretty much required that you get up earlier than you want to. We somehow managed to do it, and in the entire process packed our bags for a two day trip that included Mt. Massive. An hour later we were out the door and on the way to Mt. Sherman.
About 7am we pulled into the Iowa Gulch trailhead as Gugals got out and looked at Sherman. We were originally going to do the Fourmile Creek route, but since we were doing Massive the next day, the Iowa Gulch trailhead on the Leadville side would work out much better logistically.
By 7:30am, we were off! We set a blazing speed across the field towards the trail that was obvious from our car. In fact, we were going so fast that my sunglasses fell off the top of my head! Where they fell off I didn’t know, but I figured I would just summit, then come back and look for them later. The weather was somewhat worrying me as there were a lot of clouds around. A lot more than normal at 8am.
The hike up to the saddle was uneventful. The trail is fairly steep but not as steep as Massive’s southwest slopes. As I was climbing to the saddle, since Gugals and I both had radios, we decided it would be a good idea for me to go on ahead and scout out the weather from the saddle, as I could see more of what the clouds were doing from up there. Once I got to the saddle, the clouds just started building and building! I radioed Gugals and told him to keep on coming up, and I would climb to the summit to see what I could see from there.
I ran up the ridge and made it to the first windblock, but luckily before I started, I entered the coordinates into my GPS and knew the real summit was a little farther north. After a very short hike to the summit, which only 1 hour and 30 minutes had passed since I left my Blazer, I realized that I couldn’t see ANYTHING! It was starting to snow and the winds were terrible! I radioed Gugals again to find out his location. He had just made the saddle and was hunkered down in some cave wind shelter. Meanwhile, I put on some gloves, snapped a few pictures and then took off down the mountain.
Shortly after leaving the summit, I ran into a couple people who told me that everybody below (including a person who had climbed over 50 different 14ers) was turning around. I asked if they saw Gugals and they said they did and he was in a cave. Did I miss something here? Where on earth is there a cave on Sherman!?!? I made contact with Gugals and told him that I think the weather was clearing up and for him to try for the summit if he wanted to. He was happy and started hiking. I soon met up with him and gave him my camera so he could take pics from the top.
Then I proceeded to run down the entire mountain! I made it around the saddle and then back down to the flats where I found my sunglasses! I had just arrived back to my car in time for Gugals to radio from the summit that he was there! His first fourteener! He said the wind was so bad that he had to crawl on all fours for parts of it but that he was ok, and going to start heading down. I told him to radio me when he made it back to the saddle. He made the summit (and I finished) in three hours.
While he was descending, all the clouds must have passed because then the heaven’s opened up and sunshine was abundant everywhere! It was a completely different day. Now I could see the entire mountain and after Gugals made the saddle and descended a good part, I could see him moving along the trail.
All in all, it was a great trip. Gugals being the meteorology major he was at the University of Oklahoma, enjoyed the interesting weather. I enjoyed the fact that we both made it, had fun, and made it back down again safely the most. It’s now on to Mt. Massive!
Drive: 2.5h
Ascent: 1.5h
Summit: 15 min
Descent: 1.25h
Drive: 1h
Total: 3h
Trek 2000 Road Bike
Here is my first real road bike!
Ok. Looking back a couple years, the last thing I thought I would be is a roadie. However, if I was ever going to ride a bike in a triathlon or a bike race such as a century, my mountain bike would very inefficient. Plus it would put more wear and tear on my knobby tires riding it around on pavement. So, I looked around for a good deal on a road bike.
Again, I didn’t want a bike that was super expensive, but I also didn’t want a discount store bike. I have found that those disenegrate fairly easy. Whenever I get around to writing a report for my Wal-Mart bike, you’ll understand, plus discount store bikes simply cannot be upgraded. The bad news is that road bikes are generally more expensive than their mountain counterparts. So this posed a problem. Enter Golden Bear Bikes. I walked in and Mike (the store owner) gladly showed me the good deals he had on some previous year models. I instantly fell in love with a little red bike that was a 2002 Trek 2000. I put it on layaway and began making payments on it. A month later in July of ’03, it was mine.
