Escaping the "Heat" in the Mountains

Hello Friends and Family,

May and June were busy months: Courtney’s Birthday, Mother’s Day, our 15th wedding anniversary, Father’s Day, and Mills’ first birthday all happened within 8 weeks!

We decided to head up to the mountains for a night to escape what the people here call “heat”. I put that in quotes because I haven’t really felt hot yet this entire summer.

In fact I’m writing this email on July 4th as we are getting ready to go to the pool. It was 54 degrees Fahrenheit when I woke up this morning and the high temperature is supposed to be around 83 degrees Fahrenheit with humidity around 20% or so all day.

Sure, the temps have been in the mid 90s for several days, but without humidity it doesn’t actually feel hot compared to what we are used to in the southeast.

Climbing my First 14er

It is a quasi-right of passage in Colorado to climb one of the 58 14,000 foot mountains here in the state. They are colloquially known as “14ers”. Last weekend as part of our getaway I took on the challenge of climbing Quandary Peak just outside of Breckenridge.

There are two main routes to the top of Quandary Peak: The standard Class 1 East Ridge Route and the much more difficult Class 3 West Ridge Route. Because the purpose of this trip was a nice relaxing weekend away, I chose the Class 3 route.

According to the 14ers.com difficulty ratings a Class 1 route is “hiking on a trail.” What you probably imagine when someone says, "Let’s go on a hike.” This doesn’t mean it is easy, but it means there is a trail and it is easy to follow.

A Class 3 route on the other hand is: “Scrambling or un-roped climbing. You must use your hands most of the time to hold the terrain or find your route. This may be caused by a combination of steepness and extreme terrain (large rocks or steep snow).”

That is what we did.

One thing to note about this particular Class 3 route is that most of the route had no official trail. We had to use our skills and knowledge to find the way to the peak. We did have some helpful photographs to help along the way. This is called “beta”.

Another feature of this Class 3 route was the “exposure” that was required to complete the route. Exposure simply means there is a high risk of injury in the event of a fall.

The picture above is an example of low to moderate exposure. It looks scary, but the angle of the picture doesn’t show just how close to flat ground I am and the formation was more like climbing stairs.

This is pretty high exposure. A fall here would be pretty bad.

After several hours of hiking and scrambling, we made it to the summit and got the requisite pictures. We decided to hike down the easier Class 1 route and a thunderstorm rolled in just as we hit the tree line.

Biking to School and Everywhere Else

The other big news is that we finally got an E-Bike that the whole family can ride together! We got the Rad Power Bikes Radwagon 5. Thanks to the Colorado State E-Bike rebate program, we also got $500 off the price!

Mills is absolutely in LOVE with his new school ride and feeling the wind on his face as we head to school. I haven’t use my car in a week except for the 9 mile commute to work.

I wish I could just ride my bike to work, but I travel all over the place during the day and the bike wouldn’t be practical for the majority of those trips.

First Hair Cut

I almost forgot! Mills got his first haircut!

Parents Day Out

Courtney and I got a chance to get into the mountains while Mills was in daycare. It was great to have some time to explore this beautiful state together.

St. Mary’s Glacier is a little spot about an hour from Denver. It isn’t technically a glacier, but it does have year round snow.

This is a VERY easy hike and great for kids. So if you are in Colorado during the summer, put this on your list!

We continue to enjoy living in this beautiful state and taking advantage of the low humidity and moderate summer temperatures. Mills doesn’t even know how lucky he is!

Until our next Adventure,

Austin, Courtney, Mills, and Willow

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