Trail & Timberline, Issue 1002

quiet in the canyons • ride trail ridge road • The Club's first time outside • the air up there

Trail & timberline The Colorado Mountain Club • Spring 2009 • Issue 1002 • www.cmc.org

The pULL of the

Desert Great Sand Dunes in spring

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There will be

blue skies

tomorrow...

but we still need your help today.

In these tough financial times, our monthly giving program makes it easy to support the CMC beyond your regular membership dues.

Sign up today by visiting www.cmc.org/support, or call Doug Skiba at 303.996.2752 to enroll.

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Letter from the CEO

I

would like to thank the many of you who have emailed, called, and written with your praise for the updated Trail & Timberline. It’s always great to hear from our members, so please stay in touch!

March marks my tenth month as CEO of the CMC. I've learned many things in that short amount of time, and I want to highlight two of them. First, having worked with a very gifted staff, a talented State Board of Directors, and many outstanding members, I’ve witnessed the sprit of volunteerism that drives the CMC. As an example, on January 24, after three years of unflinching dedication to her volunteer position, Janice Heidel stepped down as State Board President. Stepping up as President is Wynne Whyman, a four-year veteran of the State Board who brings strong credentials from work with nonprofit organizations, in addition to 22 years of CMC membership.

Second, I have seen devotion and adaptation from everyone. There is no doubt that we are facing some very tough economic times. This year will be difficult for the CMC. The last two years have seen growth in services to you, our members.

Our Mountaineering Museum and gift shop were opened, acclaimed, and are drawing visitors from a broad community. CMC Press has published a significant number of very handsome books and many have sold well. These investments bring short- and long-term positive results for the CMC. On the other hand, as is often the case, expenditures in support of these benefits have not met expectations. Membership growth has been uneven and contributions are down; the state of the current economy has certainly not helped.

With support of the State Board, I have reduced expenditures through staff cuts and significant reductions in benefits for remaining staff. This is painful. Our focus continues to be on providing the best services for our membership as we have redistributed the existing workload. We have all had to adapt.

Still, now is the moment when we need your help the most. Please give careful consideration to making a tax-deductible con-

The good with the bad tribution—even $10 or $20 will have lasting results if everyone helps. Further, I encourage you to strategize in your Groups about ways to best increase members in your region. If you know of a company that might be interested in advertising in T&T or becoming a corporate sponsor, or if you know of a grant that is applicable to our important work, please let me know. We all know how important this club is. Working together, we can ensure it remains a strong, viable organization now and for years to come.

Finally, time for some good news. The Backcountry Snowsports Alliance (BSA) is a local nonprofit that recently came to us asking if we might be interested in a merger.

After rounds of meetings and, finally, an approval by our State Board, I am pleased to announce that CMC will welcome about 350 BSA members into our family. Our conservation department will continue the legacy of the BSA—one of the best advocates for quiet winter use in the backcountry. We are now working out the details to finalize the merger and warmly welcome the BSA members to the CMC. As my last letter noted, I think it’s important to give updates to you as the year progresses. The universal leadership training is moving along under Brenda Porter’s direction. If you are a CMC leader, you should have already received a couple of our

monthly Leader E-newsletters. In addition, a new leadership manual has been created with help from many of you, and the “AllStar” leader team is being organized.

The CMC has a new Emergency Action Plan (EAP). View it online at www. cmc.org/eap. Log in as a member and you’ll find the plan under “Leader Information.”

The plan underscores our commitment to safety; we will be practicing this EAP as staff in the near future. Each group can add to or modify the plan to fit their individual needs, but the core of the plan follows best practices and will be a useful tool for future incidents.

We have organized a marketing committee, comprised of amazingly talented marketing professionals. They have been working hard to help us create and implement a strategic marketing plan. At the plan’s core are our CMC values: members, volunteers, youth, recreation, education and skill building, conservation, safety, and collaboration.

Many people I speak with, including members, don’t seem to know just how diverse an organization we really are. Too many people say, “Yes, I did a hike with you guys once,” or “I had a friend who took some rock class from CMC.” I look forward to the day when I meet people who say, “I can’t believe the CMC does all of these things—and does them so well.”

What exactly is it that we do, beyond our role as the state’s premiere mountainadventure organization? Look at page 9 to see all of the benefits of CMC membership, so that the next time you tell your friends about the great hikes CMC provides, you can also recall the many other activities and interests we actively pursue!

Have a fabulous spring.

Katie Blackett Chief Executive Officer

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22 12 Meet the board

Six new board members have begun service for the CMC. They share their thoughts on why they serve—and what they'll do next.

28 28 In-state, outside

22 Seeking silence in the Island in the Sky

The first outing of the CMC took place over 95 years ago. The main goals included camping in the woods, camaraderie, telling stories by the campfire, and climbing a fourteener. Sound familiar? The CMC is an old and proud institution with strong tradition; our archivist tells us more.

Story and photography by Chris Case

EXTRA: Brenda Porter, CMC Education Director, shares stories from past participants. Think you have what it takes to join this year's outing?

EXTRA: Stroll Horseshoe Canyon and ponder what life was like for its ancient inhabitants.

32 An improbable place

Just across the border from Colorado rests one of the most magnificent mazes of canyon in the Southwest. Go there and you may never want to come back.

By Woody Smith

Sun, sand, desert warmth. Sound like Colorado? The tallest dunes in North America can be found in the mysterious landscape of Great Sand Dunes National Park.

By Brianna M. Gustafson Photography by Chris Case

Spring 2009 Trail & Timberline • Issue 1002 • www.cmc.org

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Departments 01 Letter from the CEO 05 Inbox 06 On the Outside 10 Mission Accomplishments

Learn the latest from the Conservation and Education Departments.

14 The Clinic

Learn how to handle high altitude.

18 Pathfinder

Cover Story

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Got a bike? These trips will whet your appetite for riding around like a kid again.

By Elisabeth Kwak-Hefferan

36 From the Archives

How did the Maytag Company help put the first Americans on Everest? The designer of the oxygen mask used in that 1963 expedition tells us how.

By Tom Hornbein

37 CMC Adventure Travel

Want to get away? Join a classic CMC trip to Prague, Bolivia, the Winds, and more.

40 End of the Trail

In memory of Bob Martin, 1920-2008

41 CMC Press Catalog On the Cover

Tracks cut across a slope as storms approach in Great Sand Dunes National Park.

Chris Case

Plan your next adventure with one of our new pack guides and leave the city behind.

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Editor’s Note

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Spring ahead

S

pring brings about cleaning; spring brings about growth. So it is at the club this spring, as we refine and improve the ways in which we communicate with our members. If you haven’t heard already, we’re now on Facebook. Look for the Official Colorado Mountain Club page and become a fan today. See the events we’re hosting and participating in; discuss your travels with other fans of the club; post photos for all to enjoy. The online community helps you casually keep in touch with all of us—and perhaps meet some new friends.

I need to thank many of you who wrote in and told us what you thought of the new magazine. Hopefully, you’ll feel the urge to write again after seeing this issue—it is filled with a rich array of articles that we are proud of. Our goal, of course, is not to be satisfied with the improvements

Editor, Director of Photo & Design Chris Case Assistant Editor Doug Skiba Advertising Sales Robin Commons

Chris Case

advertising@cmc.org

The Colorado Mountain Club 710 10th Street, Suite 200 Golden, Colorado 80401

The CMC is a 501 (c)(3) charitable organization.

www.cmc.org The Colorado Mountain Club is organized to ▶ unite the energy, interest, and knowledge of the students, explorers, and lovers of the mountains of Colorado; ▶ collect and disseminate information regarding the Rocky Mountains on behalf of science, literature, art, and recreation; we made in that first issue, but to keep making improvements for issues to come.

This is the club’s magazine—and has been since 1918.

We want it to reflect the rich tradition of adventure and excellence that has brought us to the present; we want it to signal the coming of an improved club whose goals are loftier than ever before.

We hope you enjoy the changes you're seeing. We can't grow without you.

One more thing: Save a spot on your calendar for this summer's Mountain Fest. Watch Facebook and www.cmc.org for more details—coming soon.

Chris Case editor@cmc.org 4

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▶ stimulate public interest in our mountain areas; ▶ encourage the preservation of forests, flowers, fauna, and natural scenery; and ▶ render readily accessible the alpine attractions of this region. © 2009 Colorado Mountain Club

All Rights Reserved

Trail & Timberline (ISSN 0041-0756) is published four times a year. It is, and has been, the official publication of the Colorado Mountain Club since 1918. Periodicals postage paid at Golden, Colorado, and additional offices. To become a member, visit www.cmc.org. Subscriptions are $20 per year; single copies are $5. POSTMASTER: Please send address changes to Trail & Timberline, 710 10th Street, Suite 200, Golden, Colorado 80401. Advertisements in Trail & Timberline do not constitute an endorsement by the Colorado Mountain Club.

Please recycle this magazine.

Printed on 10% post-consumer waste recycled paper.

Inbox

We Like It Too As I opened my mailbox today, the first thing I noticed was the inaugural issue of the freshened up Trail & Timberline. Although it has been a while since I read the magazine cover to cover, doing this I found nothing I did not like. Congratulations to the editorial staff.

I appreciated the "Letter from the CEO" and support each of the four goals as described. It is nice to see a clear and understandable focus and direction that all CMC members should be able to support. Moving forward it would be nice to see regular progress reports as out of sight is out of mind.

Having to periodically report to the membership can lend additional accountability and legitimacy to the process.

I think the article that really captured my attention was the “Why? (The Art of

Peak Bagging).” For me this article was the centerpiece of the magazine and variations of this theme should be repeated. The article summarized what I feel is important and, more so, what is the essence of me: a) it was an interview with people I know (or would like to know) who serve as my role models; b) it is an article about climbing and hiking that is the very reason why most people are CMC members; c) peak bagging, for many of us, is one of our fundamental and primary focuses in life; d) chasing a list of peaks is an activity that can result in a specific accomplishment.

My personal peak bagging motivations include all the comments made in the interviews, plus one only hinted at by Jack Dais. For me, the primary incentive is accomplishment.

When one has finished their personal list, be it the fourteeners, centennials, thirteeners, or whatever, there is no dispute or gray area.

The accomplishment was black and white, tangible, specific, and very, very challenging.

Standing at the Gate, I have always thought St. Peter would ask each of us what we accomplished in life? Although there are hundreds of right answers, for me it will be the completion of The List.

Again, congratulations for the T&T makeover.

Rich McAdams, Morrison While enjoying a little quiet time over the holidays, I pulled the recently arrived Issue No. 1001 of Trail & Timberline out of my stack of things to read. Wow. I hardly know where to begin to con-

gratulate you on the dramatic positive change in CMC's flagship publication. It is so impressive.

From the quality of the photography (I particularly liked the cover and "On the Outside" spread); to the clean, contemporary page design; to the article mix and writing/editing quality, this is now the first-class publication CMC needs and deserves. The combination of "news you can use" (e.g., The Clinic, Pathfinder, and “Spurred on by the Gore Range: 7 Principles of Leave No Trace”), the member-oriented content (Mission Accomplishments, for example) and sheer entertainment (the fascinating article

by Wesley Brown, “Early Ascents of Zebulon Pike’s Highest Peak”) in this issue is terrific.

One thing in particular that caught my eye is that one of the contributors is assistant editor at Backpacker Magazine. I think that's great. I imagine we have a large group of talented professional outdoor writers, editors and photographers here in Colorado.

Adding their bylines and photo credits to T&T will enhance its quality and its value to readers.

The new T&T leaps out of the mailbox and says boldly, "Look at me!" I can't wait for issue No. 1002.

Paul Raab, Boulder What a great magazine! I haven't read a T&T cover to cover since I stopped proofreading it. And this issue I enjoyed every page.

The layout is colorful and appealing.

The articles are just long enough. My only fear is that there will be an overwhelming cry to publish it more often.

Congratulations!

Sherry Richardson, Denver Congratulations to the new editors on an outstanding maiden T&T, the Landmark Issue 1001. The layout and photography

Outbox We want to hear from you. Send your letters to Trail & Timberline, Colorado Mountain Club, 710 10th Street, # 200, Golden, Colorado 80401 (attn: Letters to the Editor) or email us at letters@cmc.org.

Please include your name, mailing address, email address, and phone number. Published letters may be edited for length and clarity.

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On the Outside

Is there gold at the end of the Sangre de Cristo Range? With four fourteeners

at its tip—Blanca Peak, Ellingwood Point, Little Bear Peak, and Mt. Lindsey—the Sangres host some of the most challenging mountain climbs in Colorado. Unlike many of the mining ranges farther north, the Sangre de Cristo Range was explored by the Spanish as early as 1600; its name means "Blood of Christ" in Spanish.

The other fourteeners in the range include: Crestone Needle, Crestone Peak, Culebra Peak, Humboldt Peak, and Kit Carson Peak, and Challenger Point.

Chris Case

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Continued from page 5 are stunning!

As the editor of the Mile High Mountaineer newsletter for two years (2004-06), who dusted off rusty journalism skills to do so, I know how hard it is to produce something eye-catching and relevant time after time. Volunteers (like me) are hard-pressed to do it with limited unpaid time and very limited monetary resources. I encourage you to brainstorm with staff and members frequently to keep this publication fresh. It would be great to continue to see features about our members. The depth of the experience and knowledge of our members is amazing.

One area that is sorely lacking is communication in two areas. First, the membership needs to hear what the CMC State Board is thinking about before they actually take action. That way interested members could give their considered input. Printing after-the-fact minutes that are hard to find on the website is not enough.

Secondly, the reporting of accidents that have involved CMC members—whether on official trips or even wildcat activities— needs reporting. As safety is a key to a successful recreational club like ours, we must analyze our mistakes and not repeat them.

