The EPIC 8-Peaks Traverse at Loveland Pass

Started with a blue sky morning, chased by a thunder storm at the 12,000 ft-peak, glissade down snow fields for life, and hiking through a pouring rain.

Date and Time: June 17th, started at 7am

Trail Head: Where the Loveland Pass sign with elevation is. There were several parking spots. We staged cars at the I-70 off-ramp frontage road.

What I would do differently next time: Just get here a little earlier, and bring hot beverages and breakfast. Perhaps stage the car closer to where we will end. Here is the breakfast spot.

What Happened:

It was a beautiful start to the hike, and it would have been better if we had come earlier to catch the sunrise. But that was quite unrealistic given how early sunrise was this time of the year.

The views were amazing. Most of the trails were full of blossoming wildflowers. I wished that we were not that in a hurry so that I could spend more time enjoying the view. A morning breakfast here would have been awesome.

We reached 8 peaks, and only the highest one was named - Golden Bear Peak. I really enjoyed this peak-to-peak traverse. I am really a peak type of guy.

We knew that the weather was coming. We could see it coming by the minute. The cloud was rolling in everything second and we could see the rain coming our way. This is a cool picture of me in the far back with dark cloud rolling in.

As soon as we reached the last peak, things turned much more adventurous quickly. We heard a thunder. And we were at the highest peak in the area. We had to get low really quick. We scrambled across some talus field, and glissaded down two snow fields, to get below tree line quickly. I was excited to use the ice ax and helmet. I actually had to do a self-arrest with the ice ax because I was going down the wrowng way. We did all these in the pouring rain.

The running-down-below-treeline part was really fun for me. I do not want every hike to be uneventful. What is the point of adventure if everything is super safe and steady-eddy. I got so much out of this trip. I got the awesome views and blossoming wildflowers, hit 8 peaks, hiked in the rain, glissaded down the snowfields, and bushwhacking through the woods. And most importantly, a group of really fun hiking buddies.Gabi, Braden, Nicole, Matt, Marybeth, Dave and Josh, you guys made it awesome. I had a good weekend.