North Star Mtn (13,463’) Trip Report

(I have seen 3 different elevations reported, and none of them match my GPS!)
Date: Friday, Feb 8, 2008
Route: Hoosier Pass Trailhead (11,583’)
Elevation gain 1,837 feet. Round trip 6 miles.

About 2:50 up, 10 min on top and 2 hours down.
GPS says my moving average was 1.6 mph and Overall average was 1.1mph.

The weather forecast from the day before: Snow showers likely with areas of blowing snow. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 18. Wind chill values as low as -33. Windy, with a west northwest wind between 36 and 39 mph, with gusts as high as 60 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New snow accumulation of 1 to 3 inches possible.

Not the kind of report you want going into a climb! Knew it was going to be chancy for success, but was hungering for time out in the wild. This was to be my first time back in the saddle since falling off a big rock last July. (I had planned for Clinton Peak, a 13er and also one of the top 100 in Colorado. It was going to be an 11mile round trip hike, assuming I could get to the actual winter trailhead.)

Arrived at the turnoff onto dirt roads at 6am. Still dark. There was at least 7-8” of new snow on the road. Drove in a ways, almost got stuck, and decided that was not the wisest thing to be doing in the dark. Tried to park on the main highway, but the roads were not plowed wide enough there, and did get stuck. Fortunately a passerby pulled me out. Decided to head up to Hoosier Pass and contemplate my options. (Parking on the main road would have given me 1.5 miles extra each way, and I was not sure that I was up for a 14+ mile day…)

Put a cheap thermometer out and it read 16deg. And that wind was howling. Sat and thought some more. Knew that I couldn’t just go home, after waiting SO LONG to get out here again. So, decided to strap on the cross country skis and experiment with them in new snow.

Decided to head west, up an old road that I knew was there. It just kept going up, so I followed my cue! I had seen the terrain before several times, and new the ridge I was on had a “summit,” but I had no idea the elevation. But it was an adventure and I was all over that.

The skis worked well going up. Powder most of the way, but started running into ice further up. So I ditched the skis and walked the last 1/3 mile on ice and rocks. It was cold! I have learned a lot about dealing with the cold, and was SO thankful for the hand/toe warmers and the baklava. I am starting to wonder what the best way to deal with condensation is?! I am thinking about experimenting with a snorkel, or perhaps using one of those “ava-lungs” while I hike. Anything to keep the condensation out of my clothes!!! (Any ideas, anyone???)

Thawed the camera battery out just enough to snap one pic on top. Nice snot-sickle, don’t you think?!? Wow it was cold. (But not as cold as Yale, Troy!!!) The down hill was a laugh. I hiked the skis down past the worst of the ice, then decided to give them a go. Well, my left leg is still not as strong as my right, so that was a problem. Combine that with the fact that I broke one pole in two, and ripped the basket off the other pole – quite the bad combo for trying to control myself on the down hill. Oh yeah, and did I say that they were cross country skis? That’s right… no turning ability. Basically it was: start going too fast and fall. Then repeat. But with the powder it was all great fun.

On getting home I discovered what I had actually climbed North Star Peak. Gerry Roach has the elevation at 13,614 – but that is way off of my GPS?! At any rate, it was just plain great to be out in the wild again. Praising God for the miracle of healing broken femurs!

Now that I know that I am ready – who wants to go on an adventure??

Check out http://wadedara.spaces.live.com for the rest of the pictures.

Core Values

These Core Values are the DNA of who we are. They are written on our hearts. They guide our journey.

1 Intimacy with God
First and foremost, we value intimacy with God as our greatest Biblical Value. Relationship is the key.

Matthew 22:36-38 "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment."


2 Prayer
We see prayer as an act of remaining. Remaining connected to the One from whom all our strength flows. As such, we desire to be defined by our reliance on prayer.

John 15:5 "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.


3 Biblical Application
While faith will always be a component of our relationship with God, it is not a blind faith. We rely on God’s Word to teach us about true life.

John 17:17 “Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.”


4 Community
We desire to be real. To be a transformational community where we are willing to risk going beyond “I’m fine” into transparency and authenticity.