The club should get legal advice about how they can communicate candidly without jeopardizing their position in potential litigation. Learning about club issues and member accidents through the rumor mill leads to the dissemination of incorrect facts and rampant speculation.

Thank you for a fabulous issue.

Kathleen Overcash, Englewood Published annually by the American Alpine Club, "Accidents in North American Mountaineering" details what happened and analyzes what went wrong in each reported accident to give mountaineers the opportunity to learn from others' mistakes.

Since September, our CEO has delivered her Monday Memo each month to group chairs and board members, who then forward this to group councils who are responsible for educating their group members. In addition, quarterly group chair meetings provide another opportunity for the CEO to distribute information to them and, in turn, members of the club. You are encouraged to learn more about the happenings within the club by speaking with group council members. — Editors

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Join the Circle...

By designating either the CMC or the CMC Foundation in your will, you can reduce estate taxes and make a meaningful gift to the club you love.

Help build a legacy.

Join the 21st Century Circle today.

Consult your attorney for bequest language, or call Doug Skiba at 303.996.2752 to join our planned giving circle.

For Members member benefits → Join us on over 3,000 annual trips, hikes and activities in the state’s premiere mountain-adventure organization. → Expand your knowledge and learn new skills with our schools, seminars, and events. → Support our award-winning Youth Education Program for mountain leadership. → Protect Colorado’s wild lands and backcountry recreation experiences. → Enjoy exclusive discounts to the Bradford Washburn American Mountaineering Museum and Base Camp gift shop. → Travel the world with your friends through CMC Adventure Travel. → Receive a 20% discount on all CMC Press purchases and start your next adventure today. → Browse over 60,000 items in the world’s largest mountaineering library.

opportunities to get more involved Monthly Giving

Join our select donors who give back to the club every month by using electronic funds transfer (EFT). It is easy and convenient, you can discontinue anytime, and you’ll provide support for critical programs. Sign up at www.cmc.org/support.

Gift and Estate Planning

By naming the Colorado Mountain Club in your will, you will be able to count yourself among the proud members of the 21st Century Circle. Read more at www.cmc.org/legacy. Please consult your financial advisor about gift language.

Volunteer Efforts

If you want to share your time and expertise, give back to the club by volunteering on a variety of projects, from trail restoration to stuffing envelopes. Visit www.cmc.org/volunteer for a complete listing.

Annual Report Available Online

We’re proud of the efficient way we use your donations. Download the PDF at www.cmc.org/AR and read all the details.

Shop and Search

Use www.goodsearch.com and www.goodshop.com to raise money for the club when you designate CMC as your beneficiary.

Contact Us

If you have any questions about donations, please contact Doug Skiba, Development Director, at 303.996.2752 or dougskiba@cmc.org.

Our Membership Services team can answer general questions every weekday at 303.279.3080, or by email at cmcoffice@cmc.org.

The Colorado Mountain Club thanks the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District for its continuing support. www.scfd.org

The Colorado Mountain Club is a proud member of Community Shares of Colorado.

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©iStockphoto.com/Jon Mullen

Mission Accomplishments

Quiet Times

Planning for Quiet Use in the San Juans

By Bryan Martin, CMC Assistant Director of Conservation

Protecting and promoting quiet, backcountry recreation opportunities on our public lands is a major priority for CMC’s Conservation Department.

And there is no shortage of opportunities to engage the Forest Service (FS) and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in the establishment of quiet-use areas. One place where our efforts are in most need is the rugged San Juan Mountains of southwestern Colorado.

Here, under a unique, cooperative venture called Service First, the San Juan Field Office of the BLM jointly manages public land with the San Juan National Forest. According to the National Service First Charter, the restructuring of resources is designed to combine the best of each agency to manage 2.5-million acres of public land.

The San Juan Public Lands Center (SJPLC) combines the former San Juan National Forest Supervisor’s Office and onethird of the former BLM Montrose District into one independent, integrated unit.

Shared FS/BLM offices in Pagosa Springs, Durango, and Dolores, Colo., oversee three 10

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combined USFS Ranger Districts and BLM Field Offices. As such, the SJPLC is the only organization in the country with a single team providing leadership in all aspects of land management and public service for the two federal agencies.

This arrangement offers a unique opportunity to plan and manage public lands more effectively and efficiently. The CMC and our partner organizations recognize that this is an incredible opportunity to effect recreation planning at a landscape level rather than the “piecemeal” approach sometimes taken by land managers across the state. In fact, the SJPLC has broken down their 2.5 million acres into 12 recreation planning “landscapes.” All share similar habitat types, terrain, and management aspects.

To date, three of the 12 landscapes have completed plans determining where quiet use and motorized use can and cannot occur: “Pagosa,” “Lakes” (north of Durango), and the “Mancos-Cortez.” The CMC anticipates working with the SJPLC on “Beaver Meadows” (between Pagosa Springs and Durango) and the “Rico/West Dolores” landscapes in the near future.

The stakes are high for these wildlands, especially with regard to wildlife and water

quality. According to a GIS analysis conducted by the Center for Native Ecosystems, most of the Rico/West Dolores landscape is of “high priority” status for such wildlife as lynx, elk, black bear, and deer. These watersheds are also critical in terms of maintaining high water quality that supports trout, other aquatic species, and predators that rely on them.

The CMC will continue to monitor and help make positive changes on these and other landscape-level plans in the San Juans. At stake is the future of our natural heritage and our ability to use these lands.

We could not do this without the support of our partner organizations in southwestern Colorado and the myriad volunteers who know their “backyard” best. In particular, we recognize the hard work of the San Juan Citizens Alliance and CMC members Joe Griffith and Christine Paulson for their tireless efforts. We could not do it without these terrific leaders.

To learn more about conservation and how you can support the club, visit w w w.cmc.org/conservation.

Glenn Walbek

Birds of a Feather

CMC Teams Up With the Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory

By Brenda Porter, CMC Education Director and Larry Modesitt, Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory

Black-capped Chickadees, American Dippers, Swainson’s Hawks, Bullock’s Orioles. What do these amazing names have in common? They could all be part of your next CMC trip.

Have you ever wanted to know more about the dozens of birds that you see from the Colorado foothills all the way to the top of Mt. Elbert? What are their names? What do they eat? What do they do in the winter?

Beginning in April 2009, birding enthusiasts with the Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory (RMBO) will provide educational opportunities to CMC members through seminars and selected CMC trips. One such trip, planned for Bear Creek Lake Park just east of Morrison, could allow for the sight-

ing of up to 60 species, as well as male territorial displays, hummingbird aerial “dances,” countersinging by mates, and nest-building.

The collaboration between the two organizations is a natural fit: The RMBO works to protect birds and conserve their habi- A Stellar's Jay. tats through research and education, while CMC provides thousands of trip opportunities with ample occasion for bird watching.

Indeed, the mission of the CMC has always included education and conservation.

“You will be amazed at how many more birds appear when you know how to look for them,” says Larry Modesitt, an RMBO

board member. His comment touches upon the collaboration goal of this new relationship, to help people enjoy the outdoors and protect birds at the same time.

Visit w w w.cmc.org/bird for more information.

In Honor of Ellingwood

Jack DePagter Receives Ellingwood Golden Ice Axe Award

By Sherry Richardson

grand peaks in and around Aspen, including Pyramid Peak and the Maroon Bells. In fact, Jack has climbed Pyramid Peak 33 times, and he helped develop the routes that are used by climbers today.

In addition to enjoying and leading mountain trips, Jack initiated trips to the Moab desert area each spring.

Jack was born and raised in Holland and came to Aspen at the end of WWII. He has written a book, “Destination Aspen,” which recounts his life, his adventures, and his contributions to the town he loves. In 1997, Jack was inducted into the Aspen Hall of Fame.

Jack’s lifetime of efforts on behalf of the club and its members exemplify the spirit of, and love for, the mountains found in Aspen and the entire CMC.

Congratulations to Jack.

Charles Hopton

The CMC Board of Directors gives two awards each year: the Blaurock Award and the Ellingwood Golden Ice Axe Award.

The latter celebrates the memory of one of Colorado’s greatest climbers and honors a member who reflects the CMC’s climbing ethics, demonstrates and teaches strong climbing skills, and pushes the boundaries of climbing accomplishments in Colorado and around the world.

On December 7, 2008, at the Aspen Group Annual Dinner, Jack DePagter was presented with this prestigious award. Jack was among a few Aspenites who founded their group in 1955 and served as their chair for 42 years.

Jack taught mountaineering skills to countless CMC members. He imparted to them the skills necessary to climb the

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Meet the Board

Seven new members join the CMC Board

Jim Berryhill Family Married to Julie with two teenage daughters. Julie and I met in the thin air of Boulder's Advanced Mountaineering School. We have no pets, although I'm vigorously campaigning for a dog.

Years of membership 10 Background Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, and Director of Morgan Federal Bank Why do you support the CMC? The CMC has provided me with terrific training from some excellent volunteer instructors. It's important to give back by perpetuating that spirit of volunteerism, which is what allows this organization to exist and thrive.

What volunteer activity do you find most rewarding? I love leading people up the peaks they've had a specific goal of climbing. It's a great feeling to be with them when they summit.

List the outdoor activities you enjoy. I enjoy climbing peaks, hiking, snowshoeing, road and mountain biking, camping, downhill skiing, waterskiing.

What is your favorite outdoor activity and why? I love climbing peaks, because so many different factors can come into play on any given day, such as physical conditioning (or lack thereof), endurance, decision-making skills, risk assessment, exposure, route-finding problems, and weather, all in the midst of tremendous scenery. No two climbs are the same.

What are you reading currently?

"Eiger Dreams" by Jon Krakauer.

What got you started in the outdoors? There were two major influences on me. First, my parents always had a cabin in Estes Park, so as kids, we were constantly booted outdoors to "go blow the stink off," as my mom was fond of saying. That forced us into many hiking adventures. The other great influence on me was Boy Scouts, where I was introduced to camping and backpacking.

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Paul Raab Family Married to Sue, also a CMC member, for more than 25 years. No kids; three horses.

Lee Rimel

Years of membership 2

Family Widowed, two children (Brent, 34, and Wendy, 38)

Background Senior vice president and partner with Linhart Public Relations, a Denver-based PR and corporate communications counseling firm

Years of membership Joined in the 1970s right after I moved to CO in 1969; completed Basic Mountaineering in early 1970s

What is your favorite outdoor activity and why? Hiking in the Indian Peaks Wilderness Area just west of Boulder—like having a mountain playground in your backyard.

Background Colorado Real Estate Broker, Slifer, Smith & Frampton Real Estate; Currently own and operate 10th Mountain Division Continental Divide Cabin on Tennessee Pass

What is your favorite mountain?

Current favorite: Paiute Peak. The scramble across the ridge from Mount Audubon is fun, the views in all directions are great (especially east through the Blue Lake/ Mitchell Lake drainage), and the last time I was there, I had the summit to myself, at least for awhile. I'm sure new favorites lie ahead.

What got you started in the outdoors? I've been mountaineering since I summited Mt. Katahdin, Maine, in 1957.

What got you started in the outdoors? When I was about 12, I started checking out books on mountaineering from my local public library. I read everything written by or about Chris Bonnington and then started on others. In 1984, I bought a copy of the 10th anniversary issue of Outside magazine and was introduced to writing

by Jon Krakauer and David Roberts (Roberts' essay "Moments of Doubt," about a bad day on the Flatirons, was the first time I'd ever head of Boulder). I lived in the mountains vicariously for years through reading about them and now, I get to live and play in them for real.

What’s on your wish list of destinations or accomplishments?

Lots more 14ers, although I don't have the ambition to do them all—I started later in life, so that would be presumptuous.

Would love to get to the top of Mount Whitney. Maybe Rainier or some Mexican volcanoes someday. Gotta take Basic Snow first!

What volunteer activity do you find most rewarding? Ground work, digging and maintaining trails.

What is your favorite mountain?

I have not decided yet and probably never will—the people I climb with always meant so much more to me than the mountain I was standing on. But it may be Mount Powell, in the Gore Range. The second time I summited it, when I was reading the peak register I read the words, "Hi Dad" from my son, Brent, from a climb the previous summer. How did he know I would be back?

What is your favorite memory from a CMC trip? I was leading a climb of Culebra when, from the back of the pack (after having gotten everyone else on their way), I commented to my girlfriend at that time that my not being at the front was not leading very well. She said, "Everyone is a leader, let them go," and I learned then that all are leaders (in all of life), if I would just get out of the way.

After my board term ends, I plan to… Continue to mentor younger people to help them contribute their energy and talent to organizations like the CMC

David Hite

Nickie Kelly Family Two children (Alex and Samantha); Freckles, a pound puppy, is my running buddy.

Years of membership 8 Background Executive Director of Victim Offender Reconciliation Program

Dale Hengesbach Family Single, no kids or pets Years of membership 4 Background Chief Financial Officer of Accruit, LLC, a financial services company Why do you support the CMC? The CMC is an outstanding organization that offers great opportunities for members to meet like-minded individuals who enjoy, appreciate, and respect the outdoors and to learn valuable outdoor-related skills. It is also a strong advocate for the conservation/preservation of those same outdoor areas that we all use as our playgrounds. I've benefited personally from many of the programs offered by the CMC and want to help ensure that such offerings continue to be available to others throughout the state.

What volunteer activity do you find most rewarding? I've been a volunteer assistant for the club's Youth Education Program for the past two years.

Working with younger members of our community (and potential future CMC members) to help them better understand and respect the mountains, as well as to try and spark an interest in them to further pursue outdoor activities as they get older, has been both fun and rewarding.

What are you reading currently?

"The World is Flat" by Thomas Friedman.

What got you started in the outdoors? Although I went on the occasional hiking, camping, or ski outing while growing up in the Detroit suburbs, it wasn't until I moved to Colorado as an adult that I really learned to appreciate and take advantage of all the outdoor activities so readily available to us here.

