THE UNFINISHED BUSINESS OF CLIMBING MOUNT BROSS
In July of 1995, Jeff Pagels tried to get to the top of 14,173 foot Mt. Bross located about 20 miles south of Breckenridge, Colorado. Just a rookie mountain climber back then, Pagels challenged the mountain in his every day sports chair. What a rude awakening! Pagels said: “I made it about 3 yards before realizing I was going nowhere with out some help from the rest of my friends that came along.”
Even with the help of the team harness pulling and pushing, Pagels could only reach about 12,500 feet before heading back down. “The “official” reason for turning back was a deep snowfield reached at the turn around point, but in
truth, the mountain had extracted a deep toll on all of group and snow or not, it was time to give up.”
As Pagels went on to climb Mt. Rainier, Mt. Whitney in the USA, Mt. Galdhopiggen in Norway and Mt. Kilimanjaro in Africa during the next 9 years, it was always in the back of his mind to try again to get up Mt. Bross.
In October of 2004, Pagels had a second opportunity to try and summit Mt. Bross. This time, he had a bigger bag of tools including a One-Off Mountain Climbing Hand Cycle, (Christened the Mountain Beast.) Circumstances of team availability and other reasons to be in Colorado lead to the October attempt.
This time, snow really did become an issue. Starting at about 11,100 feet, drifts of snow laid across the trail. In the early morning hours, the snow was frozen and the Mountain Beast easily rode over the snow banks. But as the sun rose and the temperature reached melting, the snow turned soft and the bike wheels sunk more and more. But, with a harness to team members, Pagels was still able to make upward progress. As the day wore on, the weather turned stormy and more snow began to fall and the wind picked up.
The team had reached about 13,600 feet and only about ¾ mile of trail to the top. But, rounding a corner brought the full fury of the storm and once again the team had to retreat in the face of 3-4 foot snow depths and winds exceeding 40 mph.
Fast Forward to August/September, 2005. To say getting to the top of Mt. Bross was becoming as obsession might be going too far, but Pagels decided to try one more time to get to the top and to set some personal rules for getting there.
First, the other two tries involved support team pulling and pushing. Pagels, while appreciative of the teamwork wanted to try and summit under his own power and accepting help only when no other alternatives were available. Also, the other two attempts were one-day shots starting at tree line at about 11,000 feet. Pagels determined in order to do it alone, he would need at least three days and he wanted to start well below tree line at the little old mining town of Alma. The total climb would exceed 12 miles.
DAY ONE: Alma to Base Camp at Windy Ridge. This segment involved hand cycling a gravel and rock road from 9,250 feet to 11,339 feet. The distance was 5.3 miles and took Pagels 3 ½ hours. He was dropped off in Alma while the rest of the team drove to Windy Ridge to set up camp. From Pagels' Diary: “As I started up the road, several trucks and cars passed me. I am sure the drivers wondered just what the heck I was up to. Much of the road paralleled a mountain stream and the gurgling of water pouring over rocks was welcome background music. “
“The blue sky was starting to cloud up and I heard claps of thunder. But, from t-shirt weather, instead of rain, a splattering of wet snow started falling. About an hour into the ride, my son Corey came zooming down the road on his mountain bike. The others had found the campsite and had almost finished setting up base camp. “
“Dinner was ready when I finally peddled into camp. Wet and cold, I quickly changed into warm clothes, enjoyed a great meal, campfire, stargazing and conversation. Sleep came quickly.”
DAY TWO: Windy Ridge to Dolly Varden Mining Camp Ruins. This segment involved hand cycling from 11,339 feet to 13,115 feet. The distance was 4.8 miles and lasted 6 hours going up and 45 minutes to descend back to base camp.
From Pagels' Diary: “There seemed to be no need to start real early, so I slept in and actually got on my bike about 9:00 am. The rest of the team also started climbing and quickly left me to slowly move ahead at my own pace. My wife Jane who had been with me on the first attempt, 10 years ago, kept a steady pace and summited early in the afternoon with my Daughter in Law, Sara.”
”As I picked my way over the rocky trail I with some regularity would loose traction and slide backward several feet until my drive tire found purchase. At one point, the rocks on the road became so bad, I tried to move hard left off the road to where the surface seemed a bit less challenging. I managed to get stuck sideways and while rocking the Mountain Beast back and forth did a very nice tumble and ended up on my back with the Beast on top. ”
”My backpack hydration bladder, still with some water cushioned my fall and no damage was done. I was very glad to have a Talkabout radio along and gave a yell for help. Before some of my team descended to give me a hand, I was able to at least unstrap myself from the bike and get in a sitting position. When my friends showed up, they helped me to get back in the saddle and once again start moving upward. I finally moved past that very tough 100 yard stretch and again was on my own.”
”Thunderhead clouds began forming in mid-afternoon. Other team members except for my Son had already headed to base camp. I was out of water and beat. The ride back down to base camp was not a fun thing. The Beast has no shocks and the ride was in a word, torturous.”
DAY THREE: Dolly Varden Mining Camp Ruins to Summit. This segment involved hand cycling from 13,115 feet to 14,173 feet. The distance was 2.1 miles and lasted 4 hours going up and 30 minutes back down to the Mining Camp.
Pagels was driven to the mining ruins in a 4WD truck to start the last day. Original plans called for bivouacking at the mining camp ruins but the daily threat of late afternoon lighting storms required getting off the mountain and below tree line for safety reasons.
From Pagels' Diary: “I was pretty stiff and sore from two solid days of hand cycling at a snails pace. We had risen before dawn and had reached the mining camp just at sunrise. There was no wind and the day showed promise of being
just perfect. Soon, my muscles loosened up and I seemed to be making decent progress. At some points, the trail was so steep, the back drive tire just spun. But, Corey merely applied some downward pressure on the frame and I was able to spin forward. About one hour into the climb, I had passed the turn-a-round point from last year. I felt good about at least surpassing my previous best on this mountain. ”
” For whatever reasons, this part of the mountain seemed easier to negotiate. There were some tough spots, but for the most part I was moving right along. As I got higher and higher the view got better and better. I started to believe that finally I would get to the top and soon, there I was on top of the world in the crystal blue ski, warm temps and no wind. ”
” One of the team, unknown to me, had lugged up a bottle of champagne. You know, it did not taste half bad! We stayed on the summit for about 40 minutes enjoying the view; camaraderie and sharing cell phone talk time with friends back home. ”
”It was time to start the descent back to the mining camp and our vehicle. The punishment my arms, chest and shoulders took on the way down was again much worse than on the way up and two days of descending just about did me in. Finally getting back to camp, clean clothes, beer, huge steaks and another round of stargazing became a fitting end to another annual adventure of a lifetime.”
”What is next? Who ever knows for sure. But if another opportunity for outdoor adventure comes, I am going to go for it!”
Jeff Pagels became a T-10 complete Para in 1984 when a tree fell on him.