guadalupe_mountains
We started up the trail at 09:00. I left at a brisk, but comfortable, pace. Half to warm myself, half to test if I'd yet become a "flatlander" after a year and a half in Houston. Surprisingly I felt quite good, no doubt aided by the relatively low (trailhead @ 5800') elevation. The trail climbs steeply from the trailhead for 1500 feet, then hits a saddle and levels. Surprisingly, after passing the saddle, the air warmed and dryed. I could no longer see my breath, and I felt quite warm, whereas I was freezing a few minutes prior. Temperature inversions like this are commonplace in my experience, and usually a welcome occurence when it's cold in a valley!
I reached the 8749' summit at 11:00, a good (for me) 2 mph pace overall. After snapping some panoramic photos, I started back down and met Kim and Rob about a mile from the summit. Stashing my pack, I climbed Guadalupe for the second time. We lingered for a while in the comparitively pleasant (warmer than at the TH!) air, eating snacks and snapping photos. We found the entries in the summit register somewhat comical -- people were quite verbose, dedicating the summit to their wives, kids, and Jesus. Compare this to the overdone stoical brevity of technical summits in California, where climbers are loathe to write too much, lest they imply that the summit took too much out of them!
We descended together at a good pace and made it back to the car around 15:00. All 3 sets of legs were rubbery on the way down, no doubt out of mountain climbing shape. My calves were sore for a few days afterwards!
|
| ||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Department of Geophysics Stanford University |
|