Tag: bicentennial finisher

PT 13656

RT Length: 16 miles

Elevation Gain: 4031’

Please note, my stats are off.  This summit took some route finding, and additional miles/elevation gain.  Your numbers should be lower.

I’ve been going crazy for about a month. It was May 21, while we were getting 2 feet of snow during a spring storm, when I went online to check some summits for an upcoming trip.  It was then I noticed I no longer had 200 bicentennials, but 199.  I panicked!  And of course, did some research. It was then I noticed we now had a new bicentennial, PT 13656.  I’d summited what I’d thought were all the Bicentennials last September, and spent the next 7 months writing a book about my journey, which was published May 8th.  I knew my completion date still stood because I’d completed the Bicentennials as listed at the time, but it didn’t feel right marketing my book so soon after the change without completing this peak as well.  So I didn’t.  Instead, I planned. 

I couldn’t find much information about this peak, so I pulled up my previous trip reports from other peaks in the area, and came up with 3 possibilities of summit options from the Upper Huerfano/Lily Lake trailhead, and upper Lily Lake:

1: Take a line in south to the ridge, which looked like it ‘went’ (It didn’t)

2: Take the gully

3: Summit 13577 and take the ridge to 13656 (I’m glad I didn’t end up needing to do this, as the ridge looked rotten).

I was in Minnesota, hiking its highest point, Eagle Mountain.  (Side note: If you’ve ever wanted to experience mosquito swarms of biblical plague proportions, along with questionable foot bridges through swamps teeming with water snakes, this hike is for you!)  I was only there because of Charles Mound, the highest point in Illinois.  For those of you who know about state high pointing, you know the highest point of Illinois is located on private property, and only open a few days a year.  Long story short, I decided to hit this high point instead of PT 13656 because of accessibility issues, but, when I was in Minnesota I checked the weather and did the math, and realized if I drove with a purpose, I’d be able to make it to the Upper Huerfano/Lily Lake trailhead the next day, and could attempt a summit.

I made it to the trailhead at 4:15am, parking a little lower than necessary because I’d heard there were blowdowns across the road.  There were, so this was a great idea.  I parked at about 10,200’.

I was on the trail at 4:30am, and followed the 4WD road to the Lily Lake Trailhead.  Crews have done a great job clearing downed trees, but there were very few places to pass other vehicles, and honestly, there are still a lot of trees to be cleared.

It was about 2.3 miles from where I parked to the trailhead.  The parking area as littered with branches, but once the downed trees along the way are cleared, it should be good to go.  I signed the trail register, which is in need of more paper, and was on my way.

Did I mention the blowdowns?  There were quite a few alone the trail as well.  They weren’t difficult to navigate around, just a bit annoying.  You can see a few here at the beginning

And here are a few more…

I followed the class 1 (minus the downed trees) trail to the Lily Lake cutoff, and turned right (the path to the left, that goes towards Lindsey, was blocked by a downed tree).  This junction was 1.25 miles from the upper trailhead.

I then followed the trail to another junction, .2 miles away, which is where I made my first mistake of the day.  The sign showed the Lily Lake trail as going straight, so that’s what I did, I continued hiking straight. But I should have turned off the trail and headed north at this point.  You’d think, because I’ve been on this trail, I would have remembered this, but… I didn’t.  I ended up hiking along a path that paralleled the Huerfano river for way too long before noticing my mistake.  Here’s some advice:  If you see yellow surveyors tape and are heading through avalanche debris but you’re on a trail… you’re on the wrong trail. The good news is they parallel each other, so if you head west, you’ll eventually connect with the correct trail. Here’s the junction and the way you should go:

This trail is easy to follow, and will lead you to Lily Lake

Here’s the final push.  There is a trail here, it’s just overgrown.

After 4.1 miles of hiking from the upper trailhead I was at Lily Lake, where the trail ended.

Here’s the info you need.  This is the route you want to take.  Trust me. 

Here are some pictures on the way to the upper lake.  The rocks aren’t stable, and a lot of them roll, so make sure you watch your step while rock hopping.

