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Quandary Peak - Mid January, 2004
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Angi and I wanted to summit our first winter fourteener, and since we had already climbed Bierstadt, we headed off for Quandary. The weather forecast did not look too great, projecting a storm to move in that afternoon, but since it was a free weekend, we headed up anyway.
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The drive up was fine, with some stars visible. When we got to Frisco, we could just see the outlines of the distance peaks in the twilight. However, by the time we had reached the trailhead at Monte Cristo Creek, the clouds were already beginning to move in around us. We were greeted by a beautiful orange and pink sunrise.
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We headed off up the road, which had a fair amount of snow on it. A pair of pickups had managed to make it about 200 yards up the road, but that was all. We continued up the road, until we found the small sign marking the start of the Mt. Quandary trail with snow now steadily falling.
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After about a mile, the tracks we were following seemed to lose the trail, and headed west, up the ridge. We followed, and soon found ourselves tracing along the ridgeline, toward quandary. As soon as we left the protection of the trees, we realized it had become quite windy.
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We saw some other climbers headed up the gully to our left, and met them at a small saddle at 11,600'. We chatted for a bit, but kept our comments short since for some reason, they were taking a break in a wind tunnel. Soon we found ourselves on the first hump above timberline, with a very strong crosswind blowing form the south.
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At the last small clump of shrubs, we stopped, and I put on my snowpants, because it had become quite cold. A few hundred vertical feet later, we were on the broad 12,100' false summit. We were passed by a quickly moving skier, skinning up the mountain alone. He quickly disappeared into the growing whiteout.
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Angi's face was getting very cold, as she did not have anything to cover her face. I had a neck gaiter, but she has trouble using them since her glasses fog badly. My face was cold as well, but my beard offered some protection. Realizing we were quite a long way from the summit, and the weather was bad and getting worse, we decided to turn around. I got out the camera for a very quick, and very cold photo.
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The decent went well, and we found ourselves back at the car in less than an hour. It was snowing heavily, but there was no wind. About an inch of snow had piled up on the car already. It seemed strange to be calling it a day, and driving home before noon, but Quandary would have to wait for Another Day
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