OPWA Update
August 2016
Reminder of
Invitation to the Driveway Wine Tasting and Book Signing Saturday 9/17
You are invited to the official
launching of my second book, Ordinary People Who Aren't: An Anthology. The Driveway Book Signing and Wine
Tasting event will occur on Saturday September 17 from 1 - 5 pm at our home.
Please feel free to forward this
invitation to any book lovers you might know.
Pre-sales have now eclipsed 200
copies, and I'm receiving very positive feedback. There are 24 stories in the book, and early readers have
each chosen a different grouping of favorites. If you've already purchased the book on Amazon, please take
the time to post a review. Thanks
in advance.
For those unable to attend the
book signing, copies are available at Rainy Day Books in Fairway, Bruce Smith
Drugs in Prairie Village, and online by Amazon in both print and ebook format. You can also order directly from me at
$12.50 per copy with $3.50 for shipping and handling. No mailing costs for purchases of three or more.
Thanks to Mark and Nancy Martin
who hosted a book signing at their lovely Lakewood home a few weeks ago. Mark did a reading of the chapter on
his brother, David. I commend him
for the hilarity of his reading, as he added many amusing anecdotes and
concluded with a recitation of "I am My Own Grandpa", no small feat.
For those with an interest in an
account of my latest 14er trip in Colorado, read on. Hope to see you on 9/17.
La Plata Peak Revisited
It's true that no one puts a gun
to your head to climb a 14er. It's
a personal choice. In my case, the
adventure serves as an annual EKG and provides essential motivation for my
conditioning regimen. One also
enjoys an unrivaled sense of wonderment at the beauty of the Rocky Mountains
and the vistas they afford. My
climbing companion, Fred Mitchell, said it best many years ago when we reached
the summit of our first 14er together, "There is no amount of money that
will buy this feeling."
There is another view. After returning from this year's adventure,
my co-grandfather, also a Fred, politely inquired how it went. I described a particularly difficult
portion of the ascent, and he proffered, "Next year why don't you just come
to Colorado and just stick a fork in your arm."
Three years ago our band of
striders undertook the climb of La Plata Peak, but we were turned back owing to
an approaching thunderstorm. We
reached a 13,000' saddle atop the ridgeline leading to the summit before
retreating. We decided the potential
of getting fried overwhelmed the benefit of reaching the summit.
Undaunted, we returned to La
Plata for a second attempt.
Shannon, one of Fred's neighbors in Steamboat Springs, prepared by
participating in a triathlon and climbing two other 14ers solo earlier in the
summer. Fred, the senior member of
the group, volunteers with a forest service group two days a week clearing
trails in nearby wilderness areas.
This involves hiking about 10 miles each day above 10,000' carrying two-man
handsaws and other tools necessary to remove fallen trees and improving
waterways. He cleared over 50
miles of trail this summer and is a major stud.
My preparation consisted of
weight training, rope jumping, and farm chores, all at Kansas altitudes. I chatted with a trainer about the
difficulty of preparing for higher elevations, and he suggested, "Dick's
Sporting Goods has a mask you can wear.
It deprives you of oxygen while you work out."
I thought to myself, "Brilliant! Why not use a loose fitting plastic
bag."
Judy and I arrived in Vail Village
a week before the climb to help in acclimatizing to the altitude. The first day I took a short hike over
to Lionshead and encountered a moose on Meadow Lane by Vail Medical
Center. I'd never before seen such
a creature on a busy city street. It
appeared to be about one year old and was befuddled. Young mothers would walk
up to it with their baby strollers to snap a picture. I was mindful of the potential of a highly agitated mother moose
arriving and kept my distance.
The following morning, I was
drinking coffee in the lobby of the Sitzmark Lodge. I overhead the conversation of two women in their 40's.
"We started out to climb Mt. Sherman (one of the 14ers) yesterday, but we
topped out at the tree line and saw it was steep and rocky, so we came
back." I thought snarky
thoughts but smugly held my tongue. I would later pay dearly for this hubris.
