Snow, Snow and more Snow. I had always thought I would never see as much snow again as I saw in the Sierra Nevada during my PCT thru-hike in 2017. I couldn’t have been more wrong. Hundreds of completely snow covered miles waited for us in this state. From snow storms, sketchy traverses, beautiful passes and spectacular summits; the trail has encompassed every kind of mountaineering and hiking in the last 2 months. On one hand I experienced some of the most beautiful hiking I have ever done in my life, on the other hand I’m glad to have finally left the state behind me. The last 1.5 months have been some of the most brutal and tough hiking I have ever done. Every time we got to a town I felt like a potato. To exhausted to do anything of importance.
But that should not necessarily be taken in a negative light. I’m glad I did this and looking back on it, while there were definitely hardships, overall these few weeks have been awesome. I climbed 9 mountains that were taller than 4000 m (>13123 feet), 7 of them on two consecutive days. I climbed Mt. Elbert, the tallest mountain in Colorado, as well as Grey & Torrey’s, two other 14000er (above 4300 m). 1
I am really struggling to summarize the state of Colorado in a few paragraphs so I leave it to the reader to get a picture of the state through all the photographs below. While all of them only picture our life in the mountains we also had a lot of fun in all the towns we stayed in. Places like Leadville, Salida or Pagosa are worth a visit even if you aren’t into big hikes yourself.
Sadly I have to end this post with a few sad notes. Due to time reasons (I’m returning to University in September) I was forced to part away from Yardsale, Krafty and Poles to pick up more miles and try and reach Canada before my deadline. Even worse though, just before reaching the Wyoming border I pulled a ligament in my left foot. I am currently recovering at my PCT friend Dash’s place in Boulder and I’m hoping to be back on trail within a week.
- The 4000ers in chronological order:
Mt. Elbert: 4401 m / 14439 feet
Santa Fe Peak: 4017 m / 13180 feet
Landslide Peak: 4035 m / 13238 feet
Geneva Peak: 4043 m / 13266 feet
Sullivan Mt: 4003 m / 13134 feet
Mt. Edwards: 4221 m / 13850 feet
Grays Peak: 4350 m / 14278 feet
Torrey’s Peak: 4349 m / 14275 feet
Hassell Peak: 4028 m / 13215 feet
