5th Great Traverse Proposal
Posted: Tue Aug 30, 2011 4:00 pm
As a climber who has at least completed the Little Bear-Blanca traverse, I propose that we add a 5th Great Traverse.
This route is, of course, the Mt. Harvard to Mt. Columbia traverse, and I don't even care if you actually do the ridge or traverse lower. This route took my girlfriend and I more than 5 hours to get from one peak to the other. The house-sized boulders and committing nature of the route makes it into a very grand proposition indeed.
It's not like we're slow, either. We started at 4:00AM from a camp near the turn-off to Columbia's standard route and were on Harvard's summit before 7. With good weather and energy, we started on the traverse. Hours later, we found ourselves descending Columbia in a thunder/hail storm. I felt my eyebrows stand up moments before a lightning strike.
Obviously, I jest about this actually being a grand traverse, but I wish to warn any soul who might look down on this route as "just a class 2 peak-to-peak hike" that it's really an adventure. I can at least say that I was much more afraid for my life on this route than I was on LB-Blanca.
This route is, of course, the Mt. Harvard to Mt. Columbia traverse, and I don't even care if you actually do the ridge or traverse lower. This route took my girlfriend and I more than 5 hours to get from one peak to the other. The house-sized boulders and committing nature of the route makes it into a very grand proposition indeed.
It's not like we're slow, either. We started at 4:00AM from a camp near the turn-off to Columbia's standard route and were on Harvard's summit before 7. With good weather and energy, we started on the traverse. Hours later, we found ourselves descending Columbia in a thunder/hail storm. I felt my eyebrows stand up moments before a lightning strike.
Obviously, I jest about this actually being a grand traverse, but I wish to warn any soul who might look down on this route as "just a class 2 peak-to-peak hike" that it's really an adventure. I can at least say that I was much more afraid for my life on this route than I was on LB-Blanca.