In an effort to get back to over 14,000′ and test out our old Millet Everest boots again before we wear them for days on end in Antarctica, we took a jaunt up the fun 14er near Breckenridge, Quandary Peak (14,265′).
Kristine reaching 14,000′ on Quandary’s east ridge with Bald Mountain (13,684′) in the background
Now, we have all been up this peak so many times we have lost count, but its close, convenient, relatively short, great winter access, and gets us to altitude. Its a favorite for sure. It had been over three years since we had worn our Millet Everest boots and Quandary’s snow-packed trail up standard east ridge route was a good test for these boots once again. In just about 2.75 miles one-way to the summit, the trail climbs 3,400′ and is a nice workout. It was a gorgeous Colorado bluebird day and except for the summit ridge and summit, which the extreme west winds were just hammering, the winds were relatively marginal.
Looking southeast to Mt. Silverheels in the foreground and Pikes Peak in the far distance from Quandary’s summit ridge
A blustery & cold Quandary Peak summit (14,265′)
Looking north to Pacific Peak, Crystal Peak, and the Gore Range from Quandary’s summit
Rainier & I on Quandary’s summit
I think Rainier was actually cold on Quandary’s summit – could be a first
The boots did fairly well, though we couldn’t remember quite what socks and sock layers we had used three years ago on Everest. As a result, we could feel the hot spots on the final 1,000′ and unfortunately received a few minor blisters. However, now we remember what we did in terms of which socks and liners and we’ll try these boots out again before we leave.
Heading down for lunch with friends
It was a fun morning and only took us about 3 hours and 15 minutes roundtrip just in time to meet our good friends from Jackson Hole, Brett & Carrie Richer, for lunch at the Breckenridge Brewery.
Having always heard of this somewhat hidden 13er near Breckenridge called Mt. Guyot, I wanted to pay it a visit and thought it would make a fairly nice winter-ish climb. Guyot lies behind (to the east of) the larger and much more massive Bald Mountain (13,684′), which obscures Guyot from Breckenridge and the Tenmile Range peaks. Rainier & I had climbed Bald Mountain via its long north ridge with friends back in February of 2008.
A younger Rainier and a younger me on Bald Mountain’s summit (13,684′) with Mt. Guyot behind
Mike Santoro & Reid Jennings joined Rainier, Kona, & I this past weekend for an attempt on Guyot’s northwest ridge. On our ascent that day, we walked the French Creek Road for a mile and a half until we veered southeast into the Little French Creek drainage to make our way up to the northwest ridge. While Mike was still skinning up to the northwest ridge in the trees from the Little French Creek Drainage, Reid, the dogs, & I were at a small notch on the northwest ridge proper right at treeline when a crew of local skiers set off what turned out to be a sizable avalanche on the northeast facing slopes. We were on the ridge above the avalanche and Mike was a few hundred yards a way in the trees, so we were all safe. Fortunately, the avalanche did not occur directly below or at the skier’s location. Instead a crack propagated 20 yards to his right and the slab avalanche ensued and ran about 500′ down to the drainage. All of the skiers were ok and no one was caught in the avalanche. Reid, the dogs, & I continued up the northwest ridge for 20 minutes or so, but due to extremely low visibility (though the winds were very low and temperatures fairly warm) we turned around on the northwest ridge at about 12,200′.
Fast forward just two days and I find myself crashing Kristine and Lauren’s peak-bagging girl party. I even convinced them to head back to Guyot, which was very nice of them to do. The weather forecast looked much clearer though much colder and more windy (forecast called for 30+mph winds with a wind chill temp of around -8 degrees at 12,400′). We made our way to the French Creek Trailhead and started hiking down the road at about 9:15am. Guyot was in the clouds which was a little concerning and it was pretty darn cold out. However, the sun came out a bit and after we overshot the turn off into the Little French Creek drainage (my fault), we made our way up through the drainage and at the base of the avalanche slide path that occurred 2 days before.
Skier-triggered avalanche from 2 days before on the northeast facing slopes of Guyot’s northwest ridge
Its always good to check out these avalanche paths to gain some perspective on avalanches and how they are able to propagate so far even on 30 degree slopes. We then made our way up to the northwest ridge proper and to treeline where the wind picked up substantially.
Kristine at treeline on the northwest ridge with the Tenmile Range behind in the distance
Rainie on the northwest ridge
Kristine & Lauren on the lower portion of Guyot’s northwest ridge
We made it up to the small cairn where Reid, the dogs, and I had turned around 2 days prior and then climbed the steepening ridge up to a large plateau at 12,400′. The wind was really kicking on this plateau.
Lauren coming up to the 12,400′ plateau on Guyot’s northwest ridge
We left our snowshoes here anchored down by rocks and made our way to the upper northwest ridge for the final 1,000′ climb to the summit ridge.
The remaining 1,000′ up Guyot’s northwest ridge
It was pretty tough going with the wind and cold on tough terrain (loose slabby rocks covered by about a foot of powder snow in most places). Rainier is such a trooper especially for being almost 11 years old. She is a determined lady and just keeps plugging away right behind me the entire way.
Kristine on the upper northwest ridge
Once we hit the summit ridge itself, the wind and cold were really intense. Much more intense than anything I remember as of recent. Nevertheless, we trenched away on the summit ridge and made the summit. It was extremely cold and windy on the summit and we took a few pics and only stayed for 10 minutes or so.
