One of many
trip reports under the
SilGro home page for Alan Silverstein and Cathie
Grow.
Email me at
ajs@frii.com.
Last update: August 11, 2024
(Previous trip report: 1990_0722_IsabelleGlacier.htm)
One Saturday, three peaks, one sunrise, an early start, but another climb cut short by weather. It was a wet sort of summer in the high country!
I visited Tenmile Range Peak 10 (13633'), Crystal Peak (13852'), and Pacific Peak (13950') before pending thunder forced me to rush downhill. There really were 10 peaks in the range, numbered north to south, if you allow that Tenmile Peak was really "Peak 2". Peak 10 was the highest of the set. I don't know why they stopped numbering and started naming, Crystal, Pacific, and Fletcher, continuing south along the ridge.
Work and chores were becoming a stressful grind. I cut out for some solo time. I ate dinner at HP on Friday night and drove from there to Breckenridge, then up the exciting Road 800 on Crystal Creek southwest of town. It was only 3.3 miles, but rough ones, to the end at a stream diversion structure at 11120'+. I decked out by my car under stars at 0020, arose at 0245, and was on my way at 0300.
A very short trail through the trees led me to a nearby Jeep road visible on the map. For whatever reason, I had decided to walk the road rather than drive it in my Wagoneer. I followed it west in the moonlit darkness, broken by one bright green bolide that flashed like lightning, past small creeks and through willows, to Lower Crystal Lake. There I missed, searched around for, and found the turn northwest to the 12700' southeast peak of Peak 10. The moon set. It was a little cloudy, and very dark.
After a while I cut off the increasingly primitive road to scramble north up the scree to the ridge east of the summit. Here I found some old radio towers at 13200' -- and another Jeep road down the north side of the ridge. Oh well, the hiking was good exercise. Also it was an "aha" experience connecting the ridge and antennas with much earlier views of them from Breckenridge.
Unfortunately upon reaching the ridge I realized I wasn't climbing as fast as I thought. I pushed on up the ridge several hundred feet more west to the top of Tenmile Range Peak 10 at 0532 (2:32 for 2513'), still in plenty of time for sunrise. And a cold one it was -- 34 deg F -- gorgeous colors on scraggly clouds. I stomped around to keep warm, and chatted for a couple minutes with some folks on my ham radio.
After an hour, getting cold, I departed southwest down to the first saddle, a grassy hummock, at 13240'+. The rocky, colorful ridge up Crystal Peak made a nice heart-thumping climb, 610' in 32 minutes, arriving at 0740. It had quite a nice view south to other summits, and southwest to northwest of the area north of Leadville, including Climax, and the Sawatch Range. Again I didn't linger as long as I would have liked to. A nap would have been nice! But there were other peaks to climb and the weather looked iffy.
At 0832 I departed southwest again for the second saddle at 13200'+. The ridge got narrower and more challenging. I went over the top of a 13520'+ point just for the heck of it, and downscrambled to the narrow gap at 0900. There I studied the steep, cliff-edged north ridge of the deeply clefted Pacific Peak. To my chagrin I noticed tower clouds rapidly rising here and there. So I pushed on up to the summit post-haste despite exhaustion.
I went a long way around the small northwest sub-peak because the cleft looked nasty. I wound up there anyway after a tough approach through some rotten terrain on the southwest flank. From there I made the short, steep haul to the small summit of Pacific Peak at 1000 (750' in 52 minutes from the saddle).
It was an exhilarating climb but I was ready for a nap... No such luck. Nor could I safely return toward Crystal and traverse its east ridge to the newly-named Father Dyer Point... The clouds formed too fast.
It was a tough decision how long to stay and which way to depart. I chose to take my "exit" by departing at 1024 down the east ridge of Pacific, to make a loop of the day's explorations. Of course this put me in a different drainage!
It might have been an over-conservative mistake. The clouds did not turn nasty that fast. The first lightning was not for 40 minutes more, and never within about two miles. It took me over four incredible, agonizing hours to return to my car.
I went southeast toward a beautiful snow-ringed lake at 13400', with the north flank of Quandary Peak as a backdrop to the south. (I learned later that this was probably Pacific Tarn, the highest natural lake in the state!)
Then I crossed a broad high flat east and northeast to near-cliffs. There were numerous snow gullies, but all too steep and firm to descend sans ice axe. (Yeah, I usually don't carry one in August... Sigh.) I made a careful downclimb on rock and scree to a 12391' lake. For some reason I decided to follow the bouldery south side of the lake around, instead of crossing the tundra-covered valley floor on the other side. The looming clouds and distant thunder probably had something to do with it... Well it was a slow, tedious route.
I finally reached the southeast finger of the lake at 1210. Dark clouds, lightning, and rain nearby... Wildflowers... Urge to sleep.
I went east and northeast again to follow the drainage; slow but pretty. I should have headed more to the right to Mohawk Lake, but instead hit the bog west of Lower Mohawk Lake. South of the lake I visited a "USLM Continental" marker at 11920', an unusual landmark consisting of nothing more than a pile of rocks high on hill.
It rained and snowed. I was tired. I sat under a tree awhile, then picked up the trail again. Past lovely falls and mine ruins to the Mayflower trail. Painful uphill stretches. Finally another branch of the Jeep road... Down to 10920', then I shambled 0.7 miles uphill on the other branch to my car. It was 11:36 on the round trip with little sleep, a wet ending, and I gained at least 4500' on the day.
Beyond bone tired, I closed my "flight plan" by phone in Breckenridge, napped in a parking lot on the scenic route east of Dillon Reservoir until nearby lightning interfered, drove over Loveland Pass in a sleep-deprived haze, put up a tent in the forest near Grays and Torreys Peaks, and slept for 12 hours.
(Next trip report: 1990_0814-19_CanoeGreenRiver.htm)