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Base Camp
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- Statistics:
- Date Hiked: June 14, 2009
- Miles Hiked: 6.0
- Elevation Gain: 2,667'
- Hiking Partner(s): Jeff Shafer
- Description:
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Jeff and I left Highlands Ranch (CO) at 4:30 am to
drive to Brainerd Lake near Ward (CO). We were hiking around 6:15
am and made good time to Lake Isabelle. Unfortunately, we ended up
on the south side of the lake and I made the strategic error of
continuing on the south side rather than backtrack a couple hundred feet
to get on route. As we bush-wacked and post-holed our way west. we
watched as several climbers and skiers passed us by hiking along the ice
on the north shore of the lake. This foolishly cost us some time
and energy. At Isabelle Glacier, all the other climbers went left
or straight for Queens Way, Apache Couloir, or the Navajo Snowfield.
Jeff and I turned right heading for the Southwest Couloirs on Shoshoni
Peak.
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A couple of friends of mine, Andy Leach and Fabio
Somenzi, climbed the western couloir last weekend which is considered
the most interesting and challenging of the three couloirs on Shoshoni's
southwest face. As we approached the apron of the climb, we were
surprised to see four other people on the rock rib to the right of the
crux. The western couloir is simply a steep snow climb with a short technical rock step
approximately one-third of the way up. After the other climbers
moved above the crux, we started up and were at the step in only a few
minutes. It was my turn to lead so I decided to give it a go.
I quickly learned of the mankiness of the snow and little ice.
Nothing seemed to hold a tool stick, and I wasn't confident in my foot
placements either. I got a shallow piece of gear in at the base of
the step and continued up anyway.
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In hindsight, I should have backed off because of
the terrible conditions. There is a low fifth class rib to the
right of the couloir crux that avoids the rock step and provides a great
alternative to wallowing up the center. Even traversing back into
the couloir from above the step would have been easy on the rock rib
route compared to the melting rock step. Below the top of the lip,
I slung a small ice pillar which I realized was weak but wanted some
psychological pro. In addition to water running in the cave under
the chock stone, snow was finding its way down the couloir from the
climbers above. I worked my way up and gently tapped on the ice
pillar for a possible foot placement. I guess I didn't realize how
weak it actually was because it crashed into the cave leaving my slings
and carabiner to slide down the rope to my only piece of gear below.
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I had two ok foot holds and a solid undercling with
my left hand, so I started clearing away snow and swinging my right tool
looking for a solid hold to pull the lip and get on stable snow. I
finally found a good crack above me for a solid cam and clipped in which
provided me with a significant amount of relief. Unfortunately, I
still couldn't find a good tool placement, so I back-stepped against the
left rock wall and ended up grabbing the
gear to pull the lip. Who cares, it's alpine climbing right?
Of course this short section may not actually be that difficult and my
trip report may seem somewhat dramatic, but when you're not that good of a
climber the grade doesn't have to be hard to make things interesting.
I climbed another 40 feet to a small saddle and built a solid anchor to
belay Jeff up on. Jeff worked his way up fairly quickly and we
were off. My recommendation would be to climb this route early
enough to keep in entirely a snow climb with the step not an issue, or
climb the rock rib to the right of the crux which looked like it
would take more and better gear.
-
We packed the gear, used the steps of the previous
climbers and were at the top of the couloir fairly quickly. We
scrambled over to Shoshoni's summit, took a few photos, ate, and drank.
The party of four left about five minutes before our arrival. It
took us 5 hours and 5 minutes to summit, but had I not screwed up route
finding on the approach and if I had climbed the rock rib instead of the
crappy snow waterfall I think we could have shaved an hour off that
time. We spent about 25 minutes on the summit and then descended
the east ridge following the party of four. I'll definitely return
to the area to climb the Navajo Snowfield, Apache Couloir, or Queens Way.
- Maps:
- Click
here to view a
map of the area where this hike is located.
- Photographs:
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