But alas, is that the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel which I spy with my proverbial eyes?! Last night something miraculous happened, I slept. I slept uninterruptedly. I slept beautiful, nurturing sleep for eight solid hours. No waking up coughing, no interrupting painful throat interludes, no nothing but blanketing blackness of the back of my eyelids.
And that led to... my throat only hurting part of the time today?! Could it be Fred is getting tired of my company? Have someplace more important you have to be you annoying little bug?
What exactly did I do to bring on such blissfulness? Was it the bike ride yesterday? Was it the few beers guzzled at Chad's last night? Was it the Tylenol and Nyquil chaser I downed before laying my head down?
With renewed vigor and the sun shining over the foothills, I loaded up and set out for some cardio. There is a short but steep hike I know of that would be a good litmus test of how far I've dropped. And boy have I dropped far. The first time I did the 1000-foot hike it was in more challenging snow conditions. I made it to the summit boulders though with a steady pace and didn't stop. Today, I needed to pause for three breathers.
One of the less steep sections
When I broke out from underneath the forest canopy and got brushed with sun at the saddle, I knew the grueling climbing was over. All that remained was a traverse and some scrambling. But those rocks to my right look awfully alluring. The snowshoes came off and the scrambling began until I reached a place of pause.
I know, it doesn't look intimidating
It's only a little snow right? Snow-covered slab, ah yes, how appearances can be deceptive. Nothing is more treacherous and unnegotiable. I gave it a feeble effort, going up about my height until I came to an impasse. I was stuck. Even quivering a foot would send me sliding down. There were no large holds to yard up on. And down I slid.
Thankfully I found a small gully to the side and was able to find some dripping, but cleared-of-snow granite to scramble up. Finally I was able to traverse over to the slab.
Oh look, there is a crystal there I can get my left foot on, and there is a small depression for my right foot. Oh sweet blissful granite I could kiss you!! I forgot about the simple yet purely innocent pleasure of slab climbing on clean granite. I could have used another 50 feet of that goodness.
Instead I got to flat top too soon for my liking.
Looking back east
Denver's rather anemic skyline
A beautiful day and a good short outing. I'm glad I didn't choose my original intentions and go skiing around Brainard Lake. I would have died.
Off to Loveland Ski Area Monday morning and then the doctor on Tuesday morning. Hopefully I won't have any ailments any longer when I finally see him.
ARTIST OF POST - Hooverphonic. Just a fun remake of a Depeche Mode song.
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