- Part 31

Crystal Peak

by Brandon Chalk | Jun 4, 2013 | Ski-mountaineering

Despite having played around extensively in the Tenmile Range from summits to traverses, we had never ventured up the centennial (one of Colorado’s highest 100 peaks), Crystal Peak. Actually, Rainier & Kona had been up Crystal before back in May 2010 while we were on Everest with friends J Weingast, Andy Dionne, and Derek Drechsel when they all skied the steeper north face.

Rainier making a high-speed descent of Crystal’s steep north face in May 2010. Photo by Derek Drechsel

I had always thought the east face would make a really fun ski and so with the plentiful amount of late spring snow and one of the very few weekends we had available for a ski-mountaineering adventure, we headed over to Breckenridge early Sunday morning and started hiking from the Spruce Creek trailhead at 10,400′ around 6:45am with the skis on our backs for about a mile until we could start skinning on continuous snow. We soon broke through tree line and entered the lower Crystal Creek basin and the upper east face of Crystal Peak came into view.

Me & Crystal Peak in the distance

Kristine skinning up the lower portion of the Crystal Creek drainage

After some mellow skinning across the basin to the frozen lower Crystal Lake, we climbed the steep chute into the upper Crystal Creek basin. Kristine & I were able to skin this though Mikey packed his skis on his pack and booted up. Mike had only skinned a few times and skinning on really steep terrain takes alot of practice no doubt.

Me & Kona skinning up the steep chute to the upper basin

Mike skinning into the upper portion of Crystal Basin

Once we reached the frozen upper Crystal Lake, we took a right and skinned to the saddle between Crystal Peak and Peak 10. From that point, it was a simple bootpack up the east ridge to the summit. It was great to be up high again, especially on such a beautiful Colorado day.

Kristine & Kona skinning up Crystal’s east ridge to the summit

Kristine making her way to Crystal’s summit with Peak 10 behind

Mikey topping out on his 1st ski-mountaineering adventure

Pacific Peak (13,950′) and its awesome north couloir from Crystal’s summit. 14ers La Plata Peak & further to the right, Mt. Elbert, can both be seen on the right side of the picture

Crystal Peak summit (13,852′)

I think if we had skied the face maybe 45 minutes to an hour earlier, conditions would have been optimal. Spring corn skiing is all about timing. Too early in the day, the snow is still too frozen. Too late in the day, the snow has turned to wet slop making wet slab avalanches more likely. Ideally, you want to ski when the top inch or two has softened up with the sun allowing for your skis to hold a good edge. As it was, it was still pretty good corn skiing, though the lower part of the face was a bit mushy and grabby. We topped out around 10:45am and started skiing by 11am or shortly afterwards. We hall had a really fun time with the ski.

Kristine skiing the really fun east face of Crystal Peak

Kristine dropping the knee in good form

Kristine & Kona enjoying the sun and snow

Crystal’s east face is a really fun ski

Me enjoying some nice corn

The steep chute into the lower Crystal Creek basin had really thawed out and I let some sluff go skiing the chute, but it was still safe and some fun turns.

Me skiing down the steeper gully to the lower Crystal Creek drainage

We eventually made our way back to below tree line, put the skis on our packs again and hiked the remaining mile back to my truck arriving around 1pm. This east face route is around 9.5 miles roundtrip with 3,500′ of elevation gain from the Spruce Creek trailhead. It was great to get out again on a ski-mountaineering adventure with Kristine and introduce Mike to the world of ski-mountaineering. I think he really enjoyed the trip. Lastly, it was fun to check out a new centennial peak for all of us. Only regret is not having Rainier with us, but she was having fun hiking in Vail. At 10 1/2 years old, Rainier doesn’t need to be trying to keep up with us anymore on the descent while we are on skis.Though our schedule is so busy with travel the next few weeks, here’s to hoping we can get out for another ski-mountaineering adventure before the snow completely melts out in the high country.

Goodbye, sweet Bailey

by Brandon Chalk | May 30, 2013 | Miscellaneous

May 29, 2013 was a very sad day for my sister, Logan, and the entire Chalk family. Logan had to do one of the hardest things imaginable – say goodbye to her loving companion of 10 years, Bailey.

Bailey goofing around at Chalk Hill during Thanksgiving 2011

I hesitated to post anything on our blog here about Bailey and her passing, but I figured it would be a great way to honor her with a few words and some pictures of the wonderful times we all had with her, especially my sister.

