Celebrating Life in Coloradan Rockies

As I express my gratitude, happiness, and experiences of the adventure in Coloradan Rockies, my mind is full of memories, eyes are full of breath-taking views, and heart is full of joy. It was kind of a once-in-a-lifetime experience, full of adventure and excitement.

Warm Up Hike to Chasm Lake. To me, it was just going to be an easy prep hike. However, it turned out to be one of the most challenging adventures of my lifetime. 50 mph brutally cold wind was smashing my face. Visibility was low. Hands were almost frozen. Other hikers were returning due to grim situation. Every time I saw someone returning unfinished, my heart raced even higher, thinking how ‘horrible’ the situation was as we were ascending. I was scared, and I wanted to go back. I was thirsty, but I didn’t want to grab the water bottle or touch anything. I kept asking myself – ‘Aab mera kya hoga?’  Anil kept on pushing us. He said many times: ‘Are chalo yaar,’ ‘Kuchh nahi hoga,’ ‘Are Chasm lake tak to jana hi hai.’ On the other hand, Vivek was having risk-aversion mindset and finally decided to head back as the windy situation further escalated and stormed seemed approaching. I think it was a best decision. By the time we made it to parking lot (luckily), the situation had gone even worse. We were so tired, but happy that we reached safely. Even though we couldn’t complete our goal of the day, I felt good and accomplished after hiking in such a scary and dangerous weather. This became one of the unforgettable adventures of my lifetime. Thanks to Anil for pushing our boundaries. Many thanks to our humble leader, Vivek, for making a right call to head back even though we were so close to Chasm lake. I described this experience as ‘Horrible.’ Then, the word – Horrible – became a buzz word throughout our trip.

‘Haaaaaashhh,’ I felt while going towards Leadville, where our over-night stay was booked. I was craving for some good meal. Vivek even further tempted it by suggesting that there is some good Mexican restaurant on the way to Leadville. We were excited to have that food. The road to Leadville was pretty scenic. We were taking pictures from all sides. Sanchit made this scenic road-trip even further exciting with his fine selection of Bollywood melody songs. Having headaches, we stopped at Starbucks. With Starbucks Medium Hot Latte (1 pump of Mocha, no foam, no sugar, skim milk) on hand, beautiful views, melody Bollywood songs, and great conversations about life (yes, we talked about Bitcoin), life seemed complete and blissful. What else one could ask for?

Suddenly, we saw a new challenge coming.  Road was blocked due to an accident, very serious accident. We were upset because we were tired, wanting to reach Hostel and have good Mexican meal. Almost 1.5 hours or so wasted. We changed plan to have ready-made dehydrated food and go to bed for the next day’s big hike. Finally, we reached to the historic town of Leadville. Inn The Clouds Hostel was very iconic, expressing Coloradan culture on its walls throughout. We ate whatever we had. Sanchit and Vivek went to nearby grocery store and picked up some breakfast items.

 The Big Day on Mt. Elbert. Alarm went off at 4 AM. Vivek prepared tea for us. Vivek’s caring and compassionate nature is what I love the most on every trip. We took quick breakfast and got ready to leave at 5:30 AM. We also found out that a father, who was staying at the same hostel, had brought his 15-year-old son all the way from Pennsylvania to climb Mt. Elbert on his birthday. We all were happy to learn that. Anil said, ‘What a best gift you could give to your son on his birthday!’ I agreed with him. We reached trailhead at 6 AM. Vivek checked trail conditions and asked few other people, and finally told us to put on Spikes and to keep Snowshoes in the backpack. His instincts worked out best. We never had to use snowshoes while ascending. This is another quality of Vivek that I came to admire that he does his due diligence as a group leader and makes well informed educated decisions. That brings additional comfort to fellow Desi doers. Sanchit seemed very pro in this climb and was doing so very efficiently and easily. Out of four of us, he was always ahead every time. Anil was right after him as well. Vivek and I were coming little behind them. One of the grate lessons Vivek game me while ascending was how to breathe properly. And not just that, he kept on checking that I am breathing right. One time even he asked, ‘Show me how you are breathing.’ All four of us took short break after crossing tree lines to get readjusted for the next phase of the climb.

