High Altitude Adventures

Mount of the Holly Cross: Standard route

Last weekend a group of friends and I decided to go hike Mount of the Holly Cross the 14er between Leadville and Minturn. It is listed as a moderate summer hike, although long and lots of elevation gain there is no technical skills needed it was class 2 & 3 the whole way.

We all meet up at the 1-70 cut-off outside of Morrison on Friday evening and piled into my buddies big S.U.V. for the trek out to Minturn.  There ended up being 6 of us and a dog. It was a cozy ride especially when the hound decided it no longer wanted to ride in the back, but that the seat looked more comfortable.

Sardined in we arrived at the trailhead around 9:45.  There was no camping sited available so we just pitched a few tents next to our car in the busy parking lot.  As we fell asleep a group of 3 hikers was setting out to catch a sunrise summit. In the early hours of the morning I heard a few groups of hikers heading out before we left at 6:00am.

The trail starts out really nice winding up through the woods to the top of Half Moon pass, which is a really mellow hike. Then it drops down the ridge to the creek, where there are at least 3 or 4 campsites. As you make your way down the backside of Half Moon pass Mount of the Holly Cross comes into view and you can see the massive scree field that you will have to journey up to reach the top. Also you can see the Angelica Couloir. which at this time had no snow in it.

As you reach the bottom of the pass you have to cross over Half Moon creek this is about 1/3 of the way to the top, but also the easiest part of the day. From here the trail starts to make its way back up the adjacent ridge and eventually above timberline. Almost instantly as you step out of the trees you are presented with a giant chose pile which is your route to the top.

Going through scree and boulder hopping is never something I find enjoyable to do for hours but this Mount of the holly Cross makes it extra difficult because there are hardly any cairns along the way so you are more or less just following the best route that you think you can find.  You do this following the ridge up what is the false summit, although you know this most of the time because you can see the top off to your left. When you reach the top of the ridge, this is also the top of Angelica, you are almost at the top it is just another 15 minutes or so following the summit ridge. This is the steepest part of the hike along with the largest boulders and some easy 3^rd class moves are needed.

As we reached the top I thought that we were coming up onto a false summit but was pleasantly surprised to find out we had made the top. From the top you have an amazing view. You can see the Maroon Bells, Capital and Pyramid to the west, and as you look south you can see the ski resort, Ski Cooper and Mount Elbert.

The hike back down was slow going as you make your way through the scree. Be careful on the decent as I saw a few groups wandering around below the scree looking for the trail. Keep your eyes peeled for the 2 giants cairns that you passed on the way up, they lead you back to the trail into the tress and were made this big for a reason.

As you come back down to Half Moon creek you have to hike back up about 700’ to the top of the pass, but it is not a bad hike especially after coming off all of the scree it is a nice change.  From the top of the pass it is just a short distance back to the car.

This was a good hike overall although scrambling through scree is not something I enjoy much, I would much rather just find a snow path or rock wall and climb up. It took us about 10 hours exactly to get up and down but we were also taking our time, I imagine that it could comfortably be done in under 8.5 hours.

Also congrats to Jared and Sadie for their 1^st 14ers ever, this was a challenging one to start out with.

Cheers!

The Sharkstooth: Northeast Ridge

After the weather for the past few weekends had been very uncooperative, acting like it would rain but not, or being forecast for clear sky’s then raining I decided that I would have to take the chance of a 20% showers and do some alpine climbing. And after talking it over with one of my climbing partners we decided that a Saturday attempt at the Sharkstooth via the Northeast ridge was necessary.

As I peeled myself out of bed at 1:30 in the morning and choked down some chocolate cake, a favorite breakfast item of mine on alpine starts, I dragged myself to the car for the drive to Glacier Gorge to meet my buddy coming down from Fort Collins. As I made my way out of Boulder I felt a little loony in my grogginess, as cars came towards me I felt like a bug being sucked into one of those bug zappers not having a choice but to continue driving towards the light.  But somewhere around Lyons I think I finally woke up and realized that there was not a cloud in the sky.

