Cottonwood Creek Waterfall Climb

[MitchellS]

Last night I began the hike into Cottonwood Lake at about 6:15pm. I probably should have started earlier, but it was raining and I wanted to avoid that. I progressed along the trail, all was going well. Put on the headlamp, pushed on without too much difficulty in routefinding. And then I hit a waterfall. There were cairns in the area, and it seemed that the trail lead right to this steep waterfall. I turned back at this point because I knew I couldn't climb it at night. I had to backtrack to about 11,100' to make camp which wasn't too fun. I ended up having to pack out instead of attempting to climb it during the daylight the next day, but was I supposed to climb it?? I believe that this trip report has a picture looking down it: (5th image)

http://www.14ers.com/php14ers/tripreport.php?trip=10830" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Is there anyway to avoid this? With a heavy pack and extra water, this obstacle seems excessively difficult for an approach. Someone commented that they went around the waterfall, does anyone have more info on this? I loved the approach, and would definitely consider it again. Next time in full daylight and with a more well defined map.

[jdorje]

I went around the cliff to the right once. And I got stuck and turned around right at the base of the fall once. Supposedly the trail goes up to the left. This is a good route to take a gpx track.

[MitchellS]

I had a feeling that it might go up and around, that was my next guess... And next time, I am definitely doing that.

[oldkingog]

At the base of the falls, there is a short steep section to climb up to the left. At the top, there is a trail that stays to the left of the waterfall. I have a gpx file that I could send you if you pm me. In my opinion, carrying a pack from 11,100 to Cottonwood Lake would be brutal. I camped at 11,100 and it was a relatively short day to both Needle and Peak from there.

[highpilgrim]

You can climb through a cleft alongside the waterfall. Or, you can climb high and to climber's left above it. It looks steep and the trail is hard to see, but once you get up a hundred or so feet it becomes more obvious. It then traverses across and drops into the upper part of the basin and avoids all the wet-ass willows down lower. You can also climb up to the left of the headwall and smear across on the rock face but it's pretty steep and adds up to about a thirty foot fall if you slip. We've done each way and high and to the left was the best of the three, IMO.

Look high, and to the left. Better than a cold, wet gash.

I think I might be able to locate it google earth or bing maps and will try to do that for you tomorrow.

[jdorje]

That cleft is class 4+, surely.

And yeah, the route to the left does not look at all obvious from the bottom of the fall. The route to the right is class 2 but tedious; there's some boulder hopping and loss of elevation involved.

[fahixson]

I think I might be able to locate it google earth or bing maps and will try to do that for you tomorrow.

Three of us headed to Cottonwood Creek TH in a few hours. If you have something on a map showing this upper route to the left, we would appreciate it. Thanks!

[highpilgrim]

Sorry for the marginal image; I'm at home and have limited resources here to edit.

The three route choices are:

1) up the cleft next to the waterfall. I think it was 3+, not 4 like stated earlier. It was easily downclimbed facing out with some butt skootching by two noobs that were with me.
2) up to the left to the lower angle edge of the headwall and then smearing up the headwall back to the right. The top of the headwall was covered in stable evergreen foliage which can in a pinch be used as a pull up. Careful there though; a fall from there is in the 30 foot range and the slab is steep and can be slick when wet.
3) up steeply to the left. Keep going up, looking for a logical traverse across to climber's right. There are several ways across but the good one deposits you in the upper basin past all the difficulties. It's been a while since I've gone this route but my recollection makes it a couple hundred vert to get up and over. And the trail is not obvious from below.

Have fun. BTW, there is a beautiful meadow above the waterfall and before the lake that is awesome for camping.

bypasses.jpg (303.35 KiB) Viewed 1943 times

[highpilgrim]

Here's a slightly larger view. I think the easiest of the three is the high bypass although we did manage large packs up the shorter bypass but gave the weaker members of the group a belay on it. A fall there would definitely leave a mark.

bypass enlarged.jpg (174.06 KiB) Viewed 1939 times

Middle option enlarged VVV

slab bypass.jpg (267.65 KiB) Viewed 1925 times

[MitchellS]

Looks a lot different in the light, but it's coming back to me now. Thank you very much for all of that I'll definitely be reviewing this thread before I head back.

[fahixson]

Thanks highpilgrim. We'll try to take some pics in that area and make some notes on our route. I think herdbull had a thread with questions about this approach as he was planning a trip in the next few weeks.

[herdbull]

This was the original plan for me and the GF but now she seems to want to attempt a 14er so we'll be heading up to Harvard. The Crestones are no place to take a newb.

This is good info though that I will file away until next summer when I head back out.