10/18/2014 Route: North ridge from Deer/Pt13,736 Posted On: 10/19/2014, By: CarpeDM Info: Hiked the Deer --> 13,736 --> Champion loop yesterday with an approach up the North Fork Lake Creek trail. The trail was in fine condition and easy to follow up into the basin. It petered out at about 11,500, but it was easy walking to find the lake at about 12,400. There was essentially no snow of consequence until above the lake. Deer is not your typical easy, rolling c2 Sawatch peak. From the lake, it‘s pretty steep going the first few hundred feet to get up to the NW ridge. Then, it‘s more interesting (i.e., steep and rocky) than most Sawatch peaks. The south ridge off the peak is narrow, steep, and rocky. After a few required bumps, as you approach the saddle with Pt 13,736, there is a steep, loose c3 section. The route up Pt 13,736 gets a bit easier, and then getting to Champion is cake. On this day, on Deer‘s NW ridge and on the S ridge, there were lots of patches of unreliable snow. If I had to do it again, I would not have worn my summer hiking boots. I brought and used gaiters from Deer on over, used microspikes for parts of the initial ascent up Deer's NW ridge, and got an ice axe out for comfort on the initial ascent. Indy Pass usually closes about the last week of October or first week of November. |
