Winter Adventures of Colorado Rockies

A winter trip to Colorado Rockies and experience snowy landscapes became a reality recently when a group of Doeres joined me in a hike to Mount Elbert in April. Though the season is officially Spring, however all around Rockies, the landscape is wintry almost until May, with snow covered peaks and trails.

I had been to Colorado Rockies a few times in Summer and Fall earlier for hiking but never had the opportunity to be there in Winters, though many in our group of Desi Outdoors have been out there for Skiing this season. I had been fascinated by the images of magical snowy landscapes of tall mountains, lined up across the Southern Rockies range (Northern Rockies is in Canada and overall it runs 3000 miles long in North America). There is no better way to experience the landscape than to climb it, being a hiker has its benefits. There are many mountain ranges in Colorado and Mount Elbert, the highest peak in Colorado, falls in Sawatch range in Central Colorado. There are unofficial 59 peaks over 14,000 feet in CO, called 14’ers, Mount Elbert is at 14,440 feet and comparatively easy to hike.

I took the opportunity of Doeres next expedition to Aconcagua as a pretext to climb Mount Elbert in winter conditions, to get some weather experience at high altitude, hoping many may join. Having done in Summers, I thought it would be a manageable hike in April. As things would turn out, only a few folks joined. We ended up as a group of four enthusiastic Doeres to experience the thrill.

Though the original plan was to attempt Mount Elbert twice in two days as training of a multiday HA expedition, however the plan changed over a period of time. After having booked the flight tickets, which gave us full three days in Colorado, the plan became of acclimatization and exploring the Rockies including summit attempt to Mount Elbert, second highest in lower forty eight states of USA. A tentative plan was to climb up to Chasm Lake in Longs peak area on Day one, Elbert summit attempt on Day two and Day three as a backup. Depending upon weather conditions, option to explore other places in Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP) such as Emerald lake was also in plan for Day three.

Any trip to the mountains is very dependent on weather. Having a weather suitable to the activity planned is Natures blessing, especially if the goal is to summit a mountain peak. In addition, winter hiking conditions are very different than summer, mainly due to cold, wind, clouds, unexpected or unknown snow storms and the trails are different due to snow covered trails and landscape, varying snow conditions, lack of visibility and trail markings and many other hazards such as icy conditions, mini avalanches, narrow paths and steep drops. In addition, other factors as lack of sleep, lack of proper gear, lack of experience in using the winter gear, heavy pack, taking longer than planned, consuming more energy early on and running low in the end are common challenges in a winter hike.

We got on Day one from our hotel in Denver to drive to the trailhead of Longs peak for Chasm lake. The day was clear in Denver and it felt hot, possibly in upper 60s in morning itself. After a few fun stops enroute, we reached the trailhead and it started snowing, what a change, we said. Winds had started picking up as well. After getting ready for the weather conditions, we started our hike around 11.30am, which was ok considering it was about 9 miles round trip and we expected 4-5 hours hike. Trail was all snow, packed hard, right from beginning, so we wore our microspikes and started on our hike journey. It was a slow and steady climb on many switchbacks. The terrain was all wooded, covered with snow ranging from a foot to few feet in the woods. After about two miles, the treeline ended and we entered the open exposed rocky area. The winds were stronger above treeline and it was partly sunny. Clouds were high and there were some patches of blue skies. We steadily climbed up following the foot marks on snow. There are no trail markers, only a visible path in summers which is covered with snow in winters.

Earlier on the trail, we saw many hikers returning. Many had gone before us and returned due to hazardous conditions, some said blizzard like, no tracks, high winds etc. We continued on, facing strong winds, while relying on previous footprints or occasional trail path lined with stones. I had some idea of the trail from previous hike about 15 years ago. Longs Peak was obscured in the clouds and clouds were certainly rolling down with winds. I had my full ski googles, hence a good visibility up the mountain so kept moving along the estimated trail path. We were a little spread out now, however we were stopping places to regroup and plan. One important issue in winter climbing is that we cannot wait/rest too long in one place, so we have to keep moving, so we moved on at our own pace. The downside of going ahead alone is that its easy to lose motivation in adverse conditions.

