« Saturday
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After Crested Butte we drove on to Durango, where Fran and Alex spent a couple of days at a nearby B&B while Rick and I took the steam train to go scrambling in the San Juan mountains. Here’s where the train dropped us off – it isn’t strictly necessary to take the train to get here, but it saves a day of hiking and it’s more interesting than driving.
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Arrow Peak (13,803’) (in the centre) and Vestal Peak (13,664’) (just peeking out to the left of Arrow). Our goal was the “Wham” Ridge on Vestal Peak.
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Rick crossing Elk Creek on the way to Vestal Basin.
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Rick approaching Vestal Basin, with Arrow Peak in the background.
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Rick on the “Wham” Ridge on Vestal Peak. This is a great climb on excellent quartzite. It’s mostly a 4th-class scramble with a few 5th-class moves.
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Rick higher up on the “Wham” Ridge on Vestal Peak.
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Rick and Martin on the summit of Vestal Peak. In the background is Mt. Eoulus and Pigeon Peak. We had amazing weather throughout this trip – none of the summertime afternoon thunderstorms that one usually gets in the Colorado mountains.
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The Trinities (left) and Vestal Peak (right) from Vestal Basin. The “Wham” Ridge is the dividing line between light and shade on Vestal.
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Back at the train stop at Elk Park.
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Fran at Willowtail Springs
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Crestone Needle (14,197’) in the Sangre de Cristo mountains. Kurt Mensch and I climbed the Ellingwood Ledges, which is the right skyline. This was our third attempt on this route. The climbing isn’t very difficult (mostly 3rd and 4th class, with a couple of mid 5th-class pitches) but every time I’ve been in this area the weather’s been uncooperative.
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Kurt on the first pitch of the Ellingwood Ledges.
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Kurt near the summit of Crestone Needle, with the mist starting to swirl around us.
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Descending from the Crestone Needle. Fortunately it didn’t rain. On a previous trip I’d climbed up the descent route when it was wet, which made for lots of scary, slippery scrambling.
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Rick on the way to climb The Matron, one of the Flatirons near Boulder.
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Rick on the first pitch of The Matron’s north face (5.6)
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Rick near the summit of The Matron.
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Rick rappelling from The Matron
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Gordon Laurens next to Chasm Lake (Longs Peak), on our way to climb the Red Wall.
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Looking back at Chasm Lake.
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Gordon at the top of the Red Wall.
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Longs Peak again, this time with Rick. We had a pleasant scramble up The Loft and Clark’s Arrow.
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Rick descending the Keyhole Route on Longs Peak.
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Another view of Rick descending the Keyhole Route on Longs Peak.
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An unnamed peak near Little Gem Lake on the approach to Snowmass Mountain.
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Kurt Mensch on the southwest (“S”) ridge of Snowmass Mountain.
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Kurt at the summit of Snowmass Mountain (14,092’)
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Kurt on the knife-edge traverse between Snowmass Mountain and Hagerman Peak. For the most part this is straightforward scrambling, but there’s one very exposed section of low 5th-class climbing where we’d have been very happy to have brought a rope.
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Kurt on the knife-edge traverse between Snowmass Mountain and Hagerman Peak.
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Kurt at the summit of Hagerman Peak (13,841’)
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The “Crystal Mill”, a much-photographed spot on the Crystal River that Kurt and I passed on the way back from climbing Snowmass Mountain. The building actually housed an air compressor, not a mill, but I guess there wouldn’t be as many tourists if they called it the “Crystal Compressor Station”.
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Rick and Alex at the condo we rented in Crested Butte.
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These next few photos are from a day hike to Green Lake, near Crested Butte.
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If you look very carefully you can see Martin and Alex as well as Rick.
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Rick and Alex next to a partly-frozen Green Lake (this was on July 14).
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Alex at Willowtail Springs, the B&B near Durango
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Back in Durango, where Rick and I met up with Fran and Alex.
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Sunrise over the pond at Willowtail Springs
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Martin following the Red Wall. Maybe we were out of shape, but it felt a lot harder than its grade (supposedly 5.10a). On the last two pitches I was reduced to shamelessly pulling up on gear at all the crux moves.
