I have become obsessed with 14ers.com and their facebook page. Reading all the trip reports and seeing the excellent pictures of those incredible people climbing 14ers with like 3 feet of snow already fallen up that high, well it makes me feel pretty wimpy!
It has also given me some insight as to how quickly winter has set in above the tree line this year, as those amazing people are postholing up to their thighs while they climb up. I don’t remember it being like that last fall and I am extra mad at myself for not pushing harder then to take advantage of that dry fall.
With that in mind, I decided to check out a trial I knew would get us close to 10,000 feet up in elevation to get an idea of what it might look like right now. I went to Bergen peak (Hike details here). It is a long hike but the views are always wonderful at the top.
There was definitely snow but no so much until we got closer to the summit trail and the snow we did have wasn’t icy yet, we were early enough. Mostly we just worked our way up the trail.
Upon reaching the final summit climb the snow got a little deeper but in the end wasn’t so bad. It was a beautiful day to be out on the trail and strangely we had it mostly to ourselves. We saw a few people going up… a few people at the summit and then a few people on the way down. It was a little weird… but I won’t complain as I love having a normally busy trail like this one to ourselves.
As always, it was a great hike and the day was perfect! The snow wasn’t a big deal although the mud on the way down did get a little tiresome.
hiking to healthy 
One of the things that I love about your blog is that you always find something to like: “As always, it was a great hike and the day was perfect!” I love that.
Don’t feel wimpy for not tackling 14ers in a howling blizzard. Just enjoy the day, enjoy the moment. It’ll never come again.
If my first year or so of living in Colorado has taught me anything it is that no matter how much you do/accomplish here, there will ALWAYS be someone to make you feel wimpy (like the people that did 5 14ers in one day)