Lost

This picture is much more than it seems.  The situation could not be imagined or hopefully not duplicated.  I will share the story because it is too good not to be told.

In October of 2008 we took a trip to Boulder, Colorado to climb.  This famous area of rocks called the Flat Irons has brought climbers and adventure seekers from all over the world.  It is thousands of feet tall and from far away looks like an iron.  A beautiful place in a protected park, butted up close to the Rocky Mountains.  We stayed in a Cabin on the protected land just below the Flat Irons.  It was so convenient because we could hike to the rocks with our gear from the cabins. 

You have to understand a few things about climbing for this story to make sense to you.  We are sport climbers and we normally climb shorter walls that are harder that have good protection (bolts).  Your lead climber is roped up and will climb unprotected for ten feet or so while being belayed and then they clip into the bolt.  This will happen about every 10 to 12 feet until you reach the top of your 60 ft wall.  The next person gets to climb on top rope where they never fall.  As the lead climber you can fall but normally not too far it just creates a little excitement.  The climbing at the flat irons is on a big wall and the bolts are farther apart.  The climb is more than a ropes length and requires you to set up on the rock for the next pitch.  The climb rating is easy but we were thousands of feet from the ground.

Basically, it wasn’t the kind of climbing we have tons of experience doing.  We normally climb much harder stuff but this was a whole new set of rules.  We had a guidebook and we thought we knew all the secrets to success on this famous climb called “The Classic.”  We got a late start and had trouble finding the beginning of the climb.  Mike was leading us on this beautiful Colorado day.  As we climbed above the tree line we started to see the height and beauty of the rock. 

As we climbed higher we also started to realize the protection was farther and farther apart.  Sometimes it moved to the right or left and we didn’t know where to find the bolt.  So it was taking a long time to set the protection.  A few people climbed past us to show us the way and that helped.  And many of the people were climbing without a rope and I was absolutely terrified I might see someone fall that day.  Thank the Lord that didn’t happen.  My stomach was in knots worrying about them the whole time. 

Finally, we made it to the top and it was absolutely beautiful.  One of my favorite pictures of all time was taken up there and made it on our 2008 Christmas card.  From up there you can see the city of Boulder. What you can’t see is that the sun is going down behind the mountains and unlike Texas it will be very dark down below the tree line before we know it.  So we still have to get down and find our way back to the cabin.

To get down you had to rappel off the backside of the rock. It was about half of the ropes length to the ground and that was not a problem.  We made it safely to the ground and we pull out the guidebook and read the detailed directions about how to get out of this place.  Unfortunately, we disagreed about the way to go.  It was getting dark and I started to panic.  The directions didn’t seem to match what we were seeing.  After a lengthy debate and reading the directions many times we headed out.  We couldn’t find the trail and we had our flashlights out and headlamps on.  We were stomping around in some pretty thick forest and could not find the trail.  I thought I heard people talking and I started screaming out.  Mike was trying to reassure me everything was going to be ok.  Our phones were working and I begged him to call 911.  He was pretty upset with me at this point and he didn’t want to do it.  But after a while of walking aimlessly through this dense forest he agreed to call.  They patched us to the local park ranger who told us the basic layout of the trails and how to move down toward the trails.  She even offered to come look for us but we were still trying to figure it out for ourselves.  While we were on the phone with her, all of a sudden the trail was right in front of us.  It was such a wonderful feeling.  I will never forget the relief I felt as we walked onto the cleared man made path.  After walking for a while we started to see the city lights down below and I felt ashamed for being so scared.  We had been out after dark before when climbing but never in a place that we didn’t know. 

We were relieved when we got to the cabin and this picture is inside the doorway.  We were so tired that night even though we bought food to cook we went to a restaurant.  We didn’t even clean up so we looked like we did in this picture, I think maybe we washed our faces.  We sat there over dinner and talked about the day and how it was crazy and we were glad it was over.  From the beautiful setting up on the rock to getting lost trying to get home it was a day of highs and lows but what a wonderful memory of finding our way back home.