Mount Harvard

For the fifth year in a row, the third with both of my sons, I traveled to Colorado to do some fourteeners. Andrew was unable to take as much time off of work, so he came a little later. Sam and I flew into Denver late on a Tuesday evening. My flight arrived at 11:20 p.m. I got about an hour of sleep on the plane, my only sleep of the night. I hooked up with Sam and we took a shuttle to get our off-airport rental car. By the time I got my checked bag, caught the shuttle and did the car paperwork, it was after 1:00 a.m. Then we discovered that one of the tires had a slow leak, resulting in low pressure and it had to be filled up several times, before we finally got a can of leak plugger which we sprayed into the tire outside Buena Vista about 4:00 a.m. After following a confusing set of small county roads, difficult to see in the dark, we arrived at the Mount Harvard trailhead (North Cottonwood Creek) and started hiking about 5:35 a.m. The trailhead elevation is 9,900 feet and it gains 4,600 feet over the next 6.75 miles to the summit of Mount Harvard. The trail is very nicely engineered, taking a relatively straight, 

gently elevated course, up through the glaciated valley of Horn Fork Basin, remaining in trees and brush for about 3.4 miles 

until reaching treeline 

at about 11,500 feet. To the right, a view up the Mount Columbia massive we would come down later in the afternoon.

The ground was moist and covered in lots of downed trees and rotting vegetation, which proved a fertile laboratory for producing mushrooms. Sam, with Andrew in mind, was on the lookout for mushrooms and spied many different kinds. In particular, he found a number of mushrooms with red tops and white spots which Andrew later expressed great excitement about. 

After reaching treeline, the trail climbs another 1,100 feet over the next 1.5 miles (below, Sam with Mount Yale to his far right and Mount Princeton barely visible just above him to the right)

until a trail junction is reached for Bear Lake at about 12,600 feet. 

We found that a number of people we met at the summit had camped that night at Bear Lake (visible from much higher up, to the right, below). 

As is often the case with the fourteeners, and the distorting impact of many high surrounding mountains, we weren't sure which peak was Mount Harvard until we got relatively close. Once we determined which peak was Harvard, it was still hard to determine which part of the peak was the high point. After climbing another 300 feet of trail through talus, 

we reached a saddle, at 12,900 feet, between a 13,588 foot peak to the right and another higher peak to the left. 

Mount Harvard was very deceiving. From the Horn Fork Basin it looked like a mild, gentle nub on the horizon. As later pictures will attest, from a different angle it has a very impressive and imposing face. 

There the trail crosses a basin 

and starts up toward Harvard's south ridge. Then we angled north following the south side of the ridge, 

past a distinctive bump on the ridge which looks like the nose on a face. 

The slope eventually turns into larger and larger rocks, 

the last 45 or 50 feet being a class 3 to class 2 climb, 

depending on the route, over large boulders to the summit at 14,420 feet.  

Mount Harvard is the third tallest mountain in Colorado and the fourth tallest mountain in the contiguous United States (after Mount Whitney in California and Mounts Elbert and Massive in Colorado). Harvard is part of the Collegiate Peaks Range. Last year we climbed Mounts Belford (to the left) and Oxford (to the right), visible from the summit, also part of this range. 

Below is a picture of Mount Harvard (the peak in the center of the picture) taken last year from Mount Belford.

Mount Princeton and Mount Yale, also part of the Collegiate Peaks, are visible from Harvard. On the summit of Harvard we found a Princeton banner. 

Apparently some Princeton grads must want the name of their school on the higher summit. The hard part of our hike was about to begin. This time to another Collegiate Peak: Mount Columbia, below and center right, 2.75 miles away, across and below a rugged ridge that would tax our endurance, the subject of a later post.  

As we hiked down the ridge from Harvard, we took several backward looking shots at the rocky peak (note the people standing on top).

Note Sam walking across the side of a smaller sub-peak below, with Harvard to the back-left.

Finally, several views from the vicinity of Mount Columbia. The first picture, taken by Sam, shows me going up the summit block of Columbia with Harvard in the background. It no longer looks like a nobby little hill, but an impressive massif.

Next, as we went down the talus on the side of Columbia later in the day. Note that the relative height of the various rocks on the summit look much different than they did from the hike earlier in the day through Horn Fork Basin. 

Harvard turned out to be one of the my favorite hikes in Colorado, distinguished from Columbia, a later post, which was not as fun. The trail in is beautiful, gentle and to the point, the mountain itself has a commanding presence and offers fantastic views on all sides and the climb to the summit itself was a rock scramble, nicer than a dirt trail. 

