Here are some photos of my hike of Mt. Yale on Friday. Before I get to all of the photos, I wanted to share things did get fairly dangerous coming down the mountain. While on the summit at approximately 11:30 a.m., we noticed some darkish clouds and some precipitation coming down on Huron Peak, a peak about 20 to 25 miles north. It was something to be concerned about, but all in all, things looked okay.

Within minutes, dark clouds came on really quickly and before we knew it, the wind built up and snow was coming down with intermittent lightning and thunder. We were already alarmed and hurrying down the exposed trail (i.e. no trees, nothing to hide under, totally exposed to the elements), when my hiking partner Jason felt static on his walking pole ... and he tossed it away from him. That's when we freaked out! We ran, and I mean ran!, straight downhill towards the forest. We went off the trail and down a rocky embackment with loose scree. We slid down so fast with the wind blowing hard, snow coming down and occasional lightning rumbles for what seemed like the most disturbing 35 minutes of my life. We seperated as well to lessen the chance that we would both get struck by lightning, so one of us could perform CPR or help in anyway. For both of us, it was the scariest moment on a 14er hike.

We eventually did reach the forest and the storm subsided. We sat for about ten minutes. recouping ourselves mentally and physically before heading downhill and meeting back up on the trail. The funny thing was, once the storm was gone, things became really peaceful and the rest of the hike was actually quite nice. What an experience! -Steve

Click on any image in the left column to view them at a larger size. A new window will open.	Here's a photo taken about 10 minutes before we began running like you wouldn't believe! And no, I didn't take any photos during the scramble - something about running for my life that sort of got in the way.
	Ah, but before that, just look at these beautiful photos. It was bright and sunny too - and oh the scenery will speak for itself! :)
	Hiking upward. That's Jason, my hiking partner. Notice how clear and blue it was, just two hours before!
	Standing on the Mt. Yale summit.
	Looking out towards Cottonwood Pass from the summit.
	Jason had already hiked this mountain once before, so he gave me the honor of reaching it first and having a few minutes alone on the summit. Because of how bad the weather became, we are pretty sure we are the only two people who reached the summit that day (according to the log at the trailhead - We only saw two other hikers who scrambled down before reaching the summit). -Written by Steve Garufi in Buena Vista, CO. Note: I ascended this mountain in July 2007 under more pleasant weather conditions. See those photos here.

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