Hebrews 10:24-25 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.


5 Service
As we have freely received, we freely give. Love prompts us to not keep the blessing for ourselves, but to pass it on through our service.

Galatians 5:13 You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love.


6 The Lost (*)
We add this as an “aspirational value,” and have to confess that it is way too easy to live empty lives focused on self. As lost people matter to God, we pray that our hearts will also be broken for the lost.

Proverbs 24:11 Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering toward slaughter.

Dara muses about our recent trip...

Making memories in Washington DC.

Two of the three babies!!!

What we came to realize was that this trip was truly about people. The time that we were able to share with people in their everyday lives was the most meaningful. That sounds cliché to say, but that we truly where we found our joy. Yes, we enjoyed seeing some sights later on, but it was the time becoming more rich in our relationships that will stand out. All these people shared a part of our lives in the past, and this visit will build our memories for the future. Maybe the realization for me should be a reminder that experiences are to be shared. I was able to share some unique sights with my children, and that made my return trips to D.C. and Boston memorable, more so than just the location. And in NYC, just watching the diversity of people and wondering about their personal histories made the trip fun, although I would have liked more interaction with others.

Some highlights: grocery shopping with the Kelly’s and their three babies, seeing my kids play with my friends’ kids and believing these relationships will exist for a long time, sitting around in people’s kitchens and hearing about what is going on in their lives, receiving prayers for our ministry and travel safety, taking pictures with Flat Stanley, enjoying some amazing weather with outdoor adventures like kayaking, playing at the beach, high-pointing, exploring in the woods, etc.

Some things I learned: that everybody came from somewhere else at some point; that NYC really is the city that never sleeps; that much of the country is interchangeable for good or bad; that I want to return to New England with my mom and explore some little villages; that history happens in ordinary people’s backyards; that God draws people to himself, even if the place to which they are drawn isn’t like the place where I was drawn; that freedom really does have a price; that every conflict in history has two sides; that people may have a wide variety of incomes, we are all basically the same; that people are nice if you expect them to be; that if we are ever blessed to be able to take an extended trip abroad, we need a home base to return to where we can relax between excursions; that I can trust my children enough to travel with them and God enough to bring me home.

High Points!

Indiana

Ohio

Delaware

Georgia

Visiting the high points in different states has become a very enjoyable adventure for our family. The first few we did were in the Western states, and usually involved a good hike of some sort. As we have begun to get a few of the Eastern states, we learned that most of these are simply enjoyable drives to locations that we would have never visited if not for the high points! Our recent trip to the East Coast to visit friends and supporters of Kairos, the college-aged ministry we work with, provided several opportunities to see the highest point in some new states.

Brasstown Bald (4784’) is the highest point in Georgia, and Sassafrass Mountain (3560’) is the highest point in South Carolina. We especially enjoyed these two stops on the same day as we were able to share the experience with our friends Brad and Kathye Killer (and family!). The conversations were a blessing, the trees were changing colors, and the weather was perfect. Yeah!

Delaware was an easy stop! It was right on the road by a fire tower. It’s name was Ebright Azimuth (448’) and it was the second lowest. (Only Florida is lower.)

We also stopped in Ohio and Indiana on the same day, as they were only about 100 miles apart. Ohio was at Campbell Hill (1550’) and the write up on the high point web site described the treacherous and most manicured west face, which is the route we also choose! Indiana’s high point was appropriately named Hoosier Hill (1257’). The most memorable part of this trip was the 10 mile long “roller coaster road” that we had to travel. Caleb is convinced that we actually got air off of one of the bumps!

That makes 8 highpoints that we have done as a family – lots of adventure ahead of us.

Mt Evans - Another Gardner family 14er!

Wow, what a blessing this trip was. Not only was it our 5th family 14er, it was also the first mountain for Wade to climb since breaking his leg back in July. Now to be honest, it wasn’t a full hike, but it sure was a great day. (We started at 12,800 feet of elevation)

We left home at 6am. The road up Mt Evans (only Evans and Pikes Peak have roads up them) was closed for the season 5 miles below the summit. This meant a discounted toll (only $5) and less people! So, we parked at Summit Lake and began the hike around 8:30am. A Park Ranger was at the lake, and he measured the air temp to be 31 and the temp with wind chill to be 12 degrees!

