Day 4: 7/28/08: Maroon Peak: 14,156 (Aborted)

Stats

2 of 12 miles	Standard Route – South Ridge	Company: Jeff Sanders Wildlife: geese
4800 feet	Start: 4:30 am Summit: no Stop: 6:30	Weather: Clear/cool – 5:00 am Cloud formation – 6:00 am Thunder/rain – 11:00 pm

Montezuma’s Revenge comes in many forms – usually liquid forms at inopportune times. One of these forms comes early in the morning…and often. And when that morning is the front bookend of a very long, difficult and exposed climbing day, it is time to reassess what should fill that shelf space. In this instance, Maroon Peak – with all of its specters attached – made for too scary of a read. All signs pointed to no today and rather than muddle through what may become another of the “Deadly Bells” horror stories, we turned around less than an hour into the hike and less than two hours into our day. Now what most of those hours were filled with can hardly be called hiking: four trips to the bathroom, eyes glued shut with sleep, stale and hard and dry bagels for breakfast, scattered rain drops, and an accidental tour of Maroon Lake’s “scenic loop”.

While waiting for Jeff to reemerge from the twilight underbrush after another bout of “the revenge”, I started to stack all of these signs upon each other. While a bad breakfast or an upset stomach alone would not be enough to force a turn around, in succession and accumulation, it was all too much today. To top it off, as I waited at the literal and metaphorical crossroads, Aron Ralston – the now well-known demi-celebrity of the climbing scene zipped past with his climbing partner. Or should I say partners. He waved hello (without recognizing me from a wilderness medicine class we took together) with his prosthetic climbing arm swinging from his backpack. I remember well his story as recounted in our class and the level of risk assumed physically manifested in consequences. Seeing the one armed climber was not so much omen but reminder that to take risks – like climbing when it doesn’t feel right – has consequences attached. It is easy to forget those consequences when you’ve had a string of good luck. This sealed the deal in my mind and Jeff, not firing on all cylinders after exiting the shrubs agreed that today was not the day. We took lots of pictures of our new nemesis and noticed clouds filing in as the bell tolled 6:00 am.

We napped in the car for several hours (heaven!) and waking up sweaty, descended on a coffee shop in Aspen for an afternoon of tea, people watching, journal writing, and watching for a second celebrity sighting (the Dalai Lama was in town). We leisurely made our way to Ouray for dinner and what would’ve been a deserved dip in the hot springs pool. They had flash floods create turbidity in the pools, thus closing them to our aching muscles. So bedraggled, dirty and tired, we continued on to our rest day in Telluride with Nicole. On this day of being honest, we knew we could “make it” up Maroon but with what style and with how much good humor, we were not sure. Remembering the stories of Adam Barron’s attitude during his last moments, I decided to listen to the voices – see the signs before me. In turning around, there is strength and in doing so, we have created another nemesis – Maroon is a peak whose reputation preceded it and proved true.