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Base Camp
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- Statistics:
- Date Hiked: June 26,
2011
- Miles Hiked:
6.7
- Elevation Gain: 3,000'
- Hiking Partner(s):
Dan Robbins
- Description:
- A friend of mine from Idaho was in town and wanted to head to the
mountains for a day, so we decided to do a snow route on Mount Evans and
then also hike to Mount Spalding and Gray Wolf Mountain before
descending back to the Summit Lake Trailhead. We left Denver (CO)
at 5:30 am and were hiking by 6:45 am after paying our $10.00 fee to
access Mount Evans. The hike starts out immediately scrambling up
some boulders to a small bowl at the base of the north face. We
hiked to the apron of the snow where we put on our crampons and pulled
out our ice axes. The snow conditions were generally good;
however, we did punch through on a couple of occasions. We made
quick work of the snow and then scrambled to Mount Evans west ridge for
a short distance where the snow had melted out. It was a quick
hike to the summit of Mount Evan where we took a few photos and prepared
for the rest of our day.
- From Mount Evans, we worked our way west on the ridge and into a
slightly annoying head wind. We crossed over the top of the
Sunrise Couloir at the saddle of Mount Evans and Mount Spalding and then
began the short ascent to the summit of Mount Spalding. We took a
slightly longer break out of the wind on this summit to eat a sandwich
and some hard boiled eggs. Before too long, we were back on our
feet descending the north slopes of Mount Spalding towards Gray Wolf
Mountain. The plateau between these two peaks was marshy and Dan
and I ended up spreading out taking a slightly different path to the
summit of Gray Wolf.
- We stopped very briefly on the top of our final peak of the day
before descending down to the Gray Wolf/Mount Spalding saddle. I
was able to get a good look at the top of Goldfinger Couloir from here
before we made our final short ascent of the day across the top of the
northeast face of Spalding and then back down the mountain's east ridge
to Summit Lake. We changed into comfortable shoes, took in the
views, and enjoyed a cold beer before heading back to Denver (CO).
It was a good day out.
- 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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