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Martin leading the “easy” first pitch of the Red Wall.
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While Fran, Rick and Alex were relaxing next to Green Lake I scrambled up nearby Mt. Owen (13,058’). This is a panoramic view from the top.
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Panoramic view of the San Juan mountains looking east and south from the summit of Vestal Peak. Some of the peaks in this photo are the Trinities, Storm King, Mt. Silex, Jagged Mountain, Windom Peak, Sunlight Peak, Mt. Eolus, the Turret Needles, and Pigeon Peak.
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Kurt and me at the Ranger Station in Lone Pine, CA. There’s an elaborate permit system for climbing Mt. Whitney, but the rangers were oddly uninformed about conditions on the mountain.
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Kurt at Whitney Portal, the starting point for the approach to Whitney. The summit of Whitney is almost 11,000’ above Lone Pine, but fortunately one gains almost half that altitude in the drive from Lone Pine up to Whitney Portal.
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Kurt hiking up the Ebersbacher Ledges – probably the route-finding crux of the ascent.
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Kurt at Upper Boy Scout Lake.
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Kurt at our camp beside Iceberg Lake, just beneath the East face of Whitney. Luckily there was some dry ground here. Most of the trail beyond Upper Boy Scout Lake was still under several feet of heavy, wet, snow, which made for arduous going in the afternoon sun. The right-hand spire in the background is Keeler Needle.
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Looking across from our camp at Iceberg Lake to Mt. Russell.
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The East face of Whitney at dawn. The East Buttress climb goes up the right-hand skyline, and the descent (the Mountaineers’ Route) goes down a gully to the right of that.
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Kurt hiking up the slopes above camp on the approach to the East Buttress.
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Kurt on the East Buttress.
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Kurt and Martin at the summit. Whitney is notorious for having a crowded summit, but it was completely deserted when we arrived – perhaps the snow on the trails kept everyone at home.
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Just to prove we were really there – the official summit plaque.
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Another look back at Whitney as we were hiking out.
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Kurt on the hike down.
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Martin at Lower Boy Scout Lake, the last of the snow now thankfully behind us.
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Kurt back at Whitney Portal.
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Martin back at Whitney Portal, ready for the long drive back to Denver.
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Martin leading one of the 5.7 sections on the East Buttress.
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Martin leading past the “Pee-Wee Buttress”.
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By the time we got back to camp it was late afternoon and we’d had enough hiking through deep, soft snow, so we decided to spend another night at camp and hike out in the early morning when the snow was frozen. Here’s sunrise on Whitney as we were leaving.
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Another view of Kurt on the East Buttress.
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Martin leading the top pitch of “Whorehouse Hoses” near Silverton, CO (February 2012)
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Kurt Mensch on a snowy February morning on our way to do some ice-climbing near Ouray, CO
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Gordon Laurens on the way to Grace Falls, at the base of Notchtop Mountain, Rocky Mountain Nat’l Park (February 2012)
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John Christie and Gordon Laurens near Grace Falls, Rocky Mountain Nat’l Park (February 2012)
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Rick at Silverton ski area (March 2012)
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Palmayra Peak, Telluride ski resort (March 2012). You’re allowed to hike up the right-hand skyline and ski down the gully that starts from the very top (13,319’).
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Martin and Paul Geddes at Whistler-Blackcomb (April 2012). We were there to do the Spearhead traverse, a multi-day backcountry trip that starts at the ski area boundary. Luckily the initial ascent is effort-free, thanks to the ski lifts.
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Paul Geddes at the Blackcomb ski area boundary, about to start on the Spearhead traverse (April 2012)
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Paul Geddes at the summit of Mt. Pattison (2,483m) on the Spearhead traverse (April 2012)
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Camp at the Pattison-Tremor col on the Spearhead traverse (April 2012)
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Paul Geddes at the Tremor-Shudder col, Spearhead traverse (April 2012)
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Skiing across the Ripsaw glacier, Spearhead traverse (April 2012). Unfortunately clouds rolled in a short while later and for the rest of the trip we were in near-whiteout conditions.