As I pulled into RMNP and made my way up to the parking lot I was extremely excited because there was a full moon lighting my way up the road, but naturally right as I pulled in and saw a shooting star go whizzing by out my window a group of clouds came over Flattop and Halletts and completely engulfed the moon, it got really dark really fast.

After sorting gear and ropes we were on the trail by 3:30. Winding our way down into the canyon towards the short cut we could see the lights of a group heading to The Spearhead and the Petit in front of us. But soon it just became the woods and us and the next 2.5 miles to the Loch was just one quite step after another of awesome morning mountain air. 

By the time we reached the turn off to Andrews Glacier we were both awake and charging at a pretty good pace.  But once we reached tree line up near the start of the gash we realized that we were completely in a cloud.  Instead of trying to find our way through the boulder field in the fog we decided that it would be best to take a break in the trees and see what the weather would do.

At around 5:15 or so just as we could see Zowie peak through the clouds a group of climbers passed by us not even noticing us in our warm tree camp. We decided that we did not want to give our spot in line up for this climb and we had hope that with the warming sun the clouds would be broken up and possibly give us a chance for a climb, or at the least we would be able to see Sharkstooth and a great sunrise.

We made our way up through the gash still in fog and clouds not actually being able to see any of the Spires until we were nearly on them. But then just like clock work the clouds lifted and we knew we were in for a great day of climbing.

After our slow approach we finally got on the 1^st pitch around 8:30. Route finding was relatively easy and the climbing was good 5.6 moves.  The second pitch went up a crack and over a small little roof; this was definitely my favorite move of the climb although each pitch had a fun spot or two.  From the second belay ledge we had to take a moment to orient ourselves and debated going right around the corner and then up or continuing straight up the slab.  We decided to continue straight up which was a good choice it allowed for easy moves and good gear placement. Pitch 3-4 were very similar slab climbing that took you to a large belay ledge at the base of an off-width.  Climbing the off-width was actually very easy and you other than the first few moves to get off the belay ledge you hardly had to climb in the crack, as there was great face holds. Above the crack you come to a really airy traverse that lets you get a sense of the exposure.  The last belay ledge was just above this and from here it was just a run out scramble to the true summit where the views were amazing of the entire Glacier Gorge area and Longs Peak as well as the Mummy’s and the Estes valley.

The rappel is off the South East of the top and is made of old pitons and new slings. Two ropes were necessary to make it completely from one anchor to the next and it is 3 raps to reach the gully between The Saber and Sharkstooth and from here just a small scramble back down to the start of the climb.

After gathering our stashed gear we made our way back down through the gash, which felt like it would never end. From here the trail back out to the Loch and then to the parking lot was a happy sight.

We got back to the parking lot at 6:15 making it a great 15-hour day of classic climbing. 

Overall this was a great alpine route with really fun mellow climbing and it allowed for spectacular views throughout all of it.  Also I would say that we could have easily knocked off an hour or two if we did not have to wait to see what the weather would do and I did not lead one of the pitches as slow as I did.

Cheers!

Chipmunk Challenge

The original plan was to do Mummy Mania in Rocky Mountain National Park. But after spending a day up on Lumpy Ridge we missed our chance at getting a Lawn Lake campsite and ended up with a site at upper Chipmunk. This is near the cirque of Mt. Chiquita and Mt. Ypsilon, just to the south of Ypsilon Lake. In turn we created the Chipmunk Challenge.

A group of us met in Estes Saturday morning and split up the gear before heading into the park.  We left one car at the Lawn Lake trailhead and headed up the Old Fall River Rd. for a gruelingly slow drive to the Chapin Pass Trailhead at 10600’.  This has to be one of the most tourist pack roads I have ever been on in the park. The fact that it is a dirt road makes the slow tourist drivers knock their speeds down to barely inching along. Make sure when heading up this road you leave early to beet the crowds because it is otherwise a nice drive.

