Peak Condition Update | Little Bear Peak

Peak:	Little Bear Peak
Route:	West Ridge and Hourglass
Range:	Sangre de Cristo
Posted By:	ezabielski
Date of Info:	9/20/2015
Date Posted:	9/20/2015

Details
First gully to the ridge is long, loose, but mostly just a grind on slippery class 2 scree. Hourglass is pretty dry, very few little tiny trickles of ice here and there. Definitely still in very good condition. There are up to 4 fixed ropes, the longest one, and the one you see first, is a blue one and is in alright condition. Later it turns into the salmon colored one that you see at the anchor. We used it only on the way down to hold onto, putting full bodyweight on it at times. There are a lot of knots to isolate abraded sheathing, and we added a few more. Note that because of all the knots, don't expect to rap off this rope.

Details

First gully to the ridge is long, loose, but mostly just a grind on slippery class 2 scree. Hourglass is pretty dry, very few little tiny trickles of ice here and there. Definitely still in very good condition. There are up to 4 fixed ropes, the longest one, and the one you see first, is a blue one and is in alright condition. Later it turns into the salmon colored one that you see at the anchor. We used it only on the way down to hold onto, putting full bodyweight on it at times. There are a lot of knots to isolate abraded sheathing, and we added a few more. Note that because of all the knots, don't expect to rap off this rope.

Comments or Questions

aliciaf	Group of 3? 9/21/2015 11:53am Were you the group of 3 my group joined up the hourglass? I was with the group that did the traverse. If so, glad to hear you guys made it down safely!
ezabielski	Re 9/21/2015 11:56am Yeah that was us. I was the guy in the short shorts. There was only one other guy on the mountain below us, we met him below the hourglass. He forgot his helmet so good thing no one was above him! We made it back to the lake at around 11:30. Glad to see you guys lived.
ezabielski	Re 9/21/2015 11:56am Yeah that was us. I was the guy in the short shorts. There was only one other guy on the mountain below us, we met him below the hourglass. He forgot his helmet so good thing no one was above him! We made it back to the lake at around 11:30. Glad to see you guys lived.
ezabielski	Re 9/21/2015 11:56am Yeah that was us. I was the guy in the short shorts. There was only one other guy on the mountain below us, we met him below the hourglass. He forgot his helmet so good thing no one was above him! We made it back to the lake at around 11:30. Glad to see you guys lived.
bdloftin77	Congrats! 9/21/2015 4:51pm Was the Hourglass as sketch as it’s hyped to be?
ezabielski	Hourglass 9/21/2015 4:56pm Hey Ben, It’s a bit hairy. Generally not as nice of holds to climb compared to the Needle. Also huge potential for rockfall if there’s a party near the summit when you’re in the middle of the hourglass.
ezabielski	Early 9/21/2015 4:58pm The entire point up the to hourglass is easy to navigate at night so if you’re willing to start early you can mostly guarantee you’ll be the first party there.
bdloftin77	Thanks 9/21/2015 9:57pm I think that sounds like a good idea. Late season, mid week, super early in the morning, and probably a very short time on the summit so you won’t have people trying to descend above you perhaps, as well. If you could do it again during the same time of the season, (maybe early morning as well), would you do the Hourglass route again, or was it so sketch that the SW ridge would still be a better option? It’s been a debate with me for a while if I want to do the std route or the SW ridge route to avoid the Hourglass. I’m glad you made it okay.

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