Breckenridge & the Tenmile Range from Guyot’s summit
Rainie & I on Mt. Guyot’s summit (13,370′). It was extremely cold and windy on the summit ridge – well below zero with wind chill
Mt. Guyot USGS summit marker
Kristine & Kona on Guyot’s summit
Kristine & I on Guyot’s summit – good Antarctica training
Lauren had turned around at about 12,800′ and made a good decision. She just wasn’t feeling it especially on the terrain and in such brutal wind and cold. Kristine, the dogs, and I quickly descended back to the 12,400′ plateau.
Looking back down Guyot’s northwest ridge and French Gulch from where we came
Kristine and the dogs descending the summit ridge with the wind ripping the snowy ridge to the south (left in picture)
I usually like looking at snowy plumes as a result of strong winds from a distance, but being in the middle of them is a different story
We soon enough met up with Lauren at the plateau and had a snack in the relative warmth of the lower altitude.
Kristine & Kona back in the warmth of the 12,400′ plateau with Bald Mountain behind (13,684′)
Kristine & Lauren
We then all made our way back down our ascent route and reached my truck at around 2:45pm for a 7.5 mile roundtrip day in about 5 1/2 hours with 3,100′ of elevation gain. It was a very fun outing and we all enjoyed being out in the elements. Kona may beg to differ there 🙂
Mt. Guyot from the north on the French Creek Road during our hike out with the northwest ridge in profile. The plumes of snow can be seen on the summit ridge as a result of the strong winds
Why not have a reason to party, right? Come celebrate our hopeful (fingers-crossed) 7th Summit with Kristine & I at The Minturn Saloon on Saturday evening, December 7, at around 7pm. It will be a very casual send-off party as we depart for Antarctica a week later to climb Mt. Vinson, the highest peak on the continent. Should be a fun evening. Hope to see some of you there!
My parents visited Kristine, Rainier, Kona, & myself this past weekend and we all had a truly wonderful time together. They had not been to the Vail Valley & Edwards since summer 2010, so this was a special visit. Usually, we head down to Telluride to visit with Mom & Dad when they come out from North Carolina, but now with the Chalk condo sold in Telluride, hopefully that means more future visits to the Vail Valley. We had some terrific meals including a night out in Lionshead at the Vail Chophouse located within the Arrabelle.
Kristine & my Mom in the Arrabelle square
Mom, Dad, & I before dinner at the Vail Chophouse
Mom & Dad enjoying the cold, crisp Colorado night
But, Kristine’s good ole cooking Saturday night sure gave the Vail Chophouse a run for its money. I believe we were all in agreement that Kristine took the cake for best meal. On Saturday, we took Mom & Dad up into Mayflower Gulch just south of Fremont Pass between Copper & Leadville for a nice, moderate hike to the old mining camp at around 11,500′. It was fun showing Mom & Dad some of our favorite stomping grounds back in Mayflower Gulch including the several 13ers and ridges that surround the basin. It was a beauty of a day and we sure enjoyed our time outdoors with them. Mom & Dad did so well hiking in regard to the altitude since they had just come from 700′ above sea level only 36 hours prior.
The four of us at the head of Mayflower Gulch with the high 13er, Drift Peak (13,900′), behind
Mom, Rainie, & I with the high 13er, Fletcher Mountain (13,951′), behind
The Chalks on a gorgeous day in Mayflower Gulch
Mom, Kristine, & Kona with the gnarly ridge connecting Fletcher Mountain (13,951′) & Atlantic Peak (13,841′). J and I traversed this awesome ridge two summers ago
Dad & I enjoying our time in the mountains together
All of the Chalks and another party of two at the old mining cabins
Mom, Dad, & I
Until next time, Mayflower Gulch
Sunday, my Dad & I hit the gym, Kristine ran with Kona, and Mom did a bit of Edwards shopping before we all watched the Broncos edge the Chargers and then walked to dinner for the 2nd time of the weekend at the yummy Gore Range Brewery. It was fantastic and meant so much to be with Mom & Dad again and we’re so lucky they were able to travel out to Colorado to visit with us, especially since we will not see them for either Thanksgiving or Christmas. We certainly look forward to our next time with them in February for some Telluride family ski fun.
This past weekend was absolutely gorgeous late fall weather and so Kristine, Kona, & I joined up with a great crew of familiar and new faces from 14ers.com, aka my version of “facebook”, for a fun day up above Deluge Lake on 13ers Palomino Point & Mt. Valhalla in my favorite range in Colorado, the Gore Range. We had to leave Rainier with our friends Sarah & Keith in Edwards due to her having a pretty big operation last Wednesday to remove a soft cell sarcoma lump on her back that could potentially be dangerous. She is totally fine now and is the toughest cookie I know albeit a nice 8″ long stapled incision on her back. I doubt she even knows its there with all her energy to play tennis ball. I just received notice today from our great vet that the sarcoma is only a Grade 1 sarcoma, the lowest grade there is in terms of cancer’s ability to spread, and that the tumor was completely excised. About as good of news as we could expect. Its definitely a relief that’s it not any worse. She’ll be back with us in the mountains in no time.
