November 8, on my 44th birthday, I tackled five 14,000ft peaks in the Sawatch in a 33ish-mile run with 15,000ft of climbing in winter conditions so it took twice as long as I was hoping. High winds, sub zero temps and plenty of snow. Sixteen of those miles were off-trail, traversing to connect the peaks. Off-trail always means slower because you’re navigating, it’s more technical, very steep, and one wrong step can mean plunging into snow up to your waist or down climbing a class 3 or 4 slope.
I ran the route counterclockwise to what the men's route was as I just felt like doing it that direction. I should've done Columbia and Harvard first because once it was dark that traverse of boulder fields was really hard to navigate and had the most snow. Whoops! Oh well! I also chose to do East Ridge on Missouri instead of dropping into the valley and going up the north side.
I started with an 8+ mile approach to Mt. Oxford, then hit Belford, took East ridge up Missouri but had to drop to the south due to snow/ice in the class 4 terrain, off trail to Harvard, and finally Columbia and still had 13 miles back to the car after the 5th summit. The snow, ice, and endless boulder fields made navigating, especially at night, a serious challenge. It took quite a bit longer than I’d hoped but for November with shorter days and lots of snow on some sections I'm happy to have completed it at all. That’s winter mountain travel for you: always slower than you think it’ll be!
I wasn’t prepared to be out that long, I expected around 10-12hrs but made it work: conserved batteries, rationed never.second gels and calorie powder until I ran out, and kept my water from freezing by tucking it inside my jacket and put my head down and grinded it out.
I did end up getting frostbite on my right big toe. My feet were cold, but I didn’t think they were that cold! I’ve had frostbite before, but this one’s a little worse. Even with waterproof shoes and built-in gaiters, I probably needed foot warmers. Temps were around –5 to –15°F with windchill and strong winds above treeline. It was an epic run to do for my birthday and I look forward to tackling it in the summer with longer days and no snow!