From the trailhead you quickly gain elevation, within about an hour we were above timberline and on a rocky primitive trail. At the saddle of Mt. Chapin and Mt. Chiquita we tossed our packs down and headed up Chapin.  This is a great way to start the trip because atop the 12,454’ summit you can see the rest of the mummy range as well as great views of the Estes Valley and the lakes and rivers that flow out of the park.

From the Saddle up to Chiquita is one of the hardest parts of this route.  The elevation gain is a grinder. Going up 1000’ feet in .25 miles really gets your lungs working and your legs feeling like rubber bands especially with a heavy backpack on., the grind is well worth it though.  Atop Mount Chiquita you look down on a few beautiful high alpine lakes.  To the North you can see the Spectacle Lakes at the base of Ypsilon, in front of you to the east you see Ypsilon Lake and you can even barely make out Chipmunk Lake just slightly to the South East.

After our crew regrouped at the top of Chiquita and assessed the possibility of a rainstorm we made the decision to split up the group and go separate ways geared more towards each group’s goal.  One group decided that they had enough of grinding up hill in the elevation so three people set off down the Eastern ridge of Chiquita, well equip with a map and compass, to find camp and move at a more leisurely pace not having to be as concerned about the weather (this is the split in the pinl).  While myself and a buddy decided that we wanted to see more of the Mummy range especially what Ypsilon Mountain and Fairchild Mountain had to offer in terms of climbing so we took off North for the summit of Ypsilon(this is the continued red line).

The hike up Ypsilon is a much easier grade and more enjoyable than Chiquita although at this point any sign of trail has pretty much disappeared and I do not even recall seeing Cairns guiding the way.  But route finding is very easy and even pleasant as many grassy options wind their way through the rock.

In just a short time my buddy and I were staring down into the Y couloirs, which certainly did not have enough snow in them to even consider a climb.  Also there was still a large amount of the cornice hanging above the route looking ready to break off at any moment. We took a short break at the top of Ypsilon to grab a sip of water and determine the path that lay in front of us, to Fairchild. Looking across the ridge it looked like a giant chose pile not an actual mountain, with no clear route up it. I spent more of the time studying the cirque looking for a safe way down the valley as apposed to up Fairchild.

Leaving the top of Ypsilon you wind your way down a boulder field and across a ridge that requires a few 3^rd class moves. Although easy moves you had to be extra careful because many of the larger blocks were ready to roll with the slightest bump. From here you make your way across the boulder filed ridge towards. After traversing for a while we decided to descend the ridge to the less rocky flat ground to be able and move faster. Once in the more open meadow we decided that we would forgo an assent of Fairchild partly due to the weather building and partly because we could not spot a safe route up the scree filled gullies.  This was a disappointing decision because we both had been looking forward to seeing the climbing on Fairchilds North East buttress especially the Honcho Boncho climb which has taunted us with a lack of information. But overall it turned out to be the best route decision because descend from here was an almost direct route to Ypsilon Lake.

After taking a break above a lake that did not appear on our topo we followed the stream to south west to the first of 3 Fay Lakes then continued further south-west instead of following the stream and lakes in a more northerly direction, this dropped us out right above Ypsilon Lake. Aside from the killer flies was a beautiful route.

Once down to Ypsilon Lake we found camp with the other half of our groups gear and them fishing pulling in some 8-12” cutthroats.

The next day we hiked 4.5 miles out the trail to the Lawn Lake trailhead and jumped in our other car for the grueling drive back up Old Fall River Rd. where we were just in time for the after lunch tourist crowds. This is not a road to take if you are not whiling to spend a few hours over the 9.4 miles.

Overall I thought that the Chipmunk Challenge was a really fun route and probably more doable for carrying an overnight pack than Mummy Mania would have been. Also it allows great views of the high peaks around RMNP and many of the great climbing routes on Ypsilon and Chiquita.  Along with this we spotted a few good routes for snowboard mountaineering come next spring.

Cheers!

Silverthorne to Vail on Subway Sandwiches

Last week I got a call from some High School buddies, who were looking to do their first backpacking trip, they wanted to hike from Silverthorne to East Vail and weren’t going to let the mileage scare them away from their goal.

