Mt. Democrat Trip Report 05/13/2014

Peak(s):	Mt. Democrat - 14,154 feet
Date Posted:	05/13/2014
Date Climbed:	05/10/2014
Author:	Rocky_Mtn_Bryon
Additional Members:	Pikaboot

Decalibron, standard route
Betsy and I had a rare midweek chance to head up to Alma for a shot at the Decalibron. I took a day off of work for the effort, so I was pumped to bag some peaks. Betsy has the profile name 'Pikaboot', which is a play on pika - the furry little mouse-like things that live up high - and peekaboo. That and her nickname is 'Boot'. I had lobbied her to pick Rocky_Mtn_Betsy, but she thought that was dumb. Betsy is a bit of a kick-butt hiker. She has done eleven 14ers, seven of them while pregnant and three of them while breast-feeding (any icons for that?). I can't imagine what she'll do whenever she is free from the challenges of caring for babies. For those who don't know, women who are breast-feeding babies have to stop every three hours or so to pump excess milk from their bodies. Betsy brought along her milk pump and containers to keep the milk she pumped - can't waste any We arrived at the Paris Mill winter closure at about 6:30 am. There was a nasty drift right at the closure blocking access for autos. Kite Lake road was clean up to Paris Mill Nasty drift at Paris Mill It was a shame too, because a great deal of the road to Kite Lake was dry. Apart from three or four bad drifts, I bet a good 4WD vehicle could have made a run at getting pretty close to the Lake. We made good time up to the Kite Lake TH, only using our hiking boots, and averaging just over 2 miles/hour. On the way up, we ran into a snowboarder and very friendly dog. The dog's collar said he belonged to the 'dome house', which is probably that brown domed looking house just off the Kite Lake road. I guess they let him run around free up there. At Kite Lake, we were greeted by a lovely rising sun and freshening winds. Sun rising over Bross Cameron Kite Lake TH, looking towards Democrat Resting at the TH before the ascent There wasn't a ton of snow We took a few minutes to get some calories and hydration, as well as put on our goggles and an extra layer. We then headed up the standard route towards Democrat. We put on the snowshoes at the first steep section heading up to the shoulder at about 12,800 feet. This was mainly to get extra traction, not for the flotation. Between 12,800 and the saddle at 13,400, there was little snow and we hiked up the summer trail with our hiking boots. At the saddle, Betsy decided to wait for me to hit Democrat. Her last 14er was in August last year and it was taking her some time to acclimate. While she rested, I put on my snowshoes (again for traction) and headed up to Democrat. The weather was windy, but relatively warm and mostly pleasant. It still felt winterish, but with the promise of summer. I summited and headed back down to Betsy at the saddle. By the time I got back down to Betsy, she was ready to go. I had trouble keeping up with her as we headed up towards Cameron. From here on we never wore snowshoes again, except for a brief section on the Kite Lake road that had softened up. Once we reached Cameron we made the decision to head toward Bross and skip Lincoln. Clouds were moving in and we both felt like our energy reserves were just right for one more peak. One the shoulder, looking back towards Kite Lake On the shoulder, looking towards the saddle View from up high Beautiful views I was a bit nervous about hitting Bross, simply because I wasn't familiar with the descent route. I had my GPS, but of course the batteries died on the saddle between Cameron and Bross. Betsy was smart enough to pull up 14ers on her iphone and read the route description. I won't say whether we summited Bross or not. We respect the private property and negotiated trail, but we also think sometimes you have to obey the spirit of the law, rather than the letter. From the 14ers route description we had a good feel for how to make the descent. We flirted with the idea of glissading the Northwest couloir, but weren't sure what may lie further down since we couldn't see the whole path down. We decided to stick with the standard descent. After what seemed like a long battle with the nasty scree on Bross, we finally made it back to Kite Lake. We post-holed our way back to Paris Mill while carrying snowshoes on our backs. It's always funny how I hate to put my snowshoes back on even though I'm post-holing. The problem of course was that there was enough dry ground to make it a tough call. We made it back to the car at about 4:00 pm, or 9.5 hours. It was a fun day with surprisingly little snow. We stopped at Java Moose in Fairplay for some coffee. The service was surprisingly poor that day, but the coffee and breakfast burrito were good. A fun day! Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Decalibron, standard route

Betsy and I had a rare midweek chance to head up to Alma for a shot at the Decalibron. I took a day off of work for the effort, so I was pumped to bag some peaks. Betsy has the profile name 'Pikaboot', which is a play on pika - the furry little mouse-like things that live up high - and peekaboo. That and her nickname is 'Boot'. I had lobbied her to pick Rocky_Mtn_Betsy, but she thought that was dumb.