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On the second night of the Spearhead traverse we had the luxury of staying at an otherwise empty Himmelsbach hut. Here’s Paul Geddes leaving the hut in stormy conditions the next morning.
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Kurt Mensch at the summit of Sayre’s Benchmark (April 2012)
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Kurt Mensch skiing down the “Grand Central Couloir” on Sayre’s Benchmark (April 2012)
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Kurt Mensch returning from Sayre’s Benchmark (April 2012). The “Grand Central Couloir” descends from the col just to the right of the summit.
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John Christie climbing “Queen’s Way” on Apache Peak (13,441’), May 2012
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John Christie after skiing down “Queen’s Way” on Apache Peak (May 2012). Apache is the summit on the right of the photo. Queen’s Way is hidden from sight by the rocky buttress in front of the summit.
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Kurt Mensch on North Apostle Peak after traversing over from Ice Mountain (13,951’), May 2012. We had just climbed the “Refrigerator Couloir”, the obvious snow-filled gully leading to the summit of Ice Mountain. Unfortunately 2011-2012 was a bad winter for snow and much of the snow had already melted from the gully, leaving patches of hard ice and unpleasant loose rubble.
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Kurt Mensch en route to climb “Skye’s Sickle” (5.9) on Spearhead, Rocky Mountain Nat’l Park (August 2012). We were there on what turned out to be the last warm weekend of the summer and luckily we had the climb to ourselves.
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Kurt Mensch near the summit of Spearhead after climbing “Syke’s Sickle” (August 2012). We had a memorable descent as one of my trail shoes had come untied from my harness halfway up the climb and tumbled hundreds of feet down the cliff. Fortunately I discovered it at the base of the cliff after hobbling down in one of my climbing shoes.
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In September Alex left for San Jose, CA to join the Santa Clara Aquamaids synchronized swimming team. Here she is with her “grandmother” Robynne, who she’s living with while she trains there.
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“Campground Couloir”, near Silverton, CO, which Martin climbed with Kurt Mensch in December 2012.
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Alex and Rick at Mary Jane ski area on Christmas Eve.
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Long’s Peak (on the horizon) and Bear Peak as seen from a late afternoon scramble up Bear Peak, near Boulder, CO, on Christmas Day.
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The Andrews Glacier and Loch Vale in Rocky Mountain Nat’l Park, on the way back from climbing the NW Gully of Thatchtop with Kurt Mensch (November 2012).
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Our newly-remodeled kitchen (October 2012).
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Kurt Mensch on the hike down to Black Lake, Rocky Mountain Nat’l Park (August 2012). In the background are McHenry’s Peak and Arrowhead.
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Kevin Smith near the summit of “Lone Eagle”, Indian Peaks Wilderness (July 2012).
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Kurt Mensch on the way to Sayre’s Benchmark (13,758’), near La Plata Peak (April 2012)
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Fran, Rick, Alex and Martin at home for Thanksgiving dinner, about to tuck into deconstructucted pumpkin pie.
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Rick, Fran, Alex, Amber the cat and Martin at home on Christmas Eve
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Alex, Martin, Fran and Rick at home for Christmas dinner.
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Martin enjoying some well-earned refreshment at Whistler ski area base after completing the Spearhead traverse (April 2012).
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The Spearhead range from our camp the Pattison-Tremor col (April 2012). From left to right the prominent peaks are Macbeth, Iago, Fitzsimmons, Benvolio, Overlord and Fissile.
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In July Fran completed her Ph.D. in Neuroscience at U of Colorado's Anschutz Medical Campus (thesis topic: "Modulation of Ionic Conductances at the Vestibular Type I Hair Cell Calyx Synapse"). Here are Fran and Martin after Fran's thesis defence.
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Amber the Cat, Empress of 811 Maroon Peak Circle, of whose realm we are the newest subjects. Actually she only rules the interior; if she went outside she’d be eaten by coyotes.