The first .5 miles was on pavement, then we turned straight uphill for the last 1.3 miles. As short as the hike looked, it ended up taking us 3 hours to summit, eat, and be ready to head down. The vast majority of the trip was a fun celebration – stories, snacks, and cookies in store for whoever beat Dad to the top. (Anna and Dad tied, so she earned a cookie. Then Caleb beat Dad down, earning a cookie as well!) The wind died down so things warmed up enough to be pleasant, especially with our warm clothes on. The view at the top was priceless. Denver was covered with clouds, but the view all around us was wide open.

We had the summit to ourselves, a rarity on Mt Evans. As we prepared to descend we found about 8 mountain goats! They were beautiful, and so tame! There were two young ones as well. Anna tried to touch them, but they were not quite that tame.

The trip down went much more quickly (2 hours), with stories being told (and made up) to make the time go by. On the drive down we saw some bighorn sheep as well. The aspens had been changing colors, and God’s beauty was evident all around.

We praise God for this amazing place to live. And we are so thankful for these amazing bodies that are able to heal so quickly. (It was just 10 weeks ago that Wade broke his femur!)


Check out the pictures at http://wadedara.spaces.live.com/

An update on Wade

Life goes on! Maybe not “as normal,” but life does go on. I wanted to thank everyone for the thoughts, prayers, visits, calls, emails, care packages, and everything else that has blessed us so much. We love you and have truly felt your love for us over the last couple of weeks. So, thank you very much.

With the crutches I have found that there is not much that I can’t do – as long as I do it slowly! With the laptop and wireless internet, my office has now become the bedroom. I am able to get the computer work done without a problem, so that is a blessing. I have also spent time in the past with a Korean man who wants to improve his English skills, and as he is now studying for his English fluency test, he wanted to meet 5 days a week. That fits in perfectly with my open schedule, so he comes over every afternoon and we spend some time chatting. He has many interesting questions (from watching too many movies!) so we have a good time together.

Dara has been a huge blessing, bringing me my carrot juice in bed every morning and taking care of all my needs. This morning (Thursday) she headed back to Texas, where she had left the kids and the car to make the trip home to take care of me. She will finish up her trip with some time in Arkansas seeing her cousins, before driving home with the kids next week. In the meantime, my Mom and sister continue to check in on me to make sure that all is going well.

This coming Monday the stitches come out. In two more days I will be off of two of the medications I have been taking. The swelling in my leg has gone down some, but there is still quite a ways to go there. I have been able to go for some walks and do some of the exercises that I had been doing before the accident, so all in all I feel that things are going well.

I will stop here, as we hope to get out a full newsletter the end of July.

Thanks for the prayers! Love to you all,
Wade

PS - Those fancy stockings are called "ted hose" and they are used to compress my legs and push the blood up and out of my legs, in the hopes that I don't get any blood clots and that the swelling will go down. Laugh if you will, but I just got the hospital bill and learned that they are high class - they cost $93.75!!! (Gasp!)

Lessons applied at 6,000 feet

There are so many lessons to be learned from injuries like this. The biggest one seems to be the reminder (that I had started learning earlier in the week!) that GOD IS IN CONTROL! Of course God desires that we plan and prepare, but all the while surrendering final control to him.

I feel so blessed over these last few days to acknowledge that God has been in control. He has brought me through the worst of it and he will soon bring me through all of it.

Dara did a fantastic job in explaining the incident. I won’t say more except to add the picture above. Josh is pictured here, as he does the initial climb to set the rope. (And then we realized the rope wasn’t long enough for the entire route!) I had just unclipped from the top “Protection” spot and started down when I fell. I was connected to the “Protection” spot on the right, which gave me just enough room to smash into the ledge and break my femur before coming to a stop.

I was so thankful that Josh was there. I couldn’t have endured the pain hanging out waiting for the rescue team to get there and get up to me. Josh was able to do a solo descent with me hanging on to him, and had me on the ground and ready for the ambulance as soon as they got there.

