| |
From Lead King Basin: 9.73 miles, 5400 feet of gain. (Per my TOPO software.)
This CMC hike was lead by Doug Kruesi. Doug met Jill Yarger and myself in CMC's parking lot at about 1pm on Friday afternoon. We picked up Joe Schultes at the Wendy's on the north side of I-70 in Dillon, and continued towards our date with Snowmass. A bit of dinner was had in Redstone at a very fine hotel/inn.
From the east side of Marble, we decided to take my Forerunner SR5 up the jeep road FS315 (as opposed to FS314 to Crystal) to the upper parking lot in Lead King Basin at 9,700 feet. The ride from Marble on this moderately rough road took about 70 minutes.
We left at 5:25 am for Snowmass Peak. The trail to Geneva Lake is awash in wildflower colors and very dense foliage. It was simply spectacular in the early morning light. We continued past several enviable campsites at Geneva Lake, and on to LIttle Gem Lake. We had decided the previous day to attempt the "S" Ridge, and continued towards what appeared to be its base. There were few cairns to be seen, but the bottom of the ridge was our goal, and in sight. We soon encountered another CMC group of four, from the San Juan Group. As the eight of us drew closer to the base of the "S" Ridge, a couloir appeared to be the next step to attain the ridge. We all entered and continued essentially single file up this couloir. At one point, a large rock (30-40 lbs??) was accidentally dislodged by someone and tumbled rapidly back upon the group, missing Doug by a couple of feet, as he ducked behind a large boulder. It was pretty frightening, but there was nothing to be done but continue and tread carefully. Beware of the dangers of this couloir!!
We attained the ridge after 20 minutes or so, and continued up. Joe and I stayed on the ridge almost the entire way to the summit, maneuvering down and around, left and right, as the situation called. It was a very exciting ridge climb. Doug and Jill stayed on north side of the ridge and got into a bit of trouble at one point, having to downclimb a significant amount.
I arrived at the summit at 10:35, followed about 10 minutes later by Joe, and about 20-25 minutes later by Doug and Jill. The weather was fairly clear, we took pictures of each other standing on the tall, vertical summit boulder, and then we all agreed to continue on to Hagerman Peak.
Again, Joe and I clambored down the ridge, while Doug and Jill tended to stay a bit lower, on the south side. But soon, a steep drop off became too much for Joe and I, and we joined Doug and Jill a couple of hundred feet below the ridge. We all traversed along, Joe and I occasionally trying again for the ridge, but always being turned back by nasty sections of the ridge. The lesson learned is to stay low on the SW side of the ridge, cross 3 or 4 gullys, and climb a final gully that takes one to the ridge just a bit before (NW of) the summit of Hagerman. A bit of ridge climbing and we arrive, an arduous 2-1/2 hours after leaving Snowmass Mtn.
It is now about 2 pm and clouding up a bit to the west, but the ENE looks okay, and that is the direction from which the wind is blowing. We continue down Hagerman's "South Face" route, as described in Roach's "Colorado's Thirteeners". Jill has a bit of trouble on the steep scree that slows us down some, but we all regroup at about 12,800, and continue down a snowfield, follow a deer trail, and finally find the main trail back to Geneva Lake and then camp. It is now REALLY cloudy, and sprinkles a bit as we near camp, but not enough for us to break out rain gear. We arrive at camp at 6:20 pm, nearly 13 hours after departure. A long grueling day, but a simply awesome, beautiful hike.
We leave at about 7:20 am the next morning. I want to take the jeep road to FS314 and into Crystal, in order to test the entire jeep road cirque. Lesson learned. It takes us 110 minutes of pretty rough riding to get to Marble. (Recall I said it was only a 70 minute drive up on the more moderate FS315.) Also, to stress what Roach says about the road from Marble to Crystal, few passenger cars should attempt this drive. (Those of the caliber of a Subaru Outback would be okay.) It is also pretty rough. |
|