One of many
trip reports under the
SilGro home page for Alan Silverstein and Cathie
Grow.
Email me at
ajs@frii.com.
Last update: May 28, 2024
(Previous trip report: 1987_0907-08_SouthAndMtElbert.htm)
(A
Fourteener
trip report.)
Mount Bierstadt was my first Fourteener climb of 1988, and also my first outing worth writing about that year. I was reminded that there were no "mere" mountains. Even a "simple walk-up" can be an adventure and a long haul. I first climbed Bierstadt nearly 10 years ago, when it was my eleventh Colorado Fourteener. This time it was my twelfth -- on the second go around!
Bierstadt was appealing as a relatively nearby and easy Fourteener for a "work up" climb. I forgot just how nasty the willows were, and didn't realize what a lot of recent rain would do to the drainage below Guanella Pass, 11669', which you had to cross to start up the peak.
The pass was 11.7 fun, twisty uphill miles off I-70 through Georgetown, of which the first seven miles or so were paved. [2024: Now all paved.] I drove up Saturday night and arrived at the parking area at the pass near dark.
I could see there were some patches of snow left on the west flank of the mountain, but it was too dim to search for the trail through the willows I knew about -- I found it on the way down the mountain the last time.
It was overcast and wet, so I decked out in the back of my Datsun rather than pitch a tent or sleep on a tarp. (The pass was in Arapaho National Forest, and was apparently an OK place to spend the night -- I wasn't the only person doing so!)
At 0300 Sunday morning I talked myself into getting up. Stars were showing and it was relatively warm. I recalled a number of other memorable night climbs, all worthwhile despite the "jump start" required to get going...
This time it didn't work out so well! I started down from the parking lot at 0335 and searched for the trail with a headlamp. Within 10 minutes I found myself ankle-deep in muck, wading through chest-high willows, in near pitch dark. I gave up going down and, now thoroughly wet, climbed back up and began traversing south, hoping to outflank the overgrowth.
After I'd side-hilled about a mile, it started getting light. I had the brilliant idea of checking a map... to my dismay. Now both cold and disheartened, I slogged back to a 11990' knoll overlooking the pass road. I watched the dawn gather itself further, returned to my car just as the sun rose, and -- went back to sleep!
Alan climbs Mount Bierstadt for the second time, take two:
At 0830 feeling a whole lot better rested (and warmer), I awoke ready to pack up and drive home. It was nice and sunny, but there were already little cumulus puffies forming; not a good sign.
While having a second breakfast, a 40+ year old fellow came over and asked me if there was a trail through the willows... Well... that was all I needed! He had only climbed a couple of Fourteeners, and wanted to take a 60-year-old lady friend, a novice hiker, up Bierstadt. Here were some people to hike with, who could actually use a little guidance too.
I told them where I thought the trail was, and showed them my marked topo map (from 1978). I told them we probably wouldn't even get as far as the bottom of the drainage, 160' lower, because the trail was probably underwater. But what the heck, I said, let's go check it out!
So at 0855 -- way too late to be starting up a Fourteener -- we started down into the basin. Again before long we encountered marshy, boggy terrain between damp willow bushes. But we pressed on... And on... With the "old lady" leading the way. She set a mean pace!
We crossed the drainage. We hopped creeks, glopped through or around mud, and pushed through willows (all of which was nearly impossible before sunrise). We found and followed a primitive trail across and up to tundra... Where it lost itself frequently in mushy snowfields and boggy hillsides.
Finally we got onto rocks and reached the summit of Mount Bierstadt -- me at 1215, 3:20 for climb of 2550' from the low point, and feeling pretty good about it for the first real peak-bag of the year.
The other two arrived soon after me, but we didn't stay long. Clouds had formed all morning and now they looked serious. We started down as it corn-snowed and thundered across the basin to the west. It rained on us intermittently as we took our time picking our way back with breaks, and returned to the pass at 1550 (3:10 down, with a gain of 160' up from the low point).
The summit of Bierstadt was a small ridgetop. The view from it was "nice, but not spectacular". Mount Evans (now renamed Mount Blue Sky) loomed to the east across a painful-looking connecting ridge. Pikes Peak and Longs Peak were both visible 45-60 miles away, as well as the Mosquito Range, Grays and Torreys peaks 10 miles distant, Mount of the Holy Cross (if you knew where to look), and South Park to the southwest.
[I wrote back then:] If you want to climb this peak, I highly recommend waiting till later in the year when it dries out. Then look for the unmarked trail starting from the left (northeast) corner of the main parking lot off the road at Guanella Pass. If you can't find the top of it, try to catch it just right (south) of the large, 11510' lake in the basin. It's worth searching for, to miss the worst of the willows, which continue several hundred feet up the slopes of Bierstadt.
(Next trip report: 1988_0630-0702_Blanca,Ellingwood.htm)