Palomino Point (13,060′) at left & Mt. Valhalla (13,180′) at right on the approach
Anyway, we met the crew around 7:30am on Sunday morning at the Deluge Lake trailhead for the long and steep 4.5 mile with 3,000′ of vertical gain approach up to Deluge Lake. We had been up into the Deluge Lake Basin a few times to climb the famous Gore scrambling traverse called The Grand Traverse as well as to climb Snow Peak, but the peak we had left surrounding this basin was the mighty Mt. Valhalla. It was a great crew – many I knew and hadn’t seen in awhile, including Ryan Marsters & Jason Blyth, and some I hadn’t met yet and so enjoyed getting to know, including Dillon Sarnelli. Good friend Mike Santoro decided to drive the half mile from his East Vail home to join us for the day. Recently acquired Vail local Matt Grabina organized the crew and let the Chalks know about the hike and it was good to get out again with Matt. It was awesome for Kristine & myself to meet Jason’s wife, Becky, as well. After a few hours of mostly dry trail hiking in our trail runners and gaiters we all arrived at the frozen Deluge Lake (11,700′) and the trail breaking in snow ensued up to the steeper and drier southern slopes of the Palomino Point – Mt. Valhalla ridge.
Kona & I breaking some trail around Deluge Lake. Photo courtesy of Dillon
Trail breaking above Deluge Lake
Kristine & Kona on a beauty of a day
Deluge Lake basin
It was a quick and mostly dry climb up to the ridge on steep, grassy slopes and we all then veered east towards the unranked Palomino Point for a fun class 3/4 scramble up to its summit.
Kona & I on the steep, grassy slopes. Photo courtesy of Jason
Palomino Point (left) and Mt. Valhalla (right)
Kristine traversing the ridge to Palomino Point with Grand Traverse Peak behind
Traversing snow slopes over to Palomino Point. Photo courtesy of Jason
Scrambling up to Palomino Point
Kona & I on the summit of Palomino Point with Mt. Valhalla behind. Photo courtesy of Jason
One of the reasons I really wanted to get up on Palomino Point & Mt. Valhalla was to scope out and take pictures of the two awesome looking yet rarely known east ridges of these peaks. The very lengthy east ridge of Palomino Point is known as “Asgard Ridge” with the first major tower called “Point Odin”. Its a pretty serious-looking ridge that would likely entail some roped pitches and rappels. Now, if you like Norse mythology as I do, you’ll love all of these names. The shorter, more southern east ridge of Mt. Valhalla is not as gnarly looking but has a few mid-5th class towers with the names “Loki”, “Thor”, & “Freya”. I just love ridges like these with not much information on them at all, though I know they have been climbed. I think such ridges are about as close to true adventure as we can get in our neck of the woods, especially on ridge runs. The ridge and tower names make it extra-intriguing. I really look forward to hopefully putting these ridges and towers on my radar in the future.
Asgard Ridge down to the east from Palomino Point’s summit
The east ridge of Mt. Valhalla (Thor Tower & Freya on the lower left portion of the ridge) and mighty Rain Peak behind
Palomino’s summit can only accommodate a few folks, so Kristine, Kona, Mike, myself, and the Blythes returned back down to the saddle with Mt. Valhalla. The ridge up to Valhalla looked a bit intimidating for Kona, so Kristine decided to go down with her. Mike decided to descend as well since he wasn’t feeling all that great and his feet were soaked.
The crew spread out on Palomino Point…Dillon is on the summit
The crew then descended down to the saddle and Jason & Becky led the way up Valhalla’s fun class 3 northwest ridge.
Jason, Becky, & Sam heading up Valhalla’s northwest ridge
The climb up to Valhalla was lots of fun with some snowy scrambling yet none of us broke out the axes as there was enough rock exposed for some good holds. I believe we all summited Valhalla around 12:30pm to some wonderful blue skies and sunshine though a bit of a stiff wind.
Gore enthusiast Ryan on the summit of Mt. Valhalla (13,180′), his 200th Colorado 13er
The views were amazing, as is typical for the Gores, and this was many folks’ first Gore peak, which made this outing extra special. I think some of the climbers may have gotten hooked to the Gores.
From the summit of Mt. Valhalla looking southeast
Looking down into Valhalla’s east basin with Asgard Ridge on the left and Valhalla’s east ridge on the right
Snow Peak (13,024′) to the south from the Mt. Valhalla summit
Left to right: Becky, Jason, me, Ryan, Sam on the summit of Mt. Valhalla (13,180′)
Left to right: Dillon, Becky, & Jason on the summit of Mt. Valhalla (13,180′). Photo courtesy of Dillon
Group summit shot on Mt. Valhalla (13,180′). Photo courtesy of Dillon
After many pics, a bite to eat, and talk of many future Gore adventures we all descended back to the saddle and then made a diagonal traverse across several snowfields to the lower grass slopes.
The Grand Traverse as seen from the east on the slopes of Mt. Valhalla
The crew heading down Mt. Valhalla’s northwest ridge
Sorry, more pics of Asgard Ridge 🙂
Point Odin on Asgard Ridge
Becky and crew heading down the snowfields below Palomino Point. Photo courtesy of Jason
We met up with Kristine & Kona back in the basin above Deluge Lake and then all descended back to the trailhead by 4:15pm for about an 8.5 hour day.
