Three hours into the climb you see the snow-covered peak for the first time.
Last September, when I decided to begin training for the Vancouver Winter Olympics, I had to do a few things to fix up my body. One of the things I had to do was to get knee surgery to fix some torn cartilage in my left knee (I hurt my knee TRYING to ski a couple of years ago).
The doctor was not able to completely fix the knee, only to clean it up a bit, so I was not sure about how strong it was.
My friend Greg Reid and I have been wanting to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa but I was not sure whether my knee could handle it.
So I decided to test my knee by climbing Pike’s Peak in Colorado.
Pike’s Peak is one of Colorado’s 54 14ers (mountains over 14,000 feet tall). It towers over the other mountains West of Colorado Springs. I had always wanted to climb it and this summer I finally got a chance.
The climb is a really hard 13 mile hike up the mountain. It generally takes about 8 hours to get to the top.
Ten days ago (June 25th) I made it 10 miles up but had to turn around because the snow drifts completely covered the trails and you just could not cross the snow without snowshoes or crampons.
Turning around was really dissapointing but I knew I would be back later in the month. I just hoped that the snow would have melted by then.
I had always heard that you don’t summit a mountain when you want to. You summit when the mountain lets you.
After this experience I finally know that the saying means.
Henry Ford said that failure is just an opportunity to start again in a more intelligent way. Ford wasn’t kidding. The second time around I packed less gear, wore sunscreen, wore sweat wicking clothes, and did a couple of other things that made my second attempt go more smoothly.
Snow drifts stopped me the first time around…
Half way up the mountain there is a small cabin called the Barr Camp. After 3-4 hours of climbing you are ready for a quick break. In the Barr Camp I met Bart, a 72 year ols retired German man that climbs 7 miles up to Barr Camp and back down twice a week year round.
Bart is like an old mountain goat. Lean as can be with calves the size of melons. He climbs up, smokes a cigarettte, has a cup of coffee, and climbs back down…
Bart is a tough old guy…
Barr Camp 7 minles up the mountain.
Yesterday I got my second chance. There seemed to be less snow up Pike’s Peak so I got up at 4:00 AM, and headed out to the mountain to start climbing at 5:00 AM. You need to get an early start so you can summit before the afternoon thunderstorms. The last two hours in the mountain you are above the treeline and you don’t want to get hit by lightning.
Above the treeline on Pike’s Peak
Snow up top…
The last 1/2 mile was pretty snowy but whenever I could not cross the snow I was able to climb the rocks and work myself up.
Even though I had been in Colorado at 5000-8000′ of altitude for the last 4 weeks, when I got above 13,000′, the air was so thin I had to stop to catch my breath every 15 steps or so.
30 minutes from the top you could hear thunder from the back side of the mountain but it would have taken too long to get below the treeline so I just kept climbing.
Later I found out there was a big snow and hail storm on the back side. I lucked out.
About ten minutes from the top it started raining so I just climbed as fast as I could.
Made it up!
The best part of getting to the top is that for the rest of my life, whenever I look up at Pike’s Peak I’ll know I did it.
That’s the beauty of any accomplishment. Once you conquer your goal, no one can ever take the experience away from you.
I’m happy to say that my knee passed the test.
Mt. Kilimanjaro here we come! Summer 2010 after the Vancouver Winter Olympics.
Stay tuned…
Tags: motivational speaker, Motivational Speakers, pike's peak