Flattop Mountain, Rocky Mountain National Park

photo courtesy of Frank Lawrence

John & Scott taking a break.  If you think snow climbing looks tedious, you'd be right, it is!  However, there is a meditative quality to it that I really like. The activity forces you to focus intensely on your every move, each step, every step. Testing every foothold until you're confident that your are balanced and the foothold is secure. All of this happens in a matter of a second, but it is critical to keep that level of concentration. In fact, not falling is one of the main keys to successful mountaineering.

What goes up must come down.  Upon nearing the summit we set up an anchor to rappel down from.  This activity consisted of descending in pairs separated by 10-15 feet of rope.  We were basically walking and sliding backwards while stepping on each others boots.  It is a good idea to keep that ice axe to the outside!  After rappelling down about 75% of the route, we went down vertically over a large boulder.  We then anchored our axes in the snow under a larger boulder that formed an overhang to the side of our route.

As we waited for our guide, Mark, to descend the last section and join us, we were relaxing and talking, having a great time.  All of the sudden, we heard Mark yell, "ROCK!, ROCK!, ROCK!"  We dove as far as the three foot rope tethers to our ice axes would allow, towards the inside wall under the overhang.  As we crouched, my head was turned towards the open slope and I saw a rock about 2 feet wide, and 18" tall fly by us 10 to 15 feet in the air.  My first thought was, "that was was a huge rock, but we're under an overhang so we must be safe." My next thought was, "everyone else is facing uphill with their helmets to the slope, that's probably a good idea."  Instantly, I turned around to face the slope.  Just as I finished getting into a safer position, smaller rocks (as big as 6" across) slid into the gully towards us hitting my helmet and backpack.

We shouted to Mark to see if he was OK, he called back that he was.  When he came down to us, he said that a TV size boulder had fallen and exploded on another rock right next to where he was standing (where we had been standing 5 minutes earlier).  Other than the small chips of rock that had embedded in his cheek, he was really shaken, but OK.  The moment of danger having passed, not only was I so thankful that nobody got hurt, I also experienced a weird adrenaline rush combined with a heightened sense of respect for the mountain.