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Base Camp
Up
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- Statistics:
- Date Hiked: April 5, 2008
- Miles Hiked: 8.0
- Elevation Gain: 3,000'
- Hiking Partner(s): George
Barnes, Brian Kooienga, Jeff Shafer, Nate Stutzke
- Routes: WI5 (1 Pitch)
- Description:
- Last Fall George tried to get Nate and I to head into Willow Lake and
go ice climbing. I think Nate convinced him to postpone until the
Spring when we knew the ice would be there and the trail would be packed
down by hikers presumably heading to Challenger Point and Kit Carson.
Over the Winter, I had forgot about our Willow Lake discussions until
George reminded us in March that we had committed to trekking into the
Sangre de Cristo mountains to climb with him. We set a date and
made plans. I also recruited Brian and Jeff whom I thought would
enjoy the trip and help haul in the community gear.
- George, Nate, and Molly (Nate's dog) drove down to the Willow Creek
Trailhead Friday afternoon while Brian, Jeff, and I made it down
later in the evening. Everyone had a beer or two and George
sighted in his Ruger 10/22. None of us had been to Crestone (CO) for at
least a couple of years, so it was nice to revisit the area. We
car camped at the trailhead and decided to get up at 5:00 am. For
some reason, I didn't sleep particularly well and was ready to get up
when Jeff announced it was time to go. We had all mentally
prepared for a fairly long day and wanted to get it started. After
spreading out the gear, we loaded our packs and hit the trail.
Everyone carried snowshoes for the first mile when we gained the ridge
above Willow Creek Park. Since it didn't appear as though we would
need them, all but Jeff decided to cache the snowshoes at this point.
- We made good time on the trail and reached the creek crossing around
11,000' fairly quickly. I let my guard down and felt like Willow
Lake was just over the bench above us. As we did an ascending
traverse to the southeast, our party separated as Brian and I decided to
do some ice bouldering up the frozen creek while Jeff, George, and Nate
followed the trail. Brian and I made the base of the waterfall
after 4 hours of hiking with the rest of the group 30-45 minutes behind
us. After everyone arrived, George, Brian, and I hiked the walk
around to set up the top rope. We used three or four screws and a
v-thread backed up by a huge boulder. It took two ropes to top
rope. After dropping a 70 meter, each end was still 30 feet short
of the base of the climb.
- The three of us rapped off, and everyone took a turn at a very cool
pitch of ice climbing. I'm not sure, but I think the consensus was
WI5. It certainly would have been nice to camp at or near the lake
and get more climbing in, but we decided to day trip the excursion and
return to the trailhead the same day. The hike back out had more
post-holing than the approach, but it didn't come close to comparing to
Ice Mountain. With a relatively long drive ahead of us, we packed
up shortly after returning to the trailhead and quickly called it a day.
My camera died on me, so all of these photos are from others on the
trip.
- Maps:
-
Click here
to view a 2D
map of the area where this hike is located.
- Photographs:
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