I stayed awake through it all, faces and voices drifting through the haze of pain and then the drugs that they induced. People who knew me and loved me were there for me the entire time. One of our students turned out to be on the same floor in the hospital as she delivered a baby boy that same day! So students and friends continued to surround me the entire weekend.

I came home Sunday evening, and have been further blessed by the many calls and emails. I have crutches, and am as mobile as I want to be! The doctor just says not to put more than 50% of my weight on the bad leg for the next 6 weeks. I can’t physically do even that yet, but I am working on it!

Wireless internet and a laptop makes communication amazingly easy! So we look forward to keeping everyone up to date on the progress.

We are so thankful that God provided for us to sign up with Samaritan Ministries just a few months ago. We called them and they say we just need to submit the bills as soon as they come in. Anything we turn in by the end of July will go into their September newsletter, and we should start receiving compensations by mid September. Please be in prayer that all of those details go smoothly. We were amazed to find out from the hospital that if we could pay the bill in full (credit card or however) within 30 days, the bill would be reduced in ½!!!

With God in control (lesson fully learned now!) we are confident that all the details will come together.

Thanks for all the love! Each one of you are appreciated, each one of you makes a difference in our lives.

Peace of Christ,
Wade

"Lord Willing" summer and Saturday's events

As our family has been making summer plans, I found myself often saying, “We are going to see our cousins, Lord willing,” or “We will get to see our friend Chance in Alabama, Lord willing.” Or “We’ll get to see Grandma Elley in Baltimore and then go to New York, Lord willing.” Finally, Caleb just looked at me in exasperation and sighed, “It’s just going to be a Lord Willing Summer!”

It is definitely such as summer as we make our own plans while at the same time recognizing that God is in control, and being ready to submit to his higher purposes. Well, yesterday God changed what we thought the summer was going to look like through an accident that Wade had. (If you can’t stand suspense, he’s okay now.)

Saturday, Wade went rock climbing here in the Springs with some of the college students. At the end of their time, Wade was making the last climb to “clean up,” taking down the protection they had used for the previous climbs. Because of the angle of the top couple of anchors, he had to end up down-climbing from each clip to the next instead of repelling, meaning that he was unprotected for 10 feet at a time. He had to stay in one spot for longer than normal dealing with a loose rock, and by the time he reached over to unclip this ring, he lost his grip and fell, which means he fell 10 feet to the next clip and ten more feet with the rope that was already out. As he fell, he hit a small ledge and hit his hip and leg and immediately started crying out in pain, having felt a bone break. He was suspended awkwardly, sometimes upside down, about 40 feet in the air, thankfully with a very strong guy at the bottom on belay. One of those with him was a guy, Josh, formerly in our ministry, who is a nurse and a good climber. While others called 911, Josh climbed up and stabilized him, and they were able to lower him to the ground by the time the ambulance got there.

At Memorial Hospital, x-rays revealed a cleanly broken femur a couple of inches below the hip, but no other internal injuries. (Wade had started up that last climb the first few feet without his helmet, remembered it and then returned to put it on-PTL!) Josh began trying to contact family, but I was in Texas with the kids, Wade’s mom was in Baltimore and Jenni was in town but had misplaced her cell phone. They decided that they needed to do surgery to but in a rod and screws, and they wanted family there. Thankfully by the time Wade was taken to surgery after 8:00, Jenni had arrived. Thanks to the wonders of family working for the airlines, I was able to catch the last flight from Dallas to Denver last night and arrive at the hospital after 1 a.m., after Wade had gotten out of recovery and was taken to a room. (Josh’s new bride, Sara, picked me up in Denver.) After I got there, Josh and Sara and Jenni were able to leave and get some rest and I took night duty.

Although we did not get much sleep between nurse’s proddings and such, Wade was feeling a tremendous deal better this morning. The surgeon, orthopedic doctor and physical therapists worked with him in the morning, and we were coming home by late afternoon. I envisioned weeks in a wheelchair, but the doctors were saying that research shows that some pressure on a bone speeds healing, so Wade is on crutches with the ability to put no more than 50% of his weight on his leg. His leg is really swollen and he is in some pain, but we are thankful that it is no worse.