Cologne Cathedral

Cologne Cathedral, or Kolner Dom in German, is the seat for the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Cologne and the most visited landmark in Germany.

With spires that are 516 feet tall, it is the third-tallest church in the world (behind Ulm Cathedral [530 feet] and Our Lady of Peace Basilica in Cote d'Ivoire [518 feet]).  

Because it is so large and difficult to get a good picture, I have borrowed a couple from the internet. This one a side view. 

And this one an amazing aerial view that shows it from the air and its shape as a cross.

A view of the front. 

Having just visited Strasbourg Cathedral, I was struck by the fact that the outside of Cologne Cathedral does not have the same level of artistic detail or statuary. It is also strikingly black, a result of pollution, primarily from coal used for heating as well as railroad steam engine smoke, unlike the still mostly beautiful reddish sandstone at Strasbourg. The front, or west facade, has three portals and the portals are very similar to Strasbourg. Each has statues fanning out from the doors, a tympanum with scenes from the featured subject and archivolts (ornamental moldings surrounding the arched opening) with mini scenes in them. The center portal has two doors with Mary as the main figure, just visible below, with the tympanum and archivolts above her. 

Statues to the left of Mary

and to her right.

The left portal, with one door, is the Magi portal, an important theme in the cathedral. The right portal, also with one door, has Peter as the main figure, to whom the cathedral is dedicated.  Above the door, in the tympanum, one of the scenes from the life of Peter shows him being crucified on an upside down cross. 

Statues to the left of the door

and to the right.

A couple of scenes from the archivolts.

Two medieval figures between the center and right portal that I really like.

Different views of the flying buttresses.

The most precious work of art in the cathedral, which inspired this enormous building, is the Shrine of the Three Kings, golden sarcophagi studded with jewels, holding the crowned skulls and bones of the three wise men who followed the star to visit the infant Jesus. Mathew 2 mentions them as follows: "[A]fter Jesus was born in Bethlehem...wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, asking, 'Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.'" After a meeting with King Herod, the wise men "set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh." Tradition is that the three wise men converted to Christianity and were martyred for their faith. Although the number of wise men was not given in the biblical story, the three gifts led to the assumption that there were three men. Although called wise men, they are also referred to as magi and as kings. In Western Christianity, they have commonly been known as Melchior, a Persian scholar or king; Gaspar, an Indian scholar or king; and Balthazar, an Arabian scholar or king.  Tradition is that the bones of the three wise men were discovered by Saint Helena on her pilgrimage to Palestine. She took the remains to Hagia Sophia in Constantinople and they were later removed to Milan. Holy Roman Emperor Fredrick Barbarossa took them from Milan in 1164 and gave them to the Archbishop of Cologne. Around 1199, King Otto had three golden crowns made, one for each of the wise men, and gave them to the church. The Coat of Arms of Cologne still shows these three crowns symbolizing the three kings. 

The golden sarcophagi were designed, in part, by the medieval goldsmith Nicholas of Verdun, who worked on them beginning in 1180. They have sculptures of prophets and apostles and scenes from the life of Christ. They were completed in 1225. It is the largest relic in the Western world and protected by heavy glass. Construction of the present Cologne Cathedral was begun in 1248 to house these relics. The golden sarchophagi were opened in 1864 and the bones of three persons, almost their entire skeletons, were found. One set of bones was of a youth, another was in his early manhood and the other was aged. The bones were then wrapped in white silk and returned to the sarcophagi. Two sarcophagi stand next to each other, with the third resting on their roof ridges, in the shape of a basilica. The ends are completely covered, so there is no visible space between the sarcophagi. 

The site of the cathedral originally was a grain store, then a Roman temple, then a Christian cathedral built in the 4th century. A newer cathedral was completed in 818, which was destroyed by fire in 1248. During demolition, the current cathedral was started and work continued to 1473 when it stopped, with the cathedral still unfinished.  In the 19th century, after the plans for the original facade were discovered, it was decided to complete the cathedral. Work started again in 1842. It was completed in 1880. We got a distant view of the original plans when we were in the cathedral.

Our guide said it was the only time he'd seen them in all the times he'd been there. They were being shown to a group of VIPs.

While most of Cologne was flattened by bombing during World War II, the cathedral remained standing. The tall spires were apparently used as a landmark by Allied aircraft and may have been the reason it was spared. It was hit 70 times by aerial bombs, but did not collapse. War repairs were completed in 1956. 

