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A Summer Snowstorm on Mount Princeton
  EnlargeMount Princeton, the southern most of Colorado’s collegiate peaks, rises 14,197 feet. We succeeded in climbing it one year later in 1998. Photo by Richard Fleck
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We gingerly stepped across the tundra
in a freezing rain that iced our trail high
on Mount Princeton that made each rock
a wobbly challenge in strong winds that
flared out our ponchos forcing us to
become struggling bats when at last we
found a cave for shelter from rain changed
to snow, and after a brief respite from the
storm, we clambered up to 13,000 feet
barely keeping our balance, and then some
descending climbers shouted “don’t even
 EnlargeIllustration by Gerard M. Short
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try it! If you do, you’ll face an alpine
hurricane.” Nonetheless, we continued as
best we could until we could no longer see
through our fogged and frozen glasses.
We had to accept our defeat by a freakish
blizzard of sleet in early August and quickly
began our retreat knowing we’d be back
