Bergen Peak

Sunday I decided to put up some vertical feet and bag Bergen Peak.  After yesterday's speed with the trekking poles, I'm sold and guess I'll overlook my attitude I've developed about them over the years (they just seem so overkill for front range trails).  This time I needed them as much for stability in the snow and slush at the top as I needed them for speed and efficiency on the bottom.  The top mile or so was pretty solid slushy snow that made me wish I'd brought my Yak Traks.  Meh, in the end I didn't have any falls and managed to do the summit and loop in 3:13:54, 11.46 miles (started from Lewis Ridge TH), with an average pace of 16:55 min/mile covering just shy of 2,000' of climbing.

A little snowy...

More than a little snowy...

Mount Evans looks so much better than last year.  That's the best snowpack I've seen up there at this time of year in years.  Maybe the entire state won't burn down this year.