What is the “greenest” thing you’ve done at home recently? Installed compact fluorescent bulbs and new, better-insulated storm doors.

left to right: Dale Hengesbach, Dana Miller, Bill Strathearn, Nickie Kelley, Paul Raab, and Jim Berryhill.

[Not pictured: Lee Rimel]

Dana Miller Family Married for 29 years; two children (Nathan, 23, and Leah, 21).

Years of membership 8 Background Chief Financial Officer and Controller for Miller & Associates, a company focusing on the financial and operational side of managing a business.

Why do you support the CMC? I believe it is a vital part of the community for providing conservation and resources for the mountains of Colorado.

What is your favorite outdoor activity and why? Ice climbing. It's physical, mental, emotional, exciting, different, and fun!

What is the "greenest" thing you've done at home recently? Washing out my Ziplock bags for re-use.

Describe your last international trip. We went to Bucharest, Romania, for my husband's work and so I could learn more about CIPE, an international organization fostering entrepreneurship in developing democracies. What an exciting, crazy city. We also went through Transylvania and the surrounding mountains. Very similar, actually, to Colorado mountains.

What is your favorite memory from a CMC trip? Discovering Barr Camp.

Who knew?

Learn more about your board members online. Visit www.cmc.org/board

What got you started in the outdoors? Going outside was a direct order from my mother. As young as I can remember she would tell her seven children to get outside and do something.

I’d head down the hill to the creek where hours would pass searching for crawdads, tadpoles, and floating makeshift boats.

The creek was my refuge.

Why do you support the CMC? The schools first attracted me to the club, followed by a desire to find climbing partners. As I learned more about the impact of my recreational activities, I recognized my responsibility for stewardship. The conservation activities of the club have since become a priority.

Learning of the forward-thinking members that helped establish Rocky Mountain National Park, Dinosaur National Monument, and Boulder Open Space has instilled in me a sense of pride and duty to continue the work of these visionaries.

Bill Strathearn Family Married to Kathy for 8 years.

We have two Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retrievers. Previously, I was married to Nancy for 37 years; she died of cancer in 1999. I have two boys from my first marriage: Jim, 45, and Mike, 39.

Years of membership 12 Background Retired. Previously the Director of Corporate Information Systems for Union Camp Corporation Why do you support the CMC? I love the outdoors and mountaineering and the CMC has a storied history which I enjoy being associated with.

What is your favorite outdoor activity and why? Fly fishing. It is totally relaxing.

After my board term ends, I plan to... Never run for anything again. At 70 it will be time to relax!

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The Clinic

© Jake Norton/MountainWorld Photography

Climb High Learn to Thrive

Ever climbed a mellow slope way up high and wondered why your head is pounding? You’re fit; the pitch is gentle; your legs feel fine, but the pain persists. Of the 25 million visitors to Colorado each year, a full quarter of those get what scientists call acute mountain sickness (AMS). If you’ve climbed too far too fast, you may be suffering the same.

The term “high-altitude illness” is used to describe a number of health issues that can arise in unacclimatized people shortly after they climb to high altitude. Most of us have heard of acute mountain sickness, maybe even high-altitude cerebral (HACE) or pulmonary edema (HAPE). But do we know the latest science on the subject; the best preventative measures and treatments; how dangerous these ailments can be; what it might feel like to fall ill in the “Death Zone?”

With the help of a scientist who has studied the effects of high altitude on human physiology for decades, and a mountaineer who tells people that if he starts to drool during conversation you know he’s just come back from another trip to Everest, we’ll take a look at life up high.

An interview, in two parts.

For additional information, visit www.altituderesearch.com

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Part 1: From the laboratory. An interview with Rob Roach, Director of Research at the Altitude Research Center, at the University of Colorado's Anschutz Medical Campus.

Why study this? Simply put, I love the mountains and I want others to as well.

Estimates are that the prevalence of AMS in visitors to Colorado brings up to a $250 million loss to the state. If people come here and end up feeling sick, they’re a lot less likely to come back.

But, I study AMS because I’m a scientist. I can learn things that can be applied to diseases of other organs and symptoms. In the altitude chamber, which can simulate life at 16,000 feet, for example, I can study the mechanism of something as simple as headache. We don’t have to wait for someone to have a headache, and can therefore study the genetics, run blood tests, and better understand the basic mechanism. Likewise, anything that relates to being in a hypoxic state [lack of oxygen] can be studied this way.

How can someone prevent AMS? Choose your parents [laughter].

Seriously, though, there is a huge genetic component to one’s susceptibility or relative resistance to hypoxia-induced illnesses.

In the next five years, there will be tests to determine how you will respond to altitude based on your genetics alone. Of course, it is a set of diverse interactions between genetic factors and the environment that fully explains one’s risk.

Interestingly, we still don’t know what it is that makes that top one percent of mountaineers seemingly invincible—to a point—at high-altitude.

What is the “Death Zone”? The “Death Zone” is a physiological place, really, but roughly above 26,000 feet. It is a place where there is an absolute inability to recover because of a lack of oxygen.

We need oxygen for cell repair, and recovery in many senses of the

word. It really should be called the “Deterioration Zone.”

There is no good evidence that you suffer any form of brain damage even at extreme altitude and especially at 14,000 feet. Obviously, it is still a dangerous place to spend time.

The other thing about the “Death Zone” is that it becomes very hard, if not impossible, to get good sleep there. Sleep is not optional when it comes to good performance. Though it is not understood why, rest is absolutely crucial for performance and survival.

Without it, you will inevitably deteriorate.

What are the current studies you’re working on? At one point this summer we had 15 postdocs, grad and undergrad students and other researchers working on a major chamber study designed to investigate multiple aspects of how the brain responds to hypoxia and how that relates to a person’s susceptibility to illness. A typical day started at 4:30 a.m. and went until about 8 p.m. With a great team and a lot of hard work, we expect to complete the study on 40 volunteers by late spring 2009.

Each research volunteer is studied three times; once, they take a placebo, the two other times they take two different drugs with different actions on the brain. Our goal is to understand the mechanism causing acute mountain sickness, and how this might provide insight into other forms of headache.

The ARC is always looking for test subjects. If you have an interest in participating, visit www.altituderesearch.org.

Robert Roach, PhD, is ARC’s Associate Director and Director of Research. His current research includes the role of the brain in high altitude medical problems, normal high altitude physiology, nutrition and exercise performance.

Managing and Preventing High-Altitude Illness Clinical Presentation

Management

Prevention

Mild acute mountain sickness [headache with nausea, dizziness, and fatigue during first 12 hours after rapid ascent to high altitude (above 2500 meters)]

Descend 500 meters or more and acclimatize. Treat symptoms with analgesics and anti-nausea medicine.

Speed acclimatization with acetazolamide. Or, use a combination of these approaches.

Ascend at a slow rate; spend a night at an intermediate altitude; avoid overexertion; avoid direct transport to an altitude of more than 2750 meters; consider taking acetazolamide beginning one day before ascent and continuing for two days at high altitude.

Moderate acute mountain sickness [moderate-to-severe headache with marked nausea, dizziness, lassitude, insomnia, fluid retention at high altitude (above 2500 meters) for 12 hours or more]

Descend 500 meters or more; if descent is not possible, use a portable hyperbaric chamber or administer oxygen; if neither are options, administer acetazolamide, dexamethasone, or both until symptoms resolve.

Ascend at a slow rate; spend a night at an intermediate altitude; avoid over exertion; avoid direct transport to an altitude of more than 2750 meters; consider taking acetazolamide beginning one day before ascent and continuing for two days at high altitude; treat acute mountain sickness early.

High-altitude cerebral edema [acute mountain sickness for 24 hours or more, severe lassitude, mental confusion, ataxia]

Initiate immediate descent or evacuation; if descent is not possible, use a portable hyperbaric chamber; administer oxygen; administer dexamethasone; administer acetazolamide if descent is delayed.

Ascend at a slow rate; spend a night at an intermediate altitude; avoid over exertion; avoid direct transport to an altitude of more than 2750 meters; consider taking acetazolamide beginning one day before ascent and continuing for two days at high altitude; treat acute mountain sickness early.

High-altitude pulmonary edema [shortness of breath at rest, moist cough, severe weakness, drowsiness, blue coloration]

Administer oxygen; descend as soon as possible, with minimal exertion, or use a portable hyperbaric chamber; if descent is not possible or oxygen is not available, administer nifedipine; add dexamethasone if neurologic deterioration occurs.

Ascend at a slow, graded rate; avoid overexertion; consider taking nifedipine in persons with repeated episodes.

Information gathered from “High-Altitude Illness," by Peter Hackett and Robert Roach. New England Journal of Medicine. Vol. 345, No. 2. July 21, 2001.

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Part 2: From the mountain. An interview with Jake Norton, who has summitted Mt. Rainier some 90 times, been on Everest five times, and climbed in many other high places.

How does your body and mind respond to high altitude? As you know, altitude is a very relative thing. Each person experiences it differently. I’ve always done well at high altitude [knocks on wood] and have had very few adverse reactions. However, I do notice altitude, especially at the extremes, like on Everest’s summit ridge. Up there, I find it is quite similar to being drunk: your coordination is reduced, mental capacities lowered, reaction time slowed, mind a bit fuzzy.

Basically, I find I think more about each and every decision when at extreme altitude to reduce the risk of making a poor decision in haste.

Is this the right fixed line to rap off of? Did I tie my knot correctly? Am I climbing fast enough to leave a window of safety for the descent?

Do you have any horrifying tales of high-altitude illness? The one that pops to mind quickest is from 1998 on Nevado Huascaran in Peru. My climbing partner and I were leading a group of eight clients up the peak (the fourth highest in South America). We were camped at the Garganta at 19,000 feet, ready for summit day the next morning.

At about midnight, we were woken up by another group of climbers who explained that they found someone groaning in a tent and, “he looks pretty much dead. We know you have meds, so can you help?” We took a look, and, yup, he did look about dead. Ashen gray, body temperature of about 86 degrees; tiny, thready pulse; rapid and shallow respiration, and an oxygen saturation on our pulse-oximeter of 39 percent. Not good.

We immediately aborted our summit bid, lined his armpits and 16

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crotch with hot water bottles, gave him nifedipine for HAPE and injectible dexamethasone for HACE. We built a “litter” out of his sleeping bag, pad, and rope, and began hauling him down through the icefall from the Garganta. The amazing thing was his almost textbook recovery. Everyone says 3,000 feet is the magic number for HACE/HAPE recovery when you’re up that high. We picked the guy up at 19,000 feet; by 18,000 feet he was responding to pain; by 17,000 feet, he was talking a bit and moving around; and by 16,000 feet he was somewhat alert and could tell us his name. Fortunately, he made a full recovery.

What is the acclimatization routine these days, and how has it changed since you’ve been climbing? When I began climbing, the routine was simple: 1,000 feet per day was the rule of thumb. You read your body and climbed as high as it would allow. Drugs were used only as a last resort, not as a prophylaxis.

Today, though, I see many, many people trying to avoid the need to acclimate properly by simply popping Diamox (acetazolomide) prophylactically and climbing on. I think this is a recipe for trouble, personally. Sure, Diamox is a good tool to have in your kit, but the first line of defense against altitude problems should always be your body. Climb high, sleep low. Let your body acclimate, know your body well, and give it what it needs. Use drugs to buy you some time if you get in trouble, but don’t look to them to be the miracle fix!

Banff Mountain Film Festival presents

BANFF MOUNTAIN FILM FESTIVAL WORLD TOUR 2009 presented by

sponsored by

Hang on to your seats for some of the wildest skiing, mountain biking, climbing, and BASE jumping films!

at the american mountaineering center →→→ friday, april 17, 2009 →→→ 7 p.m. tickets →→→ $10, available at the CMC office and all REI Denver/Boulder metro locations.

We expect this show to sell out. If still available, REI locations will stop selling tickets at 6:00 p.m., the evening of the show. If the show is not sold out, tickets will be available at the door. Doors open at 6:15 p.m. Proceeds benefit the Colorado Mountain Club. To view the play list, visit www.rei.com/stores.

n

!

Gr

How do you learn about new ways to combat AMS and other altitude-related illness? Generally, I try to read the latest findings from leaders in the medical field like the Altitude Research Center, and then I hear a lot—both research-based and anecdotal—from other climbers, guides, and colleagues. Most of my methods of dealing with altitude— for myself and for my clients—is based upon past experience; what I’ve seen work, and what I’ve seen fail. While the science of high altitude physiology is, indeed, advancing, and we know far more than we did even five years ago, I feel most of it comes down to being prepared, being smart, and listening to your body.

ow

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FU d St i l l n G a n i H av Up

What else can you tell someone about climbing at altitude and the strains it places on your mental and physical being? As I tell my clients when they’re going to a new altitude, or even one they’ve been to before: listen to your body. Keep the ego away. If you have a headache, sure, take an aspirin or ibuprofen. But, remember why the headache appeared in the first place: your body was saying “hey, pal, I’m not getting enough oxygen here, so could ya breathe a bit harder while you’re resting?” And, remember that your body and mind will be compromised the higher you go, no matter how strong and skilled you are. Be diligent. Think about your decisions. Leave some gas in the tank for the descent, whether that’s from the summit or not.

Jake Norton is a professional climber and guide as well as the director of the Bradford Washburn American Mountaineering Museum.

OUT

DOOR GEAR

1-0544 70) 22 CO • (9 ercantile.co s n i ll . o w C w jaxm m 1200 N College Ave • Fort 95 0 E 54 0 • w 0) 776-4 Eisenho wer • Fort Collins CO • (97

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©iStockphoto.com/Alex Nikada

Riding the open road Bicycle Tours Through Colorado

By Elisabeth Kwak-Hefferan

I

was only about five miles away from Maybell when the headwind blew in.

