CDT Excerpts
The mountains of southern Colorado are spitting out northbounders in packs, just like they did to us in June of 2004. From Haiku:
In the five minutes that we sat and ate some snacks, the sky turned grey and clouds rushed across the sky from the direction of the mountains ahead of us. We suddenly couldn’t see some of the peaks because of the clouds (remember, we’re at 12,000′, so clouds are pretty much level with us). We decided it would not be safe to be clinging to the side of a snowy mountain in the fog, and perhaps rain and hail, when we needed to be able to see in order to navigate. We needed a way down off the mountain now, but the slope just to our east was a sheer cliff. We backtracked to a saddle we’d passed a half mile ago, and made our way down, mostly by glissading down snowfields. On the way down Bethany and I also taught some ice axe self-arrest techniques, and we practiced self-arresting while sliding head first, and while glissading. Better to practice now than while sliding down a steep snow face!
The snow wasn’t the end, next comes stomach trouble:
I didn’t sleep at all last night. A series of trips into the woods all throughout the night meant that in the morning I was severely dehydrated, and had no food in my body. Both Shaggy and Bethany also had whatever bug it was, and we were very miserable in the morning.
They made it to Pagosa Springs, where they’re recovering.
