Democrat and Cameron

When a man has a bad week, the best thing to do is climb a mountain. The effort, the exertion, the sweat washes away all the webs from the mind and body and makes one ready for another Monday. We had a similar plan when we set out for four 14ers in the 'Ten-mile and Mosquito Range' near Breckenridge on the 4th of July weekend.

To give a little background, Colorado is full of peaks which are above 14000 feet called as 14ers. The amazing thing is the highest peak in Colorado is about 14500 feet but there are around 53 peaks above 14000 feet in Colorado. Although each 14er is pretty much a test for mental and physical willpower, they make a nice climb for a day.

On the 4th of July, me and Pushkar set out with a rather ambitious plan in mind. We planned on doing four 14ers on the range since they are rather close by to each other. The plan was to start climbing as early as possible and do as many as possible and come down when the weather gets bad. (On top of a 14er, there are daily storms starting around noon and it is dangerous to be on the top of one during a storm since you can get hit by a lightning.)
However, little did we realize that the trailhead was a long 130 miles away from Boulder, and hence we started climbing towards Democrat around 10.00 am from the Kite Lake. The climb was pretty uneventful (ssh Pushkar!!) and I was at the base of the final climb of Democrat around 11.30 am when I first heard the thunders at a distance. Pushkar was a good 20 minutes ahead of me, and seemed to be nearing the top. Now, normal people turn around at this point, since it is pretty dangerous to be at the top when its lightening, but we continued. Around 12, Pushkar called me saying he is about 200 feet from the top, and that I can continue. I made it to the top around 12:15, we took a couple of quick snaps (I call those 'yogi poses'), and headed down.










By the time we came down from the 200 feet or so mound which qualified as the 'peak' and started walking on the plateau, we saw a cowboy-looking man and a kid coolly taking pictures, with no apparent hurry. We suggested they hurry up, and not spend long time on the top (since weather was getting very bad by now). They didnt seem to mind the weather and continued their photo-session coolly.

The way Democrat and Cameron are positioned is that there is a saddle in between the two. You climb upto the saddle, climb Democrat, come back and climb Cameron on the other side. From Cameron you can go to Lincoln and Brosch, which are the other 14ers in that range. We started climbing down to the saddle, and the scene was really terrifying. There were definitely thunders behind us on top, the visibility was poor, since there was fog. People living in cold climates like Colorado know that when the weather is dry and cold, metal objects have a 'static' charge sometimes. Well, during this climb, we were experiencing that static first hand, and pretty much on everything. My woollen sweater was giving me static every time and behind my ear there was slight noise since wind was blowing with clouds in it. Pushkar commented that my hair has 'stood up', and his was no better. The point was we were moving through clouds and there was charge in them, with a good chance of we being the target of some of the heavenly missiles! We were simply climbing down as fast as possible, but I couldnt help noticing that some of the rocks around me had a charred black side as if they had been burnt on a side. Was it that the lightenings had hit them on one side? Fortunately, I didnt have to stay long to find that out.

We were on the saddle around 12:30, all logic and common sense pointed to walking down the rest of the trail to the car and drive home. But the weather had changed almost miraculously! It was bright, clear and the black clouds were nowhere to be seen! A small climb lay ahead of us which would have taken us up to Mt. Cameron. We had started with 4 14ers in mind, but had managed only one so far, so the Camron ahead was tempting. The near-death experience climbing down the saddle not withstanding, we started the climb after a couple of snaps.

We had climbed about 20 or so minutes when the first signs of changing weather became apparent. By this time, we had enough experience to judge we had hardly half an hour ahead of us of the 'beautiful' weather. As usual, Pushkar was on top ahead of me and said the mountain was disappointing. I was so tired that it was all will-power for me to climb, the physical power had long gone away. I think about 1.30 or so I was on top of Cameron only to realize, Cameron is hardly a 'peak', it is more of a playground (which disappointed my friend). It is a kind of plateau at 14000 ft. and the same route continues on to Lincoln. Of course, given the thunders we were hearing, Lincoln was out of question; and a safe return was the only thing on minds. Bidding goodbye to Lincoln, promising a return soon, we turned back, this time down to the saddle from the side of Cameron.

We might have taken about 20 steps, when the first dark clouds covered the sky and it started hailing. Soon it started raining pretty heavily and we started running full speed. By the time we came down, the last iota of energy had exhausted and sight of the car was the most beautiful thing in sight. A last couple of snaps, and we were off to Boulder. Completely wet, starving and without any energy, we set our voyage back to Boulder.

The two of us were sure our lives were in danger during the first descent. We were seeing lightenings behind us, and could very well have gotten hit by one. I dont know if it was right that not only did we continue climbing, but in fact climed another 14er after that! People back in Boulder have declared they have 2 lunatics among them for doing that! Maybe it was not that big a deal, but for us shur-veer Maratha boys, it was a adventure! And we cherished every moment of it!