The day had been challenging from the start—a 5 a.m. wake-up call, quads unaccustomed to pedaling up and down western Colorado’s bumpy topography—but overall, I was pleasantly surprised at how well things were going. It was my first bike ride of any distance, and I was still on pace to meet my goal of finishing the 30-mile trip within two hours. The early summer air was invigorating, the fields dotted with sage and antelope—altogether, a lovely morning. Until that damn wind.

It blew me to an almost-complete halt.

Teeth clenched, legs straining, I pumped the pedals on my roommate’s borrowed hybrid bike with hilarious slowness. Other cyclists—the ones wearing jerseys and actual bike shorts—whizzed by me. Cows raised their heads to watch my struggle with amusement in their eyes. But still I rode.

The clock was ticking, and anyway, there 18

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was a pancake breakfast waiting for me in Maybell.

This was the annual “Where the Hell is Maybell?” ride, the beloved Moffat County event that draws both bumbling amateurs (like me) and serious cyclists in droves.

Yawning, we gathered at the starting line in western Craig just as the sun was rising; the whistle blew, and off we went through the scrubby, wide-open landscape. It didn’t take long to notice how different everything looked along the highway. Instead of whizzing along Route 40 with tunnel-vision eyes trained on my destination, I was seeing— and feeling—every bump in the landscape.

Even gasping up and over the biggest of the rolling hills was amazing.

The wind put a damper on things, I’ll admit. But as frustrating as it was, I was still having too much fun to stop. Finding a slow but regular rhythm, I forced myself to spin forward. The tiny town of Maybell appeared ahead—and was that the sweet, sweet scent

of maple syrup in the air? Suddenly, I was there. I’d done it—conquered a stretch of highway that had until today only been a route from point A to point B. But the bike had changed all that. I finally knew Route 40 (well, 30 miles of it), and it was strikingly beautiful.

But enough with the musings. I hopped off of the bike, my legs strangely strong, and followed my growling stomach over to the pancake booth. Small pods of cyclists were already spread all over the grass, shoveling down big bites and grinning. I knew I was smiling to match. What a day.

Pancakes, sagebrush, and rolling hills sound appealing? Taste it yourself at this year’s “Where the Hell is Maybell?” ride on May 16. Visit ci.craig.co.us Elisabeth Kwak-Hefferan is Assistant Editor at Backpacker Magazine.

ONE-DAY EPIC Trail Ridge Road Just another reason to thank your lucky stars you live in Colorado—above and beyond the stunning mountain vistas, world-class skiing, and potent microbrews, we’ve got one of the country’s most amazing—and difficult—road rides. This 50-mile epic from Estes Park up the U.S.’s highest continuous paved road and back down delivers unbelievable views of Rocky Mountain National Park’s dramatic peaks and elk-packed valleys. “Basically, it feels like you are biking to the top of the world,” says Mark Harrison, assistant map editor for Bicycling.com.

There are several options to access the mighty Trail Ridge, but taking US 34 to Fall River Road is just as scenic, provides the best warm-up for the climb ahead, and is much less crowded (warning: This is a popular weekend ride!). Enter the park at the Fall River Visitor Center, then wind through the glacially carved valley of Horseshoe Park. “Even in the height of the season, you can feel as if you have the park to yourself,” Harrison notes. Turn right at Deer Ridge Junction to officially join Trail Ridge Road.

Keep pushing until you break above treeline, where you’ll be treated to a panorama of peaks in every direction. You’ll enjoy a downhill roll to Iceberg Pass, but climb again to the road’s gasp-inducing high point at just over 12,000 feet. From there, head to the Alpine Visitor Center—where you can grab a snack, stretch your legs, and soak in the one-of-a-kind views of snowy mountaintops and steeply plunging valleys of Colorado’s premier park. But don’t get too comfortable: You’ve still got a stretch of roller-coaster road to conquer on the way back. Take Trail Ridge the entire way back to town, breathing deeply and enjoying the descent—you’ve just earned one hell of a cycling merit badge.

Not quite ready for such an intense trip? Try cycling the 9 easy-to-moderate miles to Bear Lake on Bear Lake Road (pick it up just past the Beaver

OUT YOU GO Trail Ridge Road, Rocky Mountain National Park Start Estes Park Turnaround Alpine Visitor Center Mileage 25, one-way Elevation change 6,628 feet Best post-ride refreshment Estes Park is stuffed with touristy burger joints and fudge shops—but in-the-know locals skip it and head 20 miles southwest to Oskar Blues in Lyons, where you’ll find some of the state’s best beers, southern-style fuel (think jambalaya and catfish) and live blues (oskarblues.com).

Tip Make sure to slip some cash into your shorts: Cyclists pay a (discounted) $10 entry fee to the park.

©iStockphoto.com/John Hoffman

©iStockphoto.com/Ben Klaus

Meadows Visitor Center and the main park entrance). With just about 2,000 feet of elevation gain, this roll through more classic Rocky Mountain scenery is great for beginners.

WEEKEND CLASSIC Aspen Sampler Ask someone who’s never visited the state to picture a classic Colorado peak, and chances are good he’ll conjure images of the Maroon Bells. The jagged, knifeedge fourteeners are among the most famous—and most photographed—of all Colorado’s mountains. Sure, you can check them out by catching a bus from Aspen up to Maroon Lake—or you could earn your postcard view with the grueling 9-mile climb up Maroon Creek Road. “It’s a challenge; you’d better be in shape,” notes Mike Wampler, owner of Aspen Velo. “But the reward of doing the ride is absolutely fabulous.”

From Aspen High School, you’ll stretch your legs on a mellow 1-mile section before the burn truly begins. Head southwest, passing one of Colorado’s last working ranches, before beginning a steady 4 percent graded climb on the narrow, two-lane road. Maroon Lake is a very popular destination in the summer months, but the road remains closed to most vehicles from 8:30 a.m. until 5 p.m., making for a pleasant ride. You’ll glimpse Loge and Highland Peaks on the way up and gasp for air on the last, steep 1.5-mile stretch. But an oh-my-God Trail & Timberline

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©iStockphoto.com/Photo Adventures

Grand Junction to Crested Butte

view awaits at the top: the twin Bells, framed perfectly in Maroon’s icy waters. Park your bike, stroll around the lake, and take plenty of photos for your album back home: This is one of Colorado’s most celebrated views, after all. Turn around and head back to Aspen, enjoying the descent. “Part of the reward for all the pain and suffering going uphill is the downhill,” says Wampler.

Stop in town for a well-deserved burger and brew, then rest up: The next day holds another classic Aspen climb on Castle Creek Road. The 13-mile ride isn’t as relentlessly quad-burning as yesterday’s spin, though it’s still challenging—but a gourmet lunch at the Pine Creek Cookhouse is your payoff at the top.

Prefer a more relaxing ride? Starting from Aspen Velo on Mill Street, hop on the town’s off-street bike path and cycle 6 easy miles to Woody’s Tavern for a bite.

OUT YOU GO Maroon Creek Road, White River National Forest Start Aspen High School parking lot

With 15 years of experience planning cycling routes across the state, the folks behind the annual Bicycle Tour of Colorado know their stuff—so trust their judgment, and sample a highlights reel of this year’s ride. The real tour runs from June 21-27, but you can enjoy the diverse route anytime: You’ll go from red-rock scenery to verdant fields to the classic peaks of Crested Butte on this moderate 154-mile pedal.

Day one is an easy 61-mile spin from Grand Junction to Montrose. Kick it all off by following US 50 southwest along the Gunnison River; total gain is just over 1,100 feet.

Not hardcore enough for you? Start the day with some serious quad-pumping action along Rim Rock Drive at Colorado National Monument, a difficult 30-mile loop that delivers killer vistas of classic Western Slope canyons.

On day two, stay on US 50 for the moderate 65-mile ride to Gunnison, passing meadows and rolling, sage-covered hills along the way. Today’s high point—literally—begins 9 miles in, when the road tilts up for a brisk 4-mile climb to 7,950-foot Cerro Summit. Drink in the panorama, then zoom down through the mellow towns of Cimarron, Pleasant Valley, and Sapinero. At mile 32, start climbing past aspen groves to lovely Blue Mesa Reservoir—the highlight of the ride, according to Kent Powell, director of the tour. Finish with a lovely stretch into Gunnison (the 2009 tour pushes all the way to the Butte in one day, for what it’s worth).

The final day holds 28 easy miles of gentle hill riding on CO 135 up to Crested Butte. But you don’t have to leave the saddle just yet—you’ve just landed in one of Colorado’s mountain bike meccas. Rent some fat tires at The Alpineer or Flatiron Sports and hit the town’s excellent singletrack—or just toast your accomplishment at The Bacchanale.

Who knows? Maybe next time you’ll be rocking the entire 7-day 2010 tour.

OUT YOU GO

Turnaround Maroon Lake

Mini-Bicycle Tour of Colorado

Mileage 9, one-way

Start Grand Junction

Elevation change 1,500 feet

End Crested Butte

Best post-ride refreshment Riders who buy a drink at the Sky Hotel can take a dip in the pool for a refreshing treat (theskyhotel.com).

Mileage 154 one-way

Best overnighting Stay downtown without breaking the bank at the Tyrolean Lodge (tyroleanlodge.com), or pitch a tent at Silver Bar, Silver Bell, or Silver Queen campgrounds along Maroon Creek Road ($10 vehicle pass required).

Tip Be prepared for cold weather above 8,000 feet, advises Wampler. Always pack knee warmers and lightweight gloves, even in the summer—and make sure you have plenty of water and snacks.

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Elevation change Day 1: 1,168 feet; Day 2: 1,900 feet; Day 3: 1,100 feet Best post-ride refreshment Locals love the Firebrand Delicatessen in Gunnison for a custom sandwich, and Crested Butte’s best burger can be found at the Gas Café.

Best overnighting If you’ve got the juice to head a bit farther north from Gunnison, pitch a tent along the Taylor River at the North Bank Campground (www.fs.fed.us/r2/gmug).

Tip The must-have item, according to tour director Powell? “Raingear.

Cyclists don’t plan for rain,” he notes.

With so many philanthropic choices and fewer dollars to give, how do you decide which causes you’ll help to the top?

Consider putting the Colorado Mountain Club high on your list.

You’ll fund critical programs that operate without the support of membership dues. Only with your donations can we protect the wildest places in Colorado, teach children about the connections to our natural world, and preserve mountaineering history in our museum.

Give

online today or use the envelope on the next page

www.cmc.org/support Trail & Timberline

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Story and Photography by Chris Case

Seeking Silence in the Island in the Sky

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Our

windows were ajar; the air was novel in its warmth. The tires crackled as we drove deeper into darkness on a flaky-gray, single-lane highway. GATHER NO WOOD IN PARK read the sign beside Highway 313, orange in the light from our dust- and bug-fettered headlights. We were driving in our bubble of visibility—surrounded by bulbous forms, cliffs and ledges, spires and pillars of rust-oranges and orange-browns that we could not see.

Izzy and I had left Golden, headed up and over passes of spring ice and snow, down along the Colorado River through canyons and scrub brush plains. I was about to introduce her to a mesmerizing landscape, one to which I had made repeated pilgrimages. I thought it slightly unfair that I could so vividly imagine Seussian worlds of red rock for what I knew was painted beyond that barrier of dark; poor Izzy could only become entranced by never-ending centerline reflectors.

The wait for morning light would be filled with pleasant anxiety: I’d finally see the wonder on Izzy’s face as the sun rose and this remarkable and mysterious canyon country was exposed.

Lathrop Trail’s head couldn’t be less ostentatious: requisite sign, piles of piñon branches to protect desert from tire, and a single track of sand running to the horizon through a scrubby pasture in this Island in the Sky. The aptly named district of Canyonlands National Park includes much of the massive system of undulating, rust-col24

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ored canyons, and the tawny environs which rest at their upper reaches.

Don’t be fooled. This mild approach brings you up and over that edge; through heaving rock formations striated paper thin; down switchbacks surrounded by gorgeous, enormous walls of ocher; through washes filled with questions (How’d that big rock

end up balanced on top of that tiny pebble?

How’d this tree end up in that tree?); to a rim of rock whose components of crumbling, rusty spires and chalky white blocks will have you imagining giants playing Jenga; all the way to a sandy bottom canyon where you can wriggle your toes down to the cool as you wander past a wonderfully sym-

metrical, 30-foot cottonwood; and finally to the muddy red flow of the Colorado River.

And so we set off, the La Sal Range resting to our left, a few clouds dancing over their frosted peaks as the warm spring sun shone on us.

Any good pilgrimage is driven by devotion. This trip served as an introduction to what I hoped would be a mesmerizing land-

Rim and the canyons of the park’s northeastern quadrant. If you stared long enough, you could imagine the white blocks of rock as the crumbling runways of a desert airstrip, the rustred pillars as skyscrapers in a lost city. Yet, we quickly grasped that it was all real, all made by nature, and all right there before us.

Knowing that the trail would lead us to where we could see so many thousands of

glass while the cracks between sheer plates of sandstone ran straighter than any desert road that led us to this mysterious country.

As we descended, and the sun sank, patches of the walls shifted to shimmering black like summer asphalt; others, bleached before our eyes, turned from pale pink to deep vermillion and back again.

With the sun looking to set on Cleopa-

scape for Izzy. I was dedicated to bringing her from this place with an evident awe in her smile and, most importantly, something she’d never known before, something few places can provide.

After our passage through the open meadow, we came to a field of rock mounds, their surface stacks of ever smaller wafers, like a natural, full-scale topographic map. Following cairns from one sandy patch to another, we traversed through this zone and immediately came to a singular view: Stretched before us—spread out like colossal examples of the playful impressions of a hundred hands—was the White

feet below, we sacrificed one amazement for another—the view above for the drop down the headwall of the Island in the Sky. We scurried along the rest of the rim and then, after a short drop from a splintering ledge, we entered an enormous bowl, swirling with walls like hand-thrown pottery.

