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 Peak:  Blanca Peak
 Route:  Northwest Ridge
 Range:  Sangre de Cristo
 Posted By:  Wookie Horn
 Date of Info:  6/19/2015
 Date Posted:  6/20/2015
Details

Started from 8,800 ft on the road at 4AM. Road from about 1.5 miles in to the 8,800 ft mark where I parked seems rougher than previous years, perhaps from the heavy rains. Its still doable, just slower down low than I remember. The creek crossing on the road is a bit sporty with the water moving quickly. Gaiters, second pair of socks, and/or water crossing shoes recommend til the flow slows. First snow is on the far side of Lake Como. I carried snowshoes to over 13K, but never used them. In the AM the snow was frozen enough to walk across. In the afternoon, the postholing was not that big of a deal. Snow starts to become more continuous once above the waterfall headwall and stays that way until 13,400. I took crampons and ice axe, making climbing the snow up the bowl to above the ledges easy work. In the AM the snow made for bomber crampon steps. It looked like any signs of prior travel up Blanca above the first ledges had been erased. There is now a good boot path through the snow that should even make crampons unnecessary. Above 13,400 you can stay on a talus rock rib all the way to ridge. This puts you closer to Blanca when you reach the ridge. The ridge is mostly straight forward and snow free except for a couple of noticeable cornices to climber left. By late morning the snow in the bowl was soft enough to glisade, making easier work of the trip down. No worries about wet slides as the snow is getting thin, but be careful not to build up much speed on the glisade, the late morning/afternoon snow will not make for a quick arrest.

From the approach and Blanca, Ellingwood looked to be holding more snow across the upper trail. It appears that the Ellingwood ridgeline would be the safer option for now. The coulior climb up Ellingwood still looks sweet with an early start.

No signs of the bear at the lake. All in all, the snow is melting fast. The creeks and streams are running high. Snow is solid in the early AM and gets pretty slushy an hour or two after sunhit. Large number of parties up at the Lake this weekend should beat in the trail even further.

Back at the Jeep at 3:30PM.

Kudos to Chris and his son Reece from Texas who hiked with me from above the waterfall. Strong effort! I only hope my son will be as well when his time to climb arrives.

Pictures to follow this afternoon.



Comments or Questions
jwgrosser
User
Traverse
6/22/2015 11:30am
How did the Ellingwood ––> Blanca Traverse look from up top?



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