Mt. Massive (6.8.13)

First things first, much more of a trip report here as opposed to pictures.  Forgot my camera on this trip which is a shame because the stars on the summit were incredible.

Good to be back on dirt roads blasting Jason Aldean.

Back to the start.  Our plans were to leave Denver by 1 PM and get to the TH at 4.  We would then hike in to just below treeline around 11,400 feet and camp for the night.  A 3:30 AM wake up call would put us on trail towards the summit by 4 AM and then hopefully back down around noon.  Of this simple plan, we followed the first two steps.

It was an easy drive up to the trailhead and we made quick work of last minute packing for our bags.  Casey was amped and ready to go.  It’s been a while since he has been on the trail, especially without snow around.

The first section of the trail is gradual, but about a half mile in it gets considerably steeper for a bit.  We quickly reached the first creek crossing about 2 miles in.  The creek is flowing high but is easily crossable, especially if you go a short ways up stream where it is narrower.

The first creek crossing.

Crossing higher up on the creek.

It is about a mile to the next crossing and somehow we knocked that out in 15 minutes.  It is very much a rolling mile.  Couple ups.  Couple downs.  We knew that we would hate those downs when they became ups on the way out.  The creek was in the same condition as the previous one but it was wider where it crossed the trail.

After the creek, we left the the Colorado Trail and headed up toward Mt. Massive.  The trail was fairly steep but not overwhelming with our packs on through this section.  We set up camp around 11,400 underneath a massive rock a couple hundred feet north of the trail.

Casey makes quick work of changing to guard dog duties.

Christine and I in camp. Our first engaged 14er!

We set up camp well ahead of schedule and got a delicious dinner of Couscous and Black Bean Soup going on the stove.  There were a few small storms of graupel that chased us under our rock a couple of times but not thunder or lightning.  We wrapped up dinner and enjoyed an Avery IPA to close it off.

Perhaps it was the beer speaking but we decided that we still had quite a bit of daylight left and the weather looked good.  Why not go for the summit now?

At 7:15 PM we were walking out of camp heading for the summit.

The weather was great and we made quick work to treeline where we were greeted with our first views of Massive since Leadville.

Mt. Massive from treeline.   The summit is barely in view on the right side of the photo.

Quick shot with Casey and his new shoes.

Stating his “pleasure” with said new shoes.

We pushed higher on the trail.  It feels like it should be flat but it is anything but.  It’s a gradual climb towards the saddle just south of the peak.  It was here that we encountered our first snowfields of the hike as well.  They are manageable without microspikes but we definitely played the posthole/no posthole game crossing several of them.

The sun set slowly on our hike.

The wind was fairly strong and was keeping things a bit chillier than it would have been otherwise.

Sunset…Wishing I hadn’t forgotten my camera.

Climbing above the valley

Christine approaches 13,000 feet.

 

We reached the 13,900 foot saddle around 9:15 PM.  We had lost much of the sunlight but the weather was still good.  The stars were coming out to shine and Leadville was a glimmering town in the distance.  A new view for a 14er climb.

We pushed on as quickly as we could.  Crossing a 30 degree (more?) snow packed slope in the dark brings a heightened sense of focus to what you’re trying to accomplish.  Microspikes would not be necessary during the say, but we felt they were a huge help here.

Christine crosses the slope around 14,000 feet.  Leadville glimmers in the distance.

The wind was relatively calm along the ridge but it grew progressively stronger as we closed in on the summit.  The ridge was rocky and exposed.  It probably felt more exposed than normal due to the darkness but either way, we wanted to summit and be on our back down as quickly as possible.

We scrambled across the ridge, tagged the summit at 10:15 PM and quickly worked our way back.  Casey was over the hike at this point in time and he was not shy about letting us know.

Summit photo. We tried to get a decent one of both of us but it just wasn’t going to happen.

It was slow doing descending the snowfield but we were able to pick up speed once we were below the ridge.  It was nervewracking following the trail in the dark but we had minimal problems doing so.

We reached camp at 12:30 A.M. and immediately fell asleep in our sleeping bags.

It was an early morning with a 6:30  wake up call by Casey but we felt refreshed and started to head down.  We stopped at the creek to pump some water and cooked breakfast/coffee.  While we were eating, we met a group of 4 guys from Oklahoma City who had traveled out to climb Elbert and Massive.  Seemed like a good crew and hopefully they were able to summit and enjoy it!