For almost 1,500 feet there was nothing but switchbacks, running from one side of this bowl to the other, across rock lips crusted by rain-streaked rust. If you stopped here and stared for two days, you’d see a thousand rock gargoyles. The walls that loomed ever larger above us shone like polished beach

tra’s Chair (a recliner-like formation west of the Maze district), we set out to drop below the White Rim and enter the zoned backcountry, where we could find camp in the open, among the myriad hoodoos and rock ruins of a lesser canyon.

Joining up with the White Rim Road (an old mining road from the days of uranium) ever so briefly, we then dropped into Lathrop Canyon, along another jeep track, and sharply descended below the White Rim. The white blocks now seemed to teeter above us as Cadillacs would on sand columns. We rejoined the canyon bottom and its natural Trail & Timberline

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flow—jeeps can’t always drive down what water can fall from—and moved along looking for a canyon to peel into and find camp.

Soon we decided that meandering over any given dusty hill of rock would bring us to an oasis made for camping and a bit of after-dinner exploration. Up one step of this crumbling canyon’s wall and we found ourselves along a shelf just below another giant step of rusty, iron-colored rock. And so we lay our bags. A bit of mild wandering and contemplation about those damn, big rocks that hovered around us on cartoonish stilts of dirt, and it was time to lay on our backs.

course, just the newly realized forms of hoodoos and pillars, now silhouettes and statues of black.

You stare and stare and often don’t last all that long on your back, staring at the desert sky—too much to dream about. So it was this night.

We awoke with a calm breeze and new, dramatic sun cast. Every hour here shows you a new way of modeling one rock, with one light. We were excited to reach the sand and rivers before us; after a light breakfast, we found our way back into the washy bottom of Lathrop Canyon and its intermit-

5 inches, running 100 yards long, vanishing beneath the sand at either end.

We turned the next horseshoe bend and laid eyes upon a single, round, ample cottonwood, so large and stark in contrast to the vibrantly dead crust of walls surrounding it. We ran to it. We tore off our shoes, swished our feet in the sand until a refreshing moistness touched our soles, and stared.

Then Izzy looked at me.

“It’s never happened to me before.”

At certain moments, on particular days, in the right season, you may be able to walk back towards the origins, back towards the

There are many fine ways to end a fine day of backpacking, but none may be more marvelous than watching as the desert sky grows paler blue, then goes pink, then purple, then Navy, then…a kaleidoscope before our eyes—just a field of the deepest of blues and all about that field, pinpoints of white, twisting before us. Shooting stars so vivid and frequent you think there might be something off with the universe.

And then there are the ghouls of black, distinguishable from the night sky because they loom without speckles of white at the extremes of your visual field. They are, of

tent jeep track. Twisting like a sinusoidal curve, every step through this canyon takes you deeper into the earth, further back in time, its walls rising as you meander slowly through its sporadic river channel.

You can hold out your hand and brush against the walls of striated, red-caked mud, embedded with strands of grass. Around the next bend you’ll find something entirely different, perhaps a stretch of rocks that looks just like dinosaur skulls, sphere-like eye sockets from which you could pluck a bowling ball. Then might come a rippled washboard of rock, or a fault line no higher than

solitude of the original earthscape, a brief time that I imagine was devoid of movement.

On such a day as this, Izzy was treated to silence.

This was, of course, not nighttime silence. The spring sun was high beside us at midday. There was no squeaky tree; this tree was flawlessly still. There were no whispering winds, nor approaching footsteps. It was unadulterated desert stillness, the quiet that makes you question what it is that you’re hearing when there’s nothing to hear. Blood coursing through capillaries?

And so we stood there, grinning like

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mystified children, waiting for something to move, hoping nothing did. We wanted more but we couldn’t help but laugh. We had happened upon what pilgrims hope to discover. We were lucky pilgrims.

We walked on through the folding gulch, but things were changing. There was a bit more color here—not red, but green.

The Colorado must be near.

Entering a swath of arching willowy boughs, we could smell the river ahead.

It came into view soon enough as a shimmering surface of muddy reds and browns through the branches of the riverbank.

Straight to the water’s rim, along its riparian margins, we climbed a small embankment to perch on top of a warm, canted boulder.

Like the soothing effect of tumbling beach waves, the trickling of this grand river—running calmly through this wide stretch of mellow rifts—set us both to a noontime nap and the pleasures that come from knowing you’re only halfway. All that we had just seen could—and would—be seen again, anew, on our way out of this handprint, up to that island in the sky. ▲

O UT YO U G O Lathrop Trail, Canyonlands National Park, Utah

If you're looking for a shorter hike, and have the time to drive to the secluded Horseshoe Canyon District of Canyonlands National Park, you will be rewarded with galleries of intriguing rock art considered by many to be the most significant in North America.

The Great Gallery, the best known and most spectacular panel in the canyon, includes well-preserved, life-sized figures with intricate designs. You'll also enjoy strolling between sheer sandstone walls, surrounded by spring wildflowers and mature cottonwood groves along the intermittent stream in the canyon bottom.

O UT YO U G O Horseshoe Canyon, Canyonlands National Park, Utah Mileage 6.5 miles, round trip Elevation change 750 feet Location 32 miles east of Utah Highway 24 via a two-wheel-drive graded dirt road Camping At the west rim trailhead on BLM land (no water; pets are prohibited) Tip Collecting artifacts or disturbing archaeological sites is a violation of federal law.

More info www.nps.gov/cany

Mileage Day 1: 7.2 miles (to the zoned backcountry); Day 2: 7.0 miles; Day 3: 7.2 miles Elevation change Day 1: 1,700 feet; Day 2: 800 feet; Day 3: 1,700 feet Backcountry permit $15 (contact the Canyonlands National Park Visitor Center to make reservations) Tip Water from the Colorado River should be collected and allowed to settle before treating.

Formation Massive folds and faults in the land resulted from a thick layer of salt that shifted under the weight of the overlying sandstone, causing surface rock to fracture or collapse downward. These are known as synclines or anticlines.

More info www.nps.gov/cany

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T

he early decades of the Colorado Mountain Club were punctuated by one annual activity which was sure to be talked about until the next year—the Annual Summer Outing.

The first outing, staged at the end of August 1912, lasted a week, and went only as far afield as Mt. Evans, 40 miles west of Denver. But as confidence was gained, the trips increased in length and range. Nonetheless, eight of the first 10 outings were held within 75 miles of Denver.

The idea for a yearly trip seems to have been entirely the creation of the Outing Committee, appointed in May 1912, less than five months before the first outing. In that time, the CMC had undertaken only five trips—including one to a tree nursery.

But the committee was undaunted. Little wonder, since its members were chairman George Barnard, a realtor and insurance businessman who later became CMC president; Dr. Ethel Fraser, who was appointed Denver City Physician that same year; and the multi-famed Roger Toll.

The last of the campers atop Mt. Evans, Aug. 29, 1912. (left to right): George Harvey, Elvia Harvey, James Grafton Rogers, Warren Barnard (top), Keith Ferguson (bottom), George Barnard (top), probably Emma Barnard, unknown, unknown, most likely Lucretia Vaile.

In -State,Outside The First Annual Outing of the Colorado Mountain Club

By Woody Smith

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The location of the trip—about 12 miles west of Evergreen—may have been influenced by CMC president Jim Rogers, whose family cottage was only a mile from the main camp. Another consideration may have been that it was close to Denver— if plans went awry.

The itinerary was varied, including days for travel, rest, and the ascents of Mts. Evans (14,258 feet), Rosalie (13,575 feet) and Goliath (12,216 feet). Provision was made for train and horse-drawn stage to transport people and baggage. Also included were meals and camp supplies, plus the services of a packer and cook, all for a fee of $14.15.

Among the items campers were advised to bring was a “tramping suit of stout material.” For women, “the tramping skirt should be short and should not reach many inches below the knee.”

Still, the club was new enough that the softer element was warned off: “It must be distinctly remembered that this outing is a camping trip. Any persons who do not enjoy life in the open and who cannot find pleasure in roughing it and living in true camp fashion should not consider this trip.”

Despite the warnings, 25 campers embarked on the CMC’s First Annual Outing on August 26, 1912. ▶▶

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The historic caption reads: "First Annual Outing. Bear Creek Basin. Thursday.

Aug. 29, 1912. The Camp waking at dawn at timberline on Mt. Evans. 6 a.m. after a rainy night. Both images from the Colorado Mountain Club Collection.

Among those on the trip was club historian and board member Lucretia Vaile, who worked as a librarian in Denver, and later New York. Also on the trip was Grace Harvey, a music teacher, whose brother George was the club’s first secretary, and later president. George Harvey also edited Trail & Timberline in the early 1920s, and Grace was a frequent and entertaining contributor.

When she wrote her account of the 1912 outing for the CMC’s 10th anniversary (see Trail & Timberline, April 1922), she was the only member who had been on all 10 summer outings.

“On a day of glorious sunshine,” she wrote, “the party left Denver by train for Idaho Springs. James Rogers met us with a genial welcome, and led us to the old stage which hauled us up a steep hill to Soda Creek Pass, with many a creak and a jar.”

Upon reaching Soda Creek Pass, which likely crossed the Mt. Evans highway west of Chief Mountain, the party set out on foot.

“…At the pass we left the wagons, and with a feeling of high adventure, started to tramp,” Harvey wrote. “…Some of us were hardy mountaineers, some like myself, had never before ‘camped out.’”

After crossing into Indian Creek Park, “one of the most beautiful places in Colorado,” Vaile wrote immediately after the trip, camp was found in an opening among the timbers of Bear Creek. Six tents were erect30

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ed: “one for dining room and an adjoining one for kitchen, and four dormitory tents.”

Grace Harvey’s first reaction to the camp was understandable, given she was a novice at “camping out.”

“I shall never forget what a wave of strangeness swept over me when, at dusk, we arrived in ‘camp,’” she wrote. “Just a sprinkling of tiny tents among the dark trees, a chill in the air, strange people—I felt very small and just a bit daunted. But this feeling soon evaporated before a roaring camp-fire and the good fellowship around it.”

Like all outings since, the first was filled with tramping and the climbing of peaks. Detailed through the words of Vaile, the sights and sounds of this first outing come to life:

“The stars came out but there were still low rolls of mist almost in the tree-tops sweeping down cañon in a hard wind above timber line. In the morning we found ourselves lying looking out at the sun-rise, its bars of crimson and gold and gray reaching across the V opening of our cañon… filled with indistinct blues and violets that gradually faded and let the depths clarify into definite outline.”

O

ne of the main objectives of the first outing was the ascent of Mt. Evans.

“…We arose with the sun, no trouble about that as everyone was cold, and prepared to ascend Mount Evans,” Harvey wrote. “A kind Doctor-lady took me in charge and

cheered me to the top—my first 14,000-foot peak. It seemed a mighty achievement. There was a great view, but I was at the time more thrilled with the thought that I had ‘made it’ than at the view before me. President Rogers lured two eight-year-old boys, Keith Ferguson and Warren Barnard, to the top, by keeping them so interested in the birds and flowers that they forgot how tired they were.”

Finally, the trip had to end. Camp was broken on September 1.

“…Back to Denver we went, well inoculated with the Mountain Club germ!”

Harvey wrote. “And I for one, have never recovered. To me there is no happier way to rest the body, refresh the mind, and rejoice the soul than to go into the wilds with the stimulating companionship of the Mountain Club people.”

T

he immediate effect of the outing’s success was the continuation of the event itself, but the echoes would reverberate for decades.

On March 5, 1962, the 50th anniversary of the CMC’s founding, Dr. Ethel Fraser, member of the first Outing Committee, passed away at the age of 90. She had been a founding member. Nearly three months later, on June 10, 1962, 72-year-old Grace Harvey passed away.

Grace Harvey’s “End of the Trail” appeared in the September 1962 Trail & Timberline. She had also been a 50-year member. Ironically, the adjacent column carried the heading: “1912 Climber Joins Again,” written by attorney Keith Ferguson, aged 58 or 59, from California.

“I am enclosing my application for membership which has been endorsed by my long-time friends, Louisa and Elwyn Arps,” Ferguson wrote.

“…I would like the Board to know that I was once a member of the club. I was on the First Annual Outing in Bear Creek Basin, as a guest of Mr. and Mrs. George C. Barnard. They took me along as a companion of their son Warren. We were both around nine years of age.

“I still possess the card that was sent me in 1915.…With the realization that I am one of the diminishing few who had the pleasure of participating in the First Annual Outing and of climbing a 14,000-foot peak (Evans) in the first year, I am happy again to be a member.” ▲

Through the Years The CMC's In-State Outing

By Brenda Porter, CMC Education Director

The Colorado Mountain Club outing has had a variety of monikers throughout the years, including the Annual Outing, the Summer Outing, and, now, the In-State Outing, or ISO. No matter the name, strong traditions have remained.

Outings have always offered respite, perhaps most valuably during the two World Wars. In 1919, an unidentified author wrote in Trail & Timberline, “…And as we trudged…down from our wonderful camp in the clouds, back to the world and the war, is it any wonder we felt a tightening in the throat when we recalled that last camp-fire and could hear again Mrs. Harvey’s clear voice singing ‘Taps’? We know we are fortunate to have had these few days of perfect rest and rejoice that we can carry home in our hearts some of the peace we have enjoyed…”

Pat Muller was seven years old at the 1945 outing in Snowmass. She remembers the joke around camp: they were the only people to learn about Japan’s surrender in World War II by “Pony Express” because they received the news with their supplies that were delivered by horseback.

