by ClimbingCooneys » Mon Aug 05, 2013 1:01 pm
This year began with us having 13, 13ers to finish in 2013. We were wondering if 13 would turn out to be a lucky number for us and indeed it did. UN 13,060 was undoubtedly our toughest ascent this season. John K., you probably saw in the register the name we suggested for that peak. Besides Un13,060, there were two others that might have tripped us up in reaching our goal - "Ribbed Peak" and Precarious. Both of those went without a hitch and we found Ribbed to be an interesting and entertaining ascent.
So Saturday, a total of 20 of us gathered on the summit of Boreas Mtn. Carrie & I dedicated the climb to the memory of Bob Alden, one of our earliest climbing partners. We were so surprised and pleased to be joined not only by Jean Aschenbrenner and Ken Nolan, who had indicated they would meet us, but also Kirk Mallory, Teresa Gergen and Jack Dais! What a pleasure it was to have all of you join us and to take time out from your own agendas. (Ken I hope your knee surgeon doesn't monitor this site for your activities!) We were also accompanied by our friends from Grand Junction, Mark & Leslie Anema; their daughter Karen, son-in-law Lee and their two very young children; our son, Shaun and his wife Lyndsi and our grandson, 16 month old Kaeden; our daughter Sharon and granddaughter, 5 year old Rhema; Carrie's father, 78 year old Herb Sanford; and last, but certainly not least, our climbing partner for 22 years. Our son-in law, Ken Smith, and Carrie's mother, Sandy, waited at the pass for us patiently while our large party took about 5 hours for the round trip. On the summit, our son & daugher presented us with a beautifully made, commemorative trophy.
Weather cooperated much more than the last forecast had indicated and we summited and returned without concern. We were able to serve up some post-climb lunch and everyone was able to linger for a while before a sudden rainshower sent us all scurrying on our separate ways.
Teresa & Kirk, thanks for the photos and the invite to Colorado Climbers.
Mark Ott, - wish you could have made it. Hopefully we can meet up some time.
Luke - your help last year was indispensible in reaching our goal.
Jean - hope we can work out some canyoneering with you some time.
John - thanks again for a website like this.
Ken - hope we didn't overdo your knee and that you get back into shape quickly. Thanks for the drawing/tribute.
Jack - great to visit with you and learn more about you & your wife.
Carrie and I look forward to seeing more of all of you!
So what's next? As we keep telling people, we'll still have some lists, but we want to keep them a lot shorter now. Completing the 13ers feels a little bit liberating. Our lives no longer have to revolve around that one list. But we'll never give up climbing until age forces us and even then, we'll be demanding that our kids take us to the mountains in our wheelchairs!
Last edited by
ClimbingCooneys on Mon Nov 22, 2021 1:16 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Beaten paths are for beaten men.