Sam & Matt in the Deluge Lake basin below Palomino Point & Mt. Valhalla on the way out
The long way home – Kristine & Kona heading down from Deluge Lake in the afternoon sun
Lastly, we picked up Rainier and headed home just in time to catch the 4th quarter of the Broncos beating up the Redskins. Good stuff. Another great day out in the Gores with great folks. There really is no other place I’d rather be.
The 2nd highest peak in the world is K2 in the Karakorum Range of Pakistan and is otherwise known as the “Mountaineer’s Mountain” or the “Savage Mountain”. Well, we have our own “Savage Mountain” here in Colorado called Savage Peak and it lies in the Holy Cross Wilderness about a 45 minute drive from our house. While not 28,000′ and not having a summit fatality rate of 25%, i.e. one in four climbers who successfully summit die on the mountain, our little local Savage Peak is a beautiful 13er in a terrific setting and has a much much higher summit fatality rate – maybe closer to 100% 🙂 Savage Peak has a very aesthetic route on its north face called the “Savage Couloir”. I was wanting to scope this couloir out and maybe climb it in order to get some good recon for a spring climb/ski. J & Mike joined Kristine & myself for the adventure this past Saturday. The mountains had just received a good fresh coat of white about 24 hours earlier and we knew there would be snow, but boy did we underestimate just how much, especially since the slopes we would be climbing are north-facing. Not making the smart decision, we decided to leave the snowshoes in my truck. That turned out to be a mistake, but cest la vie, it yielded just a better workout for the day. It was a frigid 10 degrees at the Missouri Lakes trailhead even though it was 9am and we set off breaking trail in anywhere between 6-12″ of snow on the Missouri Lakes trail around 9:30am. The skies were brilliant blue and the day promised to be sunny and dry. After 2.5 miles or so we left the semi-comfort of the Missouri Lakes trail and veered southwest across the basin and broke trail through some waist deep snow through the trees to treeline below Savage’s east ridge. It was some tough trail breaking and we couldn’t believe how much snow there was. We still had a ways to even get to the base of the Savage Couloir, but considering the north-facing slopes we had just broken trail through, we knew the snow was going to be deep in the deeply inset couloir. Because of the deeply loaded snow within the couloir, my concern for potential avalanches in the couloir heightened considerably. I honestly was not expecting so much snow. I had climbed couloirs in fall before before the snow got to be too much a of a danger, but this October has seen a lot of snow – more than I remember in recent years. I voiced my concern for avalanche potential and we then decided to take the east ridge and save the couloir for spring. It was still a grueling trail break up to the east ridge proper, but no doubt very fun all the same.
Kristine & Mike climbing in deep snow up to the east ridge with the frozen Missouri Lakes behind
We still saw deep post-holing until we got on the east ridge proper and were able to stay on some rocks as well and only break trail through a few inches of fresh snow.
Finally on the east ridge, the post-holing in deep snow didn’t let up
Savage Peak comes into view
Kristine & Mike on the east ridge
The ridge was spectacular and made for some great views of the Holy Cross Wilderness and the awesome Savage Couloir.
The remaining route up the east ridge with the Savage Couloir visible
Kristine on a fine fall day
J climbing the east ridge
Kristine & Mike on the east ridge
J and the final bit to Savage’s summit
J almost to Savage’s summit with Kristine & Mike following closely behind
Mike loving being high on a 13er in winter-like conditions
As we got higher on the ridge, the wind increased and made for some chilly climbing. We all topped out on Savage Peak’s summit around 2pm and were greeted with a very stiff and cold west wind. We took a few pics and did not stay very long – my fingers about froze trying to handle the camera. All in the name of good training for Antarctica, I guess.
Northern Sawatch from Savage Peak’s summit
Pyramid Peak & the Maroon Bells to the southwest from Savage Peak’s summit
The four of us on the Savage Peak summit (13,139′)
Kristine & I on Savage’s cold summit
The boys on Savage’s summit
As soon as we were a few hundred feet down the east ridge, the wind subsided and it turned out to be a great afternoon to be up high on a mountain.
Descending the east ridge
A gorgeous afternoon
Mike & Savage Peak
Another hour of retracing our post-hole steps brought us back down to the Missouri Lakes trail and another hour brought us back to my truck shortly before 4:30pm. While its no K2, Savage was a really fun winter-like climb in the heart of the Northern Sawatch literally only 15 miles southeast of our house as the crow flies. I think we all look forward to going back in May to climb/ski the awesome Savage Couloir.