Kristine, me, Harper, Logan, & Bailey at Chalk Hill duing Thanksgiving 2011

Bailey and her family at Chalk Hill during Thanksgiving 2011

In the end, it was a tumor around Bailey’s heart that was shutting down her organs and weakening her heart. There was really nothing to be done and Logan made the right call in putting Bailey to sleep in order to save her from further pain. Bailey was the sweetest, most beautiful, most loving & lovable, and most loyal companion a dog owner could ever ask for. She was a distant relative of my golden retriever, Rainier, and I remember the first day Rainier, Logan, my mom, & I went out to visit Bailey. We figured if Rainier approved, she was a keeper. Bailey was a show girl, aka show dog, the first year of her life, and so entering the real world of everyday life (getting in and out of cars, going on hikes, etc) was a bit of a transition for her.

Me, Bailey, & Logan atop Crowder’s Mountain, NC, on a beautiful winter day in 2007 with our family

Logan & Bailey on Crowder’s Mountain, NC

Bailey really was the sweetest dog I have ever known – well, maybe equal with Rainier. She never, ever left my sister’s side – a testament to her loyalty.

Bailey never left my sister’s side

She seemed to be always looking out for my sister and her family.

Bailey standing guard over young Harper

Every time I traveled back home to Charlotte, a highlight of my trip was seeing Bailey and spending time with her. I think Logan & my only wish was that Rainier and Bailey were not separated by 2000 miles and we could have gotten them together more. Bailey loved going to Bald Head Island, NC and playing on the beach and in the surf.

Logan & Bailey at Bald Head Island, NC

Bailey the sand crab at Bald Head Island, NC

I think Bailey & Rainier both really taught my sister & I how to care for and love something much more than ourselves. They were both our first loves and will always hold a special place inside our hearts. We all will miss you so much, Bailey, especially my sister, but know you are in a wonderful doggie-heaven waiting for the rest of us. You are truly the best of all of us and while we tear up at not having you physically beside us anymore, we know you are always with us in spirit and looking down upon us. Its truly a time now to celebrate your wonderful 10 years of life. You will always be the best dog and canine companion my sister has ever and will ever have by her side. We all love you so much. Rest in peace, sweet Bailey, and we will see you again.

Logan & her best friend

Love you, Bailey!!!

Mt. Arkansas – North Ridge Direct

by Brandon Chalk | May 13, 2013 | Colorado 13ers

The 13er Mt. Arkansas (13,795’) had been on my radar for some time, especially the northeast couloir, for a spring climb/ski. However, with so much recent snow and avalanche accidents in the central and northern mountains of Colorado in previous weeks, I decided to hold off on this couloir and climb the north ridge, which looked like a fun challenge with some exciting scramble moves thrown in for extra credit. Arkansas is easily accessible from Highway 91 just south of Fremont Pass between Copper Mountain & Leadville and its north ridge offers a really fun climb in only about 5-6 miles roundtrip and under 3,000’ of vertical elevation gain. The final few hundred vertical feet to the summit has some fun scrambling as well, which goes at class 4, although these crux gendarmes can be bypassed on the ridge’s west side most of the time. For us, however, with the amount of snow and avalanche potential, it was much safer (though more exposed) to stay on the ridge proper up and over the gendarmes. Kristine, good friend Reid Jennings, and the dogs attempted this ridge a week ago only to be stopped short at the false summit primarily because we all didn’t think the dogs would be able to safely complete the ridge to the summit. The summit was still a ways off from where we turned around, though only a few hundred vertical feet. It was a little disappointing, but was a fun day nonetheless and good to get up high again with Kristine, Reid, Rainier, & Kona. Rainier is now 10 ½ years old, but still does so well.

Rainier on Arkansas’ north ridge with the west face of Mt. Democrat behind on May 5

Little did we know that the high peaks in the central & northern mountains of Colorado would get feet of snow a few days later, which made planning a reattempt a little discouraging. However, the weather looked good for the next Saturday morning, May 11, with clouds/snow coming in after 1pm and we’d be mostly on a ridge decreasing any exposure to avalanche terrain. I knew there would be a lot of new snow up high, but didn’t think the breaking trail would be as extensive, especially on the upper north ridge, as it was. If you got to break trail, I always think “well, we all just get a better workout”. Plus, J & I had a birthday party in Blackhawk that evening so combining this Arkansas climb with Blackhawk and some granite crack climbing at South Platte the next day sounded like the right weekend recipe.

