cornices – Wild Wanderer

RT Length: 7.82 miles

Elevation Gain: 2760’

I parked behind some semis at the I-70 MM 213 Westbound Chain Station and was on the trail at 6:20am. I started by taking a paved service road northeast.

The road eventually becomes a dirt road

The dirt road quickly becomes a trail, and this morning that trail was filled with a couple of inches of ice. The kind that microspikes slip on. I followed it as it headed northeast into a basin

After hiking for 1.3 miles I came to a service road and turned right to follow the road towards the ridge.

As you can see from further away, this road goes all the way to the ridge.

However, I did not take the road to the ridge. The road was full of several feet of snow, but the mountainside only had a few inches of snow, so instead of trenching the route, I headed east towards the ridge. This is the route I took.

Here are some pictures of the road

At 12160’ I left the trail and headed up towards the ridge

I could now see Golden Bear to my left.

I gained the ridge, and followed it north to the summit of Golden Bear. This was all class 2

There was a marker at the summit

I summited Golden Bear Peak at 8am

Golden Bear Peak:

I could see Hagar Mountain to the north

To get there, I continued following this class 2 ridge. There were a lot of ups and downs, but it remained class 2 (until the last 50 feet of elevation gain or so). Here are some pictures of the ridge

Now the fun begins. It’s class 2 to the top of this ridge. There are a few cairns, but it’s basically choose your own adventure. I went straight up. It’s steeper than it looks, so get a good view before you ascend. This is the route I took.

And some pictures of the route up.

At the top I was greeted with a view of the final approach to Hagar Mountain.

To be honest, I hadn’t done a lot of research on Hagar, and was surprised to find the last bit was class 3. In other words, I didn’t have a helmet. Be sure to bring one! I dropped my pack, descended a bit to the saddle, and then started climbing up.

This is again choose your own adventure. This is the overall route I took.

And some pictures of the scramble

Here’s the actual summit block. It’s the first one you come to.

I summited Hagar Mountain at 9:20am

Hagar Mountain:

From the summit looking north, it seemed as if the next point was equal height to where I was currently, so I scrambled over there too in case any LiDAR issues should arise.

Here’s looking at Hagar Mountain from the second block

I trekked back over to the first block, and found a summit register, so I’m assuming the first block is the true summit. Now to head back. I retraced my steps, aiming for the Golden Bear/Hagar saddle.

Here’s the overall route I took back to the basin, aiming for the Golden Bear / Coon Hill saddle

First I headed back down Hagar the way I ascended

After making it to the saddle, I followed the ridge up to 12830’

At 12830’ I turned and headed southwest towards the saddle.

At the saddle I found an obvious trail and turned left. This led me back down into the basin and back to the trailhead.

I made it back to the trailhead at 11:20am, making this a 7.82 mile hike with 2760’ of elevation gain in 5 hours.

On to the next trailhead!

RT Length: 11.65 miles

Elevation Gain: 3282’

There are a lot of ways to climb this peak. In summer conditions there’s a trail that will take you to the ridge, but today that trail was under snow in many areas, so I decided to start from the Herman Gulch trailhead to Jones Pass, take the ridge to the summit and make this hike a loop. I was on the trail at 6am. Herman Gulch trailhead has room for plenty of vehicles, but it fills up fast all year long.

I followed the trail for less than a quarter of a mile before coming to a junction.

At the junction I turned left, and followed Herman Gulch Trail 98 northwest.

This is a class 1 trail, and easy to follow, but this morning the trail was covered in a thin layer of ice. Microspikes were helpful, especially at the creek crossings.

After hiking for a total of 3 miles I came to another junction. I turned right, and followed Jones Passs Trail 96 east towards Jones Pass.

This was still a class 1 trail all the way to the pass

There was a cornice forming at the pass

I climbed up the cornice, and turned left, leaving the trail.

My goal was to make it to the ridge

There was snow on the route, so I took the path of least resistance. This is the route I took.

And some pictures of the route to the ridge.

Knowing there were cornices on the ridge proper, when I got to about 12850’ I started heading northeast towards the saddle to avoid the cornices.

I now had a clear view of Hassell Peak.

And here’s looking back at the snow and cornices I was trying to avoid. They were full of trap-door snow

I started following the ridge north

There was more snow on the route than I’d anticipated. I’d originally wanted to go straight up and over the ridge, but when I got there I didn’t trust the snow. There was about 4 inches of unconsolidated snow covering a layer of ice that sounded hollow. Instead, I traversed the ridge to the right, staying on more stable ground.