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Quandary East Face June 15th

2K views 12 replies 7 participants last post by  Argo 
#1 ·
June 15th 2013

Quandary Peak 14,265 ft

East Face

I wanted to get one more high peak done this season. The snow has been melting out and it looked like we needed to do another fourteener to get decent vertical. Zach and Jared, my partners from Torreys a couple of weeks ago wanted to get something done. After chatting with Zach over some beers at the Copper Kettle, we decided that going for the steeper lines seemed like more work than we needed. I got steep done on Grizzly Peak, so we decided the East Face of Quandary sounded ideal. Fairly quick hike for a fourteen thousand foot peak. You are climbing almost right out the car door. The East face proper is probably around 35 degrees at the steepest. Easy living.



Cody was with me of course. Jared brought his Visla, Jessie along for the adventure.

We brought full splitboarding gear. Didn't think I'd need it and I was right. Today was a splitbooting adventure. For those of you not in the know. Splitbooting is when you take your splitboard with full splitting gear and never have to split the board to skin. That is splitbooting and that was our day.



Off we went.



Quandary is a popular peak. Easy access, but there is a reason fourteeners are so popular in Colorado. They are something else.

Looking up the sub ridge to the false summit.


Shot of the surrounding range while on the first talus field.



Zach making his way to the final summit climb from the false summit.



So this is a popular climb. We passed a few people on the way up. More passed us. Everyone was impressed that we were carrying so much gear. A few people were coming down from the summit. They had watched the sunrise. In other words, junk show at the summit.



Still, good vibes by everyone up there. It was an excellent scene.

A couple more summit shots sans people.




The nice thing about the East Face is you get to look at it the whole time during your ascent. It looked fantastic. We made the summit at 11:20am. After hanging around, taking the above photos, we got after it.



Cont...
 
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#2 ·
I dropped in and was just going to go a hundred yards or so and set up for photos. The snow was great, perfect corn and the vertical was only 1600, maybe less, so I gunned it instead. There were probably close to fifty people hiking up or down from the summit. All of them were hooping and hollering at us making it extra fun. Just don't fall...

Jared, Cody, and Jessie.



Zach making his way down.



More shots.





What would a day of backcountry snowboarding be without dogs? A little less fun for sure.






Cont...
 
#3 ·
After a great ride, it was time to load it up and get out of dodge.



Unknown to us we were in for one more treat. This dude was just a bad motherfucker and he absolutely knew it. He exuberated attitude. So much so that the dogs felt it and decided to not to try to harass him what so ever. They kept their distance. I actually had to keep hiking away from him, but man, what a beautiful animal. Enjoy.








Seeing that guy was just the ideal way to finish off a great day...
 
#4 ·
Another excellent TR, killz! Spectacular views and the mountain goat certainly looks quite magnificent. Thank you.

You do realize you've set a precedent for mandatory photos of Cody (and based on Jessie's expression, her, too) on all your TRs going forward, right?
 
#7 ·
A couple of years ago I hiked Quandary.

This goat walked up within 5 feet away from my friends and I when we stopped to eat lunch. Maybe it's the same one because this goat did not give a shit.

He was like, gimmie your food. I took this picture with a shitty camera and did not have to zoom on the goat at all. They are a little more outgoing than they should be because people feed them, bad people.

 
#9 ·
Great shots! You really squeeze the most out of the last patches of white :eusa_clap:

Love the pics of the dogs! A friend has two dogs (Scandinavian Hound and Ridgeback) who accompanie us while hacking. They love to run infront of the horses and I have beautiful memories of galloping in deep fresh snow with one of them on each side. Fun to see how they try to egg the horses to run faster :)
 
#10 ·
Probably the same guy RMS. My understanding is he is a regular in the area. People definitely do not need to feed billy goats or wildlife in general. Goats can be very dangerous. As people have found out at Rainier. They have killed people. I'd guess this guy was somewhere over 200 lbs. Plenty big for a goat.

Hacking? Is that short for horseback riding? Sounds like good times neni.

I definitely extended my season this year. The late spring snow made it possible. This was probably my last day. Diminishing returns and all

Time to wear shorts and ride bikes I think. Come Saturday the days will be getting shorter and next season is just four months away...
 
#11 ·
Ops, might be a Britisch term :huh: hacking is "outdoor" horseback riding, i.e. not exercising flat work (like dressage or show jumping). Like horseback hiking? Winter is the best time to hack cause all the snow covered fields are "race tracks". So yes... I'm counting the days and hope for another cold winter :hope:
 
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