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Glissading (ass sliding) fun down my 30th 14er.

What is 30by30?

At the beginning of the summer I decided to put together a challenge to keep myself busy and active outside.  The Challenge originally was to hike 30 completely new 14ers with out repeating any hiked in previous seasons.  Instead of overwhelming myself with the daunting task of hiking 30 14ers I had never hiked before I decided it was ok to repeat 14ers to make my summer a little more manageable.

When?

I started the challenge off in early July and finished mid October, just in time for the snow to start flying in the high country!  Every weekend, minus a handful I took off for racing and family stuff, was spent chasing 14er summits.

Break down of the 14ers in order of completion.

1. Harvard (7/6/14)
2. Ellingwood (7/19/14)
3. Blanca (7/19/14)
4. Castle  (8/9/14)
5. Conundrum (8/9/14)
6. Kit Carson (8/15/14)
7. Challenger (8/15/14)
8. Bierstadt (8/17/14)
9. Evans (8/17/14)
10. Shavano (8/20/14)
11. Tabeguache (8/20/14)
12. Princeton (8/21/14)
13. Yale (8/21/14)
14. Belford (8/22/14)
15. Massive (8/29/14)
16. Elbert (8/29/14)
17. Huron (8/30/14)
18. Missouri (8/31/14)
19. Belford  (for the 2nd time!)(8/31/14)
20. Oxford (8/31/14)
21. Uncompahgre (9/6/14)
22. Wetterhorn (9/6/14)
23. Democrat (9/20/14)
24. Cameron (9/20/14)
25. Lincoln (9/20/14)
26. Bross (9/20/14)
27. Quandary (9/20/14)
28. Grays (10/4/14)
29. Torreys (10/4/14)
30. La Plata (10/4/14)
31. Sherman (10/18/14)

Where?

This challenge took place in the seven mountain ranges in Colorado that house 14,000(+) ft  peaks.  I was able to hit at least two summits in every range.  Each range seemed to almost have a personality of their own.  The Sangre de Cristo Range was by far my favorite.  They just had a jagged, rugged, intimidating feel to them that made me feel very small, and I did not even touch the hard peaks in that range! I am so excited to tackle some of the difficult summits next season!

Why?

I have tried to keep this page upbeat, humorous, and happy for the most part.  I have to be serious for one paragraph, I promise this is not the trend going forward!

This adventure was born after my life took an unexpected 180 degree turn, I was at a very low point in life.  My afternoons and weekends were spent in tears or sleeping to escape the reality of what was happening.  I was incredibly hard on myself and eventually sought out professional help to help me deal with the depression.  The professional help actually made me feel worse about the situation at first,  it made me feel shitty for not having a handle on my emotions.  Eventually I opened up to it and it was life changing,  I would be lying if I said I had this depression beat and I am over what happened, that scar will be with me for a long time.  What I can say is a summer in the mountains probably saved my life, it got me out of the apartment,  it gave me something to look forward to on the weekend and it gave life a purpose.  I did all but 2 of the 14ers solo, and yes it was lonely at times but I learned a lot about myself,  I became comfortable in my own skin again for the first time in years, I had hours of wonderful conversations with random strangers on the mountains and heard so many cool stories.  What I am trying to say with all of this is depression sucks, being sad sucks, as permanent as it feels its NOT.  The best piece of advice I got was from a friend “You need to find what makes you happy, and that can not be another person”.  This summer I found that being in the mountains chasing peaks truly makes me happy.  I just want to throw a thank you out to my incredibly supportive family, and friends who put up with me in my darkest days.  If anyone who reads this is dealing with depression and needs someone to vent to, hit me up anytime!

Serious time over!

It was an incredibly fun adventure, I made a lot of cool friends and got really good at climbing up hill! (I can put that on my resume right?)

I kept all of my photos organized in one drive.  Feel free to browse!
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