Trek 2000:
Here is a picture of my bike.
When it comes to road bikes, you can get many different frames. Steel, Titanium, Carbon and Aluminum are probably the most common with each having their own set of advantages and disadvantages. I went with Aluminum. They say it’s stiff for riding, but that makes for good acceleration. However, the part that I was most concerned about was that it was light and cheap. While Titanium and Carbon probably provide the best ride, they are also the most expensive, which in my case was the deciding factor.
Frameset and Controls:
Frame: Alpha SL Aluminum. Super Light aluminum. Double-butted, seamless drawn round tubing. Custom butted 1-1/8″ head tube. Stiff powerful elliptical chainstays. Cold forged replaceable derailleur hanger. Trek Pro geometry. Handmade from the ground up in the Waterloo, Wisconsin. 2.85 lb.
Color: Candy Red
Size: 56cm
Headset: STR w/ steerer to 1 1/8″ head tube adapter
Handlebar: Ritchey Pro Biomax w/ ergo bend
Stem: Profile Design, reversable, 10.5deg 100mm
Shift Levers: Shimano 105 STI
Brakes: Shimano Ultegra BR-6600, dual-pivot
Fork: OCLV Carbon Classic w/Cro-Moly steerer
Drivetrain:
Rear Derailleur: Shimano 105 GS Ultegra RD-6500-GS
Crankset: Shimano 105 52/42/30 FC-6503
Cassette: Shimano HG-50 12-25, 9spd Ultegra CS-6500 12-25, 9spd
Front Derailleur: Shimano Ultegra FD-6500
Chain: Shimano Dura Ace CN-7701
Wheelset:
Rims: Welded, machined sidewall, Matrix Aurora rims Mavic Open Pro
Hubs: Shimano Tiagra Ultegra HB-6600 quick release, 36h hubs; 14G stainless spokes
Tires: IRC Red Storm tires Continental Ultra Gator Skins 700c x 25mm
Other:
Pedals: Shimano SPD M515 clipless pedals. Ultegra PD-6700 SPD-SL
Saddle: Selle Italia Flite Genuine Gel Titanium. Alloy micro-adjust seatpost.
Add-ons: I’ve added two water bottle holders and a Vetta RT77 computer with cadence and a little pack under the saddle.
Final Thoughts:
Again, this bike may be a little bigger than ideal, but I got a great deal on it. The fit isn’t that bad, as I initially replaced the stem with a shorter one, but then returned it and put back on a 100mm stem and moved the seat forward a little. This bike can move! In fact, my only “complaint” is that it goes faster than I feel comfortable downhill! Hehe. Right now my record coming down NCAR is 48mph. I would sure hate to hit a pothole and have a tire blowout at that speed! I replaced the standard saddle that Trek puts on their aluminum models with the Flite and I absolutely love it. Another component that I replaced was the handlebar. I slapped on a Ritchey Pro Biomax and now my hands love me! It’s extremely comfortable.
Tabeguache Pk – East Slopes – Solo Ascent
Date: July 12, 2003
Elevation: 14,155′
Rank: 26th
Route: East Slopes, Grade II, Class 2, 11.7 miles, 5410ft vert.
GPS: N 38° 37.533′ W 106° 15.016′
Team: Matt Esser (Toid)
Pre-climb: It has been a while since I soloed a peak, so I thought it would be good for me to get out to the mountains. Almost unprecedented, I had these two climbs picked out almost an entire day ahead of time. This gave me time to research beta and read recent trip reports concerning conditions. It appeared to me that while people still use Jennings Creek it is highly frowed upon do to environmental concerns. Thus, I chose to do the longer route which is becoming the standard route from Blank Gulch Trailhead.
