14er fever

I had no idea, a year ago, when I gave my friend Cam's son a book to read on Hugh Herr that he would decide he really wanted to be a climber. He's funding his own trip next year to climb Kilimanjaro. And he's spent the summer bagging 14ers out here in Colorado.

I was feeling a bit depressed that I hadn't done one 14er this summer due to switching jobs and still traveling. So when my friend Kevin asked me this week if I wanted to escort himself and his two room mates, Leon and Peter, up a 14er (their first) of course I said yes.

We were supposed to do Quandry peak this morning. But at 8 PM last night someone finally figured out that Quandry was farther away than anticipated. I suggested Bierstat instead. It's more scenic and closer.

I sent detailed instructions on what to pack, most of which were ignored by Kevin. Including the first thing on the list, a spare set of socks. The beginning of the bierstat trail can be muddy and wet. About 10 minutes into our hike Kevin fell into a creek. Luckily Peter had an extra pair of socks for Kevin to use. I should probably not mention another detail, which is that Kevin was farting like freight train the whole hike up.

It was a great day even with all the crowds. When we summitted there must have been at least 50 other people on top. We took quick pictures and then I suggested we head down. The weather on Bierstat can change quickly, and I didn't want to have to haul ass down the rock pile/talus field that is Bierstat's peak with 50 other people and their badly behaved dogs.

Peter had me laughing with his impromptu singing. He would sing two lines of a song and then stop. He got one 80s song stuck in my head for most of the hike though. That was kind of annoying. Then he and Kevin had an argument because Peter thought he was singing The Final Countdown and Kevin was like "no, that's a Stix song."

When we arrived back at the car everyone was like "that was only 7 miles???? that was hard!" We ran into a guy with Tennessee license plates who was not hiking but who was drinking red wine in the Bierstat parking lot. He was like "You hiked all the way up here? That looks tiring. We're drinking."

Point taken :)

I hope that Leon and Peter invite me on some more of their adventures. I dubbed Peter the mountain lion because for a smoker he had a great pace and was good at route finding through the talus field. I think he's also been bitten by the 14er bug. He was googling 14ers the whole ride home and wants to do Torey's/Gray's in a few weeks.

Rock on. Hiking partners!

When I was saying goodbye to them at their house at the end of our little adventure Peter was like "Thank you so much for guiding us up Bierstat." I was like "I didn't do anything except laugh when Kevin farted." Peter said "But you encouraged us up when we wanted to turn around."

I was like "I don't remember doing that." And he said "Well, we figured if someone with a knee built from dead body parts could get up Bierstat so could we."

It's the best compliment I've received in a while.