Here’s where I made another mistake.  I tried to take a route to the left first, by following a dry couloir and what looked like a line filled with tundra/dirt. This was a bad idea.  It started out as class 3, then sustained class 4 (for about 300’).  I quickly felt out of my depth as it increased to class 5.  I had a helmet, but seriously felt I needed a rope.  I got to a place where it was decision time, and decided to descend those 300’ and try a different route. I knew I was close to the ridge, but could not justify the exposure and class difficulty.  I reminded myself I had 3 potential routes for this peak, and an event I was speaking at tomorrow talking about managing risk and being a positive mentor to Girl Scouts.  I did not feel I could continue on and still remain truthful tomorrow, so I backtracked.  Climbing down was much more difficult than climbing up: I had to face the mountain and take it one step at a time.  This entire side was sketchy.  Please don’t use this route, especially since the gully can be kept at 2+.   Here are some pictures of the route you SHOULD NOT TAKE

Instead, here’s what you want to do:

Take the gully!  It’s slippery due to the scree, but with microspikes, manageable

I aimed for the 13654/13656 saddle.  Once again, slippery scree, but manageable

Here’s a view of that line I was trying to take earlier in the day.  The red circle is where I retreated.  Once again, don’t take this line!!!

I kept working my way towards the saddle

Here’s a view of PT 13656

Once at the saddle I turned and followed the ridge southeast.  This was all class 3 scrambling.  I was able to stick to the ridge the entire time.  Here are some pictures of the ridge

I summited PT 13656 at 10:15am. 

I spent a lot of time on that summit, making sure the true summit wasn’t further to the southeast.  I pulled up Peakbagger (not yet updated), CalTopo, my Compass (which read 13660) and several other sites. In the end, I determined this was the true peak, and left a summit register.

PT 13656:

The route back was now very straightforward.  I worked my back down the ridge towards the saddle

Oh, and the route up to 13654 looks sketchy…

And then scree surfed back to Lily Lake. Once again, this is very loose scree, and I wore microspikes.  I consistently had 6 inches of scree sliding beneath me, and as long as I kept up with it, I kept a good pace.

Here’s my route back to the lake

This is where I picked back up with the trail

Following the route back was easy, except for all those blowdowns. 

I made it back to my truck at 2:30pm, making this a 16 mile hike with 4031’ of elevation gain and a ton of route finding in 10 hours.  I hope this trip report was helpful, and I’m sure you can do this route faster!  It felt so good to check this one off the list!!! 

On to the next trailhead!

Peak Fifteen- 13,671

RT Length:  53.34 miles

Elevation Gain:  13765’

I didn’t want Peak Fifteen to be my Bicentennial Finisher. I really didn’t.  In fact, last month I attempted Peak Fifteen, but had to turn around due to several factors:  There was too much water in the couloir and if the section I was in was really class 4… my skills had gone south.  It hurt to hike all the way in from Purgatory and not get a summit, but I knew the conditions weren’t safe.  So, I turned around, went back home, and did more research.

This time, I brought my friend and climbing mentor, Tim.  My thoughts were to climb this peak with him, get the hang of it, and attempt it solo at a later date.  Spoiler alert:  After successfully summiting this peak, I do not think I’ll be attempting it solo. 

The approach to Ruby Basin can be found here. 

It was a long hike in from Purgatory. We ended up hiking a little slower than anticipated, so we stayed the night at the campsite at Ruby Lake; something I’ve always wanted to do.  It was already dark when we arrived, and I’d only brought one set of clothing, so it was a cold night for me as my sweat turned to ice at night inside my bivy. This made for interesting (zombie filled ) nightmares. 

The next morning, we were up before sunrise to be willow warriors and thrash our way into Ruby Basin.  We made it just as the sun rose.

Here’s the route we took up the gully to the saddle. We stayed just above the willows, and hiked southeast across the basin until we were directly below the gully, then ascended the gully.

When I was here in August, there was snow under the scree in this gully. Because it was under the scree, I didn’t see it and it caught me by surprise when I unexpectedly sank up to my waist in slush.    Back in August, I made it up this gully by going right, but this time we went left.  It looks like the conditions change here frequently, so pick the line that goes best for you. Also, microspikes help here with the scree (if you don’t use microspikes on scree you’re making it more difficult than it needs to be: get some spikes for summer too).  Here are some pictures of the gully

The second half of the gully is full of large rocks, which eventually give way to scree.  This scree is some of the worst scree I’ve experienced. This is where your microspikes really come in handy.  Back in August I followed fresh goat tracks to the saddle.  Those tracks in September had been used several times and formed nice switchbacks.  However, it appears these tracks are destroyed every winter, and need to be remade every summer/fall.

