After spending the past few weeks climbing some of the more technical 14ers, I wanted to take a break and knock out a couple of the walk up ones near Denver. I’d never done Gray’s and Torrey’s peaks, and figured it was a great chance to introduce a few friends to their first experience of hiking at higher altitude.

One really great thing about the front range peaks is that you don’t have to get up obscenely early to make the summit and get home at a reasonable time. We met at my place around 6:30 am, and headed out. We got there too late to get a parking spot in near the trailhead itself, but were early enough to get one not more than a few hundred feet down the road.  The trail was crowded, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as I’d been told it could be.

The weather was looking perfect, and when we finally hit the summit of Gray’s right around noon, there were still no clouds in sight, so we headed over the saddle to Torrey’s. We hit the second summit around 1:45 or so, and then started to head down.

Three of the group and the two dogs headed down the standard route, but I was feeling cocky after hanging out in the Elk Range so I decided I wanted a bigger challenge. I’d read about a class 3 traverse on Kelso Ridge that would come out near the main trail…I figured that it would be fun, and save some time on the main route down. Sarah decided to join me, so we headed off toward the ridge.

Well, the route wasn’t that easy to find. Somehow I got off route very early and ended up descending way too quickly. I’m still not sure exactly how it happened, but we ended up in Dead Dog Couloir. I’m sure this a great snow climb, but for a summer descent it leaves a hell of a lot to be desired. We worked our way down through some tricky down-climbs with lots of loose rock all around. Taking our time, we ended up down on the main trail about an hour later than the folks who’d taken the standard path down…so much for time saving!

After the previous days hike and a good night of sleep, it was amazing how good both Ian and I felt when we woke up this morning. After a hearty breakfast of scrambled eggs on toast (again!), we headed off down to the road to Dole. The trail was amazingly well maintained, with fitted flagstones making a good bit of the surface, and nice steps space out at a comfortable distance. After a mile or so we came to what seemed to be a work gang, all busily paving the trail with new stones. I was impressed with the organisation of the effort and was wondering to myself who was paying for their labor; well, not five minutes later the answer was right in front of me as an older Sherpa gentleman had set up a stand on the side of the trail soliciting donations from trekkers. It was definitely worth a couple hundred rupees for a trail that was so easy on the legs!

Not much father down we came to a Stupa that was dedicated to Tenzing Norgay, the Sherpa who was with Edmund Hillary on the first successful climb of Everest. Soon after, we came around another bend and got our first glimpse of Cho Oyu, the 6th highest peak in the world. This would become a constant companion for the next few days as we followed the valley northward towards Gokyo, and one of those things that really makes you feel like you are some place special.

After about five hours of slow but steady climbing, we finally arrived at the village of Dole. Our guide was pretty impressed with our progress…according to him we were about an hour and a half ahead of the normal time to arrive. I spent the afternoon reading and wandering around. At this altitude the skies were not nearly as hazy, but the afternoons were bringing in clouds that covered the mountains, and the first really chilly weather we’d experienced. All heat in the lodges is produced by burning yak dung in a central stove, and I was very pleased when they finally fired it up and served dinner. It’s veggie fried noodles or fried rice for dinner from pretty much now on, but when you’re hungry it tasted like a real feast!

After coming from sea level to nearly 12,000 feet in less than a week, it was time to stop for a day and let my body adjust to the altitude. Nearly all trekkers stop in Namche for at least two nights; those who don’t have about a 50% chance of needing an expensive helicopter evacuation later on down the road! After yesterday’s uphill slog, the last thing I really wanted to do was to climb up some more, but working out sore muscles is the best thing for them, so it was off to do some exploring around the town.

Our first stop was at the Sagarmatha National Park headquarters where they had a pretty decent museum that talked about the sherpa lifestyle, the flora and fauna of the region, and the geology of how the Himalaya mountains formed. The museum doubles as an army checkpoint, and the helicopter landing pad gave us our first really good view of Mt. Everest and the other high peaks surrounding it.

The museum was only our first stop, and we headed up hill to the Syangboche airstrip, which was in even worse condition than the one in Lukla. There were two or three flights of 6 passenger planes per day in good weather, mostly ferrying rich Japanese tourists to the Everest View hotel where they can stay in rooms that have extra oxygen pumped in so they can mitigate the effects of the high altitude. We hiked up to a lodge near the Everest View where we stopped for tea and the best views yet of Mt. Everest. We hung out there for a while, just absorbing the scenery and taking tons of photographs. Eventually we decided it was time for lunch, so we headed back down to Namche for amazing pizza at a German bakery in town. The rest of the day was spent in happy relaxation and repacking as we got ready to leave the “lowlands” and really head up to the high country.

The next morning started out extremely pleasant, with clear skies and nice cool weather. Ian and I headed out at a nice clip, just lazily letting the miles go by and enjoying the scenery. The trail had a bunch of river crossings, which were made on steel bridges that had been suspended over the river and anchored into the banks with concrete. Impressive construction, and even more so when you consider that every bit of them had to be carried either on the back of a person or a yak. Many of the bridges had been designed and constructed by the Hillary foundation to replace older rope construction that had been washed out during monsoon floods many many times in the past. Modern engineering allowed the newer bridges to be built higher, avoiding this fate, not to mention just being inherently stronger. Crossing the bridges when yaks were around was always a challenge; several times we had to back up and retreat when a fully loaded train of yaks would come through setting the bridge swaying. The bridge floor had been designed to be solid enough to support the hooves, but it also had enough holes to let the worst of the yak dung fall down to the river.

After lunch, the character of the trail started to change pretty significantly. The nice gentle slope up turned into a steep ascent with lots of stone stairs. I found myself struggling more than I would have expected to at this point…being at sea level for so long had completely robbed me of my altitude acclimitazation, and this was the first time where I really felt it. I was amazed at the locals who were carrying 80 pound loads just climbing up the steps like it was flat ground…the adaptations of the Sherpas for altitude is truly amazing!

Eventually we made it up to Namche and found our accommodations for the next two nights. I went out for a wander and checked out the weekly Saturday market. That explained the large number of people and yaks we’d seen on the trail…each Saturday porters come from higher up in the valley to get their weeks supplies, and then head back up again carrying everything that all the guesthouses and locals will need for the coming weeks.

Namche is almost as touristy as Thamel, but twice as expensive. Still, its the last place to really stock up on supplies before heading out, and when you need cold medicine, or a warmer jacket it’s the best place in the world. It’s also the last reasonably priced internet service…at about a dollar for 10 minutes. Dinner was a tasty yak steak, which would be the last meat we’d have for the next two weeks.