Climb: I felt like I was in college again. As soon as I laid down my head to sleep, I hear this repeating sound that echoed in such a way I think my brain now twitches as the mere sound of that horrid noise. I think it’s a conspiracy with the alarm clock manufacturers to etch the sound into your brain neurons so that they can control you sub-consciously. But I digress. I woke up at 1:30am. I was on the road by 2am.
Mt. Shavano and Tabeguache Peak are two mountains that form the southern boundry of the Sawatch and they are probably the most difficult of the group to pronounce. I think everybody along the hike said these two names differently. That didn’t matter, it gave me something to think about as I was driving in the middle of the night. There were about four campsites setup at the trailhead, and they were stirring as I pulled in around 5:30am.
This trail is pretty steep. It wastes no time taking you from the 9,700ft start to around 11,000ft. However, after backpacking the previous weekend I was in good shape because at least now I didn’t have a 60lb pack on my back. In fact, I was making really good time, and made it to treeline a little after one hour. The temperature was already climbing, and as I reached into my pack I realized something. Where the heck are my sunglasses!?!? Doh! They are back in my Blazer! There was no way I was going to hike all that way just to get my sunglasses, but I knew that I would really miss them. Oh well, that’s what I get for not double checking everything before I hit the trail.
Then, moments later, I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me due to the excess sunlight exposure, and I saw about 20 bighorn sheep eating and pooping on the trail. In fact, I didn’t think they were really there until I got closer and still saw them. Then, instead of taking off as I approached, these sheep started walking towards ME!? What on earth!? Do people feed these things or something? It looked like it wanted to use its horns and plow into me, in an attempt to seperate me from my backpack so it could feast on candy bars, trail mix and water. I wasn’t about to have any! So like in the movie Parent Trap, I began to hit my two sticks together (trekking poles) to scare off big animals. It seemed to work amusingly well. I snapped a few pictures and continued on up to the saddle.
After that little encounter, I reached the saddle after 2 hours and 15 minutes. From here you can see a false summit that is really close to the actual summit of Shavano. However, the trail turns to Class 2 at this point, which means talus and/or rock hopping. No big deal, but this last little bit took me 45 minutes and I was standing on the summit at what seemed like to me a new personal record — 8:45 in the morning. What on earth to do?! Oh yeah, hike on over to Tabeguache before the afternoon storms roll in. (which btw, isolated thunderstorms were predicted) And being on a ridge that takes an hour to traverse, that’s not a place I wanted to be in a thunderstorm.
The traverse over is really simple. I guess you can make it more complicated if you try and “save time” by cutting across the sides of Shavano, but that IMHO is a poor decision. It’s so much easier to just follow the ridge proper. Once you hike down into the saddle between Shavano and Tabeguache, it’s a quick talus climb to the top of Tab. The trail is faint, but it’s more on the Southeast side rather than the Northeast side. I didn’t see it going up, but I found it for the return trip back down. From the top of Tabeguache, you have a pretty good view of the Antero Road. I would say you have a good view of Antero, but the road seriously distracted me. It’s that visable. Oh well.
Honestly, the thought of me having to climb Shavano again was disheartening. I didn’t want to do it, but it really wasn’t as bad as I thought. I made it back with another hour of hiking at a moderate pace and just continued right on over and down to the saddle before I finally took a break. What on earth are people doing still coming up the mountain in the afternoon!? Don’t they see the giant storm cloud? I guess I’d rather not know the answer to that. It might affect my view on the integrity of the population.
The descent is steep because well, the ascent was steep. My feet were on fire coming down the mountain, however I was satisfied knowing that I came out and accomplished what I set out to do. Tabeguache is I guess a relatively hard peak to get if your doing the 14ers for the Grand Slam. Most people I saw said they were attempting the traverse for the second or third time. I guess I was lucky for getting it on my first try. Then again, I guess if one just sucks it up and succombs to the sound of their alarm clock at 2 in the morning after going to bed at midnight, you have enough time to achieve your adventures.
Drive: 3.5h
Ascent: 3h
Summit: 30 min
Traverse: 1h
Summit: 30 min
Descent: 2.75h
Drive: 4h
Total: 8.75h
