Mount Yale: My First 14'er and Certainly Not My Last

Yes...it's me under all those layers standing just below the summit of Mt. Yale in Colorado. On my previous trips to Vail I always wanted to climb a "14" but somehow never had the time. So for my fall trip out to Vail I made the decision I was going climb a "14". In Colorado, they have over 54 peaks that rise 14,000 feet or higher. These are affectionately know as Colorado's 14'ers. To climb a 14'er is to take part in one of those grand experiences and what a grand experience it is. It's thrilling, challenging and sometimes frightening but an unequaled experience.

I had originally wanted to hike Mount Holy Cross but after numerous discussions with my guide it was determined that for my first "14" I would climb Mt. Yale which is part of the Collegiate Peaks and 21st tallest peak in Colorado. The name comes from individual peaks which are named after universities, including Mount Harvard, Mount Princeton, Mount Oxford, Mt. Columbia and ofcourse Mt. Yale. It is considered a favorite for those "training" for more technical 14'ers.

My guide Tanya Wiesen of Trailwise Guides and I hit the trailhead around 8am. Mind you, I had already been up four hours. I woke up at 4am and drove one hour on the pitch black mountain roads up to Tennessee Pass near the Continental Divide to hook up with Tanya. There we loaded my gear into her SUV and drove an hour south to the town of Buena Vista. Once at the trailhead we strapped on our gaiters and with our very prepared backpacks started our ascent. Ofcourse in those very "light" backpacks we had extra Patagonia's, waterproof jackets and shells, water, hats, gloves, balaclava, crampons, food, first aid kit, Ziploc bags, cell phones, cameras, sunglasses, GPS, matches/lighter, headlamps, tape, my father's Swiss army knife and most importantly my St. Christopher medal. The climb up Mount Yale starts at Denny Creek Trailhead and basically goes straight up from there. For all the material I read on the web, it looked like a simple four hour climb up with most climbers summiting and returning within seven hours. Yeah..right

Unfortunately, I started the climb with a chest cold and the Diamox I was taking really didn't make a dent in the altitude. Plus we moved the climb up a few days earlier because of the impending snow so I really didn't even have time to acclimate. Basically, it was like running a marathon under water and breathing thru a straw. Besides all that, it was wonderfully challenging up to the summit. The near silence of the high mountains is something one doesn't appreciate until they experience it.

Certainly the hike was longer and infinitely more arduous and yard by yard the effects of the exertion began to play on me physically. The thinning air and physical demands started inducing a mild sense of nausea and dizziness however I was determined to summit. Tanya and I "scrambled"over a boulder field of which is visible in the picture. The boulder field ran about 50 yards and was coated with ice so foot placement was critical because one misstep was a ticket down the mountain either by gravity or stretcher....not so excellent.

Once reaching the summit all that disappeared for those few minutes as Tanya and I were on the top of Mt. Yale. We had an exceptional, clear but cold day with visibility close to 1oo miles. The mountain offered fantastic views of the Sawatch Range, Crested Butte ski area and Pikes Peak. We were surrounded by a dozen 14's. It was truly spectacular. However that was short lived because as Tanya said getting up was the easy part, going down was a different story.


It was on the descent that the forewarning of high altitude sickness finally kicked in and resulted in my "little tumble". My little tumble came on the steepest part of the mountain on scree (our nemesis) which is broken rock or gravel. Even though I had hiking poles it didn't stop my slip slide down the slope. It was at that point Tanya and I had our own "come to Jesus" meeting and it was decided I had to eat a sandwich or two and drink some Emergen-C or things were going to get worse AND we still had 5 hours to the trailhead. Oh brother!

Those last five hours were long, cold and arduous and were made only more torturous by my worsening chest cold accompanied with saturated silk underwear (don't ask) and a throbbing finger that had been bent backwards when I did my "little tumble". And let's not forget the last two hours were done in the pitch black because the headlamps died on the final part of the descent. At that point Tanya and I were locked into one step following the next-type of hiking. In the dark, it is amazing how one's eyes adjust to the night. The towering mountains that surround the trailhead are looming silhouettes of dark purple mass and the stars in the high mountains of Colorado are brilliant!! They are truly diamond-esque against the dark/blue purple velvet of the night. I did manage to enjoy the sky while trying not to walk into a boulder or off the trail or off that !#$%@! log bridge. Oh...gee how could I forget about a mountain lion or two or maybe a bear.

Finally...13 hours from when we started at the trailhead Tanya signs us out of the trail log and we get in her SUV for the hour drive back to Tennessee Pass. On the way I called Joe and Charles and asked them to meet us at the pass because I was just mountained out and couldn't drive back the hour to Vail. So at Tanya's suggestion, the boys brought food for me including "a nice salad", fresh cut fruit, beautiful broiled chicken, two slices of Joe's delicious homemade pumpkin pie and ofcourse the appropriate silverware and linen.

So from the time I left Vail, climbed Mt. Yale and returned home it was a 19 hour day and what a day it was. If you want a glimpse of the summit with Tanya and me visit my page at youtube www.youtube.com/amlfl Hmmm...now about Mount Holy Cross..who knows?

Watching the sunrise over the Collegiate Peaks...
Summitting Mt. Yale...
Viewing the starry Colorado mountain skies...
Trying not to hit the huge elk standing in the middle of the road..
Priceless.....

-Angie of the Aspens