San Luis Parting Shot

We thought coming back down would be much simpler.  We were wrong.  Descending uses an entirely different--and little used--group of muscles.  The upper thighs in particular immediately protest.  They are the main muscles used in slowing your progress--instead of falling face-first down the hill.  Walking sticks, dragged  behind with downward pressure, help quite a bit.

The biggest issue was that, due to the downward slope, our toes were constantly crammed into the toes of our shoes.  For me, this was very painful.  Mike fared worse though.  The pain slowed him down quite a bit and I was very worried about his ability to continue back to the truck without help. (Eventually, he lost at least one of his big toenails)

The next issue was that we ran out of water before we got back to the spot where we had had lunch.  It was getting dark--the sun had dropped behind the first ridge, leaving the first valley completely in shadow--and it started to get pretty cool again.

Being in a dehydrated and painful state of mind, I took very few photos of the return trip.  However, just before we dropped down the first ridge to the parking area, I turned back for this last, parting shot of the hardest thing I've ever done.

We got back to the cabin around 10pm.  The guys had already had dinner, but had saved some delicious trout and other items for us to eat.  They had also gone out and bought San Luis pins for us as a congratulatory gift.

The next day, we had to get up early to take John to the airport in Alamosa. 

Group Shot

We were so tired, this was the only group shot I had the energy to remember to take.  I wish we'd taken a few more, closer to the edge.

The Summit

 We reached the summit exhausted.  We again switched on the radio (about 45 minutes after the first time we talked to the guys) and were met with cheers and congratulations.  We had literally just gotten there when Jerry again suggested we hurry back down due to the lightning possibility.  We answered in the positive, told them we'd see them that night, and switched the radio back off again.

 The benchmark at the summit.

There was a pile of rocks at the summit, constructed by other climbers.  As you can see, the rocks are larger than what can actually be found here, so they were brought up from a little below here.  Inside the pile of rocks was a PVC pipe with a paper logbook inside.  We signed our names to it and returned it to it's home.  We also took in the incredible views all around us.  We could see alternate routes as well.

"False Summits" and Views for Miles

The main ridge of San Luis is comprised of plate-sized chunks of granite.  It's fairly wide, so it's not that dangerous.  We discovered something ironic as we ascended.  The ridge isn't straight.  It goes up, then levels out a bit, then goes up, then levels out several times.  As a result, when looking up, thinking you can see the summit "right there," you realize upon reaching that magical point that you're nowhere close to the summit.  AND, when you reach the next point that you think is the summit, that isn't the summit either.  This photo of Mike was taken near one of the "false summits".  This is my favorite photo of the entire trip.

Support Crew

About half way up the main ridge of San Luis, we took a break and decided to turn on the 2-way radio.  I switched it on and called out.  We were surprised to receive an immediate response from our brother, Warren.  He said that he, Jerry, Larry, Dale, and John were parked near the Continental Divide (where we'd conducted our first San Luis recon several days before).  They had run into someone with a spotting scope and were looking right at us.  We both quickly turned and could barely make out where they were parked.  I took out my telephoto lens and took this photo.  If you click and enlarge, you'll see two vehicles parked in the center of the photo (they are exactly 3.29 miles away).

Warren said we were doing a great job...then asked if we were headed back down from the summit.  Mike and I looked at each other in disgust.  I told him we hadn't been to the summit yet.  Then Jerry got on the radio and said we should seriously consider coming back down due to the possibility of being hit by lightning.  We responded in the negative and he tried again.  At that point, we turned the radio back off, mounted up, and renewed our trek UP.