Alain's 1st Fourteener

When we started planning this trip, Jeannie and I thought it would be fun for the guys to do something adventurous together.  It started out as maybe a race or a triathalon, but then Jeannie suggested a fourteener.  For those of you who don't know that term, a fourteener is a mountain that is about 14,000 feet in height.  So, Colorado has 54 of these peaks and many make it a lifetime goal to hike to the top of as many of them as possible.  John did some research and at first wanted to have them hike Long's Peak (very popular one in Rocky Mountain National Park), but he found snow and very steep cliffs and decided that it wasn't the right time to summit this mountain because they'd need some serious gear to complete it.  They've had a ton of snow in the mountains of Colorado this year and the rivers are already seeing a lot of flooding as the snow melts off the moutains.  John finally settled on Mount Bierstadt. 

On Sunday, John picked Alain up from Marcia and Phil's early with a friend to embark on climbing their first fourteener together!  Alain stayed up late the night before packing and playing games with us.  He had all the equipment he thought he would need and all of his food was packed.  While he was gone, we spent a very relaxing day around the house with Marcia and Phil.  It was Alex's 15th birthday (he was only 5 when he was a ring bearer in my wedding), so we went down to Old Town Fort Collins to walk around with the kiddos. 

Alain and John made it home around 3:30pm.  It was a short hike because they started the hike at 11,000 feet and reached the summit at 14, 050 (I think).  They had an amazing time, but looked totally beat up when they returned!  I guess they made it to the top and noticed an afternoon storm coming in, so as they began to trek down the moutain hail, rain, thunder and lightning chased them (literally) most of the way down.  Alain said he couldn't believe how fast they all ran and how much the hail hurt as they were running!  What a great story they have now!