Clarissa Chun - 2008 United States Olympian

It was our week off the mat, in between our two training camps. Our team leader, Stan Zeamer planned a great get away for the Olympic team, coaches and training partners. We went up to Breckenridge where we had an itinerary of fun activities.

Probably one of the most fun and grueling activities planned was to hike up Quandary Peak, a 14,265 ft mountain. Our day started off early at 7:45 am. We started hiking on a trail, climbing over rocks and trees that had fallen over, then suddenly the trail would end or disappear. We started to feel a bit lost, thinking we have to go more to the right and not so much up yet. We got through to the top of that little start area, to find out that we started up the wrong way. We had hit dirt road. We thought we knew where this peak was, so we walked down the dirt road to another mountain. Luckily there was a Colorado Springs Utilities truck and we got directions to where Quandary Peak was. We were so close to it, we back tracked back up the dirt road and started hiking. We were lost for about 2 hours.

The trail started off nice, with lush green trees around and a soft dirt path. That didn’t last too long before we had hit rocks. Rocks everywhere, big rocks and little rocks, there was a trail of rocks and you could tell because the smaller rocks were the trail and after a while at some points they were all the same size and you knew but to just go straight up. As I was getting closer to the top of the mountain, I definately could feel the altitude or lack of air up there. My fingers were swollen like sausages and there were times where I felt light headed from standing up too fast. We took some breaks the closer we got up. People would pass us on their way back down and they would tell us how far we were from the top. There were times were I felt discouraged and wondered if I was going to make it to the top. But when eight year old kids were hiking back down, that motivated me. If eight year olds were hiking this mountain, then I have to make it to the top!

I made it to the top! The whole team made it to the top! It was my first time hiking a 14er. I could not have done it alone. It was an amazing feeling being on top of that mountain. It was breathtaking and beautiful! It was a great time to reflect. I was exhausted and I was not ready to hike back down. Why didn’t anyone carry hand gliding equipment with them, so that we could hand glide back to Breckenridge? That seemed like a more fun thing to do than hike back down. We stayed at the top for an hour or so and headed back down. It took us a total of about 8 and a half hours to go up and down the mountain, from the time we got lost and including our break at the top. We were very fortunate to have had great weather the whole day. We couldn’t have picked a better day to hike up Quandary Peak.