Disclaimer: I
wrote some parts of this shortly after each summit attempt and other parts
about eight months later. So, I go into a lot of detail when talking about some
aspects and very little detail when talking about others. Sorry…
December 19th—Keplingers
Couloir with Peter Bakwin (Bailout)
Car-to-car time: 12 hours 27 minutes
December 29th—Up/down
Keplingers Couloir with Justin Simoni and Charlie Nuttelman
Car-to-car time: 12 hours 58 minutes
After bailing on this route with Peter I had accepted that
my LPP was over. That attempt left me mentally and physically defeated. The
last time I was that wrecked after a day out in the mountains was when I
traversed all of the Elks Range 14ers in a single 44-hour sleepless push. I had
zero motivation to get back out there and try Keplingers again.
Fortunately, I have some amazing people in my life. Even
though I had just met Mandy I think she could sense how important this project
had been to me throughout the year. She provided endless words of encouragement
and was the primary source of motivation for me deciding to give Keplingers
another attempt. Once Mandy convinced me to give it another go I reached out to
Satan’s Minions to see if anyone wanted to join. After the first attempt I
dreaded the thought of going at this alone. I kept thinking back to how
devastated that day left me and didn’t want to potentially experience that all
alone.
Unfortunately, with the holidays I was left with only one
day that worked—the 29th. This meant that Peter couldn’t join for my
last month of the LPP. Peter and I had teamed up to tackle seven of twelve
months together for our LPP’s. We also climbed all of Gerry Roach’s Top 10
Flatirons Classics in a day on a whim; an idea I expressed to him during one of
our “routine” North Face descents. Several years ago Peter took me scrambling
for my first time ever on The Regency and Royal Arch. Eventually, he took me up
the 1st and 3rd Flatirons one morning for my first ever
ascents of those slabs. Needless to say, through the last five years Peter has
become one of my most trusted adventure partners. So, it was a bit hard to go
into this second attempt without having him along.
I was lucky enough to get interest from Justin Simoni and
Charlie Nuttelman. Justin is always pursuing some badass project(s) and Charlie
completed the LPP last year with Bill Wright. Justin also joined Peter and I
for our May ascent of Notch Couloir. So, I was happy to have these two great
guys along for the day. The level of stoke these guys bring with them is
contagious.
After some emailing back-and-forth we finally decided to
just go ascend and descend Keplingers. My heart was set on ascending Keplingers
and descending the North Face where Mandy would be waiting to drive us back to
the Wild Basin TH. I just kept thinking about how much effort it took me to
slog back out of Wild Basin with Peter and didn’t want that experience again.
The North Face was familiar and routine, dare I say. Charlie was against this
idea. He had been caught up in an avalanche descending the North Face, which is
about the best reason I could think of for wanting to avoid that route. The
thought of ascending with Charlie and Justin then descending TNF solo had
entered my mind as well. Eventually, I decided that saving 1-2 hours on my
descent time by exposing myself to potential avalanche dangers just wasn’t
worth it. Regardless of which route I descended I was going to have a pretty
lady waiting for me at the TH. So, I might as well descend the route that has
less potential to kill me and make sure I actually get to see her at the end of
the day, right?
We decided to meet at the Wild Basin TH a little before 5am
with the goal of hitting the trail as close to 5am as possible. On the 29
th,
Mandy and I woke up at 2:30am in Fort Collins and began slowly moving around
after less than two hours of sleep. I began the process of “suiting up” in all
of my layers, scarfed down somewhere between 500-1,000 calories, downed some
coffee, and loaded my gear into the Jeep. Shortly after 3:30am we were on the
road. I’m not sure what it is, but I love alpine starts. Maybe it’s because I
rarely sleep more than 3-4 hours a night already? So, what the hell else should
I be doing at 2:30 in the morning?
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| Early morning start. |
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| Awesome sunrise as we neared treeline. |
I still had my doubts going into the day; stemming mostly
from my most recent aborted attempt with Peter. Mandy was quick to rid my mind
of any negative thoughts. By the time we reached the Wild Basin TH my stoke
levels were pretty high and seeing Charlie and Justin drive up made me even
more excited. It’s an amazing feeling to have friends willing to wake up
ridiculously early to enable you to finish some stupid project you decided to
do way back in January.
As we took off from the parking lot there was still some
doubt in my mind whether or not we would summit. To be honest, I like not
knowing if I’ll reach the top when I set out on the trail. There should be some
uncertainty (even on easy routes like this). Again, the uncertainty likely
stemmed from my failed attempt with Peter. I kept going back to that, but it’s
hard not to considering how shattered it left me. Shortly after hitting the
trail my mind was at peace and all of the uncertainty was gone. I was going to
finish this goddamn project. There was no other outcome I’d accept on this day.
Everything above was written way back in January. Everything below was
written in August 2017.
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| We've reached the top! (Photo: Charlie Nuttelman) |
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| Traversing from the Homestretch to Keplingers (Photo: Charlie Nuttelman) |
When the three of us reached the parking lot there was one
pretty redhead who I barely knew at the time waiting on us with the kitchen of
her teardrop camper wide open and lit up. She gave me a big hug and kiss then
told us that she had hot soup, coffee, doughnuts, and champagne for us to
devour—she’s definitely a keeper!
Of all of the ascents I did during the LPP this one had the
most memorable finish. Typically, Peter and I would take off our shoes in the
parking lot, hop in the car, and ride back to Boulder in the most anticlimactic
of fashions. It was great to have a short while to reflect on the day with
Mandy, Charlie, and Justin while we warmed ourselves with hot food and drink.
Mandy and I eventually got in the car and she proceeded to
drive from the Wild Basin TH to Glenwood Springs. We had planned several days
in the area that included a snowmobile ride to the Maroon Bells where she would
photography sunrise on New Year’s Eve. We knew each other less than two weeks
at this time and she already went beyond all expectations to help me achieve my
dreams. What a woman…
For the most part, this is an attainable project for anyone
with a moderate amount of mountaineering experience. It’s possible to do this
entire project and never use a rope for any ascent (a rope is appreciated for
North Face descents in winter). The difficulties arise mostly from the weather.
If one is working a normal job for 40’ish hours/week it becomes a crapshoot for
getting good weather days to line up with your days off. I guess that’s what
sick days are for?
Words can’t really express the amount of appreciation I have
for everyone who helped me along the way during this year-long project. You all
know who you are…
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| Yay Champagne and hot soup! (Photo: Mandy Lea) |