Fellow engineering co-workers and friends Mike Santoro and Zac Wurth joined us on the adventure as well. We started snowshoeing/skinning around 8:30am from Highway 91 with J being the only one on AT skis. In retrospect, it would have been nice to bring the skis as well. C’est la vie. We attained the north ridge head on after making our way through nice tree glades that would make for fun low-angled ski terrain.

Mikey & Zac climb the steep section to gain the north ridge proper

J skinning the north ridge

We met two very nice ski-mountaineering fellows, Ed & Bryan, after we climbed the steeper snow and rocks to directly attain the north ridge. There was significant new snow all around and was some legitimate trail breaking up to the saddle where the north and northeast ridges intersect to form the north ridge to the summit. It was a nice day thus far and was fun making our way up the easy north ridge admiring the view.

Me breaking trail up the north ridge while Ed breaks a skin track

J skinning with Ed & Bryan, fellow mountaineers we met on the north ridge

Mikey climbing the north ridge

At this point, we traded our snowshoes and skis for ice axes and crampons for the ridge climb to the summit even though we would have liked some flotation for the deep snow. However, the ridge was too steep and dicey for snowshoes and skis/skins and so we left them at the saddle. Bryan & Ed then clicked into their skis and skied the wonderful north chute down into the north bowl separating the north & northeast ridges. The north ridge up to the false summit where we had turned around 5 days earlier was some really deep snow.

Reid & Kristine on the north ridge below the false summit on May 5

Me at the same spot on the north ridge below the false summit 5 days later on May 11. Notice how much more snow there is

However, beyond the false summit, the trail breaking let up a bit as I’d sink in only 12” and not 24”. I went ahead to scope out the crux moves up and down the gendarme and it proved to be very doable with some exciting moves and exposure. Zac & J followed me while Mikey remained on the false summit observing our progress from a great perch in the sky as he thought he would be too slow with the incoming weather. The mountain will always be there.

Me topping out on the gendarme on the north ridge proper

Once at the false summit, the real fun began on the class 4 crux as the ridge narrows. Here, Zac negotiates this class 4 crux as seen from the top of the gendarme

The final slog up to the summit after downclimbing the gendarme was a slog in the fresh new snow. We could see snow showers in the distance and clouds were building yet it was still decent weather over Arkansas. We made the summit around noon and after about 20 minutes started the descent, which was much easier now that we had a bootpack.

J & Zac making their way up the north ridge

J almost to the summit

Mt. Arkansas summit (13,795′)

View south to Mt. Sherman from the summit

Looking back down the north ridge with our tracks visible from Arkansas’ summit

Heading back down to the notch

J & Zac climbing back up to the top of the gendarme on our return

Me climbing back up the gendarme on our descent

Me negotiaing the class 4 crux on the way back down

Me on the class 4 crux

Left to right: Mike, J, Zac

Looking back up to Mt. Arkansas from the false summit

Soon enough we were back on the false summit with Mikey and then back down to where we stashed our snowshoes and skis. J & I turned our beacons on and I observed him skiing down the north chute from the north ridge. He later said that those were some really fun turns as they sure looked like fun from above.

J skiing the north facing chute

The three of us on snowshoes reached the cars around 2:30pm with J obviously reaching them much earlier. It was a great 6 hrs up on Arkansas and I was happy to have reached the summit this time around in some pretty tough conditions. One thing I did notice was that how much the snowpack is settling, even with the recent snow, which makes me more optimistic in terms of avalanche safety in the upcoming weeks for some ski-mountaineering trips.

Ski tracks down the north chute into the north bowl from J, Ed, & Bryan

J & I then set off for Golden and then late night fun in Blackhawk for the 35^th birthday of our good climbing friend, Matt Reigner. After an evening of rooftop hot tubbing and craps playing, where everyone just about broke even (I just observed and enjoyed cocktails), we met our good friends Jesse Hill & Derek Drechsel in the South Platte area for some granite crack climbing in preparation for J & Jesse’s upcoming trip to Yosemite – a trip I wish I were going on. Next year for sure. All in all, a fun-filled weekend. J & I were glad to sandwich the Blackhawk night with two outdoor-related adventures. I honestly just feel better about spending a night in Blackhawk being able to combine it with some outdoor activities. But, that’s just me 🙂

