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With a weekend of clear weather, I decided to head up to Holy Cross and give it a shot. After a fun Halloween party on Friday night in Boulder, I jumped in the truck at 4am and headed up. I took a power nap at the TH and started up at 7:30am (much too late for my taste). Heading up to Half Moon Pass
Half Moon Pass was definitely a beautiful spot and the descent down and around to the south finally offered the views I was hoping for. Descending from the pass my first view of the Peak
The fresh snow was deep throughout the day - probably average a foot, but there were plenty of areas with deeper drifts. Still not enough for the skis though. Levi breaking trail for me
After descending to the Creek, I had a hard time following the trail and got a bit off route. For anyone that follows in my footsteps, I would recommend staying right (West) after the Creek crossing and meet my trail higher up. (I didn't get terribly off route, but it was a bit of bushwacking)
Punching up thru the treeline, I eventually got to the lower portion of the North Ridge where it was a constant battle with the wind. on the lower North Ridge North Ridge
Hitting the summit at 1:42pm, the winds stayed strong and I re-fueled, gave the pup some water and snacks and we headed down as a quickly as possible. Blustery summit Summit register Looking down at the North Ridge
We got back to the car at 6:40pm right as dusk arrived. I forgot how hard winter hiking is and it is definitely that right now. Beautiful mountain with some amazing snowy views right now!
Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):
Pete26, yeah snowshoes were 100% mandatory this weekend. I had 'em and used 'em until the last 1,000ft, when it became a boulder hopping challenge to avoid the deep and leg-breaking snow pockets.
Monster5- 'holy cross', a weekend of football, and the utterly ludicrous banter about that guy, I figured why not!
Funny further south on Huron snowshoes were pretty useless. At most they added to the weight of the pack. Glad you didn't have that announce. Congrats on a great summit!
Dancestmoonrise, yeah i was sure wondering about what a mid-winter climb would be like, from the winter TH. Multi-day trip, that's for sure! outside of a a winter Capitol trip, i think i'll keep it a bit shorter!
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