Due to high winds and low visibility, I thought of turning back, however Anil kept on pushing from behind. Clouds were on the trail and coming in and out. The winds swept clouds were coming down hard, visibility was getting low, windchill was increasing and sometimes we had to stand hard or group together from getting blown away. Wind speeds were estimated to be around 50 mph. The scene was right out of a hurricane movie, here it was snow and clouds. We braved on, however trail was getting obliterated, there was no snow on fully exposed surfaces and there were no visible snow tracks, only an estimate of the trail. As we are battling so many weather factors, its hard to use a trail App on the phone to find the way, there is no luxury of time and peaceful conditions, hence a visual and mental familiarity of the trail and direction is very important in adverse weather conditions. As a hike lead, one needs to know the path in your head, you need to be able to see the open terrain in limited visibility and estimate the route and distance, when there are no trail markers or track signs. Trail finding is the biggest challenge in winter conditions. Conditions here were similar to what we experience in winter summit of Mount Washington from Lions Head route, especially in the Alpine garden area.

At a point very close to the lake, some snow tracks were going right while the lake was on the left according to my estimate from previous experience. We did not have alltrails map open, due to high winds and other things we were battling with. While climbing, usually there are false peaks or ledges, which means you climb up to a ledge and find there is another ledge and another. This was happening here as well, we climbed several layers of ledges and still no lake in sight. I knew the lake was somewhere up there, however with rocks all over and the Longs Peak covered in clouds, it was difficult to see from below which path to take. I think we had done almost four miles and I estimated lake about 1/4 mile away and less than couple hundred feet higher, when a huge menacing cloud came up on top of Longs Peak. It appeared very threatening and snow was being felt. This really worried me as the visibility was reducing and I was worried that we will not see the trail path back. Since it was a wide barren landscape and worsening weather, a wrong step in any direction will be problematic. I waited for others to come to the highest point to decide and seeing the potential huge storm, we quickly decided to head back. We infact ran back out, the response was as if suddenly saw a monster in front of us and chasing. We ran for our lives, feeling that the storm will swallow us. Earlier, a local athlete who was swiftly going up also turned back and had given us indication that conditions were not right. No one was ahead of us today and we did not want to be lost in the rocky wilderness day one.

After a few hundred feet of running, we slowed down a bit. Combination of high altitude and tiredness battling strong winds, we didn’t have energy to keep moving fast, we slowed and stopped. We looked back and saw the storm was a bit behind us, however on the other side there were heavy clouds as well. Slowly we reached the treeline and heaved a sigh of relief, we were able to see the trail tracks and felt relieved that we can get back now. We regrouped and headed down to parking slowly, trail was never ending, energy was low, in sometime we were at the parking lot. Snow had picked up. A few young Indian couples were in the parking taking pictures n stuff. We quickly changed the gear as needed, and headed to Leadville, the base town of next days climb.

It was about 4pm and snow storm was in and out of the Rockies. Part of highway from Longs peak traihead to Leadville is called Peak to Peak and provided us beautiful glimpses of snow capped mountains of the Front Range. The views were beautiful, passing through Central city, a historical mining town and now with many casinos and entertainment features. We then reached Rt 70 and views became more dramatic going west. A nice Starbucks coffee on way helped to remove the headaches and hungriness of empty stomachs. Beautiful small towns on the way, surrounded by snowy landscape’s of the Rockies helped lift our spirits. After the exit to Breckenridge, we headed South west and views became more breathtaking. Frozen lakes and vast snow covered ranges, jagged peaks and landscapes were quite extra ordinary. Due to the descending sun, the snow view was enhanced, we took lot of pictures while driving and sometimes stopping on the side of the highway. We were just about 10 miles to our town and as were planning our next morning and night’s dinner that traffic came to a standstill. Soon we saw cop cars headed ahead of us. Our earlier time to reach was about 6.30pm and we were planning to have dinner and go to bed at 8pm for a good sleep and start early, that our plans were dashed. It wouldn’t be until 7.45pm that we reached the hostel.

