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Ready for another 13er peak bagging excursion Marc and I got to the end of Chaffee county 390b around sunset, ate like kings, passed out and were hiking at 3:45 am. Quickly gaining the basin we passed on the standard gully ascent to attempt the aesthetic east ridge of North Apostle.
It was an easy hike between cliffs to gain the dramatic ridge.
After a short traverse to North Apostle's east Ridge the scrambling gained altitude at a good pace.
The route was solid throughout, filled with good holds and astonishingly fun rock for the Sawach.
We gained the Summit at 8:00am and had an excellent view of the other Apostles.
Easy class 2 talus to the North Apostle, Ice Mt saddle led to greater scrambling ascending to the group's high peak.
Between 13800 and 13860 Roach describes a gully to avoid the major difficulties of the upper ridge. Comfortable with the rock in the area we found solid class 4 scrambles up a short chimney to gain the top of the ridge.
After the chimney the difficulty stayed at class 3 it was just 100 more ft to go!
We summited Ice Mt at 9:15 had a long break an celebratory beers.
Reversing Roach's description towards West Apostle we descended a loose SW gully to avoid the major cliffs on Ice Mt's west ridge.
At the base of the gully a series of grassy ledges and traverses led the way to the Ice Mt, West Apostle saddle.
Just above the saddle West Apostle's north face dropped off dramatically, astounding cliffs led to deep steep gullies.
Summiting West Apostle with clear full views of the morning's accomplishments was a very rewarding way to descend.
Just SW of West Apostle we got a shot of all 3 Apostles what a day of great scrambling/climbing!
Down a steep gully and then ridge leading to a small lake directly north of West Apostle we quickly descended towards lake Ann. Wonderful afternoon weather helped us by being just slightly cloudy.
Taken near the trail split between Apostle Basin and Lake Ann trails I got a perfect view of the entire traverse. This is an amazing classic climb I highly recommend it.
I arrived a few minuets after Marc at the campsite near the trailhead at 4:10pm total time 12hrs 25min
Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):
Ice was my first taste of real scrambling and I enjoyed it. Nice report, we had to bail on W. Apostle though from weather, still have to go back and get that one.
That was an awesome report. Those are my favorite Sawatch peaks!
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