We met in passing on a cloudy day in June of 2014. No words were exchanged, no simple pleasantries. I had driven a long way from Denver to meet, but I knew that she would not take any notice of me. As I approached, the rain was beginning to turn to a chunky white snow and I thought it best not to linger for too long. Whose brilliant idea was this to meet at such high altitude? I climbed back into my car and returned to my hotel room both defeated and invigorated knowing that we would meet again, hopefully under better conditions.
Fast forward 13 months and there I was again, driving the same road to the same location of our first rendezvous. It was a beautiful sunny day with small wisps of clouds occasionally floating past. I couldn’t believe how nervous I was. I had never done anything like this before. But that nervousness was mixed with equal amounts of excitement for what would come in the next few hours. I arrived around 7am and waited in my car for a few moments to compose myself. My stomach, full of cheap hotel waffles and bacon, made a loud gurgle and I figured that was as good of a sign as any to just get on with it. I stepped out of the car and there she was, just like I had remembered from the year before. She was gigantic, with giant lumps all over and a bald head, but to me she was absolutely beautiful... All 14,065ft of her.
Her name was Mt. Bierstadt, and for the next 6 hours I was at her mercy.
Mt. Bierstadt from the trailhead. Canon T3i, Canon 24mm f1.4
Colorado is full of 14,000ft peaks to hike, but this would be my first. I had been fighting a sinus infection for the week leading up to the hike but was determined not to fly back home without completing this journey. I set off from the trailhead with a pack full of water and energy bars for the 7 mile round-trip hike.
Over the first mile of the hike my nerves calmed as I kept a steady pace through the marshlands at her base. Here I was provided a false sense of security through this first part of the journey. The elevation gain was light and I can remember thinking to myself “Oh man, this is going to be easy!” This mentality stuck with me all the way to the first shoulder around 12,500ft. This is when the true gravity of the situation started to sink in. As with any love affair, there is always a honeymoon period, and ours was about to come to an end with 2000ft of elevation gain in a little under 2 miles.
The next hour and a half was a constant struggle to maintain anything resembling a steady pace. Soon I began to accept that I would not be able to cruise through the rest of the hike and a slight nagging hint of defeat began to sink in. But I would not let her defeat me so easily. I would walk until my heart began to pound at my chest and then rest for five minutes to let it calm down. After every rest I would tell myself to just keep moving, just make it to the next shoulder or resting point. Soon I had passed the Sawtooth, the ragged rock bridge connecting Mt. Bierstadt and Mt. Evans and was quickly approaching the final boulder-filled ridge line to the summit. I had made a deal with myself at the first shoulder that if I was going to turn back, I had to at least make it to the ridge line.
As I approached there was no question in my mind that I had to complete this journey. I took a final rest, inhaled an energy bar, and made my final push to the summit. Once I reached the boulder field every ounce of doubt left my mind. My sinuses had sealed shut at this point and my heart felt as if it would explode from my chest at any moment. I climbed my way over boulders the size of SUVs knowing that any slip could send me tumbling hundreds of feet back down the mountain. I was undeterred. I was a man on a mission.
The final push to the summit. iPhone 6+
Finally, there were no boulders to look up at, there was only blue sky and sun. I could see the summit, I could see that the prize was almost within my grasp, I could see… about 100 other men and women that had also been lured in by Mt. Bierstadt’s beauty. I should have known that I couldn’t keep her all to myself. Regardless, I staked out my own little patch of rocks and sprawled out for a short nap in the sun.
Mt. Bierstadt lured me in with beauty and false hope, made me question my own abilities and motivations, challenged me physically and mentally, left me sore and bruised for days afterward, and put a nice dent in my ego. And while the attraction was unrequited, I had no regrets. The memories of this day will stick with me forever and though it was my first, I’m sure there will be many more to come.