The place was nice, cozy with full kitchen. We had plenty of Indian food and managed to have a hearty dinner. We bought some groceries from Safeway for breakfast n trail lunch. We apparently went to sleep around 11pm with a plan to start hike at 5am. Someone kept an alarm at 3.30am and being a light sleeper, I woke up. It was 1/2 hr early than planned, so another 1/2 hour cut from already sleep deprived body. The previous night in Denver, we couldn’t sleep well and good enough, primarily due to time difference and late flight arrival, hence I was already running low on sleep and building up. I woke up, prepared tea and breakfast. By the time all of us got ready, it was already 5.20am, night sky was clear and we saw the alignment of 4 planets in the East, a unique celestial feature in that week. We estimated our hike start time to be 6am now. It almost takes hour and half to get ready in the morning in a group, so estimate a morning getting ready time in the preparation time.

We had just befriended a dad and son team from PA in the morning at the hostel kitchen, also climbing Elbert on same schedule as ours. The dad was giving a birthday present to his son’s 15th birthday by achieving him climb Colorado’s first 14er, that too in winter conditions. We thought it was quiet a gesture. We reached trailhead in almost daylight, the road was icy in spots and even our big SUV was slipping. We were earlier told by the dad, Mike, that the trailhead was drivable, so we were relieved that we don’t have to hike extra few miles to get to the trailhead. After checking snow conditions near the parking and other information on conditions, we decided to wear microspikes and take snowshoes with us, taking snowshoes was the most important and critical decision which we found on the way back. Unlike winter season when snow hardens in night, it was expected that at lower altitude, due to warming weather during day, the snow will become soft and hence may need snowshoes on return. This was quite a different situation from our North east winter experience, but decided to take snowshoes with us. Interestingly, snowshoeing became the highlight of our return hike, coming up later.

The trail was familiar to me from the past hike few years back, but snow changes the entire landscape. As we noticed there were no trail markers. Without snow, one can see the travelled path, so its not a big issue. With snow covering, the only markers are the trail tracks or post holing left by previous hikers. Incidentally one person had gone in front of us with snowshoes in the morning, hence we could follow. After a few switchbacks, we reached intersection of Colorado trail, it turned and we made a few more turns to get deeper into the forest. We only followed the tracks left by hikers in previous days. After couple of breaks and 3+ hours hiking through the forest cover, we reached above the final treeline.

The day was very clear. Bright sun, blue skies, no wind – there could not be a better day to be blessed with. We steadily climbed up the mountain. It was all rocky. The speed slowed down as we started gaining altitude. Mouth was getting drier, hence more water was needed. The elevation gain increased steadily, initially with switchbacks. Mount Elbert North trail is a multi-humped trail which means it has false summits as seen from the bottom of the trail. Between each hump, there is a steep incline. In summer time, its all rocks, so there is enough foot traction. In Winters, there is snow on the trail and it increases the hazards in different ways; Snow can be slippery, there could be ice underneath, we may not get a good footing, rocks may move underneath etc., all leading to accidents if not attentive. For some, a snowy slope can provide a straight up path, here the inherent reflexes of body come into play, some may be good at balancing and walking up on a snowy slope, some may feel a weak balance and avoid snow walking on incline. I come in the latter category, so avoided snow and tried to find footing on bare rocks in zigzag pattern as per the estimated actual trail. The trail was getting steeper in places and I was getting worried more about coming down the steep slopes. Also, a combination of altitude and lack of sleep was making me dizzy. I was resting frequently, closing my eyes and taking some deep breath. The terrain was getting steeper and being on a sloping ridge, there was steep rocky drops on both sides with no hold, a slight lack of alertness or attention can be fatal. Due to lack of sleep, reflexes of body decreases, and so it very important to have a good sleep before a big and steep hike.

