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In a Foreign Land

Being a tropical low-land dweller, the frigid Colorado mountain was a foreign habitat for us.

Our face was chafing all the time. Initially we applied lip balm on our lips. But our face got so dry that we eventually applied it on our whole mouth and nose. The air was so crisp that we actually finished one stick of lip balm here.

Day 1: Dashing The Loch

In the bone chilling morning, at 2800 metres high, we began our ascend to The Loch from the Glacier Gorge trailhead,

I was excited for the sub-alpine climb. I’ve always been a fan of rugged glacier mountains. My wife on the other hand, dreaded this the moment she saw snow upon snow.

We were very excited to explore the mountains, though a little bit scared because there might be wild bears around. But you see, we did not come here bare handed! We wont be their beaareakfast without a fight!

The climb was tough from the get go. Sometimes the snowy ground would collapse and plunge you knees deep. Hiking on snow is almost like hiking on sand, it doesn’t bounce your step as comfortably.

About two arduous hours in, things got worse.

I felt a sudden wetness in my nose. I thought it was the cold making my nose runny my. But it continued to flow, dripping down my upper lip, forming red blotches on the snow below.

I was in a slight panic. why was my nose bleeding? am i having a brain haemorrhage from the altitude?

Taken after recovering…

My wife, significantly calmer guided me to a nearby rock to take a short rest while we stop the bleeding.

I later found that it’s the low pressure in high altitude, my physical exertion, and dryness, that may have led to a burst a blood vessel in my nose. Turns out it’s a common occurrence, especially for someone not acclimatised to high altitude environment.

After we got the bleeding under control, we pushed on.

The Steepest Snow Slopes

Then come the toughest part of the hike.

We had to ascend series of the steepest snow slopes.

The foot trails of prior hikers, improvised as stair steps made the slope slightly more manageable.

The Prize

Then finally, we were at The Loch.

Now the next hardest thing was to drag ourselves back to the starting point. We were dreading the same steepest slope that took the most wind out of us.

Then we realised we did not have to climb down the same way we climbed up… We could slide down!!