We started from the Willow Creek trailhead in Crestone, Colorado, and hiked east up into the Sangre de Cristo mountains.
Our targets: Challenger Point (14,086 feet), Kit Carson Peak (14,167 feet), Columbia Point (13,980 feet), Obstruction Peak (13,799 feet), Mt. Adams (13,931 feet), and the handful of unnamed 13ers on the ridgeline between Obstruction and Adams. Here's the view looking west downvalley at around 7am.
By the time we got up into the basin near treeline, everything up high was all socked in.
Here's Willow Lake, looking again downvalley. We're somewhere around 12,000 feet above sea level right now.
Another shot of Willow Lake, looking up into the basin. Challenger/Kit Carson/Columbia are all up to the right, and the ridge from Obstruction to Adams is to the left.
Now on our way up Challenger's northeast slope. Foggy, but still plenty of visibility to find the trail.
The clouds break as we gain the ridge that leads to Challenger. The wind comes strong enough to knock us off our feet. That thing across the valley that looks like a pyramid is Mt. Adams.
Here's the view from Challenger, looking northwest across the San Luis Valley.
Now we're looking east southeast, with Challenger at foreground right and Kit Carson a bit back at left. Crestone Peak (14,299 feet) is in the clouds far behind.
After descending Challenger and traversing above the cliffs I referred to in this post from 2018, we decided to climb the final pitch of the Kit Carson prow instead of taking the standard route, which shoots down and around KC's west face before hooking back up to the summit. In the photo below, my companions start picking their way up the prow. Yes, their faces are pixelated like that in real life, too.
Socked in again. The prow we just came up descends into fog.
Looking back northish at Columbia and Kit Carson from the ridgeline to Obstruction. Challenger's summit is not visible from this angle; it's hiding behind KC, but you can see the slope we went up to access its ridge. Upper Willow Lake is directly below; if you squint, you can see regular Willow Lake down at the mouth of the basin.
And now here's looking southish at the Crestones from about the same place. Crestone Peak is the one with two humps on the right, and Crestone Needle (14,196 feet) is the pointy thing to the left.
After a good deal of effort and some complicated routefinding, we've finally managed to gain the ridge that leads north from Obstruction to Mt. Adams. This is looking across the valley and Upper Willow Lake over at Columbia and KC.
A solitary bighorn sheep stands alert to our presence on the ridgeline to Adams.
This is the view looking south from Mt. Adams, overlooking the majority of our route for the day. All told, it was about 14 hours trailhead to trailhead.
I hope you liked the pictures.
Now it's time for the words.
Oh wait…
I don't have any words.
Dammit.
Sorry.
I got so distracted with the photos,
that I forgot about the words.
…
To be continued,
I guess?
I see what you mean. Sometimes I go to say something but
Right. I mean just the other day I was
doing things not safe to speak about publicly?
Close, but actually I was just standing there minding my own business when suddenly
Dude you're crazy minding your business in a
I know man but given the circumstances what choice do I really
You skidded down a mountain leaving a red streak in your wake causing
people to wonder how it was possible that
you still have a number one
then the words disappear
Who needs words when the pictures speak for themselves?
Yeah. If I ever get around to writing a novel, it will probably just end up being one of those coffee table picture books.
Who actually buys those things anyway? My family keeps buying them secondhand and giving them to me for some reason but I don't know of anybody who's ever actually buys them new.
Yeah go figure. I bought a 1975 issue of The Best of Life about two months ago. Still haven't even cracked it. There's some of the best photography in history in there.
Nice pictures! Your Mt. Adams looks much different from my Mt. Adams.
I envy your adventure. I am overdue.
please consider putting mountain goats in your next post instead of some cheap sheep thanks
believe it or not, the sheep cost more than the goats do
is that because sheep go to heaven and goats go to hell?
No, it's just more common to see goats. Sheep can charge a premium due to their rarity.
clearly you have no intentions of getting my goat
I'll get your goat later when I'm dead and in hell.
OH, ARE YOU GOING TO HELL?
always good to have goals
That's because no one does mountains like @brandt. Better step up your game.
is this stepping it up enough for you??
It depends on how long it took you to find that particular gif, which took a lot less time than it would take if you'd baked it, then photographed it, then turned it into a gif.
Listen, I don't need you or anybody else to make me feel like an ass. I'm perfectly capable of doing that myself, thankyouverymuch.
Thanks for asking, though. Raincheck?
😂 I so love your saucy slaps, far more exquiste than burito wraps.
I checked. It's not raining. Raincheck back again on Monday. I think there's a rainsale then.
Most people think they love my slaps but really when it comes down to it they just love my sauce. I can give you the recipe if you want.
Is it rude to thread up someone else's post? I'd ask @brandt his opinion but at this point he's probably ignoring us as he's too busy packing for his big move to start his new life in hell.
The photos are good enough for no words at all!
Are your friends famous? I have seen folk with pixelated faces on TV. It must be them!
My friends are actually so famous that they have transcended fame, and are now impossible to see. Hence the pixelated faces. Don't think about it too hard or it won't make sense.
I think they have become starborn!
the beauty of the mountains is very good..
Yep :) That's why I spend so much time out there. Thanks for stopping by to enjoy the view.
Thanks so much!
Amazing photos!and what a hike. I don't think my body could deal with the altitude, but man to be up there must be awesome.
Thanks! It's quite the feeling being up on those peaks. That's really the whole reason I moved to CO in the first place :)
Your entire post reads like a man showing off his mountains everywhere to everyone with no shame nowhere to no one.
All face pixelations aside, I know I'm in trouble when I scroll up and down, backwards, forwards, stop and stare at all your mountain shots. Wicked mountain photos, got terribly distracted from words. Wild fog rolling in just after the prow of KC. Love it. Cool shot.
Thanks :) Climbing up the prow was insane. Wish I'd been able to get more pics, but I was too focused on staying stuck to the mountain to think about pulling my phone out. Good thing you got distracted from the words, there wasn't much too miss anyway.
It looks insane. Uh, yeah, I'd be focusing on not falling off a flipping mountain, forget phone. You got great shots none-the-less. Makes me want to be there to see there even though I don't know if I'm actually here to be there.
Words come, words go, sometimes they flow, sometimes they forgo letters which is sometimes better...