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Mount Sherman
Total Trip Time: 7 hours 33 min.
Approximate mileage: 9.2
Approximate elevation gain: 3157 ft
Participants: Spencer Swanger (leader), Karen Morris, Travis Sydney, Patrick Niedringhans, Daniel Folsom, Av Cantor, Susan Paul, Jeanette Scheppach, and Doug Hatfield (co-leader)
After my failed attempt on the CMC trip up Buffalo Peak on Saturday I hope that with a larger group that we would get to the summit of Mount Sherman today.
We all met at in Colorado Springs at 6:30am and left the Springs at about 6:45am bound for Fairplay. It took us longer then anticipated to get to Fairplay as some of the roads were slick between Woodland Park and Wilkerson Pass along Hwy 24. The closest we could get since we only had one SUV and 2 Subaru’s we parked and started hiking from about 1.5 miles east of Leavick. If you have a truck or SUV with more clearance you could probably get closer to Leavick. After everyone put on shells and got ready we started hiking at 9:20am with snow falling and reasonable visibility, about 1 mile. As we hiked up the valley and arrived closer to Leavick we could see very little blue sky, but up the valley barely visible was Hilltop Mine. We had to stop a couple of times for people to adjust clothing as it was felling a little warm out, probably in the upper 20’s to low 30’s. The saddle Mount Sheridan and Mount Sherman we could not see, bummer. We all made good time and put on the snowshoes at the gully we started to ascend toward the Mount Sherman and White Ridge saddle.
As we started up the gully the snow varied from fairly consolidated to firm. We took couple for rest breaks before getting a flat spot that was at the bottom of the moderate slope below the saddle to stay out of the wind and took a snack break as well as add the shells and clothing back on as it was going to be windy the rest of the way to the summit. Once we started up the saddle I took the lead while to leader took 3 people that we having slightly more difficult time climbing to the saddle. Once started climbing the slopes to the saddle the wind was hitting us pretty good thank goodness into our backs, but so much for coming back as it will be hitting us in the faces.
Once at the saddle between falling snow and wind blown snow visibility was getting down to only about 75-100 feet, so much for summit pictures. Once at the saddle we started to traverse to the northwest toward Mount Sherman. Occasionally the wind would not gust so hard and we could faintly see Mount Sherman in the distance. The first group arrived at the summit at 2:05pm, about 25 minutes from the saddle. Due to the wind chill factor we took only a couple of pictures with very little view and headed down quickly to get back out of the wind. About 10 minutes later the second group reached the summit while we headed back down to the road to seek shelter out of the wind. Once at the saddle we were able to do a couple of short glissades. Once down in the valley back at the road we started to warm again and started shedding layers. We continued the long slog back to the cars and arrived at 4:55pm and waited for the other group to arrive which they were only 15 minutes behind us.
It was great to hike with some new people as well as some old friends and happy that everyone made it to the summit and back down okay despite the conditions. |
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