Monday, April 10, 2006

MOUNT ANTERO 8/17/70

MOUNT ANTERO 14,269'

Mountain........Mount Antero
Elevation.........14,269
Rank...............10th
Range..............Sawatch Range
Trail length......6 miles
Elevation gain..4,900'
Difficulty..........*
Comments........Mineral Park near summit


TRIP REPORT

8/17/70

After discovering the joys(?) of mountain climbing on Longs Peak, Richard and I decided to return to Colorado for some camping and climbing. So we packed up what little gear we had, including some k-rations from a neighbor who had recently returned from Vietnam, hopped in our 1965 Ford Custom, and took off across country on Route 40.
32 non-stop hours later we arrived in Denver and continued west, where we spent several nights camping in various parts of the state. We spent the days sightseeing and running up & down a bunch of small unnamed hills.

After several wet nights in a leaky tent, we wound up at the Chalk Creek campground at the base of Mt. Antero and set up our first dry camp next to the resident hummingbirds. The following morning we got up early, ate some canned eggs (yum!) and other rations, and packed some soggy candy bars for lunch.

We started hiking up a jeep road. We turned down a jeep ride in order to keep this an 'official' climb of 3,000' or more. At 13,500' I got my first taste of altitude sickness - I felt weak and dizzy and had to sit down for a while. Eventually we continued on up the road, which ended at a small mineral park near the summit. The jeepers were there, banging away with rock hammers at the bluish green mineral deposits, which I later learned contained some very large beryl crystals.

It started to snow as we climbed the last few feet up to the peak; we didn't stay at the summit very long. By the time we got back down to where the snow turned to rain, there were 5 or 6 inches on the ground.

Once again on the way down, we turned down a jeep ride to keep the climb legitimate (although I'm not sure if the 3,000' rule applies on descents). It was a slow and painful drag in the rain to get back to camp, where we celebrated with corned beef hash and twinkies.

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