We returned back to the car at 9:30 A.M.  Feeling strong but tired we loaded up and headed home.

14er #9 for Christine.
14er #20 for myself.

Jonesing

Jonesing to see this view soon.

New Years Eve in Crested Butte

No 14ers climbed to close at 2012 as Winter finally showed up and gave us a Holiday Helping of snow.  However, there was plenty of snowshoeing and skiing to be had.

We spent the first 2 days just bombing the mountain.  We attempted to ski all 79 open runs on our first day…and came up well short at 29 runs.  However, we did ski every blue and black on the main mountain…those learner chairs just moved way too slow.  By New Years Eve, we had skied 47,954 feet over 2 days and 54,475 over 3 days including our first day at Breck…our legs we’re tanked.

We set out for the Torchlight Parade with a Dank IPA tucked away in my new growler and we’re greeted with an epic game of fetch with the Brownest.

Doing his best tennis ball model.

Wondering why I haven’t thrown the ball yet.

Casey played for a solid 45 minutes including being chased by 5 kids and 2 younger boys taking over the Chuck It duties.  He was loving life.

Eventually, the sun began to set and the temperature plummeted.

Last light at 12,192 feet.

Before the torchlight parade began, Crested Butte’s newest tradition, a glowstick parade for the kids began.  Much respect to them as there is no guarantee I can hold a line as well as them.

Tripod was on the fritz, but this does a decent job of reflecting the beauty of the evening.

We made it to grand ole hour of 10:04 on New Years Eve after a few beers (Avery Hog Heaven, Le Merle, Deschutes Black Butte XXIV) and woke up early the next morning to snowshoe up the mountain for the first time.

It was a balmy -10 at sunrise.

If you’ve skied the Butte…you know the first pitch up Red Lady (Hollywood Hill) is rather steep.  We thought this would be the hardest part of the climb, but we then found that greens are steeper than you think when you’re going up them.

Shoeing up A-Frame Style

Joel Gratz…you said it wasn’t going to snow!

After 45 minutes of climbing freshly groomed snow and a thoroughly confused dog, we had to head down to beat the lifts opening.  Christine quickly changed into her ski boots, a surprisingly easy transition and I clipped in and off we went!

Casey wasn’t quite sure what was going on but he followed.

We were back at the base area in 2 minutes and Casey still had no idea what happened.  On the descent, Casey chased down a ski patroller skiing back to the base, something very uncharacteristic for him.  Our best guess is that it happened because I wear a red coat and black pants which happens to be the same general colors of Ski Patrol.  Casey apparently doesn’t understand the difference between skis and snowboards yet!

After warming up and changing into our snowshoe attire we headed down to town for a huge breakfast at McGill’s.  Christine thought we should split something…that didn’t happen.  An entire breakfast burrito covered in green chile was quickly devoured upon arrival.

With full bellies (a bit too full probably) we headed out to Slate River for a mid-day snowshoe.  It was a pretty simple drive from town but we did pass the world’s best road sign:

Watch out for the furry fellas!

Despite the fact that it was still single digits, it was warming up nicely in the sun as we got ready at the trailhead.

He was getting in the way while we got ready so we told him there was a ball out there…he seems skeptical at this point.

Dashing through the snow…

Wanting to stay warm, Christine advocated that we take the sunny route.  Problem that we found with that was that it was in a fairly windy area and there was only an occasional trail.  By the time we discovered this, we were far enough out that we didn’t want to turn around so we just broke on through the snow.  We had to stop several times to enjoy the views:

The Lost Snowshoe Dance

Eventually we ended up at this little cliffs.

Looking Westward.

The “Trail”

Eventually we ended up on top of these little cliffs.

Our “trail” eventually led us to a little Aspen grove and a cliff.  As you can see above, this was not a large cliff.  However, when you’re on top, its hard to tell exactly how far down it is or just how stable the snow is.  Knowing that is was a sketchy snowpack and unsure of the drop, we backtrack our way around them and down to the trail below.

Beginning the backtrack.

Dad, I like the snow.

Oh No! She left!

Whatever original trail we had been following resurfaced so the trailbreaker must have made the same mistake we did.  It didn’t take too long to hike around the rocks and down to the well-packed trail below.