Kristine & I are back from the wedding celebration of our good friends Rob Schnare & Hanna Boone. The festivities took place in Hood River, OR and up at the Gorge Crest Vineyards on the Washington State side of the Columbia River. It was an awesome weekend of great friends, gorgeous scenery, and maybe one too many Dark & Stormy’s all in the names of Rob & Hanna. The Schnares & Boones sure put on an amazing weekend for us all and for that we are so appreciative & grateful to be included. Rob & Hanna leave for Europe tomorrow for their honeymoon and then back to Portland, OR to continue their rockstar lives as a married couple. Rob is a longtime best friend of Kristine & myself who I met almost a decade ago through work and has since been on many amazing trips with us such as Aconcagua in 2006 & Mt. Elbrus in 2008. Hanna is an amazing gal who turns out to be a distant relative of mine with her being a direct descendant of Daniel Boone and me being a direct descendant of Daniel Boone’s wife, Rebecca Bryan. Some pictures I took of the wonderful weekend are as follows:
Mt. Hood (Oregon’s highest peak at 11,249′) looming above all else as seen from the wedding site
Rob and the rehearsal party
Our awesome groomsmen accomodations
Hood River & the Columbia River from our groomsmen pad
Mary, Rob, & Kristine at the groomsmen pad
Hanna & Kristine at the rehearsal dinner cocktail party
Rehearsal dinner in Hood River
Brother & sister on wedding day
Rob & his ladies
Rob & Hanna among the vineyards
Cornhole before the wedding ceremony – thank you, Mr. Tyler Holland
Not too shabby of a wedding site
The Chalks
Roberto and me
The Scribners, the Woodys, and Roberto
Suspencer & Lindsey
The Chalks
Best man, Evan, & Melissa
Bozeman, MT, rockstars Travis & Mary
Robbie dipping the bride
Evan & Chad
The Horst family – Mike, Cathy, & Cassidy
Kristine & I stopped at Multnomah Falls on the way back to Portland to stretch the legs and do a quick hike
Looking down from the top of the falls
Oregon sure does have some awsome natural wonders. It was good to get back here after a few years
Last Thursday/Friday, Colorado received its first big snow storm of the fall. Steamboat reported 14″ at mid-mountain, but a friend of ours who lives in Steamboat hiked up and skied a good 2 feet at the top of the resort. Quite impressive especially for October 4. I don’t remember the snow falling so much so early in the 10 years I’ve been in the Vail Valley. While I absolutely love Indian summers and late fall climbing/scrambling, maybe this all points to a good winter. We shall see. With the Aspens peaking in their brilliant gold colors last week and the new snow on the ground and on the spruce trees, the combination of these colors was absolutely amazing on Friday driving to work. So, the dogs and I hiked up Arrowhead in the late afternoon and got some pictures of the Lake Creek Valley landscape and our favorite A10 trail aspen trees.
Amazing colors looking back into the Lake Creek Valley & A10 trail
On Sunday we all decided to take advantage of the wonderful fall weather and hike up the relatively short and dog-friendly 13er Whitney Peak in the Holy Cross Wilderness very near Notch Mountain, which Kristine & I had traversed the previous Sunday. After passing the Missouri Lakes & Fancy Lake trailheads, we drove to around 10,320′ and parked at the French Creek trailhead right before the gnarly Holy Cross City Road, one of Colorado’s toughest 4WD roads. J joined Kristine, Rainier, Kona, & myself as well as Billy Larson and his dog, Buddy. We hiked up the Holy Cross City 4WD road about a mile or so and then took off east bushwhacking through the forest, across a boulder field, and up the steep grassy slopes to Whitney Peak’s mellow south ridge.
Very dry south-facing meadows on Whitney Peak’s south ridge
Savage Peak (13,139′)
I had noticed from pictures and the map that there seemed to be a shallow southwestern facing gully mostly filled in with grass and some rocks. I’m always looking for grassy routes for ole Rainier as the boulder hopping really give her legs a hard time these days. Turns out this gully was just what the doctor ordered and was mostly grass up until the last few hundred vertical feet before the ridge.
J, Kristine, & Billy on the ascent up the southwestern gully
Buddy having so much fun
Kristine enjoying this gorgeous fall day up high
There was a bit of snow at the top of the ridge, but we all veered left and within 10 minutes we were at the summit boulder of Whitney Peak. Now, Whitney Peak’s summit plateau is very large and long. There are actually two highpoints along this plateau and we could see the other highpoint on the far western end of the plateau. The Whitney Peak USGS benchmark (13,271′) is indeed on this western highpoint, but the large 5 ft tall summit boulder on the eastern highpoint where we stood is the highest point on the mountain at 13,276′. So, we called this summit boulder our summit as it is the true summit of Whitney Peak. In fact, surmounting the summit boulder requires a 5.6 move or two which was pretty fun.
J & I on top of Whitney Peak’s summit boulder (13,276′)
Billy & J on Whitney Peak’s summit boulder (13,276′)
The eastern highpoint of Whitney Peak
Whitney Peak summit (13,271′)
Mt. of the Holy Cross (14,005′) at left and Notch Mountain (13,237′) at right
Notch Mountain (13,237′) at left with the Gore Range behind. Can you spot the Notch Mountain Shelter on Notch Mountain’s right shoulder?
Pyramid Peak and the Maroon Bells to the southwest
Looking down Whitney Peak’s steep east face to Whitney Lake below
We then took a group photo just below the summit boulder, took in the views of the Northern Sawatch Range and local 14er Mt. of the Holy Cross, and then headed down arriving back at the cars around 2pm for a roundtrip time of about 4 1/2 hours. We sped back to Sarah & Keith’s house in Edwards to try and make the beginning of the Denver Broncos game. It was a fun-filled afternoon of friends, burgers, beer, and the Broncos squeaking out a victory against the Dallas Cowboys to go to 5-0. You just can’t beat the Broncos nor can you beat bluebird fall days in the Colorado highcountry.
Kristine here – A few weekends ago I was home with the dogs and decided that Notch Mountain would make a nice day climb for everyone, especially since I’d never done it. I recruited a few others, but early in the morning as we were about to depart the weather was not looking promising. We arrived at the Half Moon Trailhead (10,300′) and started off on the Fall Creek Trail in a cold drizzle. When we reached treeline, it began to sleet / snow and the wind picked up. Luckily, just as we were a the point of calling it, the sun broke through and we decided to push on.
