https://imgur.com/a/Pn3npBb Full album with descriptions of the features.
I made my attempt at the Keyhole Route today. Goddamn. 16 miles with 5 of them scrambling over boulders. I had shit sleep, ate like 600 calories the day prior, and didn't drink enough water even though I drained a camelbak and two gatorades. By the time I got to the top of The Trough, a 500ft vertical scramble, I was so dehydrated that I vomited twice while looking at The Homestretch from that teeny tiny hole at the top. 100 feet to go, wasn't going to start vomiting and potentially passing out at a 45 degree angle 14.2k' up. Now I have to do it either next week or next year.
Technically the shitpost came from the mountain because for a brief moment I had a signal and tried to make this post instead of enjoying the majesty of nature in one of its most sacred places.
edit: I also got lost coming back on The Narrows and got to confront a fear of heights by climbing over boulders hundreds of feet above granite slabs. Won't do that again.
Highly recommend the Rockies. Rocky Mountain National Park is such a grand cathedral to me that the moment I saw it I had to move to within day-trip distance. Mills Lake, with Longs Peak being the largest mountain on the left and Mount Pagoda in the centre, is peak serenity. Loch Vale is clear enough that you can see trout 6 feet down and the lakes up in that snowy bowl on the left are surrounded by wave after wave of wildflowers. You really suffer to have that sunrise coffee and joint but when you do it's a genuinely perfect morning.
edit: Plus you climb mountains to climb mountains to get to the mountain you want to climb.
i so want to go see one of those glacial lakes! going out to the rockies is a sort of wish list long term plan for us since it would be a hell of a road trip. i've never seen mountains taller then 6000ft in person.