Beautiful views abounded.

We ended up on a pretty well packed trail that has been heavily used by cross country skiers.  It was still fun but I missed the workout of breaking our own trail.

Ahh…this is easier.

Blue sky and powder abound.

What? It looked fun!

We came upon a sign for Gunsight Pass that hopefully won’t be visible much longer.  At the same time, we got our first glimpses of the Paradise Divide which felt like something fresh out of Lord of the Rings.

Gunsight Pass and the Paradise Divide

Wanting to make it a loop, we dropped down to a trail below that was freshly groomed and meandered through trees and willows.

Looking back at the Paradise Divide

A new angle on Mt. Crested Butte. Slate River in the foreground.

We started working our way back to the trailhead as we were getting cold.  Unfortunately, our trail back was pretty shady and chilly.  We did however find a picturesque bridge to play on for a bit.

This looks dangerous.

BOOM!

The views with the creek were incredible.  I couldn’t get enough.

Looking West down Slate River.

A quick glance east back towards Mt. Crested Butte as well.

The surrounding mountains in Crested all get more snow than Mt. Crested Butte (just take a look at CS Irwin’s totals vs. CB), but it was obvious why they chose to build the resort where they did.  The peak is iconic.

We worked our way out with a slight detour.  Turns out our trail took as back on the other side of the ridge so we had to hike up and over it to avoid adding on several miles of shoeing.  Before we left, Casey had to take one last splash:

This was all him…no encouragement needed.

Snowshoeing While Waiting Desperately for the Arrival of Winter

My camera battery is dead and I can’t find the charger…so I am limited to iphone photos for the time being, but I wanted to update and share.  Below you will find pictures from a December 9th, 2012 hike up Jim’s Creek just across from Winter Park.

Winter Park had received over a foot of fresh snow (FINALLY) and we found a beautiful soft and COLD trail.

 

Huron Peak (October 6, 2012)

I had been trying to get a 14er in during XC season for a while but Saturday meets and exhausted Sunday mornings kept getting in the way. Finally, I decided a Saturday afternoon/sunset 14er after a meet was the way to solve this problem.  With that in mind, we set out for Huron Peak around 1 PM on Saturday, October 6th.

We arrived after an adventurous 4WD trip.  After turning left in Winfield, the road got a bit rougher and then around .2 miles, the road got narrower.  We thought this was the point where the road got “rugged and narrow” according to 14ers.com.   It did.  But then when we got to .4 miles…it really got “rugged and narrow,” especially for my Ford Escape.

“Rugged and Narrow”

Well.  It only took 25 minutes to travel 2.1 miles.  Such is life on 4WD roads.  Only had 3 creeks to cross to boot!

We arrived at our trailhead at 3:30 and quickly got ready to climb.  Leaving at 3:45, we were on our way with a hope to summit in 2 hours.

We hauled through the first mile around 25 minutes, making an obvious effort to get through the first part quickly.   Inside, I was secretly giddy to be walking on soft, Colorado powder periodically below treeline.

Nothing like having soft snow beneath your feet.

We were above treeline within an hour and were greeted with an amazing view of a snow-covered 3 Apostles.

An imposing set of peaks.

We passed our final duo of people for the day around 12,000 feet and then had the rest of the mountain to ourselves.  As we approached the alpine meadow that leads to the summit approach, we found a substantial snowfield about 3-4 inches deep.  Excited!

The snowy meadow around 12,000 feet.

The 14,003 foot peak.

Casey (Brown Dog) was even more excited to find snow.  He ran around and played in it like a little kid.  I pointed to the snow and asked him “what is it?”  He proceeded to dig his nose in as deep as he could looking for it.

What is it Casey?

Snow snow snow.

We approached the switchbacks that led to the summit.  At this point in time, it was beginning to feel like Belford all over again.  So many switchbacks.  With the snow, I just wanted to bite the bullet and climb straight up the peak.

14,003 feet of mountain.

The day was getting late and we were getting tired and cold.  We worked our way up a trail that was getting progressively snowier/icier.  We stopped to break for a couple of minutes at 13,000 feet and it was a struggle to just get going again.  At points in time, I was strongly considering “f this, I’ll come back and do this in 2 hours in the summer,” but we struggled through and summited around 6:15 pm.

