14ers.com

How long is the hour glass? Is it 15 meters, 20 meters, or more? I'm wondering if a 40 meter rope would be enough to use for a rappel in half length. Granted conditions dictate safety, just a general question for those that have climbed the route. For anyone that used the fixed ropes on the route, how long did you feel they were needed. I appreciate the information, I'm thinking of an October climb and realize ice and snow will be part of the equation.

Ed...

I've been up there in spring snow and fall nastiness.
In the September one year a freak storm came in and dropped a sheet of verglass over the Hour Glass. Didn't have axe or crampons so we didn't climb. It looked like 20-30 feet of climbing should be protected.
Spring snow I did without a rope. It was the end of the season and there was a little ice for about 20 vertical feet.
I think your 40 m rope would do it, but it depends on conditions.

If your goal is Little Bear, and not specifically the hourglass, may I respectfully suggest the SW ridge as a safer, if perhaps more arduous route.

Dancesatmoonrise wrote:If your goal is Little Bear, and not specifically the hourglass, may I respectfully suggest the SW ridge as a safer, if perhaps more arduous route.

Second that. When there's a good chance of ice on LB, the SW ridge would be the route of preference over either the Hourglass or NW Face

Dancesatmoonrise wrote:If your goal is Little Bear, and not specifically the hourglass, may I respectfully suggest the SW ridge as a safer, if perhaps more arduous route.

Thirded. If you don't have a 4WD vehicle to get to the corner of the road network/are worried about private property issues, there are some ways to do the SW ridge from the Lake Como approach. Probably would have to be a 2-day trip at that point though...

Thanks for the information, I will look into the alternate routes.

Where can one find beta for SW Ridge and/or NW face? I notice we only have the standard route on this site. How does the terrain compare to the standard route in difficulty?

oldschoolczar wrote:Where can one find beta for SW Ridge and/or NW face? I notice we only have the standard route on this site. How does the terrain compare to the standard route in difficulty?

http://14ers.com/php14ers/tripmain.php? ... +Bear+Peak" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.summitpost.org/little-bear-p ... s/p-150456" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://listsofjohn.com/PeakStats/Climbers.php?Id=56" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Typically they aren't sorted by route.

A doubled 60 meter will get you past the worst of the class 4 and the narrowest part of the hourglass.

Two 60 meter ropes will get you below all class 4 terrain.

Two 70's will get you down to class 2 terrain.

jdorje wrote:

oldschoolczar wrote:Where can one find beta for SW Ridge and/or NW face? I notice we only have the standard route on this site. How does the terrain compare to the standard route in difficulty?

http://14ers.com/php14ers/tripmain.php? ... +Bear+Peak" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.summitpost.org/little-bear-p ... s/p-150456" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://listsofjohn.com/PeakStats/Climbers.php?Id=56" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Typically they aren't sorted by route.

Good post.

The 14ers link can be further refined by adding, "south little bear" in the other peaks field. This hones in on the SW ridge, and takes it from 10 pages down to one.
http://14ers.com/php14ers/tripmain.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Note half the results above are in winter - this is a good winter route.
Be prepared for a long but rewarding day.

Where can one find beta for SW Ridge and/or NW face? I notice we only have the standard route on this site. How does the terrain compare to the standard route in difficulty?

There are a couple of good trip reports on the SW ridge route. Here's one that I put together a couple of years ago: http://www.14ers.com/php14ers/triprepor ... m=tripuser

We were in discussions with Bill to document this route for this site, but we all decided at the end that we should not due to the private property issues at the base of the ridge near Tobin Creek. Hopefully my TR will give you sufficient detail to decide if you'd like to try this route.

My only word of advise is to only try this route if you're in good shape. It's a GRINDER.