Our trio of intrepid climbers met
in Buena Vista, CO the evening before our scheduled hike and carbo-loaded at
the Eddyline Restaurant. The
forecast called for rain after noon, so we departed at 4:45 am for the
trailhead seeking to be safely below the treeline before any storms. The skies
were clear featuring an abundance of brightly lit stars, and we observed the
full moon setting over the Sawatch mountain range to our west.
The 14ers' website states that
the elevation of La Plata Peak is 14,336'. The trailhead starts at 11,000', and
the hike involves a roundtrip of 7 miles.
Unfortunately, the road to the trailhead was blocked about one mile
below the normal launching point.
We began our climb at an elevation of 10,400' and a 9-mile roundtrip. This would prove problematic. Most critically, we were facing a
4,000' ascent in contrast to the 2,500' ascent of Mt. Evans last summer.
It was relatively steep from the
trailhead to the treeline, but the path followed a brisk flowing and pleasant
sounding mountain stream, and we made good time. We next encountered a dense forest of Barrenground Willows through
which we hiked for a mile. A
narrow trail had been worn through the woody plants making passage possible
along a muddy path. The willows
towered over us, so it was impossible to see more than a few yards ahead. The boggy trail was mindful of the highlands
of the North York Moors in northern England featuring strong smells of peat.
Coming out of the thicket we came
to a gently rising stretch of grassy bog dotted with tiny alpine ponds. It was relatively easy, but squishy
walking. Then we reached a steep
wall of scree ascending 1,000' in less than one-half mile. Fred, Shannon, and I would all agree
that this stretch of the mountain would be the gnarliest of any section of any
14er that we have experienced. We successfully
climbed it three years ago, but it looked even more daunting the second time
around. The trail was barely
discernible and consisted primarily of dirt and loose gravel rising
steeply. We sought to step from
one imbedded stone to another, seeking solid footing. Occasionally, a grapefruit-sized stone would be dislodged
sending it flying downhill. We
quickly learned not to clamber behind one another.
We eventually made it to a notch
in the saddle, climbed up another 50', and we were on the ridgeline leading to
our goal. Once out of the lee of
the mountain, we were buffeted by strong westerly winds accompanied by a
pronounced drop in the temperature.
Fortunately, the skies were blue and cloudless. We had been hiking about 3 1/2 hours,
ascended 2,600', and covered 3 miles.
We were treated to pleasing views of Mt. Massive and Mt. Elbert to the
north, and Mt. Huron and Mt. Belford to the south. The view of La Plata Peak was obstructed by the first of two
false summits.
Unfortunately, I was pretty well
spent. After a brief rest we journeyed
on along the ridgeline. After
about a half-mile and another few hundred feet of ascent we reached the base of
the first false summit featuring another steep stretch. I was struggling for breath and huffing
and puffing excessively. We
stopped to rest, and Shannon and Fred inquired about my wellbeing. I assured them I was fine, but I harbored
doubts. They opined that I wasn't
fine. What little clarity existed
in my brain focused on the idea of safely descending the half-mile scree
field. I told my companions that I
thought it might be best to call it quits. I would descend to the lee side of the notch, nestle in, and
await their return from the summit.
Fred said, "That's not the way we do things. We'll stay together." I was disappointed to have abandoned
the climb, but even more so to have been the cause of Shannon and Fred's not
reaching the goal.
It took longer descending the slippery
scree field than it did ascending.
I couldn't have done it without the aid of good hiking poles. It was just plain treacherous, and I
can say with complete certainty, I will never again return to this spot.
And so, the final tally stands;
La Plata Peak 2, Chuck 0. More
charitably stated, "13,500', came down alive."
Charles
A. Wells, Jr.
3317 W.
68th Street
Shawnee
Mission, KS 66208
816
289-1924
Author
of: Ordinary People Who Aren't: An Anthology and
Nude
Nuns and Other Peculiar People
Follow
my blog at: http://www.ordinarypeoplewhoarent.blogspot.com
Available
at:
Rainy Day Books, 2706 W. 53rd Street, Fairway, KS
Bruce Smith Drug Store, Prairie
Village, KS
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