Summer weather in the mountains (and not dying)
By Jenn Fields
The first time I thought I was going to die that day was when the rock I pulled on came off in my hand.
I was 1,500 feet up Skywalker Couloir, unroped. The direct finish up South Arapaho Peak was only kind of in. I was the first to venture onto the rock to scramble to the final section of snow.
After a big exhale as I pushed the rock back into place, I called down: "It's kind of rotten."
It was late in the season. We'd started late that morning. Companion Ben -- who had just moved here from Connecticut to marry friend Genny --- wasn't acclimatized. Though fit, he was moving slow.
We were breaking the rules during monsoon season.
A monsoon is just a change of wind patterns, Joel Gratz told me. Gratz is a meteorologist and the pontificator behind Coloradopowderforecast.com. In mid and late summer, he says, winds change to bring moist air from Mexico (from the Gulf and Pacific) to Colorado.
News Source: Boulder Daily Camera
ENVS News Category: Media Story
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