Mount Evans and Mount Beirstadt, AKA our objective. Shanon Martin, Jenifer Horne,
and Aleshia ????? joined Dan and I, since they were passing through Boulder on their way from
Washington D.C. to Yosemite Valley.
It's hard to tell from this picture, but during the spring, summer the approach to
Bierstadt can be quite the bush whacking experience. We approached Bierstadt from the valley to the
east, which are full of willows.
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In the photo to the left you can see (from left to right) Russ (me), Jen, Aleshia, and Shannon.
Since our party was short one pair of snow shoes, we decided to just go without them -
except for Dan, which proved to be the wisest choice of the day. That late morning in early June,
the snow had a thin crust on it, that usually wouldn't break if you knew where to step, and treaded
lightly. Of course, even that sometimes failed, and you started "post holing" or landing hip deep in
the snow. Atleast I had gators (nylon tubes that go over your boots) to keep the snow out, most of the
others were not so fortunate and gathered many blisters from wet socks.
Speaking of gators, be sure to apply plenty of sunscreen to your knees when wearing gators and
shorts. I got a pretty nasty sunburn on the front and back of my knee without a brace on it, eventhough
I had windpants on for more than half the day. Doesn't take long to buy cancer tickets when the snow is
reflecting the sun back at you. Similarly, Sunglasses are excellent things to have on these journeys.
Shanon forgot his, so you can see him wearing mine.
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I have been informed that this is the Mr Olympia Pose. You'll notice that Dan, being the well
prepared person that he is, wore his jeans, which he reported to be soaking wet at the end of the day.
This time around Dan beat me to the top by almost 2 hours.
I believe the photo to the right details the "grunt and squeeze" pose, but then again, I'm not a
weight lifter, so I'm not real sure. You'll notice Aleshia in the background to the
left.
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