An amazing sunset at 14,003 feet.

Kris tries to get warm on the summit. Easier said than done.

Obligatory summit photo.

Obligatory summit photo #2.

It was a damn cold summit, so we took our pictures and we’re on our way within 10 minutes.  It was a tough descent, one where I was especially thankful for my microspikes.

Our reward for the challenge was an amazing sunset to the west.

The sun slowly sets in the west.

Our slow descent rewarded us with this view.

We got back down to the meadow with a little bit of daylight left and proceeded across it as quickly as possible.  We we’re hoping to be as low as possible by sunset, but at the very least back to treeline.

The sun slowly drops.

I put the camera away and we moved as quickly as we could.  We hit treeline right at nightfall.  It was surprisingly dark (always is) for the last couple miles of our trip.  It actually took us the same amount of time to descend the treeline portion of our hike as it did to climb it.  It was simply too treacherous to move very quickly.

We arrived back at the TH just a bite after 8 PM, 4:17 after we left.  It was a good hike, challenging to say the least, but fun to change up the time table.

Huron Peak Stats
Elevation: 3,299 feet
Mileage: 7.29 miles
Time: 4 hours, 17 minutes

Jasper Lake (June 8-10)

We got up high and we’re greeted to an amazing amount of green.

Caitlin and Casey get their first picture together!

We start to get into the big mountains!

In the above picture, you can see the general direction we’re heading in.  Our camping site is just to the left of the taller peak on the left side of the picture.

Shockingly green for how dry it was.

It’s June and Caitlin’s in snow!

We had heard rumors that the campsites were snowed in so we were a bit apprehensive when we got close, but skeptical as well based on the lack of snow we had had this year.  Once we started getting close to the lake, the occasional snow bank showed up, but we only had to cross a few.

We arrive at the lake.

After arriving, we set up camp and began to relax.  We pumped water and Christine got dinner going.  Casey occupied his time by playing fetch into the lake…which was not warm.

Best time of his life…until the next time he gets to swim.

Gotta get dry!

…and FIERCE.

We ate a delicious mac and cheese dinner with some black bean soup.  Funny how when you’re camping…everything tastes AMAZING.  With our bellies full, we settled in to watch the sunset with beers in hand.

The sun slowly sets.

Loving life being wet.

Looking east from our campsite @ sunset.

My version of the beach

Rocky Mountain Fords.

Casey and Caitlin get a little close.

And Casey is asleep

Gotta check out the other people too!

Caitlin and Christine headed to bed.  I stayed up for a bit longer to try and catch some sunset shots over the lake.  I was hoping to catch some stars but I fell asleep long before then.

It wasn’t ugly…

It may have been the windiest night of my life.  Even Caitlin found it windy…and she is from the Windy City.  It felt like we were above treeline with the howling but thankfully our tents were fairly protected and we didn’t get blown around too much.  We woke up the next morning to temps in the 20s…which we had not expected!

Casey was ready to roll long before we were the next morning.  Here he tries to lick me awake.

The lake at sunrise.

We made breakfast and decided to call off the loop to the ridge.  We had originally planned to loop all the way around the Devil’s Thumb ridge, but with the wind and cold we decided it was time to head back down for some hot pizza.

We head back down through the mud.

One last shoot of the Indian Peaks Wilderness

Caitlin enjoyed her visit and loved getting to be in the mountains in the summer.  It was great to show her true Colorado as opposed to just the crazy busy ski resorts.  Here’s to hoping she moves here soon!

 

 

 

 

Mt. of the Holy Cross (September 1/2, 2012)

I’ve been wanting to climb this one for a while but with the beast of a mountain that it is and the stories of people getting lost on the way done, I’d put it off in the back of my mind.  Then came Labor Day…and we hadn’t backpacked since June.  What better way to fix this than 14,005 foot Mt. of the Holy Cross!

We set off from the Halfmoon Trailhead at 4:40 PM, Saturday afternoon with the skies filled with scattered showers but no lightning.  It was hot.  Very hot.  We started climbing right away and meandered our way through a meadow with the occasional yellowing Aspen.  Casey enjoyed a nice little jaunt through the tall grasses.

In about an hour we had climbed to the top of Halfmoon Pass, just underneath the scree fields of Notch Mountain (so named because it has a notch!).  It was starting to sprinkle on us a bit but it was so light we couldn’t feel it.  We could only see it in the fleeting, late afternoon sun.

