14er Speed Record Attempt

From my POV:
Andrew returned early from sneffels! We had to wake up FAST! Although he claims to have been 20 min slower on the ascent but made up for it on the descent he says “and that’s just not like me at all!!” Ha. On our way to cinn. pass was BUMPY, to say the least. Although I was able to give Andrew a good rub out and re tape his feet. Natalie and Laura did not come up with us, because the van can not come this way, instead they will meet us after red cloud, sunshine with the REST of our crew!! (who are currently waiting at the RV park) YAY!!! Reorganizing and organizing and packing waiting for andrew to come down off Handies! He was about 45 min ahead of schedule this morning when he left from American Basin (around 645 am). We unpacked packed and reorganized and got some sleep (not so much Kyle, he watched a movie but only got around an hour and a half of sleep last night as the rest of us got 3 hours. Keep going Andrew!!
Summit around 815 am about 45 min ahead here!! Pulled up to silver creek/grizzly gulch trailhead at 0914, hoping this head start will save us from nasty weather on little bear blanca and crestones traverse!!!! Our friend Charlie Nuttleman showed up to hike with Andrew today and Kyle hiked up to Redcloud! Nice that Andrew was in some good company for the start of the day!!! 0919 depart up to Redcloud and I reorganized unpacked and packed and organized then got some rest. When the rest of the crew arrived they took off to meet Andrew to hike the rest of the way down with him. 147pm Andrew and Charlie followed by EVERYONE else was down!!! Off to Wetterhorn and Uncompahgre! HIKE ANDREW HIKE!!!!

Andrew has been doing very well as you can see.  He is currently going up Redcloud and Sunshine, numbers 10 and 11 of 58.  He managed to complete 8 in the first 24 hours.  We are currently hanging in the RV in Lake City with Gigi, Florian, Laura, and our eldest 2 kids Calvin and Axel.  We will be heading up to meet him at about 11,000 feet in a bit.  The tracker doesn’t seem to be updating at the moment, but he was about an hour ahead of schedule.  The weather is perfect today, so I am sure his plan is to get as much done in the daylight as possible today, and push hard while he can.  It is almost a full moon, so tonight should be nice and bright.

Hi Everyone! It has been a great start! Both of us were pretty depressed after getting SOAKED for an hour hiking into Chicago Basin, but by the time we got to the upper campsites, it was sunny. We dried out, ate burritos, and went to bed about 8pm. Andrew was out within seconds of laying down. We were woken up n the night, though by thunder and lightning, but surprisingly little rain, and GOATS! Lots of goats stomping around us. We should have known after seeing all the bits of goat fur on every branch of every bush. In the dark, we looked outside the tent and just saw LOTS of eyes, EVERYWHERE! Andrew left right at 430am. I waved goodbye from the comfort of my sleeping bag, and went back to sleep. I was awoken again when my tent was bumped by a goat. I packed up and headed down to the train. Andrew made it in great time, without running this time! The Needles went smoothly, and Andrew was warned several times by other hikers to not attempt them due to snow. Little did they know! Sorry about all the goat pictures. I am a little obsessed.  I have some videos too, but the internet is too slow to upload them.

 

Andrew getting off the train in Needleton.

Well Andrew got some great weather for the ED Wilson traverse but often coming off the peaks did his footsteps constantly cause the snow to slide out!! Coming down on the bike we spotted Andrew and he arrived to us at 1004pm. It was a busy transition, from ROA to Sneffels , feeding Andrew, getting packs packed, drying gear, situating the bike, taping his hands and feet, rubbing out his legs, we all worked. He is sore, but enjoyed his rest in the car. He left Sneffels TH at1220 Am ten minutes ahead of schedule. Now it’s time for some sleep for a couple hours. HIKE STRONG Andrew.

 

(Sorry some of these pictures may be sideways or upside down, we will fix it!!)

Our Chicago Basin 14ers were tougher on the way up as the snow never solidified during the night but made it easier for him going down this year. He complained he was three minutes slower going up Windom. lol He is feeling good so far. Kyle Andrew and myself drove to Kilpacker trailhead (which we arrived at at 145pm) I doctored Andrew up and Kyle crushed the 4WD road while Andrew tried got some rest, no sleep though. A few obstacles held us back just a couple minutes with so.many.cars coming up the road, but not too terrible of a jam up. Natalie and Laura took the van and pathfinder where we will meet them after dropping off Andrew. Clouds look as if they are building. Hoping the weather holds! See you around 10 Andrew!

Woke up early keeping track of Andrew and 0807 I received his summit text from Eolus 7 min ahead of schedule. Skies look okay, some clouds. Fingers crossed for the rest of the day! 1045 Laura pulled up just as we were headed out to find a spot for WIFI, it was great to finally meet up with her. Andrew and Natalie made the 1115 train and are on their way to us now!

12 am on the 29th and Kyle and I have arrived in Silverton!! It was a long car ride but we made the time pass easily with some good conversation and a Sonic stop in between. Pulling up we were only half surprised to see the van.lights.left.on. For not so sure how long, but the car was not dead, which was good because I wasn’t so much in the mood to help jump a car at this hour. We’re tired, getting ready for some sleep and Andrews adventure begins in just 4.5 hours. We are excited to meet up with the entire crew, as for tonight it’s Kyle and myself, and Natalie with Andrew (she got to hike in with his heavy pack:). We will be anxiously waiting for you Andrew! GOOD LUCK, hike strong!

This has been a crazy year!  To sum it up, injuries, snow, and early monsoons!  Ugh!  We planned another 14er record attempt early and once people commit to it and take vacation time and schedule flights it becomes very difficult to change the intended start date.

I have been driving my crew crazy this year.  Going back and forth on whether we will start as planned, delay the start, or just cancel all together.  So I just want to apologize to them for all of that.

In the end rather than cancelling the attempt altogether this year I have decided to just go ahead and get started (with a one week delay) and see how it goes…But with a huge DISCLAIMER that because of the conditions I may just decide to call it quits even within the first couple of days.  I fully understand the difficult conditions I will face in the mountains this year.  All of my scouting trips have been epic with miles of deep snow, slush, avalanches, and early morning lightning storms all taking part.

I have mainly been shaking in my boots because of all the late season snow, but lately the early onset of the monsoons has me scared.  One of the reasons I like late June and early July is the likelihood of finishing the record before the nasty lightning storms start to roll through.

Add to all those ominous signs, just two days ago a nasty hailstorm dented all 3 of our cars and caused significant damage to our house, while a tornado actually touched down and caused significant damage about 1/2 mile from my house in Denver.  Chris Tomer (thanks Chris!) has been sending me weather updates and his last one sent an ominous tone for the front range as he warned of a cold front moving in to make the monsoons extra wet.

So anyway here we go! I will be starting on June 29th in Chicago Basin.  I will be bringing snowshoes and lots of rain gear.  I don’t know what is going to happen but I will once again do my best and see if I can put a dent in the 14er record!  Thanks to everyone on the team who has been putting up with my unwillingness to commit to a schedule!

I appreciate all of you who decide to follow along.  We will do our best to update the blog and keep the 14ers.com thread.  I had really intended to be much better organized this year and take up some offers of help from people who followed along last year but with my inability to commit this year I just ran out of time…