The climb continued on jagged rock trail with one false peak after another, 3 false peaks before the real peak. The real steep part is initially in the climb while as we grind up higher, its not very steep but more visually daunting as the ridge gets narrower and sloppier on both sides. Finally I reached the Summit after more than 8 hours of climb. On low altitude, we could have climbed this distance and elevation gain in 4 hours, however at higher altitude of 11Kf-14Kf, it took more than twice the time and effort. I was stopping every 20-30 steps to catch breath. This is the real effect of high altitude wherein time and effort doubles or triples as compared to low altitude. Sanchit was already there waiting for me while Anil and Vrajesh were about to reach. It was a moment of unequivocal joy, exhilaration and emotional. This was a tough climb mentally. Twice on the way, I thought of returning due to my low alertness, however Anil and Sanchit kept up the spirits. This is the team magic – when one goes down, other comes up. It was a mental challenge more than a physical one and that is the victory on our self. A calm weather and no impending storm from the information received from some local hikers removed the fear of getting caught in bad weather on return.

The Views at Summit were 360 degrees, of all snow covered peaks and mountain ranges of Sawatch National Forest and beyond. The top of Mount Elbert is flat, large enough for a full size swimming pool. It was all snow covered and I walked over to the other edge. The visibility was as clear as it can get, spanning many miles into the horizon in all directions. All around the mountain ranges were snow covered and this was the view I was envisioning to see. There were many parallels to the view as from Everest or any other Himalayan summit. That day, only three people had summited before and then our group of four. Earlier on the trail, about half mile before summit, the father-son team had returned without summiting to the top while a group of three skiers whom we met earlier and summitted assured us of good weather and an “easier” last half mile hike. This assurance gave us the motivation to summit. Biggest challenge in a summit and winter hike is a combination of weather, time and energy, not only climbing up but climbing all the way down as we will find out later. Summitting is half the hike, but the irony is we do not consider coming down as issue. This is what is Summit fever, when you are “high” going up, not considering the lows of return journey. Statistically more people die on return from Everest summit. In a self-guided group (professionally unguided), a responsible group leader or entire group has to borne the consequences of anyone’s issue that may arise on return. This has happened many times with me and other hike leaders.

The descent from Summit began which I feared due to the visual challenge of seeing steep drops. Though trail is wide enough, however due to 45 degree exposed drops on all sides in some sections, its visually scary. The visual scariness is a personal instinct and may not be same for all. It could be due to fear of heights, fear of falling, slipping etc. Slowly and steadily, Sanchit and I zig-jagged our way down and it seemed descent was not too bad to navigate through rocks and snow. I cautiously tried to avoid steep snowy patches where other hikers were happy to descent, digging in fresh snow. The weather was very good, no winds, bright skies and clear visibility. The Sun had moved from left to right, as we faced the mountain and I kept looking back at the face of the mountain, that we had earlier climbed and descended, and looked formidable, given what we did was commendable at 12-14K feet elevation. We took a couple of water and snack breaks until we reached treeline and waited for Anil and Vraj to meet and return together through the forest area.

At treeline, we also had left our snowshoes that we had carried in morning but didn’t use yet. The view down to the valley and high plains was very beautiful in vibrant colors of evening sun. We sat, chatted and waited for rest of group. They arrived in few minutes, we chatted, felt relieved and happy that we all summitted and then meditated with Nature and views. The views were peaceful, serene and spiritual. In my mind, I was also thinking of trail ahead, It was a little over 5pm and thought we will be done by 7pm or so, it was just 3 miles downhill, little did we know the challenges ahead. We kept on the spikes, thinking the snow will be hard enough to step through.

As soon we entered the forested area, our feet with microspikes started to sink, yes, our feet dived into 2-3 feet snow. We tried to navigate thinking it will be harder this side or that side, but we could not win. The snow in morning was hard whereas in the afternoon, it had become soft due to bright sunlight and warmer temperatures. It had become impossible to walk properly. We decided to wear Snowshoes, and the real problem started. Some of folks were very new to snowshoes, Vraj for the first time. There was real problem tying the snowshoes, Anil’s kept on coming off. Vraj was real uncomfortable with the new way to walk with snowshoes (he came from Texas). He really disliked it and was miserable. I was doing ok. Even with snowshoes the foot was digging 1-2 feet into snow in some places. Sanchit also got stuck badly. We had to stop many times and being slowed due to snow and snowshoe issues, it got darker early on. I was leading and following the tracks left by previous hikers, but after sometime, we lost the trail tracks on snow, and at some point they were going in many directions.