The light fades away on Half Moon Pass.

Just below the summit of Half Moon Pass

Another shot of the fading light on Half Moon

After a short break, we commenced losing 1,000 feet of the 1,300 feet we had just gained.  Always a bit demoralizing to lose something you’re gonna have to get back the next day, but such is Mt. of the Holy Cross.  We were soon greeted with our first views of the peak….and she was impressive and imposing.

Shadows fall over Mt. of the Holy Cross

Christine and I pause before the peak for a quick photo moment.  Its good to be back outside!

We descended down into the East Cross Creek drainage where we would set up camp.  It was somewhat picturesque looking down into a bunch of trees and seeing small plumes of smoke rising up from the campfires down below.  After about 2 hours of hiking, we rolled into camp and began getting ready for some Black Bean soup and cous-cous.  Lights out at 8:30…asleep by 9.  The only way to go.

We woke up at 4:30 albeit not intentionally.  Casey the Brown Dog had decided it was time to get up by laying on his back and nuzzling back and forth between us.  We made a quick breakfast, had some coffee and were hiking by 5:40 (not in any rush).

Still learning how to take long-exposure shots. Any advice is appreciated!  It was nearly a full moon and the early morning clouds were illuminated in a way I haven’t seen before.

The trail was easy to find even in the dark, but some of the social/campsite trails presented a bit of challenge to making sure we stayed on the correct trail.  After a bit of hiking, we we’re up above treeline and starting to catch glimpses of the sun rising in the east.

First alpenglow in a long time…beautiful

Sunrise over the distant Gore Range.

We were also treated to our first views of the summit…seemed to be quite a way off!

The 14,005 foot summit creeps into view.

By this point in time, we had caught everyone but one group that had passed us between 2 and 4 am this morning.  Some of them we’re fiesty and wouldn’t let us pass them.  They would hike quickly, sit down take a break, starting hiking quickly when we got close, sit down take a break and so on.  After about 30 minutes of this, they bonked when they got to the big rocks and we just went right on by.  Hiking etiquette people!

Dark clouds build on the horizon. One group turned around due to them, but we deemed them to be more of the morning fog type.

Not to be outdone…Casey went and found a majestic spot to pose for a picture.

Christine hikes up as the summit disappears into the clouds.

We scrambled across the ridge on a great trail (Thanks CFI) and approached the final ascent.  It had looked a lot worse than it actually was.  We only had about 500 feet to gain…we though it was gonna be close to 1,000.

Heading up the final pitch to the summit.

I had set an internal goal to be on the summit be 9 AM.  We made it just after 8:30.

Always fun to summit in a cloud. Thankfully it blew away quickly.

Life on the summit was peaceful and somewhat warm (45 degrees?).  We were the 2nd group to summit on the day, with the first people right in front of us.  We enjoyed some peace and quiet with a little Casey whimpering because we had stopped.

Our 6th summit together. Our most favorite of them all.

The following are views from our 15 minutes on the summit.

The USGS marker designating this the summit at 14,005 feet.

They are a cute couple to say the least.

Always gotta find a way to majestically summit.

He’s a good puppy!

Gotta stand here or you might not be above 14,000 feet!

Leaves are starting to change! A little grove of yellow down towards the bottom of the photo.

We spent about 20 minutes on the summit and headed down.  We had had a similarly nice summit on Shavano on Labor Day last year and had spent way too long and gotten a rough case of AMS on our way down last year.  We did not want a repeat of that.

The hike down was slow going.  There were lots of people coming up now and the trail is narrow in parts and fairly steep most of the way.  We eventually worked our way back down to camp where we ate lunch, refilled waters, and broke down camp.  Within a half hour, we were on our way up and over Half Moon Pass and back to our car in 2 hours.

Tired dog is also a wet dog. He passed out in the car right away and was not happy with the 8 miles of dirt road to get back to pavement.

Our total time actually hiking was right around 9.5 hours and we felt the best we’ve ever felt at the end of a 14er.  Probably due to our recent commitment to getting fit!

Mt. of the Holy Cross Stats
Elevation: 5,744 feet
Mileage: 12.2 miles
Time: 9 hours, 35 minutes