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Trip Report – 07/19/03 – Mount of the Holy Cross, Holy Cross Ridge, Point 13,248
I love long ridges. I have ever since I started hiking up these infernal Colorado peaks, and I probably always will. I also love wildflowers. I also love incredible scenery. If these are things you love as well, I highly recommend the “Halo Ridge” that encompasses both Mount of the Holy Cross, and the highest point along Holy Cross Ridge. Your payment for these natural splendors will be a crowded parking-lot and an equally crowded 14er summit.
My friend Rob and I arrived at the Halfmoon Trailhead parking lot to find it full to overflowing. Thankfully a car had just departed and we were able to get a nice spot. In just the few hours between our arrival and dusk four different parties departed with backpacking gear. It was going to be a busy place.
I once again fiddled with the wrong button on the alarm and we ended up not leaving till 5:30 AM (an hour later than I had hoped). Our original intention was to climb up Notch Mountain from Halfmoon Pass and then circle the ridge to Holy Cross, but instead we continued west down into the East Cross Creek drainage with our first goal being the north ridge of Mount of the Holy Cross.
The only thing more abundant than the gorgeous wildflowers alongside the trail were the mosquitoes. We stopped at the pass to shed some layers and soon swarms of black blood-suckers were gorging themselves on our precious blood. The first view of Holy Cross from the trail perched high up on the valley sides is a wondrous one and really got me excited. The trail is well-built and easy to follow. Overall the trail never gets too steep, but it is certainly unrelenting for most of the ascent.
This was Rob’s first time at elevation since early ski season and despite being in good shape, he rapidly slowed as we moved above 12,500’. From 13,200’ to 13,400’ the gradient of the north ridge tapers off before the final ascent up the steeper summit block. I reached the summit at 9:15 and Rob appeared 15 minutes later. We had passed a boy scout group on the way up and they soon joined us as well. Also on the top was a man and his son (Larry and Landon). The father had climbed all the 14ers and his son (12 years old) had only 15 left.
The weather was holding out, with nothing in the skies but a slight haziness, so we soon made our way over to Holy Cross Ridge. The ascent form the saddle is only 300 feet and we were on top half an hour after leaving the 14er summit. Larry and Landon also followed us this direction and the four of us enjoyed the comparative solitude of this summit. I felt really good on the ascent of both of these mountains and really felt like I could go all day at this point. I gazed out at Point 13,768 to the south with some envy. I would have really liked to climb it, but we still had a long way to go to return to the car and Rob didn’t have a whole lot of energy left.
The ridge from Holy Cross Ridge to the Notch Mountain Shelter is LONG. There were innumerable ups and downs, the biggest up being the ascent of Point 13,248’s SW ridge. Despite the length there were many great places to get incredible views of the mountains we had finished ascending as well as the azure Bowl of Tears below. Especially pleasant were the narrow plateaus directly west of Point 13,378’. Rob and I went at our own paces and eventually made it to the Notch Mountain Shelter. The views of the Cross Couloir from here is famous and rightly so. We took some pictures of the astounding natural phenomenon trying not to get in the way of the many others up here for photographic reasons. Both the Angelica and Cross Couloirs look unclimbable now. The Angelica is almost completely melted out and the Cross has major sections missing and the head of the couloir is completely gone.
We decided to forgo the ascent of Notch Mountain and instead headed east down towards the Fall Creek Trail. The switchbacks down this side are very gradual and Rob and I found this slow descent frustrating after such a long day. Thankfully there were huge fields of wildflowers interspersed along the trail holding flora that covered the full spectrum of the rainbow. The trail finally stopped switchbacking and headed north back to the trailhead which we returned to at 3:00 PM. It had been a long but rewarding day in which we hiked over three peaks, over 15 miles and never once crossed our trail.
As we pulled out of our parking spot we noticed that there were now twice as many cars as when we had arrived last night. Cars were parked along the road a full half mile away from the trailhead. As we drove down the road I found that I really couldn’t blame a single person for wanting to come up here. |
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