I am sure that as Wade is feeling better, he will put something in his own words on the blog, with all the correct climbing terminology (sorry to all you climbers who are cringing at the butchering I did of that part of the story).

To those of you we were supposed to see this summer, I guess you can say, “Lord willing, we will see you.” Don’t know when that will be, but we will be in touch as we can make more plans. To the rest of you, keep Wade in your prayers for a quick and full recovery, and for a servant’s heart for me as I try to do my part. Thank you to those who have already served us in a myriad of ways. Thank you all for being part of our community of friends, whether nearby or far away.

Love,
Dara and Wade

Lessons learned at 14,000 feet.

As Dara and the kids were in Texas, my sister Jenni and I took a couple of days to go hiking and camping in the wilds of Colorado. We were going into a region that had three different mountains that were all over 14,000 feet high, with the hopes of climbing them during the trip. At least I was hoping to climb them all; Jenni was hoping to get Blanca, the highest one.

There actually is a road all the way to the lake (Lake Como) where we camped, but it is labeled as “The hardest 4WD road in Colorado,” so we only bounced over the first mile of it in my 4WD Jeep Cherokee, then hiked the next 4 miles in. It was a beautiful camping site by the lake, and made for a great approach to the peaks the next morning.

I was up at 3:30am, and climbing Little Bear (the hardest of the three) by headlamp. I climbed the Northwest Face, which is not a standard route and therefore has much less chance of anyone being on it and knocking rocks down. It was slow, cautious going through some class 4 climbing – the ½ mile distance took me 2 hours! But I was on the ridge below the summit for sunrise, as brief as it was with the cloud cover overhead.

As I summitted this first peak, that it when Jenni was up and headed up the valley below to Blanca, a mostly class 1 hike with some class 2 for the last mile or so. My plan was to traverse the ridge from Little Bear to Blanca, and meet her at the top. We communicated via 2-way radio, and everything was good for us to continue our separate ways and meet on Blanca.

I was ecstatic about the opportunity in front of me! For the past two years I had been dreaming about this hike. The ridge has been labeled “the toughest traverse in Colorado,” and of course that had me ready to give it a go! Through reading many accounts, and viewing many pictures, I felt adequately prepared for it. The guide book says it is a lot of class 3, some class 4, and a few class 5.0-5.2 moves. Using a rope on the ridge is in fact not recommended, as it hampers movement too much.

From the beginning it seemed likely that I was going to get to Blanca before Jenni, so there was no pressure to rush things. So, I enjoyed a leisurely stroll along the ridge, pausing for pictures and just to “drink in” the wonders of God all around me. I could see Jenni for most of the time, and she also could see me on top of the ridge. The entire trip across had me thinking, “Wow – I’m living out my dream!”

All good things do seem to come to an end, and after 2 hours and 10 minutes I was on top of Blanca. Then I was able to take pictures of Jenni coming up the other route, and call some friends from the summit. (Yes – I even had a cell phone signal!)

Jenni made it to the top, and we took the usual pictures and enjoyed some time resting. As I wanted to pick up a third peak (Ellingwood), I headed out before Jenni, so I could get the extra peak and then meet her back in the valley for the hike to camp. Ten minutes below the summit I met a guy named Dan, who was on his way up Blanca. His plan was also to do all three peaks that day, but to save Little Bear for last. We parted ways and I took the ridge across to Ellingwood, moving at a good rate. I made the ½ mile over in 50 minutes, and enjoyed a little bit of time on top taking video of Jenni glissading down from Blanca. As I was packing up to descend the standard route, Dan showed up again. He had also pushed over hard from Blanca, and had now finished his second 14er of the day. We said hello again and I headed down.

Jenni and I met in the valley floor, and enjoyed the beautiful hike back to camp. After an hour of cooling our feet off in the stream, eating and packing, we set off down the trail to our vehicle. After a short 20 minutes or so into the hike – we were in for a surprise as Dan showed up, this time limping badly and with a hand covered with duct tape and blood!