Milk Creek Cragging & Independence Monument

by Brandon Chalk | Apr 29, 2013 | Rock Climbing

Well, springtime finally seems to be here! With the avalanche conditions still not quite within our comfort level (we cancelled our annual Mt. Sopris ski mountaineering trip because of not so ideal snow conditions), we continue to hit the rock climbing hard. Several fellow co-workers joined the dogs & I for an afternoon in the sun down at Milk Creek in Wolcott, my new favorite local climbing crag. It has lots of varied crack climbs to practice our desert traditional climbing as well as a few really hard sport routes. A few pics from Friday:

Mike leading a nice 5.7 trad route

Nicki on her 1st rock climb ever with me 40′ above her finishing off one of my favorite 5.9 trad leads

Me coming over to give Nicki a little rock climbing instruction

Me trying to give Nicki ideas on where to move her feet and hands – she did so well!

Eric Aden on his 1st 5.8 dihedral layback crack climb

Eric on the 5.8 dihedral (left) while Zac loads up for the 5.9 layback crack (right)

Zac laying back the really cool 5.9 crack

Kristine, the dogs, & myself then packed up the car Saturday afternoon and headed west for some warm desert sun, car camping, and rock climbing. We met our friends Sarah & Keith Webber as well as Lauren & Steve at the Rabbit Valley free car-camping area just two miles from the Colorado/Utah state line. It was a fun night of campfires, horseshoes, burritos, s’mores, and stories. Kristine & I got up around 6am, made breakfast, left the dogs with Sarah & Keith to sleep in for a few more hours, and drove to Colorado National Monument with the intent of climbing the historic Otto’s Route up Independence Monument. I had climbed this route last November with my good friend Jesse Hill and absolutely loved it! Check out my first climb & description of Otto’s Route up Independence Monument here. I knew Kristine would feel the same way and she wanted to climb it. In four fairly short pitches, except for the 140′ Pitch 1, you can stand on the summit of this awesome desert tower. There are two cruxes in most people’s opinion: the 5.8+ off-width chimney of Pitch 2 and the final few 5.9- mantle moves of the final Pitch 4. Kristine did awesome on these cruxes. She climbed the cruxes clean never needing to rest on the rope. Add to the fact that we were the only climbers on the tower all day long and it was a really good day. I really enjoy leading this route and we brought along a second 60m rope for the rappel down that I trailed behind me on lead. I think we began hiking the 2.5 miles to the base of the tower around 8am, summitted the tower around 11:30am, and were back at the car after a hot hike out around 2pm. The two double rope rappels down the tower are exhilerating for sure. I know we are both really looking forward to more climbing in Colorado National Monument in the future as towers such as the Kissing Couple and the numerous single pitch crack climbs are hard to resist. Pics from our climb up Independence Monument are as follows:

At the Monument Canyon trailhead

Kristine & Independence Monument on the hike to the base of the tower

Me leading the 5.8+ Pitch 2 of Otto’s Route up the obvious off-width chimney

Kristine in the Time Tunnel to the base of Pitch 3

Me leading the fun 5.7 Pitch 3

Me about to pull the crux 5.9- moves on the final Pitch 4

On top of Pitch 4

Kristine on top of Independence Monument after climbing the historical Otto’s Route

A gorgeous day to be on top of a desert tower

The Chalks on the summit of Independence Monument

Summit panorama #1

Summit panorama #2

A really fun climb with Kristine, which she thoroughly enjoyed

Me on the first double rope rappel off the summit down to the Time Tunnel

Kristine on the second double rope rappel to the ground

Me trying hard to pull the ropes through to the ground after the rappel – quite the arm workout!

Independence Monument

Parting shot before the hot hike out

The Minturn Couloir

by Brandon Chalk | Apr 16, 2013 | Miscellaneous

This past Saturday, J & I did a little fun adventuring up a couloir near Minturn that we had been wanting to get on for some time now. It’s the prominent “S” shaped couloir up the center of a fairly steep face at the “S” bend in Highway 24 just south of Minturn.

The widest part of the couloir can be seen here from Minturn

The Minturn Couloir

Its always fun for us to head out into something we really don’t know much about (or anything at all) and hope for the best in that we get to the top or find a way through. Ice axes & crampons were definitely a necessity as was my 30m rope, harnesses, and a few cams, but in hindsight we should have brought the ice tools and a few ice screws. There are three near vertical pitches or cruxes in the lower half of the couloir that really justify roped technical climbing.

