Mt. Belford Height: 14,197 Range: Sawatch Date: September 18, 2004

Mt. Oxford Height: 14,153 Range: Sawatch Date: September 18, 2004

Ski and I started at 6 am for this hike and made it through the 'memorable switchbacks' well before sunrise. Neither of us had alot of energy this morning which made this long hike a real slog. The forecast called for alot of sun and not much wind or clouds, but a front moving in from the west must have moved in ahead of schedule. We made it to the split for the Missouri trail in two hours, and then went straight up the north ridge of Belford. We only got a few glimpses of the sun before we summited Belford around 10am. Above is a shot of Ski with the alpenglow shinning on the golden aspens in the valley below. Top right is looking North from the summit of Oxford, you can see all the patches of gold at lower elevations. Once we got near the summit of Belford the wind really picked up, and we thought we would be better off after we got over Belford and started descending toward Oxford. We were wrong. We had already gained over 5000 ft of elevation and were very tired by now. The wind on the ridge between the peaks was probably in excess of 40 mph sustained, with gusts higher. For the next 3 hours we were hiking in this steady wind which seemed to swirl and change direction every 30 seconds or so. To the right is a shot of Ski after the wind changed on him and he peed all over himself. Luckily the wind dried it out in a matter of seconds. Below is a shot of myself on the peak of Belford,and you can just make out Ski in the center of the pic below right as he ascends the last few feet to the Belford peak. We tried to hide from the wind at each summit and had a little snack each time as well sice we didnt have much energy.

Above are shots of us at the Oxford summit hunkering down beneath the rocks to avoid the gale force winds. The hike back up the ridge to Belford was very taxing as the wind was strong enough to knock Ski over and at this point our legs were like jello. Once we made the 14000ft ridge, we decided to hike back down elkhead pass and through the missouri gulch basin which is a longer (by about 1.5 miles) but gentler hike down. Half way into the gulch I realized that my GPS was missing so I went back to look for it. I found it at our last stop which was 3/4 of a mile back and 400 more ft of elevation to gain. After I met back up with Ski we hiked out pretty quickly as the sky was very overcast and spitting little balls of frozen rain at us. To the left is a shot of Ski hiking down. Below left is a shot of us back down below treeline. Below is a shot of us back at the truck after changing. It was a grueling 12 miles and 6800 ft of elevation gain (not to mention the extra little jaunt that I did) over 10 hours, but at the end of the day it felt good to have bagged two 14ers!