Once at the top of the gully it was time to lose about 350’ of elevation.  We did this by following the scree southwest, staying high but just below the rock outcroppings (we took a different approach on the way back).

We continued down to about 12,500’, and then entered the Peak 15/Peak 16 gully

This is the gully you’re looking for.  There are cairns here, and it’s the first, obvious route ‘up’

The first part of the gully is class 3, and just requires some rock hopping.

This gully turns into a couloir, and becomes easy to follow, but difficult to climb.  This is the first class 4 section.  There were no good hand/foot holds, as everything crumbled in my hands.  In August it was running with water.  Tim spent some time cleaning away the loose rock, making climbing easier.  Even in mid-September, there was still water here.  Wearing a pack with climbing gear/rope makes the ascent that much more difficult.  

The second class 4 section of the couloir was… more than class 4.  I started up, and when I got about halfway through realized I may have been in over my head.  I couldn’t climb down, so I had to keep going up.  Since I was ‘stuck’ it became a mental exercise, where I told myself “If I can do this while on rope, I can do it off rope as well”, but to be honest it was intense and I didn’t feel comfortable soloing this (but I did).  There was a lot of deep breathing involved.  I’d recommend roping up here, if you can find a way to do so.  Climbing shoes would have been helpful (but they were in my pack…). We both felt this was class 5, not class 4.  I belayed my partner on this section from above.   

Just above this section there are anchors set up.  It’s good to take note of where they’re at as you’re passing them.  There will be three sets of anchors in the couloir.   Here are some more pictures of the couloir.  A lot of the webbing set up looks faded, but there’s plenty there. We cleaned up some of the older webbing and hiked it out (the stuff we didn’t even need to cut because it was frayed and falling apart).

The couloir seemed to last forever.  At 13,050’ we exited the couloir, below the 15/16 saddle, and went left up the ledges to 13,300’.  This was class 3 scrambling with a lot of kitty litter (kitty litter is the name of the game on this climb).  Where applicable, I noted Tim tossed unnecessary obstacles aside, like tumbling rocks and kitty litter, to help clear the route.

When we were about 50’ below the Peak 15/16 saddle it was time to rope up for the slabs. This picture looks at the saddle, but we were headed the opposite way, left/west (this picture is just a good visual of where you’ll be)

We were headed west, across the ledge system. 

While we were still on level ground, we roped up. Then Tim led the way across the slab.  It was good to get roped up first because there wasn’t a lot of room at the rappel area to do so. Here’s an overall view of our roped ascent and the belay stations.  I put on my climbing shoes, but Tim didn’t feel his were necessary.

This is what it looked like getting there. We are aiming for the red circle to get to the lower belay station.

Once at the lower belay station I was set up to belay Tim from below as he set the protection and climbed first. Here’s looking back at the traverse

Oh, there’s some exposure here.

Since Tim’s the more experienced climber (WAY more experienced) I’ll let him describe this part of the route, starting with his overview:

Look for a series of shallow ledges that leads to a three foot wide ledge with a horn big enough to straddle. This is still 4th class terrain, so you can simply belay sitting next to the horn without an anchor.

If you feel you need one, wrap the rope end around the horn three times to make a tensionless hitch or use a cordalette. Bring your second up and have them belay from the three foot wide ledge below you. There will be about three horizontal seams you can place pro in ranging from #3 Camalots to .25. I managed to place five pieces total.

After your last piece you want to head for a shallow V slot next to some bulges. This is the 4th class exit and leads past a rock with a crack in it you could build an anchor in. This is exposed and one could fall from there, and you may be out of gear as I was. Continue then above this to where the steepness of the pitch eases off and there are two scrubby evergreen bushes. You can sling some of the roots for a sketchy, but adequate anchor. Once your second is up, you can both walk to the right towards a large, grassy ledge where the final 3rd class gully is.

I’m not a serious climber:  I’ve been climbing for a few years, but I’m no expert.  I was glad to be roped in, and wouldn’t have wanted to do this part without someone belaying me (or the other way around).  A fall would have been fatal.  Tim called it “poorly protected 5.4”.  He placed 5 pieces of protection.