Next, Sanchit and Vivek consistently maintained their pace, While Anil and I were struggling. Anil and I were taking more breaks than hiking up. I wanted to give up, and I asked Anil, ‘ye hamse hoga kya?’ Anil kept on supporting me. He became the right buddy that I could ask for during the difficult phase of the hike. Fortunately, the weather was at its best in winter with sunny, 15 degree, and no or very little wind. If Anil wasn’t there, I would not have been able to successfully climb Mt. Elbert, as I was not able to maintain the pace with Sanchit and Vivek. I and Anil were taking our own time with frequent breaks, pictures, and water. We were determined to do this, but at our own pace. Vivek/Sanchit continued to wave their hands from far. I was like, ‘Ok, I know you guys are better hiker than us.’ But I remain focused on my own pace. Then, we saw the father with his 15-year-old son returning. The first question we asked him, ‘Did you guys make it to the top?’ he said they didn’t do it as the noon was already passed and one more final steep stretch was still remaining. I was upset hearing this. But somehow, Anil was determined to do this anyhow. He told me, ‘hum karenge.’ Finally, we made it to the top. Yaaaay!  Sanchit and Vivek had already done it. Sanchit took out his phone, and wanted to take selfie, but I was so tired that I was not in that mood at all. But I got up and stood up tired in a selfie pose. Then, Vivek and Sanchit started descending, while I and Anil started celebrating. Anil was super excited (as usual) for videos and pics, but I had no energy left to do anything. I was not believing that I did it. We captured as many memories as we could and started heading down. I was smiling so much, thanking Anil often. Descending was a piece of cake for us. Vivek and Sanchit were waiting for us at the tree lines.

I thought we were done now, and hard things were over, but the real adventure had yet to start. Snow had melted little bit due to sunny day. First, we noticed Anil’s feet were getting pierced through snow up until his knees. Then, same things started happening to Vivek, I, and Sanchit. Almost every step we put; our legs were succumbed in the snow. Then, Vivek ordered everyone to put on snowshoes. The situation was so rough that even with snowshoes we were not able to hold our feet steadily on snow surface many times. Especially, I was having very bad time walking with snowshoes as I was using them for the first time in my life and they were not that comfortable. By the time we managed to handle such trail condition, it had almost turned dark. We switched back to spikes and sticked headlamps on head. It had completely turned dark, and we lost the trail. I was very frustrated and cursing myself to have come for this experience. But it was amazing to see how Vivek and Sanchit were determined on finding the trail. I and Anil were laid back, while Vivek and Sanchit were focused. They knew what they were doing. They confidently led the efforts of finding the way. There is a saying that team feels comfortable and confident under true leaders. This is exactly what I felt in this crisis. They somehow found the trails by checking trail maps and their own instincts. By the time we reached parking lot, it was almost 9:30 PM. We celebrated this achievement by hugging and taking a group selfie. I was humbled and grateful for the safely return.

Relaxing day in RMNP. Life here was beautiful. The Park was at peace, and it put us in peace. We were in complete awe and wow moments. I was speechless, looking at the nature at its best. While in the park, I thanked God and Vivek 1000 times for these opportunities, experiences, beauties, and peaceful moments. All three lakes – Bear Lake, Dream Lake, and Emerald Lake were frozen. Nature was blessing us from top with light snow flurries. I had only seen such beauties in movies. It was a heavenly feeling. I felt I was in a paradise. I had everything that I could wish for in this park. We took many pics and videos. We even slid through a slope, covered with snow. We cherished every bit of the moments we had in the park. We were dancing, laughing, peaceful, joyful, excited, and speechless. We were everything in the park. We saw everything in the park. We had everything in the park. It was a perfect integration of our lives with the mother nature.  

Thank you Vivek for enriching my life with these unforgettable experiences. Now, I have memories to rejoice for in the years to come. I would not have had these experiences without you.  May God bless you!

Many thanks to Sanchit to make these experiences even further memorable with your top selections of Bollywood songs and your deep insights and conversations on any topics we discussed. You had some great things to share with us on anything we talked about. Even though you were high achiever, you always remain humbled. May you continue to go even higher!

And cheers to Anil for adding extra flavors to this wonderful life experiences. When you are there in any trips, it becomes celebration. We came here for experiences, and you made it a celebration.

Vivek created the experiences, Sanchit and Anil added vibrancy, excitement, and sweetness into these, making it a celebration of the lifetime.

With life full of memories,

Vraj.

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