After looking over some maps to find the route I was super excited for the trip.  It would start out in Silverthorne in the Wilderness neighborhood on the Mesa Cortina Trail, which would then connect to the Gore Range trail and take us up to a large cirque created by Buffalo Mountain and Red Mountain. From here we would join the Gore Creek Trail and follow it up over Red Mountain Pass and down into East Vail for a total of 14.9 miles.

We headed up to Silverthorne late Thursday night to crash at one of hikers cabin. And after doing some early morning grocery shopping and convincing everyone that we actually would need more food than just grabbing a few Subway sandwiches.

It was actually really cool we connected with the Mesa Cortina Trail by just simply stepping off my buddies back porch and walking through a meadow of flowers. It is one of the more relaxing and beautiful ways I have ever started a backpacking trip.  Although these guys had not done any backpacking before they were in good shape so we were really putting on the miles. In no time were in the Eagle’s Nest Wilderness winding our way up through the dense woods filled with Aspens and Pines. 

At 2.8 miles we connected with the Gore Range Trail following along the creek gaining elevation.  At about mile 4.5 we came across a pretty cool waterfall, this is the turn around point for most day hikers and made a great lunch spot for us. After lunch we set out again planning to either camp just before the river leaves the trailside or else at an alpine lake where the Gore Range and Gore Creek trails split. After winding through avalanche paths and meadows of wildflowers we finally found ourselves in the cirque just below the pass, this was at about mile 8 or 9.  We followed a stream down from one of the lakes and found an amazing flat spot to call home for the night. As we set up camp a rescue helicopter buzzed down over the pass, and I later learned that this was from a rescue that had taken place of a hiker on Mount of the Holy Cross.

In the morning we had to bust out the map and do some good map & compass work as the trail disappeared in the meadow and up over the pass until you got back down into the trees. In the shade of the trees we fought knee-deep snow, until around 9,800ft. or mile 10.5 where you cross over Gore Creek. There is also a historical grave of two brothers from Sweden who apparently were famous miners of the time. From here it is a very mellow 4 miles mostly downhill to the trailhead at East Vail.

I thought that this was a great through hike and the meadow on the East Side of Red Mountain pass was one of the more beautiful places I have been so far this summer. I would recommend checking this area out.

Cheers!

Beer, Kayaking, Rain: Lyons Outdoor Games

Yum Oskar Blues Brewery hosting an outdoors event I was sold to go check it out.  Well that and the weather had been terrible around Boulder.  It had rained almost nonstop everyday for a week so doing almost anything had become miserable or at least good training for living in the North West. But with all of the rain the rivers were flowing at extremely high levels and super dangerous, so an even hosting Whitewater kayaking sounded entertaining.

On the day of the event it was raining so the mountain biking, run and other events had been cancelled.  When I showed up the Junior-Pro freestyle kayaking was going on. This is an event on the national kayak circuit for competitors under the age of 18.

This was the first kayak event that I have ever been too, and aside from seeing people paddle rivers and a few videos at festivals I had never seen Freestyle Kayaking. It was crazy! The competitors would paddle into a rapid and then do tricks that were similar to snowboard aerials, back flips, rodeos and Mctwists but they were sitting in a Kayak and jumping out of the water.

Because of the rain I only stuck around for the juniors before I had to retreat to Oskar Blues to enjoy some food and drink. But non-the-less I still left very impressed by the technical moves that these kayakers could do and the pure strength that it took to get out of the water like that.

Cheers!

I think it should be called Batman Forever

I met a few friends last weekend to go fix and climb a route that they had found in the Big Thompson Canyon in the Glen Haven picnic area. It can be found under a variety of names, in some guidebooks it is referred to as Slip and Splash and on Mountain Project it is called Bosh Fire, rated a 5.12C. I think the variation that we did, or the Top Rope route should be called Batman Forever because you have to do this sweet Batman swing onto the rock across the river and quickly grab the rock, and the rappel is just as exciting.

