DemCamLinBro, Quandary (Standard Routes)

My 30by30 challenge is working out just as planned, I have been saving the “close” to Denver “easy” 14ers for late in the season.  I went into the weekend with high hopes of getting 5 peaks done between Saturday and Sunday.  The weekend started out with the normal routine of arriving at the trail head after dark and catching some sleep in the back of the Forrester.  My DemCamLinBro adventure started at 4:30 in the morning after I could not fight the urge to pee my pants any longer!  Getting out of the nice warm sleeping bag and into 35 degree weather is very unpleasant, but it wakes you up and gets you ready to take on the day!Mt Cameron

I was taking on a very popular set of 14ers on a Saturday morning with perfect weather.  Just as I suspected I was part of a conga line up the first summit, Mt Democrat.  There were headlamps as far as the eye could see all the way up to the summit. Usually this kind of ruins the magic of the 14er for me but it was nice to have random strangers to talk to on the way up the summit.  For the 1st summit you literally start gaining elevation as soon as you pass the lake, there are no nice switch backs below the tree line, you step out of your car above tree line and start up the switch backs.  You are are at about 12,000 at the parking lot and the summit of Democrat is just under 2 miles from there so it’s a fairly steep climb.  It took me just under a hour to get to the summit of Democrat and after taking a razzing from some strangers about wearing shorts on the summit I jogged off into the sunrise over to Mt Cameron.Kite Lake

Mt Lincoln

I am honestly not even sure if I summited Mt. Cameron, After speaking to some people on Mt Lincoln they assured me that I did and that its just not very recognizable.  For the Mt. Bross Summit I decided to stick with a group of people I met coming off of Lincoln because its technically closed and it would be harder for them to take us all to jail. Mt Bross

Do not enter!
I hung out on Mt. Bross and ate my breakfast with the other criminals.  By 7am I was on my way back down Mt. Bross and had already bagged four 14ers for the day. My legs were feeling good, I had plenty of food and water so I made the decision to knock out Quandary Peak on the way back to Denver.  This would save me a drive back up to Breckenridge for one 14er!
Quandary Summit

Quandary was even more crowded that the pervious four peaks I had summited.  There were at least 20 people on the summit when I arrived.  I did not care though I was just up there to tick another peak off my list and jog back down!  After trading some picture time with a couple strangers I made my way back down Quandary.  Random fact On my way down I met 5 separate people from WI, I swear everyone out here is from the Midwest!  These five peaks put me at 26 for the summer and put me in a really good place to finish up my 30 summits before I need my splitboard!

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