Many of the outing locations have

been in remote locations. JoAnne Rickard described her experience on the 1949 Snowmass Lake Outing. “People who had money rented pack horses to get their stuff in. As a 15-year-old I had to walk the nine miles to camp…I used a Duluth pack, which was a big canvas envelope with two leather shoulder straps and a trump strap across my forehead.

“Coming out, the horses went like bandwagons, but I was hiking,” Rickard recalls. “When I got home, I couldn’t bend my knees, my muscles were so sore. I had to stand to eat dinner.”

In addition to hikes and climbs, evening entertainment has been a longstanding tradition of outings. The Trail & Timberline account of the 1919 outing near Long Lake includes, “After a glorious tramp to mountain top…you wander off to the camp-fire site where you find Mr. Brooks lighting the logs. The warmth and beauty of the fire make you delightfully comfortable, and in the quiet content you watch the sun sinking behind Apache, tinting sky and mountain peaks. Can you imagine a better prelude or stage for an entertainment?”

Karen Hickey has organized the InState Outing evening “variety show” for the past 10 years. She refuses to call it a talent show, since “that tends to turn people off.”

But she guarantees that it is great fun for

all. She will be back in 2009 to help people organize skits, sing, tell stories, and more with the rest of the campers.

Perhaps the best part of all outings is the people who participate. At the 1979 outing in Yankee Boy Basin, first-time camper Maja Apelman wrote a detailed description of her experiences in Trail & Timberline. She wondered, “What had made [the week] so special? Everyone there loved the mountains. There was a base which you could take for granted. And this mountain existence seemed to bring out the best in people—after all life was incredibly simple.”

The In-State Outing takes months of planning and hard work to be successful.

Thanks to John Clay who led the In-State Outing for a number of years and to Mibby Lewis for her outstanding camp cookery.

This year the CMC Education Department is leading the effort to plan the ISO, with wonderful help from several members who have been involved for many years, including JoAnne Rickard, Karen Hickey, Bea Slingsby, and Ardis Rohwer.

One of the highlights in 2009 will be opportunities for participants to hike through and monitor two proposed wilderness areas, Treasure Mountain and Gallo Hill. Near Marble, Colorado, they are included in the Hidden Gems wilderness campaign currently underway

by CMC’s Conservation Department.

YOUR MOUNTAINEERING LIBRARY NEEDS THIS BOOK “I

N FALL 2008, the Colorado Mountain Club published a guidebook that was riddled with typos and 70 years out of date, at a time when online competition has put the future of even the most current printed guidebooks in question. And it charged $185 per copy. “‘It sounds crazy,’ Alan Stark, the club’s publisher, said recently as he cracked open a new, hardbound copy of the guide. ‘Obviously, this is not a typical guidebook. It’s a collector’s piece. People will buy it not to use it, but to have it.’

“The book is called The San Juan Mountaineers’ Climber’s Guide to Southwestern Colorado. It was first published in 1933—hand-typed and hard-bound in less than a half-dozen copies. It was the first modern guidebook in Colorado, and with its maps, photos, and route descriptions, it set the template for the hundreds that have followed.

“Climbers have passed around photocopied and stapled versions for The San Juan Mountaineers’ generations, making it an almost mythic book. The club reproduced it Climber’s Guide to Southwestern Colorado exactly, down to the crossed-out letters and handwritten notes in the margins of the typed pages.

L I M I T E D E D I T I O N AVAILABLE EXCLUSIVELY FROM THE COLORADO MOUNTAIN CLUB PRESS “In one sense, the Guide to Southwestern Colorado is a history book.

ORDERS: 303-996-2743 In another, it is still a living guidebook.” —Dave Philipps, The Gazette, Colorado Springs

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"Anyone who has felt the quiet pull of a desert’s solemn beauty could not resist the urge to plunge into the further reaches of sand, and follow the invisible paths through the clefts of the dune field."

e l b a b o r p m I An

e c a Pl

Th

ional t a N s e n u at Sand D e r G f o s e i e myster

Park

By Brianna M. Gustafson Photography by Chris Case Trail & Timberline

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I

was six years old on my first visit to Colorado’s Great Sand Dunes. The hazy memories I have left are ones of endless fields of gold and utter foreignness: At the time, my young mind simply could not understand how we had entered into such a warm, sand-filled place during a routine weekend excursion. The dark, towering mountains, the tiny disappearing creeks, and the crystalline dunes surely could not exist cheek by jowl in any world I was familiar with. The tan Subaru wagon that

When I finally catch sight of the Great Sand Dunes from US 285, my eyes can only detect—with some disappointment—a dust cloud gathering at the base of the eastern foothills of the Sangre de Cristo Range. This impression is, in fact, not entirely unpredictable. The dune field was formed by the wind that, over millions of years, managed to carry 5 billion cubic yards of volcanic soil from the San Luis Valley to the foot of the mountains (The Grand Canyon has been conservatively estimated at a volume of 52

the tune of “Big Rock Candy Mountain.”

First impressions soon give way as we draw closer to the towering slopes of the southernmost dunes. Snaking through the roads of the park, we hastily find a dirt parking space among a cluster of piñon pines and begin our descent to the confluence of Mosca and Medano Creeks. After cooling our feet in the shallow waters of the creek bed, we don our hiking boots, and with playful grins, begin a foot race up the side of a dune. Our running quickly peters off as—

had brought us here and which I had, up until now, taken for granted, must have been special after all—supernatural even.

Now, over two decades later, before my trip to Great Sand Dunes National Park, I have almost epic expectations for the place.

With child-like apprehension and lingering memories, I prepare my camping gear, wondering just exactly what one needs to survive in such a mythical landscape. Crampons?

Gaiters? How about my snowboard? That could come in handy…

billion cubic yards).

As my partner and I draw closer to the park, however, the picture changes into what could be described as a reverse-oasis illusion. Rather than a patch of greenery leaping from a vista of interminable sand, the isolated desert gathers unexpectedly among the lush purple and green, spring growth of the nearby mountainsides. In the midday sun, heat waves curl underneath masses of bleached sand, the color of unrefined sugar, providing an irresistible opportunity to hum

half-panting, half-laughing—we are forced to crawl on all-fours through the deep and fickle sand to the crest of the hill. Reaching the pinnacle of this first summit, we stand awe-struck at the rolling landscape. Anyone who has felt the quiet pull of a desert’s solemn beauty could not resist the urge to plunge into the further reaches of sand, and follow the invisible paths through the clefts of the dune field.

Slowly pushing forward, leaving moon tracks with our steps, we move towards the

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highest point to the north, hoping to find a more expansive view. Soon, however, sparkles of green and gold pull our attention downward. Unexpectedly (perhaps magically?), a true oasis appears. Rubbing our eyes, we climb down into a small valley of bright sunflowers leaping straight out of the loose sand. The scant 8 inches of precipitation that falls upon the dune field each year sustains a rough network of grasses and wildflowers. Rainwater and snow collect in tiny vales scattered among the sand,

Pulled once again to our feet by the call of the dunes, we begin climbing and descending, crawling and walking deeper into the desert. Willingly, we surrender our senses to the mystery of the sand and lose our tracks in the wind. Cresting a large dune, we emerge suddenly into the large Colorado sky. This brings a somewhat troubling revelation, however. We discover that the wind is moving not only sand, but large purple and steely-grey thunderheads our way. Abruptly, the sky gives us a taste of that unlikely mois-

soil. That is when I discover that the dunes completely change their character under the force of the rain. Drawing water into itself like a voracious sponge, the grainy sand reveals its mineralized hardpan. Each footstep breaks loose a rainbow of color: black, gold, amber and grey striations in the deep soil.

Luckily, the storm is brief. Just as suddenly as it came, the rain abates and the clouds break open to reveal a slanting afternoon sun. The dunes quickly change their garments once again, their amber cloaks re-

and gives birth to colonies of butter-yellow blooms. Our surprise at finding such bright and healthy greenery among the sand brings the joy of a jealously-guarded place, a secret garden gathered into the arms of live dunes.

I contemplate lying among these tall stalks forever, staring at the wind-blown sky, feeling ages of sand move across my skin. As author and essayist John Weller exclaimed, in the dunes “the wind always sends flowers.”

Perhaps it would be willing to bring some mystery to me as well.

ture among the desert, showering large, cold raindrops upon our heads and shoulders— at first slowly and then in drenching sheets.

Huddling under the cover of our jackets (at this moment it is clear that an umbrella would have been far more practical than the snowboard), we push eastward to the safety of our distant car.

With my eyes forced downwards, I see a startling transformation under my feet.

Where I had expected loose, white-gold sand, my feet fall upon sturdy volcanic-black

flecting the rays of a setting sun back upon us. As we continue our slow moon-trek back to the boundary of the first crest, we cast a rueful glance back into the seemingly endless ocher dunes stretching along the horizon. This “improbable place,” as Weller described it, had cast a spark of adventure into our hearts, and one whose light remains rightfully sustained from childhood into early adulthood. Turning away, we promise ourselves to return at daybreak to enjoy the marvels of the coming day. ▲ Trail & Timberline

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From the Archives From Masherbrum to Maytag

By Dr. Tom Hornbein

I first encountered the high Himalaya as the doctor for the American Pakistan Karakorum Expedition to Masherbrum (7821 meters). I remember team member Willi Unsoeld coming down from high on the southeast face, describing our first trial with the oxygen system we had borrowed from the successful second ascent of Everest four years earlier. His remarks—“we ripped our oxygen masks off, gasping for air”— spelled the end of our attempts to use supplemental oxygen to climb the mountain. A few weeks later, Willi and George Bell made the first ascent of this beautiful mountain without the burden of supplemental oxygen.

The masks of the time—both the ones the British used for Everest’s first ascent in 1953 and those the Swiss used in 1956—were airplane pilot masks modified with a few extra valves to accommodate the high breathing volumes of strenuous exercise at extreme altitude.

In 1961, when Norman Dhyrenfurth invited me to join the 1963 American Mount Everest Expedition, I casually mentioned that I had some ideas for oxygen mask improvements. “Great,” Dhyrenfurth responded. “You’re in charge.”

A

t the time, I was a research fellow at Washington University in St. Louis. In my spare time, I began to pursue my concept. First, I replaced the inspiratory and expiratory valves with airflow cones that allowed easier breathing and would not freeze shut from condensation. One remaining valve prevented breathing back into the oxygen storage bladder; this valve lay in the path of exhaled breathe, keeping it warm and free from freezing. But how to manufacture it?

One evening I gave a talk about Masherbrum at the medical school. A surgeon brought along a patient on whom he had just operated.

The patient’s name was Fred Maytag. Halfway through the talk, Maytag ran out of steam, but he told his surgeon he wanted to hear the part he missed. I later stopped by Maytag’s room and entertained him with stories about my adventures on Masherbrum and my invitation to go to Everest.

Intrigued, Fred Maytag volunteered the research and development department of his laundry appliance company in Newton, Iowa.

Maytag’s engineers created a mold that would produce the mask out of a single piece of rubber. On our ascent of the West Ridge of Everest in 1963, the Maytag mask proved to be much friendlier than the one we had used on Masherbrum. As a perk, as Willi pointed out, the icicles which accumulated at the rim of the airflow cone provided an excellent means of quenching one’s thirst during the day’s climb. Having a runny nose contribute to the ice formation even added a modicum of protein nutrition to the recycled water.

As long as you remembered to squeeze the rubber cone periodically to break the icicles off, all worked well. But on the day that Willi and I pushed for the summit, I was so focused on the climb that I forgot to do so. When we got to the top at about 6:15 p.m., the ice was so thick that I had to remove the mask, lay it in the snow, and whack at it with the side of my axe. The nonrigid rubber of the mask made it essentially indestructible, even by those most adept with ice axe or crampons.

While the Maytag mold was lost and never reconstructed, some of the original masks are still being used. In 1997, while a professor at the University of Washington, I lent my own mask to David Breashears when he went to film Everest: the Death Zone for NOVA. “If you don’t bring it back,” I told him, “I’ll be pretty pissed.” In the end, my mask summited Everest twice, on two very different noses.

Willi Unsoeld Collection

Hornbein’s original mask from his ascent of Mt. Everest is on display at the Bradford Washburn American Mountaineering Museum in Golden, Colo. The Maytag insignia is clearly visible on the side of the mask (above).

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CMC Adventure Travel For your benefit and enjoyment, the following trips have been reviewed and approved by the Adventure Travel Committee and are officially sanctioned by the Colorado Mountain Club.

Visit www.cmc.org/at for more detailed itineraries and registration forms.

Hike with Llamas in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Utah April 20-24, 2009 Cost: $910

Spring is a beautiful time to visit the canyons, and we will expect to see a colorful variety of wildflowers on this five-day trip in Escalante.

We’ll be hiking in the mid- to upper-regions of the Escalante River and its canyons, and there will be one main base camp near or on the river. Each day we will hike in a new direction to explore different kinds of scenery, and we’ll only have to carry our daypacks.

We will get to visit side canyons and at least one narrow slot canyon that will involve some easy canyoneering. One day will be spent on the rim looking at wildflowers and getting good long-distance views. We will also get to view several very interesting rock-art panels and see some surface sites left by the Ancestral Puebloans. Participants require a B trip classification as this will involve rough trail hiking, slickrock and river crossings.

Included in the cost of the trip are tents, sleeping bags, bag liners, Therm-aRest pads, cooking gear, meals (breakfast on day one through lunch on day five), llamas, and guide and wrangler service. The trip cost excludes round-trip travel to Boulder, Utah, two motel stays, two evening meals, and wrangler tips. Contact Bob Seyse, 303718-2005 or bobseyse@gmail.com.

