114 more days...
More Climbers
The recruiting has been good... We'd like to welcome 5 more
climbers to the group:
Hollie Dahms - a junior Presidential Scholar/Education Major
Teri Martin - a friend of Hollie's who might also recruit her father
Ben Nietzel - a senior Presidential Scholar/History-Geography ed major
Cindy Carlson - a potential group member/member of '99 faculty capstone
Tara Carlson - a potential group member/Cindy's daughter/Wartburg student
It's really difficult to summarize each of these people in
one line, but you'll all have a chance to get to know them before this is all
done. With these 5 additions we now have a group of 23 people. Holly Stinchfield
and Todd Lentz will probably only join us on the weekends, so we really do have
room for at least 3 or 4 more. After that we can always sleep people on the
floor if necessary. The more the merrier! (And the cheaper!)
Non-Climbing
Will you be expected to climb every day? Certainly not!
Although some of us might take on that challenge (with a measurable degree of
insanity, I'm sure) I encourage the rest of you to explore other recreational
activities that the area has to offer. Here are some ideas that people have
thought of so far:
*Whitewater Rafting - The nearby Arkansas River provides some of the best
rafting in Colorado. Check out some of the details at http://www.rafting-colorado.net/.
*Horseback Riding - I haven't found many details yet, but I know there are
places out there.
*Leadville Boom Days - August 4th, 5th, and 6th in nearby (and very cool)
Leadville. Where else are you likely to see a 21-mile pack burro race?
*Leadville Trail 100 Bike Race - August 12th. A 100-mile mountain bike race,
most all of which is above 10,000 feet. Quite possibly the most grueling
mountain bike race on the planet. (I'm not expecting anyone to race, but it
might just be an interesting atmosphere to be around.)
*Leadville Trail 100 10K Run - August 13th. A warmup for those running (yes,
running) the 100-mile ultramarathon on August 19-20. If some of you are feeling
particularly ambitious it might not be too late to try to enter the 10k.
*Breckenridge Music Festival - First 2 weeks in August. Along with the music
festival Breckenridge will have numerous other activities.
*Camping - If you get tired of the condo or would just like to spend a night or
two in the wilderness I recommend doing some camping.
I'm sure there are a lot of other things to do in other
nearby towns. You could probably have a full and enjoyable week without even
stepping foot on a fourteener (although we're still aiming to get the entire
group up Mt. Sherman). I got much of this information from www.leadville.com
and www.gobreck.com. If anybody is
interested in some of these non-climbing activities we should talk about them at
the get-together at Rick's.
At Rick's
The get-together at the Stinchfield's is developing rather
nicely. We're starting to develop a small list of things to discuss, like:
*Transportation (both to/from Colorado and to/from trailheads)
*General group preparation (how can we better prepare ourselves as a group?)
*Individual-specific preparation (how can we better prepare ourselves as
individuals?)
*The risks of mountain climbing - what do we need to worry about?
*The myths of mountain climbing - what should we not worry about?
*Group Dynamics - Is anybody "in charge"? When is that necessary?
*Non-Climbing Activities
*Specific mountains/routes we want to climb (Anybody up for the Kieners on
Longs? Just kidding... Those of you who don't know what I'm talking about will
understand once you see a picture of Longs Peak.)
*Rick's slide shows!!!
Remember, if you have any questions or worries about the trip
this meeting is the best time to bring up those concerns. There is a respectable
amount of climbing experience in this group and I'm sure people will be more
than happy to talk and answer questions. I've been known to enjoy talking about
mountains...
For the marathoners in the group, I recommend this article: http://www.mountainzone.com/climbing/99/misc/marathon/
Expect a personal worst...
