On the shoulders of giants

Glenwood Springs to Aspen, Colorado. Sunday, July 7, 2024

I love that expression. We used it in our medical training, to express appreciation for our mentors, superb clinicians who taught us so much, we felt like we were standing on the shoulders of giants.

Today, it felt like I was doing the same thing. I was approaching the giants, the roof of our nation, the densest collection of high peaks outside of Alaska. Over 50 of them are higher than 14,000 feet, the so-called “fourteeners”, and I have climbed eight of them, mostly the easy ones (OK, so maybe Longs Peak wasn’t so easy.) I’m not climbing them this trip, just getting to the trailhead of the highest one, Mt Elbert, but to get there requires threading through these giants, and going over three very high passes, the “shoulders”. A daunting prospect, this will be the highest I’ve gone so far, and involve the steepest grades and primitive camping.

I’m blessed that this sufferfest has a sumptuous beginning: Aspen, Colorado. And I’m doubly blessed that a good friend, Floyd, has offered to put me up in his mountain hotel, the Inn at Aspen. I’ll have a couple of days of pampering before the pain.

Aspen. Is there any ski resort in the country more synonymous with the jet set, with luxury, with glitz? A year-round community, also famous for its art, music, fashion, and culture. I fear I’ll feel a bit out of place in my grizzled grubbiness, but I’ll get over it.

As the doorstep to the land of the Giants, getting there still involved a big climb, 2,500 feet up from Glenwood Springs. But even that was luxurious: the Rio Grande Bike Trail, one of the nicest I’ve ever seen. The Rio Grande starts in Colorado, but is nowhere around here. However, the Rio Grande Railway used to provide access to Aspen, and has been converted into a rail trail. It’s steady, gentle grade over 40 miles made the climb reasonably painless. Later in the day, a tailwind helped.

I caught glimpses of the highway leading into Aspen, and was glad I wasn’t on it. Aspen is so expensive that most of the workers can’t afford to live there, so there is a daily rush-hour, similar to the one I saw feeding into Big Sky. The traffic is heavy all day. But all I saw was beautiful countryside, mountain scenery, and many other friendly cyclists. One of them, John, rode with me for quite a ways, and gave me lots of cycling advice. He had a belt-driven bike with only one speed, that I was surprised to hear was an e-bike, since it didn’t look like one. It was aluminum, quite light, and inexpensive.

Floyd had given me lots of recommendations for activities in Aspen, including paragliding and glider soaring, unfortunately, those two were all booked up. Very tempting was a shuttle to the beautiful Maroon Bells, I had reserved a slot on the last bus, but missed it by half an hour. So I just basked in the comfortable hotel room, and gave the bicycle a careful looking over, to make sure it was ready for the harsh conditions. In particular, I checked the brakes and tires, marveling that everything looked fine, after almost 3000 miles.

The hotel is right at the base of one of the four Aspen ski mountains, Buttermilk. Ironically, it’s the easiest mountain, even though Floyd is an expert skier. Even now, in mid July, there was still snow in the half pipe.

Tomorrow will be an easy day, sightseeing, shopping, and making it to those Maroon Bells. One more day of luxury.

Distance 43 miles, 2,892 total. Time 6 hours with stops. Elevation gain 2,585 feet

©️ 2024 Scott Luria