When we arrived there were no hangers on the bolts, instead there were chains that had just been screwed onto bolts, finger tight bolts at that.  So a few people walked around to the top and rapped down onto the climb to put up some hangers and attach quick links to the chains.  Although this has been fixed the entire route cannot yet be led because at least one bolt on the traverse section is missing a hanger and the bolt may have even been chopped.  Also you will need to wait for the river to drop a lot, as a fall at this point would certainly be near death, but I would imagine that these bolts will be fixed by the fall.

For our route we backed up the belay onto a pickup truck bed in the parking lot and then the climber would swing off the bank onto the rock and then start to climb.  This was really good 12c climbing, it was more like 3 or 4 boulder problems stacked on top of each other and overhanging all the way to the top.  Our groups vote was that the crux off the climb was in the middle of the overhanging slab and that the best section of the climb was the initial first 3 moves once you swung in.

I would certainly suggest going to check out this route; it is very easy access and although it is next to the road it is still relatively quite from cars. Also be careful with the river, we had no problem swinging into it but if not done carefully it could be very dangerous and a concern with getting caught on the rope and drowning. But non-the-less it made for a fun afternoon.

Cheers!

Turkey Rocks

After a few of my fellow climbers and I decided that we did not want to spend the weekend up in the RMNP area and new that the local Boulder climbs would be crowded because of the long weekend we though we would take our chances and head to Turkey Rocks for some crack climbing. 

If you are unfamiliar Turkey Rocks is in the South Platte area near Deckers Colorado.  It is said to be some of the best crack climbing in the state and I believe it.  But from experience I can say that lots of the rock outside of the Turkey Rock area is rotten and crumbling.

After gathering up a group of people we headed for the Turkey Rock area on Saturday morning early hoping to find a camping spot before we started climbing.  We lucked out and found the last spot we could, it wasn’t the best camping spot in the area but just west of the approach trail I could not complain.

On the first afternoon we went over to the Turkey Perch area.  This is probably the most popular area but for a good reason, it offers lots of moderate cracks all in a row.  I jumped on Steppenwolf right away with a buddy.  This was a really fun crack that offered everything from finger laybacks to fist jamming and even a nice off-width.  As you climb up the face starts to blank out and really makes you commit to the crack, it is a fun route.  This can be down on a 60 meter rope, but you will have to bring your seconds up unless you are climbing with a 70 meter or longer. Another group of buddies climbing The Gobbler’s Cobbler, which is just to the left of Steppenwolf.  This is a nice 5.8 crack that starts out pretty blank and then moves up to nice fist jams.  It tops out with an almost chimney like off-width. Then some of the group decided to climb Liquid Acrobat which is a 5.12, and was very amusing to watch.  Although it took a few swap leads to make it to the top I was impressed to see them make it up this tiny finger crack.

On the Second day we decided to start our day out on a very pumpy crack at the Turkey Tail called the Quivering Quill.  This is an overhanging 5.10c crack that kicked my butt.  It starts out with very good fist and tops out with a big off-width squeeze. You can rap off the top of this just right of the climb. Also this is a short climb an can easily be top-roped with a 60-meter rope. From here we kind of took a tour de Turkey and walked south around the Turkey Tail to the Rightovers, which offers very steep cracks and lots of roof to choose from.  But finding ourselves in a lazy feeling day we opted to head over to the Turkey Rock and climb a fun 5.8 The Eastern Front. Although I did not climb this I was told it was really fun climbing and the roof at the top offered great hands.

Finally deciding to call it a day we packed up and headed home: hands cut, knees bruised and pleased to have done some great crack climbing.

Cheers!

Memorial Day weekend was a buys weekend so I thought I could share in two past.

TOMMY CALDWELL PRESENTATION

First I would like to start of by saying congratulations to the Mountain Shop in Fort Collins, Odell’s Brewery and Tommy Caldwell.  Together they were able to raised over $1000 for the Craig Leubben fund.

