Denver Seminary

I have been wanting to put hands and feet on Missouri ever since I first saw the mountain late last fall while climbing Belford and Oxford. We left Denver around 2:45 am and arrived at the trailhead just as daylight began. This photo was taken as we were leaving the valley and nearing tree line.

You gotta just love the marmot. A.K.A a HAG (high altitude groundhog). This little guy was out in the early morning sun just living life at 12,500 feet with no apparent worries in the world. I think we could learn a thing or two from the marmot.

This is Missouri's NW ridge. The views on the ridge were stunning. And since the ridge is exposed for a long period of time you have plenty of opportunity to soak up such magnificence.

This area is referred to as the Crux. We came across a couple people that turned back at this point for fear of slipping on the steep slope. The ice axe, however, made the traverse less daunting and helped provide safe passage.

The Wayward Bottle on top of Missouri at 14,067 feet. Again, the 360 views were simply awesome. The weather was equally splendid. The temps were in the low 50's and the wind...well, there was no wind. It was hard to tell we were at 14,067 feet. I would have enjoyed sitting down and reading a good book. :-)

This is a view of our descent route. The couloir on the left is called the C Couloir and we glissaded it from top to bottom. In addition to shaving off an hours worth of work, we had a blast in the process! The descent was pure fun! As you can see in the photo below:

The wildflowers are coming on strong and I would be remiss if I did not show you one photo of God's high altitude handiwork. I think there could very well be less violence in the world if everyone was required to spend at least one summer's day in an alpine meadow full of wildflowers.