Sarah and Keith bundled up on their way up the Notch Mountain Trail switchbacks as the blue sky pokes through
We were all glad we didn’t turn as we made it to the Notch Mountain Shelter (13,077′) with relatively good weather and an excellent view of our local 14er Mt. of the Holy Cross.
The crew with Holy Cross in the background
Me, Kona, and Rainier
Notch Mountain Hut, Rainier, and Kona (sporting her fleece jacket)
With 5 dogs and threatening clouds in the distance we were satisfied with the hut as our destination. We made it back to the car just as the skies opened up and it began to pour. Overall, a great way to spend a fall day with less than stellar weather.
A week later, Brandon and I decided to go back without the dogs to traverse the “Notch” on Notch Mountain. This time we began on the Half Moon Pass Trail. In just one week, conditions had changed and we ascended in a mixture of rock and snow up to Point 12,743′.
Brandon at Point 12,743′
From there we were able to do a bit of rock-hopping to stay mostly on dry rock across the ridge to the true summit of Notch Mountain at 13,237′.
Brandon and I on the summit of Notch Mountain (13,237′)
Notch Mountain’s southern summit & the Notch Mountain Shelter from the northern true summit
We then descended a bit to the east and entered the “Notch” through a snowy couloir. At this point we were glad we didn’t have the dogs with us as we navigated some blocky 3rd/4th class scrambling up to Notch Mountain’s south summit at 13,224′.
Snow-filled couloir approaching the “Notch”
Rocky scramble up to Notch Mountain’s south summit
Final class 4 moves back to the ridge
The snow definitely made the scramble more challenging as I was not entirely trusting my shoes and trying to avoid the wet patches. After that, it was an easy cruise down to the Notch Mountain Shelter where I was just a week earlier.
Notch Mountain Shelter & Holy Cross
Great stone fireplace inside the hut
We were kind of wishing we could spend the night – the hut is really cool, and much better maintained than any of the abandoned mining huts we have visited. It was fun to see how much snow had accumulated in just a week both on Holy Cross and looking out into the Gores.
Brandon and I with Mt. of the Holy Cross and its Cross Couloir in the background
We descended the Notch Mountain Trail back to the Fall Creek Trail. I read that there are 36 switchbacks along this route, but it felt like much more 🙂 Both ways of climbing Notch Mountain were really fun. The first climb up to the shelter was a great day with friends and dogs, and doing the loop was a nice way to add in some rock scrambling.
There are generally considered four great Colorado 14er traverses, i.e. ridge traverses between two 14,000’+ summits in Colorado. Now, there are many ridges connecting numerous 14ers in our state, but most of them are simple hikes or scrambles. What makes there be four greatones is the exposure of the ridge, at least 4th class scrambling, sometimes length of ridge and time required to complete the ridge, and especially the commitment level. The other three great Colorado 14er traverses are the Mt. Wilson – El Diente Peak Traverse, the Crestone Traverse linking Crestone Peak to Crestone Needle, and the Bells Traverse linking South Maroon Peak to North Maroon Peak. Having completed the Crestone Traverse earlier this summer on my 2nd try, that left me with only the biggest and baddest of all the great 14er traverses: the Little Bear Peak to Blanca Peak Traverse. Still not being able to really rock climb due to my ongoing forearm tendonitis, its been a summer of scrambling high on our beloved peaks and to do some of the traverses that have been on my list for some time. I had completed the Bells Traverse three times in the past and the Mt. Wilson – El Diente Peak Traverse twice, but now having traversed the ridge from Little Bear Peak to Blanca Peak I can truly say it lived up to its reputation and puts the other ridges to shame in just about every aspect: length, exposure, 4th class/low 5th class scrambling, and especially commitment. There is truly no way off the ridge if something should happen, i.e. storms, lightning, fatigue, etc. You either complete it or turn around. At the low point of the ridge, one could scramble down into the Blanca Basin in case of emergency (as in to escape lightning), but this puts the climber in the wrong basin from Lake Como. The Little Bear – Blanca Traverse is truly one of my favorites to date and it was just so much fun and continually challenging and exciting. My good friend J Weingast and I have done a lot of ridge traverses in Colorado and I think we are both in agreement that this one was one of our favorites. This traverse would be the last of the four great Colorado 14er traverses for J, Derek Drechsel, & myself. Also, Derek & I would have done all the traverses together, which was pretty special.
Rewind about 7 1/2 years to a late October 2006 attempt at these peaks for our first visit to the Blanca Group. We didn’t know what we were in for and my buddy Lee Hoffman’s jeep almost took a nose dive between Jaws 1 & 2 into a creek bed. Fortunately, the Alamosa 4WD club came to our rescue the next day after we camped out on the road. That morning, several of us and Rainier attempted at least one of these peaks, but witha decent amount of snow and no snowshoes/skis, we didn’t get very far past Blue Lakes in the Lake Como basin. So, not much (if anything) went our way that first attempt at these peaks. Live and learn.
