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Peak(s):  Uncompahgre Peak  -  14,318 feet
Date Posted:  04/14/2015
Date Climbed:   04/12/2015
Author:  dsimoens
Additional Members:   lawdoggy
 Uncompahgre's Southeast Face   

An "Uncompahgrable" Experience


Starting point: ¼ mile up the Nellie Creek Road
Elevation Gain: Approx. 5000'
Distance: 10-13 miles one way to the top. No GPS, just going off of Gary Roach's 14er book and booting straight up and cutting out switchbacks.
Time frame: Started hiking at 6:30, summit by 12:30, riding by 1:00, back to the truck by 3:30.

To cap off an absolutely incredible winter of backcountry snowboarding, or splitboarding, me and two friends left Crested Butte for a spring break adventure. Our objectives were simple: climb a few 14ers, drink a few beers, and have a few laughs. This report describes our Sunday climb of Uncompahgre. We also snowboarded Sunshine (14,001) on Saturday and Mount Aetna (seen from Monarch pass approx. 13,700) on Monday.

We started the morning off by driving from the Mill creek campground where we spent the previous night recovering from Sunshine. Our idea of recovery consists of drinking copious amounts of beer and whiskey while eating Bratwurst and Cosmic Brownies like they were going out of style. So that, coupled with about 8 hours of sleep over two nights meant we were primed and ready to climb and snowboard down the tallest mountain in the San Juans.

We arrived at the Nellie Creek Road, drove past the first two campsites and parked at the base of a huge snowdrift about ¼ of a mile up at about 6:30AM. We hiked the entire way to the summit with boards on our backs and never had a need to put skins on. The road has intermittent snow patches but is pretty easy to follow and there were other ski tracks to follow as well. At one point there is a fork in the road where we kept left. There were logs to cross the Nellie Creek at two different points and we had no trouble skipping right over them. We got to the summer trail head and wilderness boundary at around 9:30AM. There is an informational kiosk here that contains a map and elevation profile. We thought it was pretty funny how the Forest Service included both elevation gain and elevation change, which were the exact same number, together on the same map.

Shortly after the wilderness boundary the trail hooks west (left) and opens up to an amazing view of Uncompahgre. Maybe a mile or two after the wilderness boundary the climb really begins and two of us put on crampons. The crampons were not really necessary but I had just purchased mine and wanted to play with my new toys. They did however allow us to take a straight path towards the south bench just below the summit, allowing us to cut out any unnecessary switchbacks. The most difficult part was from approx. 13,000' to 13,600' which was the steep pitch leading up to the bench just below the summit. Here the crampons were nice and our one friend who did not have them used an ice axe.

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We left the packs and boards at this bench, took off the crampons, and continued to the summit which consisted of a short dry scramble followed by a dry walk. The view from the summit was truly amazing! We could see our home Elk Mountains to the Northeast, the Grand Mesa to the North, our previous days adventure Sunshine to the South and Sneffels to the Southwest. The cliff off of the North Face was scary as hell and a rock tossed off took about 12 seconds to hit the snow below.

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Lawson looking off the North face

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Pano from Summit

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Lawson and I, Camera looking south

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Looking back up at our tracks off the steep bench

Back on the bench we were a bit worried that 1:00 was too late to be dropping in but it turned out to be just fine. Creamy corn skiing was what greeted us for the decent off of the alpine slopes above tree line. We more or less followed our ascent route down and were delighted when we were able to stay strapped in for a mile or so below the wilderness trail head. From here we were able to make great time down the road by unstrapping and walking short sections and drift hopping. The second creek crossing (on the way down) was where we threw in the towel and strapped our boards to our backs to walk the last bit of road. It took us about six hours on the way up and about two to get back down. We were truly amazed at how much of the road we were able to snowboard back down. We also mastered a technique that involves unstrapping one foot and hopping while holding the board with your hand to get across short sections of dirt. It looks absolutely ridiculous but saves a good amount of time.

We finished the day off by taking a very cold swim in Lake San Cristobal and enjoying a few beers and food at the Packer Saloon. Our trip continued by driving back through Gunnison and over Monarch Pass where Mount Aetna awaited us.



Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):
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Comments or Questions
lawdoggy
slowboards
4/14/2015 6:29pm
Yah we did.
Just adding, I’ve been on trips where snowboarding was a huge disadvantage, but one planking worked great on this mission


samblack
slowboards are fun
4/14/2015 11:13pm
Looks like a good trip. How did the east face of Wetterhorn look? Did you happen to get any pics of it?



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