Now the urgency was to find the trail back while some were struggling to keep the snowshoes on. Downhill trail did not seemed familiar as going up. Alltrails app and google maps (offline) came to rescue (luckily I had phone battery) and we bushwhacked our way back to trail, about 300 feet away. Once on the trail, we saw the snowshoe trail tracks and moved on. In between, we switched to spikes as trail got a little flatter and snowshoes were also coming off. It was dark, around 8pm, and we also wore our headlamps. Apparently it was little over 1 mile left and a zig-zagged trail awaited us. But, suddenly at an expected left turn, we could not find the trail. Yes, we did not see the trail as per the alltrails map. The trail was supposed to turn left, sloping downwards and we could not see the trail. All we saw was pristine snow on a very steep incline. Sanchit opened Google map and it was showing a little further, we did not find it. We went back and forth on the trail a few times, retracing back and estimating the turn, remember it was dark and we were using headlamps, which meant limited visibility. We were already 15-20 minutes into it, it was getting darker and late, panic was setting in. Thought of being lost and stuck for the night in cold, calling the ranger and getting into a bigger rescue mission, wild animal encounter etc. went through our minds. How can the trail disappear? This is what happens in night – a seemingly easy right turn in morning turns into a lost left turn, as the visibility and sensory perceptions change.

We moved in the direction of the trail but were still not on trail which was supposed to be sloping downward. Google map was showing the direction to get to the trail but that involved snow-whacking down a steep slope. We held the trees and were digging in 2-3 feet of snow, hence were held by snow on the slope but had to dig ourselves out. After a few digs, I was able to estimate that we had reached the trail and heaved a sigh of relief. Then we had to decide going left or right in the trail – technology was saying right and my estimate said left. We took the left and then a turn came, which was familiar, going right and downwards, a sigh, we were in the right direction. With the thoughts of relief, however with physical and mental exhaustion, we trudged along and reached our cars at 9.30pm, What An Ordeal? It was certainly scary, it tested our patience, it showed our teamwork and I think made us stronger. Weather was certainly our biggest help as it did not get colder or windier.

We reached the hostel at 10pm. No food shop was open, kitchen was supposed to close at 10pm, however I had requested to be open a little late. Mood was in for having some hot Maggie, and I had brought it. I made Maggie and heated some other ready food to fill our bellies a bit. Some freshened up, had little chit chat and slumped to sleep. We thanked our destiny to have survived the ordeal and a long day – 15.5 hours hiking and a long 19.5 hours day.

Earlier, while on the trail, down from the treeline, lot of commotions were going on. There was uneasiness, anxiety, fear, frustration, hangriness, tiredness and misery. As it gets dark, fear sets in, tempers run high, patience loses out, frustration mounts, many questions are asked – someone then has to be responsible for the team, show patience, set the tone, someone has to lead – fortunately we were able to manage it, being a small team. As a team event, there are many factors of winning and losing. All have to pay the price of someone’s tiredness, someone’s intransigence, someone’s negligence, someone’s bad health, someone’s equipment malfunction etc. This can happen to/with anyone. On the other hand, as a team, if one persons motivation fails, someone’s else wins, and the entire team wins. We had both scenarios. We all summited due to motivation of some, and we all endured as a team from various issues. This is an important learning of teamwork, team wins with motivation of some and team becomes stronger in adversity together.

Overall our day two was blessed and complete. We achieved our objective and much more. The climb, the views, the effort, the experience was all ours to enjoy and relish. We stayed safe and everyone was a winner. Nature blessed us with best of weather and opportunity.

