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Base Camp
Up
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- Statistics:
- Date Hiked: July 7,
2007
- Miles Hiked: 10.0
- Elevation Gain: 3,300'
- Hiking Partner(s): Brian
Kooienga, Kevin Smith
- Description:
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This trip was supposed to be a final snow climb of the year; however,
the warm temps really did a number on the remaining snow so it ended up
being a "backpack" after seeing that the route we wanted to do was not
in. After a beer at Brian's house in Denver, we headed up to Rocky
Mountain National Park and obtained a bivy permit for the Ypsilon Lake
area. From Trail Ridge Road, the Y Couloir on Mount Ypsilon looked
like it was still in good shape (at least the top of it which was all we
could see). We left the Lawn Lake trailhead at 7:00 pm and made
the lake in a couple of hours. After searching for a reasonable
place to lay our sleeping pads and climb into our bags, we went to bed.
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We actually ended up sleeping between Ypsilon Lake and Spectacle Lakes
so we woke the next morning and finished the scrambling approach to
Spectacle Lakes. There is a climber's trail and several cairns
that guide the way from Ypsilon Lake to the base of the Y Couloir on the
far end of the second Spectacle Lake. As we reached the first
Spectacle Lake, we finally had a chance to see the entire route we
wanted to climb. Unfortunately, the lower portion of the couloir
had already melted out so we decided to back off. We scrambled to
the second Spectacle Lake just to check it out since we were in the area
and now had no place to be. It is a really cool area and we took a
look at Blitzen Ridge and the Four Aces. After having some
breakfast, we went back to our cached gear near Ypsilon Lake and hiked
back out. We drove into Estes Park and had some pizza and beer.
- Maps:
- Click here to view a
2D map of
the area where this hike is located.
- Photographs:
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www.
just
hiking
.com
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