From the upper belay station, we turned right and followed the slopes east, looking for an access gully/kind of a small chimney.

The gully is about halfway to the saddle. This is what it looks like from below

From the east side it’s easier to see.  This is class 3, with a cairn at the bottom.

Once up the gully, we followed the ledges northeast to the ridge.  This was “choose your own adventure”, but we aimed for the northeast corner of the ridge

Once the furthest northeast we could go, we ascended the ridge via a short, easy class 3 ramp, and scrambled west to the summit

Final, class 2 scramble to the summit (easier than it looks)

We summited Peak Fifteen at 12.30pm.  Also, yes, it was my birthday, so I was celebrating not only my bicentennial finisher, bust also turning 41.  Woot! 

Peak Fifteen: 

We stayed at the summit for quite a while, enjoying the beautiful day and awesome views.  The summit register was a tube, so naturally the paper inside was wet. I added a pencil to the register, signed my WW’s, and we headed back down. 

Note:  we rappelled 6 times before making it to the bottom of the couloir.  That’s a lot of rope work!  There were adequate webbing/rings set up, which held just fine but are bleaching and might need to be replaced next season (see pictures).  We cleaned up some of the ripped/damaged rope and brought it out.   We brought a 60 meter, 7.9mm rope.  It worked perfectly for the ascent and rappelling down, but being smaller in diameter, tended to get stuck in the cracks.  Also, this is where I learned Tim curses when ropes get stuck. 

We followed the ridge east back to the ledges, which we followed southwest. 

At 13570’ we headed back towards the saddle and the anchors.  We rappelled down from the first anchor, and afterwards headed towards the second anchor, circled in red.

The second rappel

Here’s looking up from the bottom of the second rappel

The third rappel brought us to the Peak 15/16 saddle

Here’s looking up and down from the saddle

Once at the saddle, we went southwest on slopes, following the couloir to the right

We made our way back to the couloir, and rapped 3 more times to the bottom.   We counted 6 rappels in all.

From the base of the couloir, we made our way back to the scree-saddle, this time taking the direct, grassy/tundra approach, to avoid the scree. We saw mountain goats here.

And then back down the scree filed gully, scree surfing to the basin

From the basin we hiked back through the willows to our campsite at Ruby Lake, making it back around 6pm.  Round trip from Ruby Lake to the summit of Peak 15 and back to Ruby Lake made for about a 13 hour day. All that rope work sure took its time!  We celebrated with some whiskey and wine; after all, this was my bicentennial finisher, and it was my birthday… no one got hurt, and, this was much harder than anticipated by both of us for different reasons and we were successful.  All reasons to celebrate!

We made it an early night and were up at 6am to hike back to Purgatory.  The night was much warmer, if only because I didn’t go to sleep in wet, sweat filled clothing.  The hike out went fast, as we talked much of the time.  We made it to the Animas River/Purgatory trail bridge, and were surprised to see people in sandals carrying small children (some of them crying).  Apparently, the train stops at Cascade Wye now for passengers to get off and walk around (not sure if it’s ever done that before?). 

We made it back to Purgatory Trailhead around 2:30pm.  My tracker says we went 53.34 miles, with 13765’ of elevation gain.  

I would like to thank Tim for being my climbing partner and accompanying me on this trek, which I’m sure ended up being more of an adventure than he bargained for!  I believe this climb takes two experienced climbers to complete safely; It was nice to have someone I could trust join me.  In addition, he’s been my climbing mentor, voluntarily taking me climbing and ‘teaching me the ropes’ for years. He’s the one who taught me how to set up anchors, how to climb and rappel safely, and all about proper gear.  I couldn’t have done all the other class 5 bicentennial peaks without his instructions.  I still keep his safety checklist with me in my climbing gear.

I also want to thank everyone who has posted trip reports in general, but specifically trip reports for Peak Fifteen, as for me it was the hardest of the bicentennials.  We all experience hikes/climbs differently, and it was nice hearing the difficulty/route finding levels from other climbers.  If you plan to climb this peak, please take it seriously, and read all trip reports you can find on this peak before attempting a climb, as they all offer great insights. 

And now, on to the next trailhead!