HIKING TO QUANDARY PEAK

On a cold December morning in 2019, my friend Weston and I left the Keystone Lodge in Colorado before the Sun was up. Heavy snow had fallen overnight and was still coming down, the flakes catching the light of nearby streetlights. We climbed into his Honda Accord and set off into the mountains.

Over the three days before this, we’d completed an epic adventure into the Rocky Mountains to reach the staggering beautiful Thunder Lake. We’d immersed ourselves in the winter wonderland that was the backcountry of the Colorado mountains, and now, with our itch for peaceful natural immersion satisfied, we sought something a bit more extreme. We sought to reach the summit of Quandary Peak.

We made it clear that, although reaching the summit was the impetus for today’s adventure, we wouldn’t overextend ourselves to reach this arbitrary goal. A winter storm had settled over the area, and we knew that the already questionable weather might get even worse at altitude. So, we set out with the loose goal of exploring our limits, but not pushing so far past them that we might get ourselves into trouble. As you’ll see in the film above, holding this thought in mind helped us avoid the trap of satisfying our egos, confidently turning around when our situation got a bit dicey.