One of many
trip reports under the
SilGro home page for Alan Silverstein and Cathie
Grow.
Email me at
ajs@frii.com.
Last update: March 25, 2024
(Previous trip report: 1990_0526-27_Cutbank.htm)
(A
Fourteener
trip report.)
Mount Evans [2023: now renamed Mount Blue Sky], west of Denver, was one of the two Colorado Fourteeners with roads to its summit. The first time I climbed it back in 1985, I made the trip more interesting by doing a sunrise climb and circling Summit Lake (12830') on the return via the Sawtooth and Mount Spalding. This time I made the climb more "interesting" by attacking a tough north face snowfield -- rather than following a planned route up the northeast ridge.
Furthermore I led my friend Sherry Perkins up the route for her first experience using an ice axe. We turned a simple 1440', ~1:30 walk or scramble from Summit Lake into a grueling 3:40 snow climb. We spent about 2:45 of that time gaining ~800' on steep, surprisingly hard packed snow. This adventure was a good example of what can happen when you gamble on circumstances and change plans along the way.
Sherry had to work (as a nurse) Saturday morning, so we started the trip in the afternoon. Our goal was to camp at Summit Lake, or lower down if that was impossible, and start up the mountain about 3 am Sunday for sunrise on top. We also had ideas about traversing the ridge to Bierstadt and back.
Well we reached the lake before 4 pm and it was a beautiful clear afternoon. Sure it was a little windy and cold, but that's normal, right? And we had five hours of light, and didn't mind descending by moonlight if necessary. So we decided to do the climb that afternoon, get to bed late in camp somewhere nearby, and mosey back to Fort Collins on Sunday.
We started on our way at 1635. There was still a lot of snow in the area. Summit Lake was frozen solid, totally white. Frequently the wind caused snow-devils to play on the surrounding slopes. We headed south around the southeast corner of the lake and up the north side of Mount Evans.
The first snowfield was pretty hard-packed (by the wind?) despite being quite fine-grained, early-season stuff. After a while we reached a bowl at ~13200' that was completely full of snow. Gazing up I saw a delicious-looking snow climb all the way to the summit ridge. It was steep but appeared direct and do-able if the snow was soft, as it seemed likely to be higher on the mountain (uh-huh...)
After some discussion largely motivated by my drooling over the direct route, we headed up it. At first it was fast and gentle, but it grew increasingly more vertical, probably 40 deg half way up, and 50 deg near the top, with a short stretch perhaps near 70 deg to finish. We unshipped our ice axes and reviewed their use. But due to the sporadic cruel winds whipping ice crystals around us, we didn't spend nearly enough time practicing arrests before continuing. The snow was comfortably soft where we were, and the upper half of the snowfield looked wind-free, so up we proceeded without delay.
I led Sherry, kicking steps. Eventually we stopped for a break to warm our hands. Alas there was little level rock to sit on. All the outcrops sloped downwards, and sported a lot of ice and crust. Somehow while messing with my pack, I managed to momentarily let go of a full 1.5 liter water bottle. It took off down the hill like a shot, rolling, bouncing, and tumbling for a very long time. Finally it stopped way down below in the bowl, and I made a mental note of where to find it if we returned that way as planned.
At that point we should have turned back by glissading down after the bottle. The wind followed us up the mountain, there were no comfortable places to rest, we had to work to keep our hands warm, the snow became variable, often hard-packed, above that point; and it was, after all, our first Fourteener of the year, so we got out of breath quickly. For some reason we kept climbing!
Half the time making steps required several firm kicks, or chopping or stabbing with my ice axe to break the crust. The snow conditions varied over a matter of feet. It was slow going. Not until we were on steep and firm enough snow to make glissading dangerous did we realize we'd pretty much committed to reaching the saddle (or climbing down very slowly). I tried several times to lead us onto inviting-looking rock outcrops, but in every case they were more dangerous on close inspection, than the wide snowfield we ascended.
So with only short breaks we continued up to the summit ridge of Mount Evans at 2000, 25 minutes before sunset. Clambering over the edge was exhilarating. The panorama was stupendous; snowy mountains in all directions, long shadows, and sunset colors. We plodded up east to the summit boulders at 2015.
Sherry was exhausted so we didn't stay long, just enough to down food and water and admire the spectacular sunset. The road was still closed past the lake, and no one else was on top. At 2035 we departed southeast across the switchbacks in the road, then east and northeast around the flank of the mountain.
In the growing darkness, aided by moonlight, we glissaded down to rejoin the road just past the lake, and hoofed back to my car at 2145 (1:10 for the descent). It was still cold and windy, so we drove down to the NFS campground about 10 miles south of Idaho Springs for the night.
In retrospect we had a memorable adventure, but walked on the wild side of safety. There were several points when a slip would have required a fast arrest to avoid building up speed. We were never in imminent danger, but we did have to move carefully for a long while. I was reminded once again to make and stick to safe plans, and to abort any climb when conditions turn out to be nasty.
(Next trip report: 1990_0615-17_MosquitoRange.htm)