If you think Ollie and I make it up each mountain on our own accord, you’re terribly wrong.
And we were reminded of this even more just after our recent 14er summited, the 38th 14,000ft peak we’ve climbed together. While we bust our butts the day of to make it to the top each time we set out to tackle a mountain, we are always reminded that we succeed each time due to the support and help of our teams both on the mountain and beyond.
Let’s rewind back two days before our summit attempt. We were driving across the state, set to hike up to Island Lake in the Ice Lakes Basin near Ouray, Colorado. This has been a dream spot for years to not only take Ollie but to explore the area from a photographer’s POV. This alpine lake and it’s surroundings just have so much to offer that it’s actually even been a bit intimidating to visit for years out of the sheer anticipation and aided by self-doubt that I, as a photographer, just wasn’t ready for a place like this. But we finally bit the bullet, I shoved my concerns aside, and we made it happen. I packed up my gear, fashioned Ollie’s pack to his back, full to the brim with the essentials (bowls, water, food, treats, etc.), and we set off on the hike, 6.9-mile roundtrip with 2,670ft elevation gain to essentially paradise in Colorado.
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