Short Lake, Long Lake

The rising sun in the rear-view mirror promised a mild winter day for Denver. Unfortunately for us, we knew that the mountains in front of us promised the opposite. Despite unseasonably warm weather in the lowlands, the peaks remained snowbound, and we were bundled up accordingly. It didn’t help as much as we had hoped. […]

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Autumn’s Lost and Found

Unprompted excursions often give way to the most sincere adventure. Beset with staggering senioritis, I decided to trade a Saturday of homework on campus for a Saturday amidst the peaking fall colors in the Gunnison area. Despite only being two days into autumn, snow had already fallen in areas above 8,000 feet. Kebler Pass, a […]

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Tooth Decay

El Diente Peak. A high mountain summit within the San Juan Range named for its tooth-like visage (El Diente translates to “The Tooth” in Spanish). If this peak is the tooth of the San Juans, then these mountains have clearly forgotten their oral hygiene. El Diente Peak, and its neighboring summits of Mt. Wilson and […]

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Longs Island Iced Peak

Summits always entice me, and Longs Peak is no exception. When I resumed my job in Denver, I became acutely aware of the fact that I could see Longs Peak and Mt. Meeker almost every day on my drive home. There it was, towering over Denver like a faithful guardian of the Front Range. Every […]

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Oh Henry, Where Art Thou?

In a previous post, Order of the White Lottis, an account was made of trying to reach Henry Lake in the Fossil Ridge Wilderness. That attempt didn’t work out, and so we decided to give the South Lottis trail another go this last Saturday (October 24th). We departed Gunnison around noon and made the drive […]

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Trip Report: Sangre De Crestones

The Crestone Needle and Crestone Peak Standard Routes: The South Face of both. To begin, I’ll say despite a myriad of successful summits before this weekend, I’m not a particularly experienced climber. Sure, I’ve done Wetterhorn and the Sawtooth Ridge, but my experience on class three and four climbs is reasonably limited. How’d this all […]

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Trip Report: An Unlikely Pair

Mt. Sherman and Challenger Point. The Wednesday started as so many do: promptly waking up at 7AM for a dentist appointment and an oil change. I had requested both Wednesday and Thursday off, and I figured that after my morning appointments on Wednesday I could take a few friends out to the Sangre De Cristo […]

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Order of the White Lottis

Yes sir, that says lottis. Not lotus. Although, you might as well pronounce them the same way and save yourself the embarrassment of sounding weird when you discuss this post. Why the distinction? Because we’re about to go on a journey down the South Lottis trail, kids. It’s been a bit since we last made […]

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