​​In The Shadow of Longs Peak

Mt. Jasper
09 August 1998

 We met at the Justice Center at 6 AM though no one is quite awake.  A quick check of the list shows 1 person missing.  We proceed to load up the cars and head up the canyon to the bakery in Nederland which is not yet open.  So we continue to Buckingham Campground and the 4th of July Trailhead where Sandy is waiting.

Everyone is getting boots on, getting ready and soon we are on the trail.  Up we go, making good time and it seems like in no time we are at the Arapahoe Pass Trail Junction and we continue toward Diamond Lake.

The sky is not clear blue today and I wonder how things will turn out.  We begin to angle downward slightly into Boulder Creek Basin…there is lots of mud, lots of logs to cross.  At the bridge, I look upstream and spy a waterfall that I do not remember from previous trips.  We turn eastward/southward and head up the hill toward Diamond Lake where we take a break and re-group. 

Diamond Lake seems deserted as there are no tents in sight.  The weather is improving.  We head up the cirque and catch a first glimpse of a snow field, high up the mountain face, surrounded by scree and I wonder how it hangs on. 

I know we are not there yet, at the bottom of Gaitoraid.  But we stop and everyone pulls out maps and check and we determine we are not there yet.

We push on and before too long Gaitoraid is in view.  We take a break at Upper Diamond Lake then on toward the left side of the lake until we reach a point we cannot pass without swimming.  So we backtrack and move upward and across the lower part of a talus slope.  The rock here is marginal – even the large rocks feel as though they will cascade under my feet.  I cross in front of a huge rock outcropping all the while fearing that the whole side of the mountain is about to fall on me. 

We continue heading for the snow field and finally are there.  We do not need our crampons here at the bottom.  We turn upward and are on a snow climb, still without crampons.  I am comfortable although it is steep but I am following in someone else’s steps. 

We gain the ridge but the weather is moving in and I make the ever unpopular leadership decision to not continue on.  There is disappointment in the crowd but no one complains.  We turn and head down the ridge and before long are descending a talus slope, one that is more secure than the one we came up.  Soon we are at Upper Diamond Lake then Diamond Lake.  It rains some and I wonder if we turned back prematurely.  But just beyond Diamond Lake the sky opens.  So I guess it was a good decision.

Postscript:  The worst part of this storm descended upon us below Diamond Lake when we were in the trees.  Lightening crackling all around, definitely the most dangerous storm I’ve been in.