Now we had our third day wide open to us. The flight was late night of third day. There were some thoughts of going home early, now that ‘mission was accomplished’, however some insisted to stay the day and explore the RMNP, going back towards Estes Park. In the morning, we roamed around the streets of Leadville, a beautiful little town, had nice coffee at a new ‘Day Zero’ Cafe – day zero is a term in thru-hiking when you take rest day and don’t hike – and had a hearty breakfast with chai at another cafe. Overall, it felt very relaxing, as if final exam was over and it was freedom time. I also went around the town to take some pictures of the beautiful mountain ranges that surrounded the town.

We made plans to go to RMNP, and explore the many Alpine lakes such as Emerald, Dream and Bear. Vraj had been here last year in Fall and I also had read and seen pictures of it in summer and fall glory. Now it will be all in winter conditions, a unique experience and I was all excited to explore. We packed the bags, bid adieu to Leadville hostel and went back on northward journey to Estes park, about two and half hours drive. It was sunny, snow clad mountains gave us beautiful company all along the interiors of Rockies ranges. We also went through many gorges and mecca of rock climbing. We stopped at many viewpoints and visitor centers to collect info. Great views near Golden gate canyon state park. It was a fun drive, listening to songs and the driver enjoying the driving in beautiful landscapes.

We entered the RMNP around 2pm and reached Bear lake parking. The view of the Bear lake was astonishing, first time seeing such views. The lake was frozen, visitors walking and in the background the tall mountains were empowering the view. Vraj was here in fall season and told the turquoise water reflects the mountain on a sunny day – now thats another trip right there. We played on the lake, photoshoot etc. and decided to go upto Emerald lake which needed spikes. We again wore the spikes and headed on the trail to Emerald via Nymph and Dream lakes. There was about 2-3 feet of snow on the trail, hence it was quite elevated. We passed Nymh lake to Dream lake, the views got better and better. The tall pine trees surrounded the lake with towering mountains behind them. Clouds were rolling in and out., sun playing hide n seek.

When we reached Dream lake, there was no one there, however one person was walking over the lake, returning. We started a conversation with him and he gave a lot of information. Though he belonged to New Orleans, he owned a house in Estes park and said he comes to this place, often, perhaps his 40th time here. It meant, the place is so loving and spiritual. We were in winter conditions, it was bit cloudy, we could only see the snow covered mountains and the frozen lake. We did not see the blue or turquoise colored waters of summer. We walked over the Dream lake to the Emerald lake. Wow, what a feeling! There was some steep hike to Emerald and as we weaved through the trees and trails, a window through the trees opened up to Emerald lake, it was astounding, I was spell bound, it was spiritual, it was surreal. The jagged mountain peaks of Hallett peak and Flattop mountain surrounded the lake forming a large amphitheater. The mountain sloped forming bowl walls and perfect for skiing, indeed I saw some ski tracks. There was a large rock in front of the lake and perfect spot for meditating – for soaking in the beauty and majesticy of the mountains. It was a perfect photo spot. We sat there for a while and snow had starting falling – what a celestial moment, as if Nature was talking to us and welcoming us, saying play with me and enjoy Natures gifts. Falling snow on May 1st, while walking on frozen lake, surrounded by white mountains, frozen hanging waterfalls and tall pines, with nothing to worry and everything to enjoy – living moments of life could not be better than this. We all felt that this was the best part of our trip, summiting Elbert was a second thought now. This hike, this moment and this Joy of Nature was best thing to happen. This was the biggest surprise gift, this was our blessing. The trip of ours was now complete, having experienced moments of a Lifetime. It felt that we have been vacationing for a long long time, we had lost track of time.

We started off the trip with a grueling hike in blizzard conditions, to a very challenging and long summit hike to Mount Elbert and ended with a most beautiful experience in the lap of Nature. We went through moments of joy, fear, stress, excitement, exhilaration, accomplishment and blessedness. A warmup to Chasm lake and great weather definitely helped summitting Elbert. A small group, a Big accomplishment. Doeres did it.

References for more information on Rockies:

Understanding Colorado Mountain Ranges

How many peaks are there

https://www.outtherecolorado.com/adventures/here-s-how-many-mountains-are-in-colorado/article_0c25592e-b622-507e-a98e-6b2d6779a22e.html?

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