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Death in the Alpine
by ButterflyEffect

    For Doro, 25, and Lord, 24, both avid outdoorsmen, the sign was little more than a formality. As they hiked, their thoughts were not of death, but of the endless beauty and possibilities that the mountains seemed to hold.

    In those mountains, Doro saw everything he missed about his native Colorado. He had recently moved to the Midwest for work, and though his job took him to Oregon frequently, the Cascades never inspired him the way the Rockies did. “There’s something that’s so striking about mountains that tall,” he told me. “Like there are just big adventures everywhere.”

    Doro, who competed in triathlons, found the hike to Capitol Lake easy. “What’s the big deal?” he asked Lord jokingly as they neared the lake.

    “No, trust me,” Lord replied, “the last two miles will be difficult.”

    Neither Doro nor Lord anticipated how difficult their trek would be — or that the mountain they climbed the next day would be so different from what they imagined.