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Base Camp
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- Statistics:
- Date Hiked: October 1, 2005
- Miles Hiked: 9.0
- Elevation Gain: 5,000'
- Hiking Partner(s): Kevin Baker,
Brian Kooienga
- Description:
- This particular trip isn't considered and "epic", but the
start of it was certainly an epic blunder in my opinion. You would
have thought that this was the first 14er for the three of us the way
some decisions were made. It ended up being a situation where we
were all vaguely familiar with directions and routes, but none of us
studied them like we would have if we were going solo. We were all
relying on each other for information when none of us were as prepared
as we should have been. Fortunately, we did make the summit using
our preferred route; however, just getting to the trailhead and correct
trail was a nightmare that cost us time and unneeded mileage and
elevation gain.
- The plan was very simple. Kevin, Brian, and I were going to meet
Mark Brown at the alternative trailhead for Snowmass Mountain that is
described in Roach's 13er book on Friday night. We assumed that by
starting at this point we could possibly save between 800' and 1,000' of
gain and then attempt the traverse to Hagerman Peak if we were up to
it. In the darkness, we took a wrong turn and ended up on a
terrible road that went up the northwest slopes of Sheep Mountain.
As the road beat the hell out of Kevin's vehicle, I finally told him not
to sacrifice his car simply to get us a little closer to the trailhead.
- We stopped, and I volunteered to hike up to Mark (whom we assumed was
waiting for us up the road) to explain to him our situation.
Despite my opinion that we were on the wrong road, I laced up my hiking
boots at 11:15 pm and started up towards Mark. According to
Kevin's GPS, we only had about 800' and a mile to go, so I said that if
I don't run into him within and hour, I was going to come back to
Kevin's vehicle. I hiked for an hour, and sure enough, no Mark to
be seen. Even worse, the road came to a dead end on what I thought
was a point. I contemplated a bivy at 12:15 am, but decided that
breaking into three parties wouldn't be a good idea. I returned to
the vehicle by 1:00 am. Kevin and Brian were sleeping inside the car,
so I blew up my pad, climbed into my sleeping bag, and fell asleep under
the stars shortly thereafter.
- A slamming door woke me around 5:30 am. I watched Brian and
Kevin get organized for a while before saying good morning. I
explained to them what happened the previous night and restated my
concerns about possibly being in the wrong place and the road coming to
an end. However, based on our first turn onto forest service road
315, we just assumed I didn't quite make it to Mark the previous night
and I possibly lost the road. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to make
a definitive call and turn us around. Although things didn't
"feel right", I couldn't say for certain we should go back
down based on my limited familiarity with the area and my late night
hike in the dark.
- So believe it or not, we started hiking up the road again. We
gained about 700' when all of us got the sneaking suspicion of being in
the wrong place. We went back down and decided to start all over
again. Nobody remembers seeing a fork in the road, but that was
the only plausible explanation for our simply ridiculous fiasco.
- About a mile back down the appalling road, we saw the fork that would
take us to our prescribed trailhead. I think we were all relieved
to be on the right track, but disappointed at the same time due to
missing the turn. We got to the correct trailhead by 8:00 and
started up the only obvious trail. After 15 minutes Kevin stops us
to look at the map. We quickly determined we were on the wrong
trail. Instead of heading east from 10,800' on the road, we went
north towards Meadow Mountain. We decided to head east from
our current location rather than backtrack and hopefully pick up the
traverse trail on the other side of a small ridge.
- Fortunately we did and finally made it to Geneva Lake on a good use
trail that traverses below Point 12465. From Geneva Lake, a great
trail took us to Little Gem Lake where we started to size up the route
we were going to take to gain the S Ridge. There were two
narrow gullys at the base of the ridge. We dropped down to the
creek below Little Gem Lake and began to ascend a large boulder
field. As we got closer, we all decided the right gully presented
the easiest option for climbing. The rock was fairly rotten, but
we managed not to kill anyone and gained the ridge appropriately.
- Brian and I agreed that from this point to the summit, the ridge was a
blast. There was approximately 1,600' of sustained class 3
scrambling with a little class 4 climbing if you wanted it. We
stayed directly on the ridge the entire time and didn't traverse to the
climber's left at any point. The rock is tight, the holds are
awesome, and the exposure is airy. Kevin was admittedly sketched
out in a couple of areas, but performed well with Brian and I climbing above and below him.
- The views were great, but the summit was cold. After the
ceremonial photos, eating, and hydrating, we started down the west face
route. Once again, little research was completed on our descent
route, so we were shooting from the hip. We gained limited beta
from some people coming up, so we just started down. We followed
tracks at first, and then started to catch a sporadic cairn. Brian
and I basically came down what I would consider the west ridge.
There was less snow in this area and the rock seemed more stable.
I think Kevin came down the right route more down the center of the
face. Either way, we met back up at a snowfield at the base of the
west face where we filtered some water and started to plod our way back
to the trailhead.
- The traverse trail on the way out ended abruptly about 0.5 mile away from the
vehicle. We put our headlamps on and bush whacked the final
leg. I think it was around an 11.5 hour day ending at 8:00
pm. Since we were going to be getting back so late anyway, we
decided to stop and grab some Mexican food at Tequila's in Glenwood
Springs on the way home. Although missing the fork in the road was
an honest mistake because the sign was obscured by a bush and it was
dark, we all learned that you should study the directions and route
diligently regardless of whether you are hiking solo or with a
group. We felt lucky to have still accomplished our goal in light
of the mishaps experienced prior to the hike.
- Maps:
- Click here
to view a 2D
map of the area where this hike is located.
- Photographs:
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