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Re: 5th Great Traverse Proposal

Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2011 2:33 pm
by jimmtman
I don't feel so slow now. The H/C traverse took me 3 hr and 15 min which I thought was slow since this site said that the traverse takes "at least a couple of hours". Since it took more than 2 hrs I thought I was lame (maybe I still am). Perhaps the site overview should be changed to reflect that it can take much longer than 2 hours. I really think it would be faster to drop down out of the talus entirely and go up the grassy slope on Columbia - more vertical but likely less overall work and faster. That would make it a Class 1+ traverse.

Jim

Re: 5th Great Traverse Proposal

Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2011 3:01 pm
by rijaca
benners wrote:
tmathews wrote:Any 13er traverses that satisfy this criteria? I would love to do some more scrambling.
There are many. Check out Dave Cooper's 50 Classic Scrambles book for a few ideas...

A few good ones that come to mind are:

Milwaukee to Pico Asilado
The Grand Traverse in the Gores
Partners Traverse
Arapahoe Traverse
Tijeras to Music
Pagoda to Chiefs Head
McHenry's to Powell
The Trinity Traverse
Apache to Navajo
Nice list!

Re: 5th Great Traverse Proposal

Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2011 3:08 pm
by jesseclark
Were you up there this past Sunday? We only did Harvard, but on our decent, it started raining, hailing and lightning as well!

Re: 5th Great Traverse Proposal

Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2011 3:20 pm
by stevevets689
Yep, Sunday it was. If I ever have enough time I might write a report on it. We were easily the first to the top of Harvard, we missed sunrise on the summit by a half hour. So if you saw us, it was coming off Columbia or hiking out. We didn't get back to the car until after 7pm!

Re: 5th Great Traverse Proposal

Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2011 3:28 pm
by tommyboy360
stevevets689 wrote:Yep, Sunday it was. If I ever have enough time I might write a report on it. We were easily the first to the top of Harvard, we missed sunrise on the summit by a half hour. So if you saw us, it was coming off Columbia or hiking out. We didn't get back to the car until after 7pm!
Geeez, that is a long day for that traverse. Congrats on getting it done and sharing the lesson with the forum. I also just wanted to say +1 on your tag line at the bottom of your signature. That just made my day.

Re: 5th Great Traverse Proposal

Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2011 3:31 pm
by jesseclark
stevevets689 wrote:Yep, Sunday it was. If I ever have enough time I might write a report on it. We were easily the first to the top of Harvard, we missed sunrise on the summit by a half hour. So if you saw us, it was coming off Columbia or hiking out. We didn't get back to the car until after 7pm!
Holy Cow! We started at 6am, my friends summited Harvard at 11ish (I made it to about 14,040 before quitting due to exhaustion!) and then basically ran back and got to the car at 2pm. We heard cracks of thunder above us as we were heading towards treeline. Luckily, not too many of the bolts hit the ground!

Re: 5th Great Traverse Proposal

Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2011 3:42 pm
by stevevets689
Long day indeed! Yeah I was noticing that the lightning was mostly cloud-to-cloud, which made me a LITTLE more comfortable.

lol When your friend got to the top of Harvard, we were just nearing the end of the boulders on the way to Columbia, which has now taken my number one least favorite 14er spot (just under Sherman)

Re: 5th Great Traverse Proposal

Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2011 3:48 pm
by jesseclark
stevevets689 wrote:Long day indeed! Yeah I was noticing that the lightning was mostly cloud-to-cloud, which made me a LITTLE more comfortable.

lol When your friend got to the top of Harvard, we were just nearing the end of the boulders on the way to Columbia, which has now taken my number one least favorite 14er spot (just under Sherman)
Yikes! We were originally planning on hiking only Columbia, but after seeing this trip report: http://www.14ers.com/php14ers/triprepor ... ki=Include" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; we decided that Harvard might be better!

Glad ya made it down safely!

Re: 5th Great Traverse Proposal

Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2011 6:55 pm
by KentonB
I just checked my times... Took us a total of just over 14 hours total. We spent almost 6 on the traverse... though that was largely due to snow conditions and having a Texan with us who'd never seen snow before. Ended up getting back at about 9:15 pm. If nothing else, we got this great view from near the summit of Columbia:
IMG_3756 (800x600).jpg
IMG_3756 (800x600).jpg (237.99 KiB) Viewed 3424 times

Re: 5th Great Traverse Proposal

Posted: Thu Sep 15, 2011 7:47 pm
by castricone7
We just did Snowmass Peak-Hagerman-Snowmass Mountain traverse from Trail Rdier Pass and had planned to continue across to Capitol and hike out in a giant loop. Whiteout conditions and our general malaise for the ridge changed that...but that is a badass ridge nonetheless. By the way, we did this as a loop from the Snowmass Creek TH in 25.5 hours (including missing the cutoff for the trailhead at 1 am and hiking in the wrong direction for 2 miles!). Marathon length. Peace.

Re: 5th Great Traverse Proposal

Posted: Thu Sep 15, 2011 7:47 pm
by castricone7
We just did Snowmass Peak-Hagerman-Snowmass Mountain traverse from Trail Rider Pass and had planned to continue across to Capitol and hike out in a giant loop. Whiteout conditions and our general malaise for the ridge changed that...but that is a badass ridge nonetheless. By the way, we did this as a loop from the Snowmass Creek TH in 25.5 hours (including missing the cutoff for the trailhead at 1 am and hiking in the wrong direction for 2 miles!). Marathon length. Peace.

Re: 5th Great Traverse Proposal

Posted: Thu Sep 15, 2011 10:49 pm
by unclegar
Just checked my notes out of curiosity. Looks like it took me 4 hours from Harvard to Columbia. I started on the ridge but then dropped down, but not all the way. I remember it being exceedingly unpleasant. I was sure it would have been better to drop all the way down or stay much closer to the ridge. I ended up being on a lot of steep loose slopes. I was solo so I got off the ridge when I got to a downclimb that I couldn't see below and didn't want to take a chance on being cliffed out. Next time I'll try staying closer to the ridge proper.