August 2009 Recap

In the beginning of August I got serious about climbing all of the 14ers in Colorado within the next year, and the frequency / intensity of my hiking really picked up. The month started off with an incredible weekend backpacking trip up to Lake Como, in the heart of the Sangre de Cristos, to climb Blanca Peak, Ellingwood Point, and Little Bear Peak. The latter of these three was my first class 4 climb. At some point I'll need to write a full trip report of that weekend; for now - here are the pictures.

The following weekend I made a couple daytrips to Mt. Yale and Snowmass Mountain (photos). Snowmass Lake and that whole area are among the most beautiful places I have ever been. I did that in a long, 20+ mile, 12 hour day, but had perfect weather throughout.

The final trip in September was back to Aspen to tag South Maroon Peak and Capitol Peak (photos). After getting Maroon peak on a Saturday, I drove to the Capitol ditch trailhead and hiked into Capitol Lake, where I spent the night, and then climbed the peak the following day. From K2 to the summit of Capitol was the most exposed scrambling and climbing I'd ever done.