The First Fourteener

 

 

This is actually a Bennett story, not a Mommy story. But since I'm his mom and I'm super proud of him, I'm going to share it for all to remember. 

 

Around these parts, it's kind of a thing to climb 14ers. There are 58 of them in Colorado alone. So now that Bennett's in college and can do whatever he wants, when he wants...he chooses to do a 14er.

 

The only caveat is that most people train to hike one of these. It's incredibly hard work. You have to prepare your body and mind. If you scale altitude too fast, you get incredibly dizzy from the lack of oxygen and if you're prone to migraines, it will hit you like a brick wall. Also, one of the THE MAIN tips is to: start early, well before the sun rises; and always plan to be off of the summit and below the treeline by noon.

 

So Bennett and his friends just decide one day, "we should go climb a 14er." The next day they went. Granted, he and his friends are all super fit, healthy, and young. That's pretty much the only thing they had going for them. They did remember to pack granola bars and water - so I guess that was also good. However, they didn't even start the 3,000 foot hike until after 1pm. A good hour after they should have already descended the peak according to expert hikers. They didn't reach the peak till 3pm. It did make for incredible pictures and probably the most beautiful sunset he's ever seen.

But notice it's just two people who made it to the summit. A group of 6-8 of them went. Everybody else turned back at the false summit (the last peak before the real one). But Rachel, the girl in the picture and Bennett's close friend, still wanted to go to the top. He didn't want her to do it alone even though he was exhausted. So he went with her.

He said the wind was horribly strong. It was bitter cold. The rocks were incredibly slippery. It was intense and treacherous. But they saw a mountain goat, so that was cool. Plus, they were descending in the dark. Ice covered many of the rocks. It was hard in the dark to tell which rocks were stable and which ones weren't. Everything the experienced hikers say not to do, they did. And lived to tell about it.I think that is a perfect summary of the college years in general.

Unfortunately, he ended up with the worst migraine ever and had to go straight back home to sleep it off. The next day when he was telling us about it, his legs and ankles were killing him. But he said his knee held up, which he saw as the bright spot in all the pain he was experiencing. (He had a knee injury the end of his Junior year in HS making him unable to play basketball for more than 6 months with many more months of rehabilitation on top of that. So this hike was the ultimate test on it.)

Personally, I never aspire to climb a 14er. There are several reasons in case you care to know: 1) I don't want to wake up and be climbing a mountain in the cold at 5am. 2) I like to stop and admire the beauty and take pictures along the way - I'm a slow hiker. 3) I get migraines too easily. 4) I love to look at other people's pictures of making it to the top and celebrating their joy and success. 5) I am perfectly content to be at or below 11,000 feet and beneath the treeline. 6) I hate the cold. So...more power to all the 14er hikers out there. I'm super happy for you. Keep doing hard things. I'll be cheering for you from the bottom.