2008 Newsletters
Rollins Pass Adventure
Aug 1st, 2008
Left to right: Darol Kubacz, Steve Ackerman, Erik and Ben Witherell (l to r) pause at the first snow covered section of the trail up to the Continental Divide!
At the bottom of the Jeep trail in Rollinsville CO is where our adventure begins. We unload our mountain bikes at 7:00 a.m. in the cool, crisp Colorado air at 9,200 feet. Darol Kubacz is training to be the first paraplegic athlete to ascend Mt. Kilimanjaro – the Roof of Africa - which he will do on his One-Off bike in August. Steve Ackerman is the only paraplegic athlete to ride around the world on a hand cycle. The goal of this adventure is to reach the Continental Divide – the ridge in the Rockies that separates east and west water flow. This day is a big undertaking because Darol and Steve are riding One-Offs (three wheeled bikes designed for paras which they crank with their arms). Erik is on his full suspension tandem Mountain Bike with Ben Witherell as his Captain.
We are not sure how high we will be able to get because of incredible snowfall this spring, since areas with deep snow drifts, even in July, may render our trail impassible. On top of this, thunderstorms are predicted for the afternoon. We are setting out to climb 2,000 vertical feet over 26 miles round trip to the Needles Eye Tunnel, the old (now closed) train tunnel that plunges under the Continental Divide at 11,000 feet. The extremely bumpy dirt road is brutal for the One-Off riders who don’t have suspension on their bikes. They lay prone on a chest pad as they pedal, which pounds their body with every bump.
The trail is a series of switchbacks that follows an old railroad route that went up and over the Continental Divide. At 10.1 miles we round the beautiful Yankee Doodle Lake at 10,300 feet and pause to watch 3 skiers descend the steep bowl that drops a thousand vertical to the edge of the lake.
At 10.3 miles we ride over a snowfield that is packed down from Jeeps that have crossed it, and Darol One-Off pedals through the first snow patch of his life. As we climb higher, the clouds darken and we receive some threats from the thunder above, but it seems to be bypassing us. We round our final switchback and head north towards the Needles Eye Tunnel.
There is a huge snowfield 150 feet wide blocking our path. Because the snow field falls off to the right at such a steep angle, a One-Off bike cannot ride straight across without flipping. Erik is able to kick steps into the snow and wheel the tandem bike across. Darol boldly plunges off the side of the trail descending from the snow at a 45 degree angle, with Ben giving steady side pressure to the One-Off to keep the bike from tumbling into the boulder field below. Once across, on the steep scree field, Darol drops into low gear and muscles the bike up the steep incline and back onto the trail. Steve quickly follows suit while Erik carries packs across. As we ride higher the weather darkens, but we only feel a few rain drops.
Sudden claps of thunder jolt us to attention and we continually scan the sky for trouble. Below us now is shimmering Jenny Lake. Our last formidable obstacle comes just a mile up the road where a number of huge rocks, a steel gate, and a concrete barricade block us from riding through a sharp notch in the mountain. Steve and Darol unbuckle the belts securing them to their bikes, and Erik helps Darol onto his back and piggy-backs him across the uneven rocks for 50 feet to where the path is clear again. Ben does the same with Steve and then shuttles the bikes up to them.
Then we all clamber onto our bikes for the final climb to the summit. Fifteen minutes later, with thunder booming around us, we are all giving each other high 5’s at the tunnel which passes through the top of the Continental Divide. By 6:00 p.m. our team has descended safely to their cars. Even though Steve suffered from a bad nose bleed, and both Steve and Darol's chests felt like they had been kicked by a horse, everyone agreed it had been "a great adventure."
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