My Four Peaks Trip of 1960

By Todd Eastin

I first attended camp in 1956, the year it moved to its permanent location at the foot of the Five Fingers. This was before there was Adventure Unlimited, Round-up Ranch or a major in mountaineering.

While the activities were varied, the emphasis was clearly on horses, and that interest stuck with me all of my nine summers at Sky Valley Ranch. My last summer there in 1964, I was a wrangler in the Round-up Ranch corral. Despite my clear preference for all things horses and cowboy, the mountains had a more lasting effect on me starting around 1960.  

Early photo of Cap Andrews (center, leaning on arm) with others at the A/U Ranches

With five summers of experimenting with program activities and overnight trips, Cap Andrews, I think, was looking for something new to challenge those campers who had already “done it all.” I had been on all of the overnight trips: Aspen and Ashcroft, Great Sand Dunes, North Cottonwood and Kroenke Lake, rafting the Arkansas and camping near Buffalo Peaks. But I had yet to be on top of a mountain. Thus came into being The Four Peaks Trip, an overnight at Kite Lake above Alma, CO, and a one-day ascent of four 14,000-foot peaks (Mt. Democrat, Cameron Peak, Mt. Lincoln and Mt. Bross). My recollection is that this was not an elective – more of a mandate handed down from Cap and directed specifically to those of us who might have been getting a bit too comfortable with the status quo. And characteristic of his energy, Cap joined us. 

The mountains are the backdrop to everything at the A/U Ranches

So, why was this an experience more lasting for me than being in the corral? There’s something about being up so high under one’s own power and seeing a landscape with a 360-degree view. The mountains were always the backdrop to every activity at camp. They cannot be ignored. You cannot remain neutral to mountains on such a grand scale. I was steeped in them to the point that memory and love of them would stay with me from then on. In later years, I would return to bag peaks with my brother. I think my list topped out at 13, including a 5-hour round trip on Mt. Elbert back in my running days. Not so impressive a total number, but remembered fondly.

Do you have a favorite mountain memory? Send it to stories@adventureunlimited.org and it could appear here in Zipline.