August 28th, 2011
Mt. Harvard
Today we woke up at 5am to climb Mount Harvard. The original plan was to hike Mount Columbia (seen on the very right left of the photo), but after reading many trip reports that said how bad it was, we decided to climb Harvard.
This first photo was taken at 14,040 feet (+/- 20 feet).
Early Morning
This photo is very grainy because it was taken under very low light. We started hiking at 6:15am. Starting elevation was 10,006.
Yale
About an hour into the hike the sun hit Mount Yale.
Gabe
Gabe, standing in front of Mount Columbia. The reason we didn't climb this mountain is because of the loose rocks on the "trail".
Above Treeline
After about 4 miles of hiking we were above treeline. This photo was taken at 8:29am.
Mount Harvard
Between Gabe and I is Mount Harvard. This photo was taken at 8:47am at 11,920 feet.
Bear Lake
At this size the sign is difficult to read, but it says to the right is Bear Lake and to the left is Mount Harvard.
Panorama
Bear lake is seen on the right. I took three panorama's and I thought they would all look the same, but the different elevations helped two of them look quite different.
Taken at 12,819' (+/- 15')
The Peaks
At 14,008 feet (+/- 24feet) I called it quits. I was about 400 vertical feet to the summit and about 1/2 mile, but I couldn't continue. The path (rocks) became too steep and I could only take a few steps before sitting down and resting.
Final
After sitting for about 10 minutes I felt pretty good. I got up and started headed up again. After about 20 feet I was so tired that I sat down and called it quits...again. This was at 11:18am, 5 hours after we started I stopped at 14,040 feet (+/- 20 feet).
On the right left, is Bear Lake.
This photo was taken at the same place as the top photo.
Coming Down
Ben, Marissa and Gabe all made it to the top. They hiked down to where I was and we headed out. There are no photos of this because about 10 minutes into the trek out, it started raining, followed by hail, and then thunder and lightning. We booked it out! It is dangerous to be above treeline during a lightning storm because you are the highest object. Most of the lightning strikes stayed in the clouds but a few did hit ground.
Three hours later we were beck at the car, soaked and covered in mud.
