Made it back from Quandary

Wow, the 14ers are great at kicking your butt! There really is no such thing as an “easy” fourteener. Quandary may be a Class I peak, but for me it was pretty difficult. Lot’s of people up there today. Got sunburnt on my calves. My knee gave out right at the end, how old am I? I really hope that knee gets better, some people are planning another 14er for next Saturday. Yes, I’m a glutton for punishment. OK… time to relax a little.

On this trip I was wearing my relatively new Highgear Alterra Watch, I got it this spring and have only really used it out on a trip one other time, with no good way to verify it’s altimeter accuracy. I have to say I am a little disappointed with the altimeter’s lack of accuracy. I calibrated it to the known altitude of the trail-head and it was off (low) by over 200 feet when we got to the peak. So, I calibrated to the known altitude of the peak, and it was off by about a hundred feet when we reached the bottom at the end of the day. I’m not sure what to expect from altimeter watches, but I thought I had read these were more accurate than a GPS, if so… how bad are GPS 3D fixes anyways?

OK, enough of that complaint. Here are photos of our trip up Quandary Peak.