Right after we had parted ways on Ellingwood, he had set off down the West Ridge (class 3). Ten feet off the summit he had stepped on a rock that rolled out from under him, pitching him off of a 7 foot ledge, rolling him forward off another 7 foot ledge, where he finally stopped short of going off of a 30 foot ledge. His hand looked broken, his pinkie finger was hanging on by ribbons, and his foot seemed to be broken. Plus having bruises all over. Fortunately, there was no damage to his head at all. (No helmet.) It had been apparent to me on the mountains that Dan was strong and in good shape, and this was proved correct as he had descended the entire mountain in bad shape, and had caught up to us just as we were leaving the lake camping area.

At first Dan was a little reluctant to take help from us, but we insisted and soon had him using one of our trekking poles in his good hand. There was a stream crossing ahead that we were concerned about, but when we got there Dan was able to navigate it quite well, considering.

As we talked, Dan made the comment that he had prayed for safety that morning, and had a dark moment after the fall when his prayer wasn’t answered. It led into some great discussions about how God answers prayer (Jenni and I had also prayed for safety – and that prayer had been answered). One thing we realized was that even though Dan had gotten hurt, there were people (Jenni and I) readily available to help out! Throughout our discussions we realized that even though Dan has climbed most of the 14ers in Colorado – his gear and preparation level was probably not all that it should be, especially for solo climbs. He had actually forgotten his helmet that trip, and was still planning to ascent the West Ridge on Little Bear without it. Doing that climb in the afternoon you are guaranteed that climbers will be coming down above you, knocking down loose rocks on your head as you go through the “hourglass,” a narrow stretch that all the loose rock funnels into as it rolls down the mountain. This stretch is also known as a “bowling alley.” It is not a very safe place to be even with a helmet, let alone without one. I concluded that possibly God was answering Dan’s prayers by letting him get some minor injuries that would keep him from a major injury!

As we debated and discussed life, God and prayer, I realized the conclusion that I needed to learn through it all was that I just have to trust that God is in control, regardless of circumstances. Little did I know how that lesson was going to apply to me in just 2 short days.

I ended up jogging down the road and was able to 4WD up another mile and a half, saving Dan a good 2 ½ miles that he didn’t have to hike on that bad foot.

He was so appreciative of the help, and seemed totally strong and focused enough to make the drive into Alamosa for help, so we gave him our info and let him go on his way.

Dan emailed me yesterday to say as amazing as it seems that there were no breaks! But it was the worst foot/knee sprain that they had ever seen! Dan is now thankful to be home recovering with his family. Anxiously waiting the opportunity to apply some of the new lessons in being prepared in the wilds of Colorado as he attempts more 14ers. I look forward to climbing with him next year when we are both recovered.

Check out the pictures... http://wadedara.spaces.live.com

Quandary Peak

Quandary Peak, 14,265 feet

On June 16, eighteen of us set off on an adventure up one of Colorado’s 14ers! (14,000 foot mountains) One couple went with a baby in a backpack – but aside from them the other fifteen of us made it to the summit. That included the entire Gardner family!

This was our 4th Family 14er, and the first of 2007. It reminded me (again) of two things – first, how difficult it is to motivate a 7 and 8 year old up a mountain, and second, how rewarding it is to accomplish such a challenge as a family! The truth be told, the kids both did immensely better than the hikes last year. We struggled a bit near the summit, but the trip down was filled with word games, laughs and a lot of motivation to get down. (The thunder kept getting closer and louder!)

Of the group, three were new friends who wanted to hike a 14er, three were family friends (with an 11 year old son), two were married students with the baby, and the other four were college students. And the Gardner four makes 18.

The trip provided for some amazing lessons in “perseverance,” which made an entire lesson for Sunday school possible the next day. The idea behind perseverance being that there is some sort of reward in store (the summit of a 14er), and that perseverance is working something good in us (character!) even as we struggle through the difficulties of the situation. We kept reminding our kids how that with every step – they were literally becoming stronger! And so we persevere in our spiritual journeys, knowing that in the process, we are being transformed more and more into the image of Christ.

Pictures at http://wadedara.spaces.live.com/