Matt Mahoney's 2001 Colorado Vacation
Quandary PeakAug. 4, 2001. Since this was my first full day at altitude on my second trip, I wanted a quick 14er to test how much acclimation I had lost after 17 days at sea level. I drove to the Blue Lake dam at 11,700 ft. and climbed the Cristo Couloir to 14,265 ft. This was a quick (1 mile) route, but much steeper than the standard route up the east ridge from 10,900 ft. It took 100 minutes to climb and 80 minutes to descend. I did not seem to have any altitude sickness. |
Quandary Peak from the southeast, looking up the Cristo Couloir. The climb is 2500 ft. in 1 mile.
On the southeast slope of Quandary.
The start of the climb viewed from above.