Tommy put on a really great presentation about his adventures climbing Mescalita; this is the free route that he has been working on for years on El Capitan’s southeast face and now with Kevin Jorgeson hopes to complete one day.  Once complete the 900-meter route which links sections of the Dawn Wall and Mescalito is said to be the hardest big wall free climb in the world. In his presentation Caldwell shared with us his experiences in attempting to put up such a hard route, and how he started alone on this project and would spend months on the wall alone.  He went into detail about the trying conditions the wall has made the team face, everything from climbing at night and bivying in the day to having to learn how to climb wet slab and cracks because it was impossible to do without.  He also shared some really cool videos, which can be found on Black Diamonds site here and here, along with a great article Tommy wrote. This event was such a great success that Odell’s was easily 50 people over capacity and to say the least it was standing room only.  Thanks Odell’s for donating the time, space and beer that helped bring in such a great event!

LUMPY RIDGE

Friday after Tommy’s speech I headed out to Lumpy Ridge in Estes Park to do a little multi-pitch trad climbing.  I was in need of a mellow fun climb so my climbing buddy suggested that we head over to the Pear wall and put up the fun Magical Chrome Plated Semi-Automatic Enema Syringe, and with a name like that I had to be interested in what this mellow 5.7 would put us through.

Although this was a bit further down the Lumpy Ridge trail than I usually go it was a very mellow approach, not nearly as much vertical hiking to reach as the Book Ends, or the Owls, and it was a beautiful day so hiking was not a complaint on my part.

This climb is a 5-pitch route that starts out on a fun hand crack and then moves over to easy slab climbing which takes you to the first belay.  Belay one is not very comfortable as it is an anchor built in a right-facing dihedral and it is a hanging belay with not great feet.  The second pitch takes you up some moderate and fun slab climbing it is a short pitch that takes you to a nice tree and a ledge where we could really enjoy the sun.  From here you can apparently walk off to the left and make it a short two pitch. The third pitch starts to become more vertical and introduces you to a fun fist crack that is almost unexpected after climbing such mellow slab, but it is still mellow fun crack.  The fourth pitch is certainly the crux of the climb and offers a handful of options.  We chose to go up to the right-facing dihedral.  This offered a really fun finger crack with good feet, but you had to search for them.  The crack is probably 60 feet tall and once on the top we traversed right to an open area where the then scrambled pitch 5 up to the huge top which is a big flat opening with a hot tub looking indent in it.  I would suggest also looking at the “butt-crack” line as I had it introduced to me for pitch 4.  This is directly above the belay ledge and offers a fun looking off-width if you have the gear with you.

At the top we assessed our sun burns realizing that the winter pale was starting to turn to a summer red no matter how much sun-block we used, and coiled the rope for a really fun rappel down a vertical wall into a canyon.  From here it is just a mellow scramble/walk back to the start, I would suggest bringing a pack with shoes in it for this but it could be down in climbing shoes.

Cheers!

Battle in the Bubble

On the shores of Boulder Reservoir with the Front Range as a backdrop the bouldering competition got underway.  It was a cool set up and although the wall was rather short it had some great features on it that made for some technical moves.  Although some of the holds were easy to skip as we saw in the first round with most of the men dynoing across the wall to the finish.  But with the weather holding the set up was really cool and the style of elimination climbing was really fun to watch especially in the last round with the head to head climbing for 1^st place.  It seemed that the crowd enjoyed the setup and being able to be up close with the action was very nice, but with the slow moving pace about 1/3 of the crowd disappeared as the final rounds came into play and it got cold out.  But overall I think it was a great event and a lot of fun to see Daniel Woods and Alex Puccio take 1^st in great last rounds. I have posted a few pictures but am limited here on space so I will hopefully have a High Altitude Adventures Facebook page up soon that will have more extensive photos and details.

Cheers!

Men’s Results Women’s Results

1. Daniel Woods
2. Julian Bautista
3. Carlo Traversi
4. Brian Kim
5. Austin Geiman

1. Alex Puccio
2. Angie Payne
3. Lizzy Asher
4. Chauncenia Cox
5. Flannery Shay-Nemirow