I only planned on making one trip to Mount Evans, same as years past. The other item on the annual agenda has always been climbing a 14er. This year's peak was supposed to be Mount Sherman, finishing something we'd started four years ago. But
the Spring Fire intervened, and access to Sherman was cut off. So the alternative became ... Mount Evans!
Three days later I was back, preparing to mount what seemed like it would be a fairly straightforward assault on the peak from up the west ridge. Conditions at Summit Lake were perfect -- mild, calm, and with only a few clouds.
I stitched together five vertical shots for this panoramic. It gives a nice perspective on our route -- up Mount Spalding on the left, down the saddle, then up to Evans on the right.
The climb up Spalding offered gorgeous views of nearby Upper and Lower Chicago Lake and Echo Lake in the distance.
Zak and I did the hike between them back in 2011 when he was just 10 years old.
So gorgeous that every time we hit another outcropping, I had to stop and shoot it again.
Seriously. Every time. :)
Soon enough we had cleared the summit of Spalding and descended into the saddle between the two peaks. We had great views to the west of Grays and Torreys, and the customary clouds that gather as the days go on this time of year.
I was gratified to learn that instead of going straight up the ridge the trail to the Evans summit actually wrapped around the side. That yielded a good look at Abyss Lake and Mt. Bierstadt.
I was surprised to find that this was actually the last photo I took that day. The clouds did thicken to the point where the lighting conditions were solidly overcast, but I don't think that's why I didn't shoot any more. I was with Zak and some friends, and I frankly stopped thinking about this as a photo excursion and just focused on sharing the experience. We laughed, and celebrated our arrival at the top with our traditional summit beers, and then thanks to some solid planning actually drove back down to Summit Lake instead of trying to descend the steep and scree-filled north face. Our justification was that nobody is ever impressed with hearing about how you climbed
down a mountain. So why bother?
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