We climbed the 509 stone steps up a spiral staircase to a viewing platform about 322 feet above the ground.  We had similarly climbed to the viewing platform at Strasbourg Cathedral a few days earlier and were disappointed in Cologne by the comparison, for several reasons. First, downtown Strasbourg is much older and more beautiful than Cologne, so the view is not as nice or dramatic. 

Second, the Cologne viewing area is much more limited and closed in overhead by wire so that you feel like you are in a cage. 

Third, the Strasbourg graffiti is carved into the stone, has some beauty, and is hundreds of years old. The Cologne graffiti is painted onto the stone and is only a decade or so old and is quite unsightly. 

In our climb down from the platform we had an opportunity to see a number of the eleven bells. 

The newest bell, the Bell of St. Peter, was cast in 1922 and is 24 tons, the largest free-swinging bell in the world. 

Below, the theme of the stained glass is the birth of Christ and the adoration of the Magi. As discussed above, because of the relics, this is of particular pertinence in Cologne Cathdral, and is a theme of other stained glass windows and other art. This window, as are several others below, was made in 1846 in Munich and was a donation of King Ludwig I of Bavaria. Ludwig I was the grandfather of Ludwig II, sometimes called Mad King Ludwig, the king who commissioned Neuschwanstein Castle. King Ludwig's coat of arms are in the bottom left corner and his donation inscription is in the lower right corner.

Below that scene, in the same window, are the major prophets of the Old Testament: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel. They are termed major because of the length of their writings, not because of their importance. In this case, their significance is that they foretold of the coming of Christ.

Another window with the Adoration of the Magi theme.

The next window was also donated by King Ludwig and is of the dead Christ in the lap of his mother, Mary.

In the frame above it, in the same window, is Christ with his disciples at the Last Supper.

The frame below the dead Christ is of the Evangelists, the authors of the four gospels and their symbols: Matthew, symbolized by a winged man or angel; Mark, by a winged lion; Luke, by a winged ox or bull; and John, by an eagle.

The next window, also a King Ludwig I donation, shows the descent of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, which is celebrated as the date of the foundation of the church.

Beneath it, in the same window, are the original Doctors of the Church, a title given to them in 1298 for their contribution to theology and doctrine. First is St. Augustine, who lived from 354 to 430, was Bishop of Hippo (present day Algeria) whose writings were influential in the development of Western Christianity and one of the theological fathers of Reformation in his teachings on salvation and divine grace. His written works included Of the City of God, On the Trinity, and Confessions, a personal account of his early life. Second is St. Jerome, who lived from 347 to 420,  translated the Bible into Latin (the Vulgate), the official version of the Catholics. Third is St. Gregory, also known as Gregory the Great, who lived from 540 to 604, and was pope from 590 to 604. In the Middle Ages he was known as the"Father of Christian Worship" because of his efforts in revising Roman Catholic worship. Fourth is St. Ambrose, who lived from 337 to 397, was bishop of Milan at the time of Augustine's conversion to Christianity and contributed greatly to Augustine's development. He was also a great author but his works are less well known, at least to me.

I love medieval themes in stained glass. The following are some of my favorites in the cathedral:

A modern stained glass window built in 2007 by Gerhard Richter is composed of 11,500 four inch sized pieces cut from antique stained glass in a total of 72 colors. Richter used a mathematical formula to systematically mix permutations of the three primary colors and gray. There are 4,096 colors that display consistently on old computer screens and Richter did a 1974 painting titled 4096 Colors. For this window, he weeded out most of the colors as historically inaccurate or too pale (they would have out-shown the squares around them).  This replaced a window that was destroyed by bombs in World War II. 

Finally, a beautiful and unusual rose window.

The Gero Cross is the oldest surviving crucifix north of the Alps. It was carved in oak in 976 and hangs in its own chapel. It previously hung in the old cathedral.

The altar-piece of the city's patron saints is a tryptich painted by Stefan Lochner in about 1442. The theme is the now familiar visit to the infant Jesus by the three kings. 

Finally, some segments of the floor that I enjoyed

and a statue of St. Christopher.

All in all, I really loved Cologne Cathedral. It is massive and breathtaking. I love the theme of the three kings or magi that is found again and again among the decoration and the stained glass is marvelous. In a head to head comparison with Strasbourg, I liked the latter for reasons I've set forth, but both are among the most amazing churches in the world.