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Base Camp
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- Statistics:
- Date Hiked: August 14, 2009
- Miles Hiked: 11.0
- Elevation Gain: 6,000'
- Hiking Partner(s):
Jeff Shafer
- Description:
- Jeff only had three mountains left to climb in order to complete the
Colorado 14ers, so we headed down to the southern Sangre de Cristo range
in an attempt to summit his remaining peaks. Our original plan was
to climb the northwest face of Little Bear Peak, complete the traverse
to Blanca Peak, and then pick up Ellingwood Point on the way out.
It would have been a big day, but getting all three peak in one trip up
to the basin made sense to us. It rained for much of the night
prior to our attempt which was a preface for things to come the next
day.
- We got up at 3:00 am from around 8,800' on the Lake Como Road and
were hiking by 3:30 am after a quick breakfast. We couldn't see a
star in the sky all morning. As usual, Jeff sets a blazing pace
and I eventually reined him in and had him to slow to my speed.
The hike to Lake Como went quickly and we soon found ourselves at the
base of the northwest face of Little Bear Peak. The tops of the
surrounding peaks were socked in, and the weather looked dismal. We
quickly conclude that Little Bear Peak is out of the question as neither
of us want to climb wet Class 4 rock. Plan B was to hike the
standard routes of Ellingwood Point and Blanca Peak and try and salvage
the day.
- Approximately 30 minutes after our decision to abort the northwest
face of Little Bear it began to rain. The slight drizzle wasn't a
big deal and we continued up the basin. By the time we got to
Crater Lake, the precipitation had intensified so we decided to take a
break in the mine shaft/cave around 13,000'. We sat in the cave
for over an hour hoping the weather would lift; however, it continued to
alternate between rain, sleet, and snow the entire time. As both
of us grew colder, we knew it was decision time. Although we both
had rain jackets, Jeff had rain pants while I only had an additional base
layer of tights which weren't as effective for staving off the rain.
- We ventured back into the fog and clouds. Visibility was
limited, so I was relying on my sixth sense from my previous climb of Ellingwood
Point exactly five years earlier. We gained the ridge and
accidently ended up on the south side of the prominent gash in the ridge
between Ellingwood Point and Blanca Peak. A quick down climb had
us back on route and ascending the ridge of wet and icy rock to the summit of Ellingwood Point. We both were warm from the hiking and Jeff
remained relatively dry while my legs were definitely wet. The
summit visit was short and we worked our way back down to the saddle
between the two peaks.
- In both of our minds, we had already made the decision to tag Blanca
too since the ascent of Ellingwood wasn't as bad as expected.
Since we were going to opposite direction, I was fortunate enough to get
the other side of my body soaked and by the time we hit the summit I
felt drenched. Once again we stayed for about 1 minute and started
the descent. A rapid drop in temperatures would have meant trouble
at least for me. We quickly worked our way down the ridge and back
to the mine shaft we had visited earlier in the morning. Although
we were wet, we decided to take a quick break and try and dry out some.
We changed what little extra clothing we had and refueled with food and
water.
- Fortunately for us, when we left the cave for the second time of the
day the rain actually started to let up. Jeff and I started to dry on the hike out we were able to see the basin a bit more. We
ran into a few people near Lake Como, but it was apparent to us that
most people stayed in their tents all morning.
The hike out was uneventful, but we did run into a some luck.
About 1.5-2.0 miles from our camp spot, we ran into a couple of brothers
on four wheelers. Jeff didn't hesitate at all to ask them for a
ride down which they quickly agreed to. After arriving back at
camp, we took a nap and then had a hearty dinner of spaghetti and mashed
potatoes. We certainly didn't enjoy many views, but we persevered
and met the challenge of mother nature. Jeff had only one 14er to go.
- Maps:
-
Click here
to view a
map of the area where this hike is located.
- Photographs:
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