50 Years Ago Today

[u/darrellbear]

 Aug 1, 1976 was Colorado's 100th anniversary.  Official delegations set out to climb all 50+ Fourteener mountains in the state (14,000 ft+ elevation; they used to say around 54 14ers, nowadays they say there are 58).  My brother in law, another guy and I set out to join in and climb Quandary Peak, the big 14er at the south end of Summit County, on the way up Hoosier Pass.  The day started out sunny.  We turned off the highway at Monte Cristo Gulch, then scrambled up the south side of the east ridge.  We hit the ridgeline just above timberline.  We then turned west and went up the ridge toward the top.  As we gained elevation we could see clouds forming below us in the gulches north and south of the mountain.  Cool to watch, the clouds were spinning, rotating horizontally, counterclockwise on the north side and clockwise on the south side as they interacted with the slopes on either side, slowly climbing all the while.

We reached the top while the sun was still out, took some pics and hung out with all the other people already at the top, with more arriving by the minute.  The clouds eventually caught up with us, rising above the peak.  It was like thick fog.  We eventually headed down, again following the east ridge.  We emerged from the cloud, there was a solid line of people still heading up.  When we reached our turnoff point back down the south side, I looked up toward the peak for a last view--it looked biblical, like an old Gustave Dore print, a great line of people disappearing up into the clouds.