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: 1990_0602_MountEvans.htm)
(A
Fourteener
trip report.)
This is the tale of my third ascents of Quandary Peak (14265'), Mount Democrat (14148'), Mount Cameron (14238'), Mount Lincoln (14286'), and Mount Bross (14172') in the Mosquito Range southwest of Breckenridge. It was an intense weekend of climbing. The weather was stupendous. I got lots of experience playing with my new two-meter handheld amateur radio. I was just licensed to use it the weekend before.
Friday night, June 15: My friend Sherry Perkins and I, and her son Jason Perkins and daughter-in-law Erin, drove down to Alma by way of Breckenridge and Hoosier Pass. Sherry found cheap accommodations at Alma's Only Bar and Hotel -- $15 each for a pair of rooms; a bathroom down the hall. We were pleasantly surprised to find the accommodations pleasant, clean, and quiet.
Saturday morning, June 16: At 0700, Sherry, I, and Jason met Jim Sheppard and his father at the Blue Lakes dam, 11700', south of Quandary Peak. Somewhat later at 0738 we started out together, around and up to the bottom of the famous south side snow gully. A short way up the hard-frozen snowfield we unshipped our ice axes. It didn't take much longer to realize Jim and his father were a lot faster than Sherry, Jason, and me... They went ahead of us.
Eventually Jason went ahead too. Sherry and I slogged to the top in the terrible total time of 5:20 to gain 2565'. Much of the climb we stayed on rock since the snow varied from tediously hard packed to swimmingly soft.
We enjoyed the pleasant summit weather and scenery from 1258 to 1415. I got plenty of chances to experiment with the new ham radio, including one line-of-sight contact to Fort Collins through the Horsetooth repeater 95 miles away.
On the return we took about half an hour to descend to the top of the good, continuous glissade snow; then only 11.5 minutes(!) to the end of it, several thousand feet lower. That's my fastest time on the Quandary chute, yet it was still pretty much under control. Back to the car at 1512, a mere 0:57 from the top, but 7:34 on the round trip.
Later in Alma we parted with Jason and Erin. Exhausted from the adventure, Sherry and I elected to spend another night at Alma's Only rather than drive someplace else to camp. The Angel of Shavano was too far and too high for tired folks.
Sunday, June 17: Next morning dawned clear and cold. Sherry was interested in Democrat, Lincoln, and Bross, and I had never visited all three in one day, so off we went. The last 1/4 mile or so of the road to Kite Lake, 12000', was unassailable in my Datsun, so I parked it around 11880'.
Thanks to the gorgeous weather we made a very late start at 1017. And we hiked rather slowly too. We summited Mount Democrat via the trail except where it crossed snow on the upper reaches, at 1335 (3:23 for 2268', lots faster than yesterday). The scenery was much prettier than I remembered from past trips, probably because it was so clear and the surrounding summits were well-decorated with spring snow. Once again I found it exciting to "play radio". (Ah, new toys...)
After a nice interlude on top, we descended north to the 13400'+ saddle in 40 minutes, 1438-1518. Now after 3 pm is pretty late to continue to another peak, but it was such a nice day. After a break we pushed on to Mount Cameron, gaining 838' in 1:15, and then strolled across the broad, colorful flats to Mount Lincoln at 1725.
Of course it was late enough in the day that we owned the high country. Long shadows and intense colors were the rule. I made a number of interesting radio contacts throughout the afternoon, such as people in Denver, Colorado Springs, Fort Collins, and one guy in an airplane approaching Denver.
We traversed back to Mount Bross with a drop to 13840'+, 1805-1905. We didn't stay long because it was getting late. We launched ourselves south and down toward Kite Lake and then decided to follow a trail around to a southwest gully. It turned out to be a bummer, lots of loose rocks, and not enough steep enough snow for fast glissading.
We didn't get back to the car until 2055, in gathering gloom, after a 10:38 round trip. Still, every day should have such lovely weather for mellow mountaineering...
(Next trip report: 1990_0625_Hallett,Otis.htm)