Matt Zabojnik

This was a fun and rewarding climb.

It was far more technical than Quandary, but felt less brutal. I’m not sure if that was from the shorter distance traveled or just because we showed up stronger this time.

We met a lot of mountain friends on the way up and also back down. Route finding was tricky following cairns in some places, but we generally stayed on route. At one point on the way down we began to deviate toward a different mountain instead of toward the starting point of our own! We quickly recognized this and made a course correction, saving several other hikers from making the same mistake both in front of us and behind us!

Overall a very satisfying climb. I look forward to repeating this one.

Max Elevation: 14,268 Feet

Class: 2

Summit: Yes

Buddy: Lizzie

Location: Mount Blue Sky, Front Range, CO

Mount Spalding is a 13er that Lizzie and I climbed on our way to 14er Mount Blue Sky. We made it to the summit in 56 minutes. This would be good for mountain running training.

Max Elevation: 13,863 Feet

Class: 2

Summit: Yes

Buddy: Lizzie

Location: Mount Spalding, Front Range, CO

First 14er in 8 years, it felt good to get out there and go up again! This is the tallest summit I’ve climbed yet.

I felt good during the whole climb up. With an average heart rate of 139, my aerobic base training has been paying off. Since I haven’t been training for hills though, my legs fatigued quickly and were shaking before even making it to the summit! That made for a tough descent and quite sore legs!

We ascended 3,450 feet, from parking lot to summit, in 2h 50m. The descent took 2h and the total round trip was 6.75 miles.

As I ascended, I kept thinking that I need to strengthen my core and legs and do the Manitou Incline much more often!

I hope our next 14er is sooner than 8 years from now!

Max Elevation: 14,272 Feet

Class: 1

Summit: Yes

Buddy: Lizzie

Location: Quandary Peak, Breckenridge, CO

Made it to the top in under an hour! Scottali did it in 46 minutes! I need to step it up.

Max Elevation: 8,550 Feet

Summit: Yes

Buddy: Lizzie, Scottali

Location: The Incline, Manitou Springs, CO

This is one steep staircase!

Max Elevation: 8,550 Feet

Summit: Yes

Buddy: Lizzie

Location: The Incline, Manitou Springs, CO

By far the most amazing mountain climb I’ve ever been on! There were so many unique features!

The Boulder Field leading up to the keyhole was the first ominous area.

The keyhole creates a wind vortex with 70MPH winds on the front side!

Many climbers gave up and were sitting down at this point, saying they were going down because they were afraid they’d get blown off the mountain.

The howling wind truly was incredible and fearful.

Once on the other side of the keyhole, it was completely calm. Surreal.

The Trough was a difficult and steep climb. There was a somewhat dream-like structure at the top of the trough, like I was emerging from “another place.”

The Narrows came next. A sidewalk-width path with a cliff drop to the right and a sheer wall face on the left. This needed careful and slow traversal before the last push to the summit.

I can’t wait to come back!

Max Elevation: 14,259 Feet

Class: 3

Summit: Yes

Buddy: Lizzie, Natalie, Monica

Location: Longs Peak, Estes Park, CO

Great 4th of July weekend to climb my first 14er! Hiked with some friends to make it more memorable.

Max Elevation: 14,065 Feet

Class: 2

Summit: Yes

Buddy: Lizzie, Natalie, Joe

Location: Mt. Bierstadt, Bailey, CO

JoHn and I had a great time hiking up El Cajon, which involved several false summits and some steep terrain. We used Strava to track the whole trip which was pretty fun. At the summit we found three USGS Benchmark medallions and had to touch each one. I can’t specifically remember all the other details, so I’ll need JoHn’s help figuring that stuff out. Thanks!

Max Elevation: 3,675 Feet

Summit: Yes

Buddy: Jon

Location: El Cajon Mountain, CA

My first time mountaineering! I had a blast! I arrived a little too late in the day to reach the summit before nightfall. Even though I had a headlamp, I didn’t want to stay over night since I hadn’t planned for that and didn’t bring anything to sleep in up there. My hike began at about 11:30AM and I hit 8,100Ft around 4:15PM. I had fun just learning how to use my ice axe and crampons, climbing up a snow field and then glissading back down to the bottom. I tried out my stove, which was really easy to set up and use. I melted some snow for my nalgene water bottle I had brought with me. I only had about 1,000ml of water which was not near enough for the trip. I could do it with that little water, but I’d rather not risk it this early on. This first time ever was a great solo. I know what to do different next time, hopefully I can summit when I return!

Max Elevation: 8,100 Feet

Summit: No

Buddy: Solo

Location: South Spur, Mount Adams, WA