Now, rewinding to Memorial Day Weekend 2007 before J, Kristine, & I left for Denali puts us back in this Blanca Group camped at Lake Como for two nights with all our good climbing buddies and furry K9 friends. It was the first time any of us had been to these three peaks (Little Bear Peak, Blanca Peak, & Ellingwood Point) and we had a truly incredible weekend climbing them snow-covered with our ice axes and crampons. Rainier was with us as well and was able to summit both Blanca & Ellingwood. Not only did she summit these peaks, she ran laps around the rest of us. I guess we were all in our youth back in those days. The climb up the standard “Hourglass Couloir” on Little Bear was exciting and made for a great, steep snow climb. Its a very dangerous place to be in summer or dry conditions due to rockfall and this is precisely what makes Little Bear to be considered the most dangerous 14er by its easiest route. So, we all vowed to never climb the “Hourglass” without snow. A little blast from the past:
Rainier & I on the summit of Blanca Peak in May 2007 with the connecting ridge to Little Bear behind us
Rainier & I looking off at Ellingwood Point & the northern Sangres from the summit of Blanca Peak. This is one of my favorite photos
Our Denali team (J, Kristine, me) on the summit of Blanca Peak
Kristine & I on the summit of Ellingwood Point in May 2007 with the northwest face of Little Bear Peak behind
The “sun’s out guns out” pose by the boys on Ellingwood Point over Memorial Day Weekend 2007
Kristine leading the charge up the “Hourglass Couloir” on Little Bear Peak in May 2007
Kristine & I on the summit of Little Bear Peak In late May 2007
Unfortunately, our good friend Reid Jennings was unable to make the climb and so that left Mike Santoro, J, & I driving down in my Tahoe from Vail and meeting Derek Drechsel at the lower Lake Como trailhead on his way back to Denver from Albuquerque for work around dark on Friday night.
Little Bear Peak from the 8,000′ level at the start of the Lake Como Road. The start of this rough 4WD road can be seen on the left of this picture
We all piled into my Tahoe with all the gear and started for my truck’s third time up one of the roughest 4WD roads in Colorado though I always parked at around the 10,000′ level before the really nasty 4WD sections dubbed Jaws 1, 2, & 3. The sections over Jaws 1,2, & 3 shouldn’t even be in the 4WD category – one needs a certified rock crawler for these sections. So, after driving around 2.5 miles up the road very slowly and over some tough sections in the dark, we reached where I always remembered parking and set up camp. Mike & I slept in the back of my truck while J & Derek shared the tent.The alarm went off at 3:30am and after some coffee & oatmeal we were on the road by 4:30am. The moon was bright as it was almost a full moon. After what seems like a few weeks of torrential monsoonal flow, we would finally get our bluebird Fall day. We hiked by headlamp the 2.5 miles up to Lake Como at 11,750′ in about an hour marveling at the Jaws 1, 2, & 3 sections and how these rock crawlers are able to navigate such serious terrain. Other climbers who had camped at Lake Como were stirring and headlamps were visible. We continued up the Lake Como road to above the lake turning south across a creek and made our way through the forests to the base of the northern access couloir to Little Bear’s west ridge. The last time we climbed this couloir was in snow, which was definitely easier than the scree-filled 35 degree couloir presenting itself to us today. However, we made really good time to the top of this couloir and the start of the west ridge.
Early morning on the start of Little Bear’s west ridge direct
Heading towards the meat & potatoes of the west ridge
I had been wanting to try the rarely climbed west ridge direct up Little Bear after seeing Alan Arnette’s blog entry & video on his team’s ascent up the route earlier this summer. It just looked so good and I figured would be a good warm-up for the traverse to Blanca. And, the west ridge direct surely didn’t disappoint. Great 4th class/easy 5th scrambling on a super exposed arete hit us right off the bat above the “Baby Thunder” couloir.
J getting into the scrambling of the west ridge direct
Mike on an exposed 4th class arete
A really fun slab portion of the arete. There was a piece of webbing slung around a rock at the top of this slab
J on the upper west ridge direct
The terrain mellowed out to class 3 about halfway up the ridge, but then more 4th class fun was to be had. J & I made a few seriously exposed low 5th class moves out over the northwest face to avoid a overhang on the ridge proper, moves which could have been avoided by traversing south as Mike & Derek did, but it was fun and exciting all the same.
Me displaying this short low 5th class yet exposed section
Almost to the summit of Little Bear Peak via the west ridge direct
Me on an airy perch
Northern Sangre de Cristos with Crestone Peak & Crestone Needle visible above the Great Sand Dunes
The boys coming up to Little Bear’s summit with the beautiful San Luis Valley far below
We all reached Little Bear’s summit by about 8am for a time of about 3 1/2 hrs from the truck.
J on the summit of Little Bear for the 2nd time
Little Bear Peak summit (14,037′)
The west ridge direct definitely goes down as one of my all-time favorite routes up a 14er. Highly recommended for folks who enjoy that sort of thing. I would think the ridge is even downclimable with maybe a rappel or two in there if used as a descent route. It was a gorgeous morning though a bit windy. The stiff breeze continued with us the entire traverse to Blanca so we accepted it as our climbing companion. We made our way down the northeast ridge of Little Bear from the summit to start the traverse around 8:30am. The downclimb off of Little Bear’s summit to the ridge proper is one of the traverse’s cruxes because of the exposed 4th class downclimbing.
