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Long's Peak Narrative

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Many people would shudder at the sight of me that morning on the Keyhole Route of Long 's Peak in Colorado. Hiking on an alpine slope may sound like a romantic way to meet the sunrise, yet it 's anything but when you 're making your half-asleep along a cliff, bundled in every single available article of clothing, with hands, though gloved, still so cold they barely grasp your trekking poles. As I crouched under a ledge to rest and warm my hands, I found it almost ironic that two weeks ago I was glad to step out of the Texas summer heat; how much I could give for just a little bit of that warmth now! Yet I didn 't hate the freezing weather or treacherous path. What irked me was that I was going down, not up, the slope, without having reached the …show more content…

It was difficult for me to accept this fact. I had looked forward to this climb all summer long, the climax of my first trip to the Rockies, the ultimate challenge that I had been firmly set on completing. However I didn’t have the necessary gear to ascend the Trough, a snowed-in section of the trail where ice on the path had proved too difficult to traverse without crampons. I stood up and marched on slowly, as if a physical manifestation of my sadness was tied to my ankle, dragging along the path behind me. Along the way I met a steady stream of shill hopeful hikers on their way up the slope. They would ask – "how is it up there?" - and grudgingly, I admitted defeat: "no-go without crampons". Some turned back, dejected just like I

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