Best of the Grand CanyonColorado River Raft & Hike April 25 – May 7, 2009

Cost: CMC members - $3,820 Non-CMC members - $3,935 This unique trip to the Grand Canyon of-

fers participants the opportunity to experience this World Heritage Site on a motorized raft for188 miles through the best of the canyon. We will depart from the historic Lee's Ferry and end with a helicopter ride from Whitmore Wash and a plane flight back to the start. It is especially ideal for those who would like to hike in areas which can be reached only from the river, and those who have always wanted to experience the canyon but who do not wish to make the seven-mile, 4,500-foot trek on foot.

Our outfitter, Hatch River Expeditions, has been guiding river trips through the canyon for over 70 years. We will have three guides and 20 participants on two 35-foot S-rig boats running fuel-efficient and quiet 4-stroke outboard engines. Each boat holds 18, so for this trip we will have plenty of room. An average motorized raft trip through the Grand Canyon lasts for seven days with short daily hikes. Hatch is adding five days to the trip with over 100 possible hikes, depending on the group's interest and the weather. They offer us daily guided hikes at two or three hiking levels, or one may choose to rest in camp.

There are several opportunities for pointto-point hikes where we may hike from one drainage to the next and the raft will pick us up later in the day.

What is provided: Hatch provides all meals, snacks, eating utensils, life jackets, tents, camp chairs, and the helicopter and plane rides back to the put-in. An extra $50 package is available for those who wish to rent a sleeping bag, pillow, deluxe sleeping pad, ground cloth, and waterproof bag. The cost of the trip also includes all tips and one night (double occupancy) at the Cliff Dweller's Lodge near the put-in on Saturday (4/25/09).

The cost does not include: carpooling to and from Lee's Ferry, any meals other than those on the raft trip, the park entrance fee ($12 or park pass), the optional

sleeping kit, and extra beverages for the raft trip (water, lemonade, and sports drink are provided by Hatch).

Dates: We will carpool or meet at the lodge in Marble Canyon, Ariz., near the put-in on the evening of Saturday, April 25, and begin our raft trip on Sunday, April 26.

The trip ends on Thursday, May 7 when we helicopter out of the canyon and fly back to the put-in area.

Register with the leaders at 303-8710379 or blakerosemary@cs.com.

The Heart of Europe: From Prague to National Parks of the Czech Republic May 23 - June 6, 2009

Cost: $1,950 plus airfare This trip is for those who would like to explore nature, culture and history in the tiny Czech Republic, located in the center of Europe. As a Czech native, Renata has selected a variety of attractive destinations and hikes in different national parks.

We will start by discovering the beauty of Prague. On the way south, we will visit one of the most beautiful towns in Europe, Cesky Krumlov. We will travel to Sumava National Park and hike in a pristine forested mountain range with deep, dark lakes and fascinating moors. As beer is an essential part of Czech culture, we’ll visit the world-famous Pilsner Urquel brewery.

We will explore sandstone formations in Nature Reserve Czech Paradise, famous among local climbers, and we’ll traverse the Krkonose mountain range and stay in a well-equipped hut on the ridge. Finally, we will climb Mount Snezka (5,256 feet), the high point of Czech Republic.

The cost of the trip includes lodging in hotels and huts, ground transportation, breakfast and some meals. The price does not include airfare or travel insurance. The Trail & Timberline

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final cost may vary depending on currency exchange. Hikes up to B and C level. The maximum number of participants is 15.

For more information contact the leaders, Renata or John Collard at 303-617-4773 or email Renata.Collard@UCHSC.edu.

Visit www.cmc.org/AT for a more detailed itinerary and registration forms.

round out the afternoon and evening fun.

Camping gear, bicycles, and transportation to and from the rides and hikes (accessible with any automobile) are not included in the cost. Rentals are available in Moab, and carpooling is encouraged. Rides and hikes are suited for beginner to advanced riders of all ages. Contact Janet Farrar at wildjc@juno.com or 303-933-3066.

Visit www.cmc.org/AT for a more detailed itinerary and registration forms.

Moab Mountain Bike and Hike Adventure May 28-31, 2009

Montenegro with Rada

Cost: $300

We will base-camp for four days near Moab, Utah, and explore the famous mountain biking and hiking trails in the area, including Arches and Canyonlands National Parks. A favorite for biking or hiking in this desert wonderland is the seldom-traveled Hidden Canyon Trail with its prolific Anasazi art and hunting ruins.

Savory food is provided and prepared by experienced gourmet chefs. Included in the cost are camping fees, all your water needs, and sanolets. You will also receive a T-shirt custom designed for this year's adventure. A large campfire with live music, drum circles, sweat lodge, desert croquet and other games and group activities

June 8-23, 2009

$2,039, excluding airfare Rada Perovic, a resident of Golden, but native of Montenegro, will be your hostess for a two-week excursion to this unspoiled Mediterranean and mountain paradise.

Montenegro, with a population of 730,000 and area of 5,300 square miles, gained independence in May, 2006, and has the distinction of being one of the world’s newest countries.

We will begin our journey on the coast, where beautiful beaches meet the crystalclear azure water of the Adriatic Sea. From our base in the old Medieval Town of Budva, we will explore the 15th century

fortress and other towns and quaint villages along the coast. We will hike on coastal trails and bask in the warm hospitality of the Montenegrin people.

We will journey to the mountainous interior, where 7,000-foot peaks rocket up from sea level, creating stunning canyons, deep valleys, and dense pine and fir forests surrounding alpine lakes, known locally as “mountain eyes.” We will visit three national parks: Biogradska Gora, Durmitor and Skadar Lake. In addition to the hiking excursions, there will be a rafting trip down the Tara River, referred to as “The Jewell of Europe.” When hiking, you will often encounter sheep herders’ settlements, where you will experience people who provide the friendliest hospitality on earth. Near the end of the trip, we will visit a small village near Podgorica, where Rada’s family will host a celebration at their old stone house, which dates back nearly 200 years.

The cost of the trip includes all ground transportation in Montenegro, lodging, most meals, two days of river rafting, guides, all park- and museum-fees, leader expenses, and the CMC outing fee. The final cost may vary depending on currency exchange issues. (Montenegro uses the Euro as the currency of exchange.) This B- and Clevel hiking trip will allow a maximum of 10 participants. For more information contact leader Rada Perovic at 303-985-3263 or montenegrowithrada@gmail.com.

Bolivia Trekking and Climbing June 17-29, 2009

$3,510 including airfare

Pingora Peak and the Cirque of the Towers in Wyoming's Wind River Range is a premiere destination for climbers and trekkers alike.

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Doug Skiba

Nevado Sajama 21,484' Parinacota 20,801' Cordillera Real Trek Here is your chance to both climb and trek in the magnificent mountains of western Bolivia. We begin with a three-day trek over several 14,000-foot- and 15,000-footpasses as we get adjusted to the high altitude of the Bolivian Altiplano.

After the trek and two nights in La Paz, we will head to the southwest corner of the country to climb two extinct volcanoes. Sajama is the highest peak in Bolivia. We will be climbing on the fringe of the Atacama Desert, the driest desert on our planet.

We will camp during the trek and on

the peaks, with meals and guide service provided by a La Paz-based outfitter. The outfitter will also provide other logistical support including all ground transportation, meals during the trek and on the peaks, along with a porter and mule service for hauling gear. We will spend a total of four nights in La Paz at a comfortable twostar hotel, with opportunities to tour this exotic capitol city buried in the ground.

The posted trip cost includes airfare (currently about $1,500 between Denver and La Paz); outfitter, Bolivian visa, most meals, gratuities, leader expenses, and CMC fee.

Cost does not include shots (yellow fever vaccination is required to enter Bolivia); personal medications, gear and equipment; meals in La Paz; travel/evacuation insurance; souvenirs; bar tab; airline baggage fees. Final trip cost may vary slightly from the posted amount depending on airfares and currency exchange.

Participants will be asked to attend a planning meeting in Golden in late January, 2009 as well as a number of training and get-acquainted climbs beginning in early March. Trip packets are available from the trip leader, Steve Bonowski, via regular USPS mail (nztrekker@earthlink.net; P.O. Box 280286, Lakewood CO 80228; no phone calls please.

visit www.cmc.org/AT for a more detailed itinerary and registration forms.

Llama Trek in the Wind Rivers August 17-21, 2009 $1,230

Trek through the east side of Wyoming’s Wind River Range to a variety of lakes on this five-day llama-supported trek next August. The Winds, as the locals call them, are one of the oldest ranges on earth and are filled with cathedral-like granite mountains—more than 35 peaks are taller than 13,000 feet. We will be in the Popo Agie Wilderness in the Shoshone National Forest for this trip, starting on a northern trail and exiting at a different trailhead. Rated as a moderate B trip, day-hiking will be possible on the single layover day and each day after we reach camp.

The price of the trip includes food from lunch on the first day through lunch on day five. Llamas will carry all gear, and guides and cooks will be provided. A tent, sleeping bag, and pad will be included at no charge, or you can bring your own gear. We will meet in Lander on August 16. For more information contact leader Bea Slingsby, 303422-3728, or beahive@comcast.net.

American Basin Area Hiking Week 1: July 5 - 11, 2009 Week 2: July 12 - 18, 2009 Cost per week: $338

This year we will offer two weeks of this popular base-camping trip in the San Juan Mountains, near American Basin at the site of The Colorado Trail Foundation cabin.

The cabin is used to prepare all three daily meals in this scenic setting near the Alpine Scenic Byway over Engineer and Cinnamon Passes. Different hikes will be offered during the week of camping. Climbs of the area fourteeners will be offered (C & D hikes). It will be prime wildflower season, and viewing the show on A and B hikes may be possible with Gudy Gaskill. High-clearance or 4x4 vehicles are required. All meals are included in the price, but camping gear is not. Maximum group size is 12, including leaders. Contact Janet Farrar for information at 303-933-3066 or wildjc@juno.com; or Phil Healey 720-308-7721. You may also

Annapurna Sanctuary Trek Sept. 26-Oct. 12, 2009 Cost: $2,344 (land cost)

Annapurna Sanctuary, a shimmering mountain-ringed glacial basin in the heart of the Annapurna Himal, is one of the most scenic short treks in Nepal. It offers great cultural and geographical diversity as well as outstanding mountain views. Part of the appeal of this 11-day trek is that such a huge glacial cirque is reached so quickly—it takes only five days to hike up to it! Along the way, you’ll pass lowland villages of Gurung and Tamang clans, and cut through thick forests of bamboo, rhododendron, and oak. Continuing on the trek, you’ll walk up and over intricately terraced hills, finally reaching the glaciers and high mountains. Once at the sanctuary, you’ll be surrounded by the highest peaks of the western Annapurna Himal: Annapurna South (23,814'), An-

napurna I (26,545') and III (24,787'), Gangapurna (24,458'), Fang (25,089'), and the “fishtail” peak of Machapuchare (22,958').

The 360-degree views are indescribably beautiful, especially at sunset, when the peaks glow with a molten radiance. For more information, please contact Pemba Sherpa at 303-525-6508 or pemba@sherpaascent.com.

Fall Hiking in Vermont October 6-12, 2009

$1,897.00, including airfare Hiking in Vermont is an unforgettable experience. The trip will start in Burlington where we will spend several nights in a pleasant hotel. We will hike up Mt. Mansfield, the state’s tallest mountain (4,393 ft.), as well as Camel’s Hump (4,079 ft.), Vermont’s highest undeveloped peak. It is one of the oldest mountains on Earth. Another hike will be on the Long Trail which goes the length of Vermont. The Long Trail was planned in 1909 to go from Massachusetts to Canada and is the oldest long distance trail in the US. Besides hiking and an optional bike ride along Lake Champlain we will have tea at the Trapp Family Lodge in Stowe, take a tour of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream factory and have the chance to visit the Shelburne Museum, an unconventional museum of art and Americana, or Shelburne Farms, created in 1886.

For the second part of the trip we will stay in Stratton. Here we will hike on parts of Stratton Mountain in the Green Mountain National Forest. Also in the area we will make a stop in Montpelier, the country’s smallest capital city, learn about sugar making and visit the Quechee Gorge as well as other adventures. While we are hiking and getting to know the state of Vermont we will be observing the brilliance of the autumn changing of the leaves, a spectacle not to be missed. The level of hiking is for A and B hikers. If you would like more information about the trip please contact Betsy Weitkamp at 303-722-1656 or elaw@q.com.

www.cmc.org/at Trail & Timberline

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End of the Trail

Bob Martin 1920 - 2008

Unstoppable

By Art Tauchen and Jean Badeau

Everything good can be said of Bob Martin. Starting in 1977, after early retirement, he set his sights on climbing mountains and researching and maintaining lists of peaks. He was a frequent contributor to Trail & Timberline. Bob authored climbing and hiking books on both Colorado and Arizona.

Art Tauchen (2)

Bob Martin’s last summit in October 2007; Bob on the summit of Mt. Sneffels, 1980.

Bob may be most well known for his prolific climbing accolades. Time for some numbers: Bob climbed about 2,600 peaks in both Colorado and Arizona, and about 400 peaks in other states.

He was also a member of the County Highpoints Club and did hundreds of county highpoints in many states. Needless to say, climbing was Bob’s life.

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My climbing partner for the last 30 years, Bob took his last climbing trip in Colorado with me during the last two weeks of October 2007. Towards the end of that trip, Bob received the Dwight Lavender Award, presented to a Western Slope Group member that has made outstanding contributions to the group’s activities. He also received a second award, the Albert Ellingwood Golden Ice Axe Award, presented by the CMC to persons who have distinguished themselves in mountaineering and have inspired club members to follow in their paths.

In conclusion, here is a wonderful tribute to Bob from his daughter, Jean Badeau:

Robert Duncan Martin—known to all as Bob—was born on December 9, 1920, in Lexington, Kentucky. After serving in the US Navy during World War II, Bob joined Standard Oil of Indiana.