The Minturn Couloir with the three cruxes identified

The 1st crux is probably 20 vertical feet tall and consists of some near vertical ice and snow-covered rock on both sides. The ice would have been fun to climb if we had our ice tools and a screw or two. C’est la vie. We found a rock/dirt scrambling alternative to looker’s left around this crux and entered the snow-filled couloir again above it.

The lower section of the couloir – avalanche debris everywhere

The 1st crux – we bypassed this section to the left via rock ledges

The 2^nd crux is a vertical icefall with a rock climbing alternative to looker’s right of the icefall. Its probably only about 15 vertical feet and we chose the rock climbing option because again we did not bring our ice gear. J got up on a small ledge and we both then realized we should rope up for the 5.4 or so traverse across the small ledge and back into the couloir above the icefall. I handed J my rack and we both harnessed up. J placed a few cams, made the traverse moves in his crampons, and set up an anchor once back in the couloir and brought me up. It was a fun little pitch of technical climbing.

J with the 2nd & 3rd cruxes visible ahead

Looking down the couloir to the 1st crux below

J on the 5th class rock to the right of the icefall at the 2nd crux

J leading the 2nd crux rock band

J rounding the corner back into the couloir at the 2nd crux

The 3^rd crux is just above the 2^nd crux and involves about 35’ of technical ice, though not completely vertical. It would have been a fun lead for sure on good waterfall ice with 2-3 ice screws. However, we ventured on steep ground to our left around on a steep ledge and did some exposed 4^th class rock scrambling up and around the icefall. We re-entered the couloir above the 3^rd crux after some fairly exposed moves on a snow-covered ledge system with decent hand holds on rock.

The icefall of the 3rd crux was the largest – maybe 35′ in height.

Looking down at the 2nd crux from exposed ledges

J working his way back into the couloir proper above the 3rd crux

The next 800’ or so was great snow-filled couloir climbing. The angle probably never exceeded 40 degrees until we got to the top 200’ or so where the couloir choked and got steeper, likely 45-50 degrees or so. A second axe could have been useful in a few really steep spots but the snow was soft enough where J & I could just put a fist in the snow for support and stability. When the very narrow couloir seemed to peter out, we traversed to the right around a cliff wall and then climbed steep snow straight up for about 50 vertical feet to level ground and the top of the couloir.

J doing some fine couloir climbing above the 3rd crux

Looking down the couloir and Highway 24

J in the Minturn Couloir

Steep snow climbing ensued as the couloir constricted towards the top

The couloir petering out towards the top at which point we traversed to the right

J finishing off the Minturn Couloir with more steep snow climbing

The 2nd & 3rd cruxes as well as the upper narrow portion of the couloir can be seen here

We eventually topped out, drank a bit of water, and ventured through the trees for a hundred yards or so to pick up an old snow-covered road bed originally constructed for the natural gas pipeline serving the town of Red Cliff from Minturn. After 30 minutes of walking down the road sans snowshoes and a bit of post-holing, we came to an alcove where the road hugged the edge of the steeper northwest facing wall in which the couloir was inset. This point was where we thought we could climb down dirt and rock ledges back to the car for about 1,000’. We could have taken the road all the way to the Two Elk trailhead and Minturn rifle range but that would have put us a ways from my truck at the “S” turn on Highway 24. The descent worked out well and we were back at my car about 3 hours after leaving it.

All in all, a really fun few hours with J in a neat little couloir that involves some pretty cool climbing. It would be fun to go back and climb the two ice pitches we bypassed to the left. I’m happy we finally got in this couloir, which we have dubbed the Minturn Couloir, since J’s Active Energies office is in Minturn and he looks up at it about every day. We got this climb in just in the nick of time before the Vail Valley received 13” of new snow that evening for Sunday’s closing day at Vail & Beaver Creek plus an additional 24” on Monday! J’s wife, Megan, the dogs, & I skinned up Arrowhead Monday evening for the deepest run down Arrowhead I’ve ever had in the heaviest of snow conditions I’ve ever experienced. I have never straight-lined that ski run before, but did so Monday night. It took all my effort to lean back as far as possible in order to keep my ski tips up on the surface. Thankfully, this huge storm will help with Colorado’s water supply and decrease the potential for forest fire outbreaks this summer.