2024 14er Attempt Blog
I receive this text at 4:00am:
Hi. Stefan and I on south ridge of south maroon. My leg is so bad can barely move. Can you reach James.
I have tried to reach both, but have not heard back. No SOS has been called, but I don’t know what is going on as the tracker seems to have stalled on the ridge. Either it is having issues again, or he is just sitting there.
From James:
So your husband is strong enough to make Homie who has completed the hard rock 100 question if he can keep pace up hill then two days later Wes who is training for the montblonc 100 turns back on the ascent of massive at 13300 because he didnt want to slow andrew down. In his defense it was his 5th fast mtn with Andrew. Your husband almost broke me on the ascent of Columbia. Today being the Elks Stefan will probably be learning the hard lesson we all have. Andrew is one of the strongest athletes I’ve ever met.
Text from Andrew just now, 8:53pm.
Nat I am having serious injury. Likely not make it back tonight.
Waiting for reply????????????????
3:38pm I am on top of a peak
4:01pm Tell james we are very late. Bring food and dry clothing sock shoes.
6:44pm Hi Natalie. Rough Day! Just heading to bells now. How is crew holding up? We will probably be coming off south maroon std route.
Good news!! Just got off phone with Charlie Nuttelman a good friend of Andrew from adventure racing. He will be hiking with Andrew tomorrow after 5 and Friday! He hasn’t heard back from Homie yet, but YAY!!!!
We were jammin to 80’s remixes and downing 5 hours! PINKIES UP!!!!
Yesterday after Andrew started Elbert, Will and I drive to Aspen to pick up his inhaler (for his sports induced asthma that he never knew he had, it spurred on for the first time ever on this adventure). We were in Aspen until around 0100 when we met up with the rest of the crew. here is their report from the rest of the day.
James and Kim went up the 4wheel drive on the back side of Elbert where they met up with Wes and Andrew. A quick shuttle over to Massive to begin an out and back. Wes said at 13000′ he was super impressed with Andrews speed and condition, eventually Wes ended up separating from Andrew to avoid the icy snowfield Andrew glissaded down. Upon Wes’s return to the trailhead, Kim decided to hike up to Andrew and meet him to hike back. Andrew is losing a lot of momentum at nights, and is appreciating all of his hiking partners. At one point on Massive he mentioned he found himself standing on a boulder just staring off and could not recall how long he did that for. Our favorite Andrew story so far was when we asked if he needed an ice axe and his reply was “nah its just Princeton” BUT in fact he was set out for Huron and departing in two minutes. Yes, we had to reorient him to the correct mountain he was climbing!!! We then met with the crew at 0146. At 0354 Andrew and Stefan left after we packed Andrews pack and doctored him up. Their plan is to summit Capitol, Snowmass North South Maroon, Pyramid and Castle. (I do not think Stefan will be joining Andrew on Castle). Andrew had been non stop talking about Snowmass and his excitement in glissading down. Hopefully Charlie Nuttelman and possibly Homie will be joining Andrew Thursday, lets keep our fingers crossed ok!? All these hiking partners are amazing and have been so critical in keeping Andrew awake on the trails!
Looks like it came back online. I just got a text from it and I saw a point from 11am. Thanks to all those who offered help. Hopefully it will be ok!