I was a mountaineering instructor for the Colorado Mountain Club for several years. I agree with what the Rocky Mountain Rescue person said. About half of people I saw hiking or climbing in Colorado had no business being there. Many were simple things like hiking at higher altitudes wearing cotton clothes and with a fanny pack too small to hold any foul weather gear. These people certainly had never heard about the “10 Essentials”.
“About half of people I saw hiking or climbing in
Colorado had no business being there.”
Hiking is a dangerous business.
I worked with a guy who was part of the Sierra club.
He was actually an Arab, who had married a nice
Mexican girl from Ventura County California.
She had a big family like normal.
Apparently an experienced hiker.
So experience that he was by himself.
His funeral was packed between her family, the
Sierra club and his coworkers from GTE.
His daughter who was about to graduate from UCLA spoke.
She talked about how she wasn’t allowed to go running
around with all her cousins. She was very grateful.
I had an excellent two-day camping trip, hiking with a friend to two Estes Park peaks on a beautiful trail. We reserved the camp sites and the weather was warm enough to not have snow or ice directly on the trail we’d picked.
You have a wonderful pastime, actually climbing the mountains we hiked up.