Bob took up running in his 40s, trained persistently, and competed in hundreds of races, frequently winning his age division. He also greatly expanded his interest in hiking, setting out to climb Colorado's highest peaks, then the ones over 13,000 feet, then the ones over 12,000 feet, until he had climbed the 1,500 highest peaks. He also climbed other peaks, especially in Arizona, and pursued county high points across the states.

He wrote five hiking books, a couple of them co-authored with his wife, Dotty.

In November 2006, after moving permanently to Tucson, Ariz., Bob suffered a major stroke, followed by another a year later. He died on December 22, 2008, following another stroke and prostate cancer. Until his last week he had been on daily walks with Dotty, had gone on occasional hikes with friends, and followed his favorite sports.

He will be missed by Dotty, Brian, Bruce, Jean, other relatives and many friends. Memorial donations may be made to Casa de la Luz Hospice Foundation, 400 W. Magee Rd., Tucson, AZ 85704 or Us TOO Prostate Cancer Education & Support Network, 5003 Fairview Avenue, Downers Grove, IL 60515.

THE COLORADO MOUNTAIN CLUB PRESS

Pack Guide Spring Special BUY THREE – GET THE FOURTH FREE*

*Mark your Free Copy on the Order Form on Page 46

CMC PRESS SPRING 2009 CATALOG Trail & Timberline

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The Best Denver Hikes

The Best Boulder Hikes

A Colorado Mountain Club Pack Guide

A Colorado Mountain Club Pack Guide

By the Denver Group of The Colorado Mountain Club

By the Boulder Group of The Colorado Mountain Club

Thirty of the best Denver hikes—from city walks, to state park hikes, to difficult mountain treks—all within a hour of town.

• A wide variety of routes, from wheelchair accessible to “Are you serious?” mountain trails.

• Trailhead locations, accurate route descriptions, color photos, and maps of the route.

The twenty best trails in and around the town that is the center of the known world for outdoor recreation.

• Trails for all ability levels, each offering something special for the visitor and the local alike.

• Detailed directions, accurate route descriptions, color photos, and maps of the route.

Denver has one of the finest urban trail systems in the country, much like many towns in Europe, with urban and mountain trail systems. The Best Denver Hikes covers all levels of trails and includes tips for enjoying Denver-area trails all year long. Fifteen experienced Colorado Mountain Club members wrote and photographed this guide, selecting the 30 trails by consensus of the group.

144 pages, 4x7, 60 color photographs, 31 color maps, paperbound, ISBN 978-0-9799663-5-4, $15.95, CMC member price $12.76 AVAILABLE IN MAY 2009

The Best Colorado Springs Hikes

AVAILABLE IN APRIL 2009

A Colorado Mountain Club Pack Guide

By John Gascoyne

By the Pikes Peak Group of The Colorado Mountain Club From the diverse scenery of its city parks to the 14,115 summit of Pikes Peak, the Colorado Springs area has hiking adventures for everyone.

• Provides trails for one-hour hikes or entire day outings • Detailed directions and full-color photos and maps.

If you have ever wondered about that big mountain looming over town, you’ll find a couple of paths to its summit. If you’re more interested in catching great views of the peak from down low, many of the trails provide great panoramic views. Lovers of geology can explore incredible sandstone formations in the Garden of the Gods and Red Rock Open Space, or the smooth granite of the Lost Creek Wilderness. For the less experienced, start with the Greenway Trail that wends its way along Monument Creek through downtown. That trail connects with an extensive trail system including the Santa Fe Trail and the Front Range Trail.

96 pages, 4x7, 40 color photographs, 21 color maps, paperbound, ISBN 978-0-9799663-6-1, $12.95, CMC member price $10.36 AVAILABLE IN JUNE 2009

Trail & Timberline

104 pages, 4x7, 42 color photographs, 21 color maps, paperbound, ISBN 978-0-9799663-4-7, $12.95, CMC member price $10.36

The Best Fort Collins Hikes

A Colorado Mountain Club Pack Guide

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Hike some of the trails in The Best Boulder Hikes and you’ll be telling tales of great routes. Boulder has arguably the best “back yard” in the country.

For a beautiful route through town, try the Boulder Creek Path. For a rolling foothills route try the Mesa Trail that runs from Chautauqua south seven miles to Eldorado Springs. And for putting up a route to over 13,000 feet, try the trail up Mount Audubon, but get an early start. The afternoon thunderstorms are always a tad bit sporty.

Twenty Fort Collins hikes selected, described and photographed by members of the Fort Collins Group of the Colorado Mountain Club.

• A wide variety of trails from urban strolls to alpine adventures.

• A handy CMC Pack Guide with complete trail descriptions, color photos, maps, and commentary.

• Trails for hikers, bikers and snowshoers; some are wheel-chairaccessible, some are equestrian-friendly and littered with horseshit, and most are open year round.

The Best Fort Collins Hikes was written by CMC members for a wide range of readers—from experienced hikers who already know the local scene to visiting flatlanders who want to enjoy the best of the area. The descriptions range from very easy walks, to a number of moderate hikes, and a few of the difficult and demanding variety.

96 pages, 4 x 7, 42 color photographs, 21 color maps, paperbound, ISBN 978-0-9799663-0-9, $14.95, CMC member price $11.96

The Colorado 14ers

Rocks Above the Clouds

A Colorado Mountain Club Pack Guide 2nd Edition

A Climber’s Guide to Colorado Mountain Geology

By The Colorado Mountain Club Foundation The essential guide to the most popular routes up all 54 of the Colorado’s 14ers.

• Over half a million North Americans attempt to climb at least one Colorado 14er every year • The most current guide to the 14ers available Organized by mountain range, this completely rewritten and redesigned second edition, is the only book you will need to find the most popular route up each of the 54 Colorado 14ers.

Each description includes clear, concise directions for driving to the trailhead, where to park, difficulty rating, elevation profile, distance, and estimated round-trip time. As the most up-to-date book available, The Colorado 14ers covers all access issues (as of this writing, five of the 14ers are closed to public access).

120 pages, 4 x 7, 54 black-and-white photos, paperback, ISBN 978-0-9760525-3-1, $11.95, CMC member price $9.56

Hiking Colorado’s Roadless Trails

By Jack Reed and Gene Ellis A Colorado mountain geology book written specifically for climbers, scramblers, and hikers.

• A geologic primer for mountain people • A range-by-range geologic description of Colorado mountains • Detailed geologic information on the Fourteeners Rocks Above the Clouds is the first geology book written for climbers, scramblers, and hikers. It is an exploration of how the nature of mountains and the challenges they present to climbers are influenced by the rocks that form them—in other words, by their geology.

Starting with a description of the types of rocks found in mountains, the authors of Rocks Above the Clouds then describe the geologic processes, from the big bang through the processes that continue to shape them today.

Following this mountain geology primer is a range-by-range description of what to expect in the Colorado mountains, and then some very curious information on the Colorado 14ers.

128 pages, 4 x 7, 65 color photos, 10 color maps, paperback, ISBN: 978-0-9760525-8-6, $14.95, CMC member price $11.96

The Colorado Trail

A Colorado Mountain Club Pack Guide

The Official Guidebook 7th Edition

By Penelope Purdy

By The Colorado Trail Foundation

The first guidebook written specifically for hiking in “roadless” areas—pristine places where there are no roads, no logging or mining.

Completely revised guide to the extraordinary Colorado Trail which stretches 468 miles from Denver to Durango.

• 20 great roadless trails in Colorado’s backcountry • Complete beta on locating the trailhead and detailed route descriptions and maps Imagine walking through a National Forest where there has never been a road or logging or mining, where silence reigns and wild animals find secluded places to raise their young and survive harsh weather. Second only to fully protected wilderness areas, roadless areas are the most intact natural forests that remain in Colorado. This book is the first guide specifically written to help you find these roadless trails, some of which are still threatened by encroaching development.

Proceeds from the book go to assist The Colorado Mountain Club’s conservation efforts.

112 pages, 4 x 7, 30 black-and-white photos, 21 topo maps, paperback, ISBN 978-0-9760525-7-9, $12.95, CMC member price $10.36

• For thru-hikers, day hikers, mountain bikers, trail runners, XC skiers, and equestrians • Elevation profiles, GPS waypoints, town maps, and mountain bike detours of Wilderness Areas The Colorado Trail (CT) is the premier scenic long trail in North America. It winds its way through endless fields of wildflowers to windy passes, from wild mountain rivers and streams to quiet trails through old growth forests. The CT crosses eight mountain ranges, seven National Forests, six Wilderness Areas and five river systems.

This seventh edition of the official Colorado Trail guidebook has all the information you will need as a thru-hiker to plan and complete the trek. New to this edition are complete rewrites of the 28-segment trail descriptions and the addition of integrated GPS waypoints.

256 pages, 6 x 9, 131 color photos, 45 maps, paperback, ISBN 978-0-9760525-2-4, $22.95, CMC member price $18.36

Trail & Timberline

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SPRING 2009 ORDER FORM S E N D O R D E R F O R M A N D PAY M E N T T O :

Colorado Mountain Club Press, 710 10th Street, Suite 200, Golden, CO 80401 1-800-633-4417, ext. 103

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FAX 303-279-9690

or order online at cmc.org BILL TO:____________________________________________________

SHIP TO: ___________________________________________________

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PHONE ____________________________ E-MAIL __________________________________________________________________________________

SHIPPING AND HANDLING

CMC MEMBERS: Please fill in your name, address, phone and email, Visa or MasterCard number and expiration date. Total your order, compute the tax at 7.6%, and add shipping and handling. Checks made out to The Colorado Mountain Club for the total are fine, too.

$ 1 – $19.99. . . . . . . . . . . $5.00 $20 – $49.99. . . . . . . . . . . $7.00 $50 – $75.99. . . . . . . . . . . $9.00 $76 – $99.99. . . . . . . . . . $11.00 $100+ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $12.00

DISCOUNTED BOOK PRICING FOR MEMBERS OF THE COLORADO MOUNTAIN CLUB ___ Best Boulder Hikes, ISBN 978-0-9799663-4-7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $10.36 ___ Best Colorado Springs Hikes, ISBN 978-0-9799663-6-1 . . . . . . $10.36 ___ Best Denver Hikes, ISBN 978-0-9799663-5-4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $12.76 ___ Best Fort Collins Hikes, ISBN 978-0-9799663-0-9 . . . . . . . . . . . . $11.96 ___ Colorado 14ers, ISBN 978-0-9760525-3-1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $9.56 ___ Colorado Lake Hikes, ISBN 978-0-9799663-1-6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $19.96 ___ Colorado’s Quiet Winter Trails, ISBN 978-0-9760525-1-7. . . . . . . . . $17.56 ___ Colorado Scrambles, ISBN 0-9760525-0-4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $18.36 ___ Colorado Snow Climbs, ISBN 978-0-9760525-9-3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $18.36 ___ Colorado Summit Hikes, ISBN 0-9724413-3-6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $15.16 ___ Colorado Trail, ISBN 978-0-9760525-2-4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $19.96 ___ Colorado Trail Databook, ISBN 978-0-9760525-5-5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . $7.96 ___ Colorado Year Round, ISBN 0-9724413-2-8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $15.16 ___ Essential Guide to Black Canyon, ISBN 0-9724413-4-4 . . . . . . . . . $15.96 ___ Essential Guide to Sand Dunes, ISBN 0-9724413-1-X. . . . . . . . . . . $15.96 ___ Flatiron Classics, ISBN 978-0-9799663-2-3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $15.16

□ VISA OR □ MASTERCARD

___ Guide to the Colorado Mountains, ISBN 0-9671466-0-7 . . . . . . . . $15.16 ___ Hiking Colorado’s Roadless Trails, ISBN 978-0-9760525-7-9 . . . $10.36 ___ Morpha: A Rain Forest Story, 0-9671466-8-2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $11.96 ___ Peaceful Canyon, Golden River, ISBN 0-9671466-5-8 . . . . . . . . . . . $11.96 ___ Playing for Real, ISBN 978-0-9760525-6-2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $9.56 ___ Rocks Above the Clouds, ISBN 978-0-9760525-8-6 . . . . . . . . . . $11.96 ___ Rocky Mountain Flora, ISBN 978-0-9760525-4-8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $18.36 ___ Roof of the Rockies, ISBN 0-9671466-1-5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $13.56 ___ Run the Rockies, ISBN 0-9724413-5-2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $14.36 ___ San Juan Mountaineers, ISBN 978-0-9799663-3-0 . . . . . . . . . . . . $185.00 ___ Southern Rockies Vision, ISBN 0-9724413-6-0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $15.96 ___ State of the Southern Rockies, ISBN 0-9724413-7-9 . . . . . . . . . . . $15.96 ___ Stettner Way, ISBN 0-9724413-0-1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $11.96 ___ Trad Guide to Joshua Tree, ISBN 0-9724413-9-5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $17.56 ___ What’s Up with Altitude, ISBN 0-9724413-8-7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $10.36

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TOTAL $__________________

One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace...One School at a Time

Three Cups of Tea Penguin

New York Times Bestseller for 100+ Weeks TIME Magazine Asia Book of the Year

CMC Members Get a 20% discount at Base Camp

Laced with drama, danger, romance, and good deeds.

Christian Science Monitor

A stunningly simple story of how to make peace.

Bloomsbury Review NEW January 2009: Three Cups of Tea for Young Adults (Puffin)

“Three Cups of Tea is one of the most remarkable adventure stories of our time. Mortenson’s dangerous and difficult quest to build schools in the wildest parts of Pakistan and Afghanistan is... proof that one ordinary person, with the right combination of character and determination, really can change the world.”

TOM BROKAW Thanks CMC members for supporting Central Asia Institute www.ikat.org and helping tens of thousands of students in the Afghanistan and Pakistan mountains reach their summit!

In bookstores, libraries and online

Education is ultimately how we must win the war against terrorism.

Senator Mark Udall (D-CO)

Threecupsoftea.com Trail & Timberline

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