Mike Each, Keith Tollenaere, Ned Wempen, Brian Gratten, Tim Griepp, Chris Justice

August 1999

There are few adventures that seem more fitting then a trip to Colorado for a group of college friends at the close of the summer.  In 1999, this is exactly what five friends and I did to mark the end of another season.  "Big Red" was our chosen mode of transportation.  A character filled conversion van with carpet on both the walls and ceiling.  It truly was a remarkable vehicle.  One person to drive, one to keep the driver awake, and the other four, well, there was plenty of room to sleep or wrestle depending on the time of day.  With about 800 miles separating our home from the mountains, it was a long drive.  The time, nevertheless, moved quickly as we rotated drivers throughout the night and conversed throughout the day.

Stopping in Denver along the way, we made a quick stop at REI and took the opportunity to do some grocery shopping for the evening meal.  A shell of tin foil, some beef, potatoes, onions, garlic, peppers and carrots loosely tossed together with a pat of butter and and ice cube was the meal of choice.  There truly is something special about cooking and eating in the outdoors.  The food was wonderful!

Following a short evening of acclimation to the elevations far removed from the sea level status of our home residence, we gathered ourselves together for the early attack of the lower trail.  At three in the morning we once again piled into Big Red and drive the short distance from where we had camped to the trailhead. The air was still, and cold, and the sky was dark as pitch.  After a couple of hours on the trail the mountain emerged as a silhouette against the gray sky.  

The sun continued to rise with our assent and we began to feel the warmth of the sun.  It's rays were of little contention for the mountain air, however, which quickly froze droplets of water scattered on my fleece liner by the hydration system I work with my daypack.  Our bodies, nevertheless, remained warm by the activity of the climb.  As the intensity of our hike increased, I found myself removing layers to keep cool.  The water droplets continued for freeze, however.

Mountain hiking yields to a unique flurry of emotions.  Embattled in the assent, I often find myself asking what I am doing. The answer comes quickly.  I am climbing a mountain!  I am conquering a goal!  I am striving to capture the experience of standing above my surroundings such that I might look at the world from a new perspective.  The answers do not ease the physical challenge nor do the elevate the pain.  They simply provide a reason to carry on.  It is with each passing step the reasons grow stronger; the fervor more alive. And as one arrives at the summit, the pain and the questions dissolve at first glance of the trophy: a view unparallel from the ground. 

Grays Peak: 14270'

Torreys Peak: 14267

14er's.com 

 grays and torreys

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email:  tim_griepp_webmail@creative-vision.org