Betsy is a bit of a kick-butt hiker. She has done eleven 14ers, seven of them while pregnant and three of them while breast-feeding (any icons for that?). I can't imagine what she'll do whenever she is free from the challenges of caring for babies. For those who don't know, women who are breast-feeding babies have to stop every three hours or so to pump excess milk from their bodies. Betsy brought along her milk pump and containers to keep the milk she pumped - can't waste any

We arrived at the Paris Mill winter closure at about 6:30 am. There was a nasty drift right at the closure blocking access for autos.

Kite Lake road was clean up to Paris Mill

It was a shame too, because a great deal of the road to Kite Lake was dry. Apart from three or four bad drifts, I bet a good 4WD vehicle could have made a run at getting pretty close to the Lake.
We made good time up to the Kite Lake TH, only using our hiking boots, and averaging just over 2 miles/hour. On the way up, we ran into a snowboarder and very friendly dog. The dog's collar said he belonged to the 'dome house', which is probably that brown domed looking house just off the Kite Lake road. I guess they let him run around free up there.

At Kite Lake, we were greeted by a lovely rising sun and freshening winds.

We took a few minutes to get some calories and hydration, as well as put on our goggles and an extra layer. We then headed up the standard route towards Democrat. We put on the snowshoes at the first steep section heading up to the shoulder at about 12,800 feet. This was mainly to get extra traction, not for the flotation. Between 12,800 and the saddle at 13,400, there was little snow and we hiked up the summer trail with our hiking boots.

At the saddle, Betsy decided to wait for me to hit Democrat. Her last 14er was in August last year and it was taking her some time to acclimate. While she rested, I put on my snowshoes (again for traction) and headed up to Democrat. The weather was windy, but relatively warm and mostly pleasant. It still felt winterish, but with the promise of summer. I summited and headed back down to Betsy at the saddle.

By the time I got back down to Betsy, she was ready to go. I had trouble keeping up with her as we headed up towards Cameron. From here on we never wore snowshoes again, except for a brief section on the Kite Lake road that had softened up. Once we reached Cameron we made the decision to head toward Bross and skip Lincoln. Clouds were moving in and we both felt like our energy reserves were just right for one more peak.

One the shoulder, looking back towards Kite Lake

On the shoulder, looking towards the saddle

I was a bit nervous about hitting Bross, simply because I wasn't familiar with the descent route. I had my GPS, but of course the batteries died on the saddle between Cameron and Bross. Betsy was smart enough to pull up 14ers on her iphone and read the route description. I won't say whether we summited Bross or not. We respect the private property and negotiated trail, but we also think sometimes you have to obey the spirit of the law, rather than the letter.

From the 14ers route description we had a good feel for how to make the descent. We flirted with the idea of glissading the Northwest couloir, but weren't sure what may lie further down since we couldn't see the whole path down. We decided to stick with the standard descent.

After what seemed like a long battle with the nasty scree on Bross, we finally made it back to Kite Lake. We post-holed our way back to Paris Mill while carrying snowshoes on our backs. It's always funny how I hate to put my snowshoes back on even though I'm post-holing. The problem of course was that there was enough dry ground to make it a tough call.

We made it back to the car at about 4:00 pm, or 9.5 hours. It was a fun day with surprisingly little snow. We stopped at Java Moose in Fairplay for some coffee. The service was surprisingly poor that day, but the coffee and breakfast burrito were good.

Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Comments or Questions

Cthulhu 2008

Well Done
5/21/2014 8:59pm

Good job Bryon!

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