Mike & I heading down Little Bear’s northeast ridge to start the traverse
Mike & Derek on the downclimb off Little Bear to start the traverse to Blanca
The boys downclimbing off Little Bear’s northeast ridge
We made it down to a small notch and continued on to the northeast up and over several towers and knife-edges on great rock all making for an incredible traverse. The sustained “airiness” and exposure was so exciting. We saw two climbers ascending Little Bear’s northwest face below us and we made sure not to kick anything down on them from the ridge proper. These northwest face climbers turned out to be Tyler, aka MountainMedic, from 14ers.com and a friend.
Climbers below us ascending the northwest face route of Little Bear
Derek on an airy move with Little Bear Peak behind
The climbing never really exceeded low 5th class, but it felt like more in places because of the exposure.
J & Mike on the traverse
Derek heading down to another notch in the ridge
Me on a knife-edge of sorts with Blanca Peak in the distance
A climber can be seen on the summit of Little Bear Peak behind J & Derek
Mike and some air below him
Traversing around to the north of a small tower – I think this is the tower dubbed “Captain Bivwacko” tower, but who knows. There are so many towers
J & I had to climb it though
J downclimbing a knife-edge ridge of another tower
The knife-egde we downclimbed
I believe this was the low point of the traverse – around 13,600′
A nifty and fun little chimney
Me having some fun
The first half of the traverse definitely was harder and more airy than the second half of the traverse up to Blanca though the 750′ vertical gain up and over three major towers and an exposed “catwalk” to Blanca from the traverse’s low point was a whole different kind of challenge. The middle section of the ridge was essentially class 2-3 talus walking and we made good time on this part until the 1st tower up to Blanca reared itself up in earnest.
Mike on the “walking” portion halfway across the ridge
Derek with a tower on the right and Little Bear Peak behind him to the left with climbers on its summit
Typically, folks traverse to the right (south) of the 1st tower, but J & I decided to find a way up and over as we always love the “ridge proper” method. We found a weakness in the tower at the right up a dihedral and to a left-ascending traverse. It was about 100′ in total of low-mid 5th class climbing.
Our line up the 1st tower went up the obvious dihedral right of center and then back left to the summit
J stoked to have climbed the 1st tower head on
We met Derek & Mike around at the base of the notch after the 1st tower’s summit ridge. It was then a short scramble up to the infamous “catwalk” portion: a very narrow (1-2 ft) wide ledge system with serious exposure on both sides. It made for great pictures.
Climbing along the ridge to the “catwalk” and the 2nd tower
Along the “catwalk”
Mike & Derek traversing the “catwalk”
Derek on the “catwalk” with Little Bear getting further & further away in the distance
After a short scramble up to the summit ridge of the 2nd tower, it was a short downclimb to the notch and the base of the 3rd tower. The ascent up the 3rd tower was easy enough considering what we had already traversed and we were soon on top of Blanca Peak around 10:40am for a traverse time of just over 2 hrs.
Derek on the summit ridge of the 3rd tower with the San Luis Valley over 7,000′ below
The Little Bear-Blanca traverse from Blanca’s summit
Looking north from Blanca’s summit
Blanca Peak summit (14,345′)
Its a bit lengthy, but here is a video of the boys reaching Blanca’s summit after the traverse:
I really felt great to have completed this traverse and we were all very pleased with how well it went. I would definitely come back and do this traverse again despite the effort in getting here – it was that good. The wind was still whipping pretty good and it was getting cold. We departed the summit around 11:15am or so and descended Blanca’s standard northwest ridge. I had thoughts of continuing onto Ellingwood Point with J, but my throat was really starting to get sore from the stiff wind we had been enduring for hours, I believe. I thought it best to get down and save my throat, though we definitely had the energy to continue on. Another time. It was a bit disappointing though because besides Ellingwood Point the only other 14er I need to have climbed all the Colorado 14ers twice is my original finisher, San Luis Peak. C’est la vie. Nevertheless, I’m glad we continued down to get out of the wind and we still had a long descent back to my truck. The hike down to Lake Como was beautiful and we stopped several times to refill water and take in our surroundings. Once back at Lake Como we chatted with Tyler and his friend who had descended down the “Hourglass Couloir” and were packing up camp. It was good to meet those guys. We got some good looks at the ridge we had completed as well the entire hike out.
Little Bear Peak from Lake Como. The west ridge direct follows the right skyline in the foreground and then the traverse to Blanca follows the left skyline
Derek’s panorama of the entire 3.5 mile ridge line we traversed from the notch in Little Bear’s west ridge (far right) to Blanca’s summit (far left)
We finally reached the truck around 2:30pm for a 10 hour day including many stops and rests on the way down. It was a great day out in the highcountry with my good friends. We feel lucky to have had such a nice day for a ridge like this. We packed up the truck and it took an hour or more to drive the few miles down the extremely rough (for a stock 4WD) Lake Como Road. After dropping Derek off at his car, we all headed north for some awesome burgers at the Steel Horse Grill in Villa Grove. Derek then headed back to Denver while Mike, J, & I found a cool car camping spot up the Marshall Pass Road off Poncha Pass and had a nice campfire under the stars. I helped them shuttle cars the next morning so they could ride the famous Monarch Crest mountain biking trail and then I headed back in my truck to Vail. My truck sure has been through the ringer with over a decade’s worth of 14er trailheads (many more than once), but the Lake Como Road continually proves to be the roughest ride we’ve been on together. The Little Bear – Blanca ridge was certainly all that it was advertised to be. I hope to go back there with Kristine someday to try it with her.
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