***Update: Mt Evans was renamed Mount Blue Sky in 2023.
Strava link: https://www.strava.com/activities/7743757451
This story starts with an Instagram #30daysupsidedown handstand challenge started by some mountain-climbing Coloradans that I follow. I was going through some things in life then and I figured that having something as random as practicing handstands and sharing daily video clips of my progress on Instagram was a healthy distraction. So, I joined the fun and virtually befriended about fifteen other people over the course of the challenge. I planned to get out to Colorado to pursue some fourteener summits at some point in the year, and after talking to my new friend Kelly about a Nine Inch Nails concert at Red Rocks on Sept. 2 I decided on Labor Day weekend. That enabled me to hike some mountains and catch the concert!
I had been thinking about the Sawtooth traverse between Mt Bierstadt and Mt Evans for a long time, and given that loop wasn’t too far from Denver I chose to do that adventure on the morning of September 2, before the concert. One of the guys I “met” through the handstand challenge, Drew, was down for meeting up with me to do the Bierstadt-Sawtooth-Evans loop. He’s an experienced climber that had done the Sawtooth several times previously, so it was great having his company on my first Class 3 route.
I met Drew at the Guanella Pass trailhead at 5am. We began our hike in the dark and followed the trail by headlamp. It was a pretty mellow trail, with an easy stream crossing soon after setting out.
The trail gradually steepened as we hiked and chatted, and the sky lightened. Reaching the summit of Mt Bierstadt was by far the easiest fourteener experience I’ve had yet. We reached it in under 2 hours, soon after the sunrise, and I was feeling great. Ready and confident to take on the Sawtooth. The views were great and the angled morning light made it that much better.
Reaching the Mt Bierstadt summit felt good. I felt better than I had expected, given the high elevation and having just flown in from Michigan twelve hours earlier. So we took on the Sawtooth! This Class 3 traverse requires some scrambling on the steep eastern edge of the ridge. It’s a commitment to cross and getting stuck up there in a thunderstorm or thick fog could be rather dangerous, and if you’re not cautious there are some dangerous cliffs on the west side where a fall could be fatal. But with cautious progress it didn’t feel too difficult and I really enjoyed it. We had great weather and the views were awesome.
I had gotten warm crossing the Sawtooth and removed my fleece layer, but the temp dropped and wind picked up on Evans so I dug it back out of my hydration vest and put it on, along with my gloves.
The climb up to the summit of Mt Evans wasn’t objectively difficult, but being above 11,000′ for several hours was getting to me. I had to slow down and pick my way along the rocky path and then I suddenly felt nauseous. I took a few steps off the main trail and then I puked. Again and again, until I had expelled all that precious hydration onto the rocks. It wasn’t fun, but after throwing up I felt better. We had just a few hundred feet of gain and maybe a quarter mile to go to reach the summit and then we could begin our descent. I made the push. Mt Evans is one of two Colorado fourteeners that have roads, allowing vehicles to access the summit (Pikes Peak is the other).
The summit of Mt Evans seemed to stretch further away but at last we made it. Apologies to Drew for not being the most conversational hiking partner on this one. Seeing the parking lot and a crowd of people that had DRIVEN to the summit diminished from the experience, but I was happy to have this mountain under my belt. And I was relieved that the rest of the hike was a descent. Going downhill was a lot easier, and getting to lower elevations was helpful. I did have one more bout of vomiting on Mt Evans, but once we reached the gully and started our descent I started feeling a lot better.
The last section of the loop was a completely different experience. We wove our way through thickets of willows, keeping an eye out for potential moose encounters, and stomped through thick black mud that in some places was knee-deep.
Thanks Drew for joining me! It was a great adventure and it was nice meeting you!
I grabbed pizza in Guanella Pass Brewing Company and drove to my Denver hotel to clean up and rest for about an hour before heading to the NIN concert. I’m glad I was able to rally from the altitude sickness in time to enjoy the rock music. It was my first time at Red Rocks Amphitheater… such a cool venue! And I got to meet Kelly, a recent fourteener finisher (58/58!), along with Nate and Adam.
NIN put on an incredible show, and lightning danced in the sky over Denver, putting on its on show. Fortunately the storms stayed away from Red Rocks and we were able to stay dry at the concert.
It was such an amazing day, all-around (except maybe you, Mt. Evans). I slept in the next morning, drove to Colorado Springs, ran ten miles at Red Rock Canyon Open Space and the Intemann and Rim the Peak trails, had a delicious vegan burrito at The Burrowing Owl, and prepped for the following day. On Sunday, September 4, I climbed another two Colorado fourteeners. Read about that adventure here.
