Winter Mt. Shavano via Esprit Point E ridge, S sub-ridge
Trailhead: Angel of Shavano
Distance: 7.5 mi RT
Elevation gain: 5,400 ft
YDS class: Class 2
Special gear: poles, optional helmet

This route combined some of my favorite hiking activities. Come warmer weather and melted snow, I enjoy plotting nonstandard paths up alpine objectives. I love the complimentary pair of discovering something new, whether it be a novel perspective or route, and uncovering something old among the mountains' trove of archaic secrets.

Artifacts and other historical impressions in the land abound, both human and non-human. The remnants of past activity in hunting, logging, mining, and recreation often landmark fascinating stories logged in periodicals of the time. "Off-trail" wilderness too usually belies a whole network of tracks tramped in over generations of hooves and paws inscribing their own narratives as well.

Come winter I like trying, well--winter 14ers! I am not a fan of avalanches, though, and my stamina is rather middling. I wanted to use my experience completing previous winter 14ers and charting off-trail routes to account for these concerns on this southerly Sawatch sentinel.

Upon research, some previous route options for winter Shavano include a standard route variation up the east ridge direct, ascending the Angel, or taking on the 13er subsummit Esprit Point over to Shavano. I was a bit skeptical of tackling the East ridge direct by myself after seeing previous reports of arduous & potentially dangerous snow conditions near treeline. I've also personally noted some spooky collapsing and otherwise difficult trenching conditions on similar Sawatch E-ridge direct features such as on Princeton below treeline cutting the upper road switchbacks. The other TRs taking ribs up Esprit like the SE from Angel of Shavano TH or E from the standard Shavano trail seemed too steep or roundabout, and I didn't want to risk dealing with avalanche potential alone on the Angel either.

Looking for a more direct and avalanche-foolproof way, I noted an east and then south-facing ridge leading to Esprit Point from the Angel of Shavano TH that seemed somewhat mellow steepness-wise and fairly dry from satellite & webcam images. The south-facing aspect below treeline and wind-blown ridge crest above both clued me in to a potentially feasible route that might not be swamped with snow. I found some discussion of this ridge in a forum post with multiple experienced users having summited this way. From the other TRs featuring Esprit Point, the rest of the way to Shavano from this sub-peak was a simple tundra crossing over to the summit summer trail.

I checked the webcam that pirouettes in the south Arkansas river valley until it zoomed in on the Shavano group. I could see some brown poking through the bare aspen groves on Esprit's lower E ridge flank & only a little snow clutching the upper ridge. Although the actual planned route below treeline was obscured by evergreens, I trusted from the low snow amounts I had seen on similar aspects, slope angles & elevations on other peaks that this might be a useful way to access Esprit Point's summit.

I consulted the Peakbagger app's Copernicus Sentinel-2 L2A weekly satellite image layer to gauge snow cover as well and noticed a discrepancy between the amounts pictured in the webcam and the satellite image dated for that same day. Perhaps it's some sort of reflection artifact, but the Copernicus satellite seemed to show noticeably more filled-in snowfields than the real-time webcam viewed from the same morning. I wonder if the satellite was mis-dated and was really taken a day or two prior. In the future I'll yield a bit less credence to these satellite images in my decision-making since conditions might be better--or worse--than pictured.

With this information in mind, I wound up the ancient glacial valley on the graded & plowed CR 240 and pulled in to the short CO Trail parking loop near the Angel of Shavano Campground. I followed the bootpacked & melted out CO Trail up the moraine until I could branch off back towards Esprit Pt. This area shows up as an avalanche-prone 30-35 degrees in slope angle as noted in daway's report, but thanks to the lower elevation, S-facing aspect, & probably this very slope angle oriented to absorb more direct solar radiation I barely saw a hint of snow in this area.

Towards the top of the moraine I struck off on a deer track that led back west along the moraine's ridge towards Esprit Pt. I dodged barrel cacti & piles of ungulate scat and forded a shallow drainage full of snow and aspen logs. As I approached the yawning ravine funneling down from Esprit's E face, a game trail materialized at its edge. Although this way hadn't gotten too much human traffic, the creatures of the forest might have blazed a trail for me already!

The game trail continued along the rim of the precipitous gulley & could easily be regained after crossing the occasional snow patch or arboreal obstacle. After a little while I encountered a flat spot overseen by grafittied aspens and realized I was crossing a road from an old nearby mining complex. The track continued up along the gorge from here and now felt a bit wider and more cleared out--I wondered if the miners had broken this trail to catch some relaxing views on the upper ridge.

After I got back from this trip, I looked this mine up in historic Salida newspapers. I found that it was once owned by celebrated Salida-area resident L. E. Blank after which the standard TH Blanks Gulch is named. In July 1927, Blank hosted forty-seven CMC members at his foothill ranch for a 1927 July Shavano climb led by Miss Fay Edwards of Salida.

At times the path appeared to peter out or was blocked by a steep section or fallen tree, but just 10 feet to the left or right usually another game trail continued the push uphill. The lower ridge past the mining road was the steepest of the whole route--1000 ft in 0.4mi--but not unbearable especially with the aid of poles. The trails closer to the gully were still mostly bone-dry with only a few avoidable icy patches. More snow hung around on the shadier ridge proper off to the right.

Eventually the aggressive gradient and decent tree cover let up and I was granted full views of the upper ridge. The deepening snow at this elevation encroached over the game trail. I kept ascending through the mostly supportive sno-cone consistency drifts among the trees. After enough postholes I eventually contoured west along the talus slope with its unproblematic snow patches. A dry alpine rivulet free of stones and slush guided the rest of the way directly up to the upper ridge crest.

Shavano & his Angel met me arms wide atop the rib. A stout weather break perhaps once enjoyed by Blank and crew stood sentry on the ridge tip surveilling the Arkansas valley below. Looking ahead up the rest of the E-facing ridge to Esprit Pt, I saw that the snow still wouldn't be much issue. The lower section was a gentler stroll up rocky tundra before it started getting rockier.

The panorama also provided a good opportunity to scout the standard Shavano E ridge route. Significantly more unavoidable snow covered the south-through-east apron of the ridge near treeline. It looked like it could be possible to connect dry patches up to the ridge crest to avoid postholing too much, but I probably would have wanted snowshoes up there. Up until this point on the Esprit Pt E ridge and for the rest of the day I didn't need or desire them at all.

I resumed with careful footing up the increasingly rocky terrain. At times a faint climbers trail cut through the jumble, but otherwise the small-to-medium size scree was fairly stable. A few short wind-crusted snowfields held my weight or otherwise provided stepping stones to cross. Soon enough I arrived atop Esprit Point's elongated summit ridge.

The ridge had the beginnings of a cornice with some supportive wind crust, but mostly I stuck to boulder hopping. On many winter 14er summits across multiple ranges I've seen canid tracks from some fox or coyote way up high on mountain ridges and Esprit Point added another sighting to the list--maybe the critter was hunting for pika. The wind forecast was minimal, and even up here on the summit ridge it didn't arrive as much more than a stiff breeze.

After arriving at Esprit's summit, the rest of the route opened up before me and I could finally get some relief from walking on rocks. The tundra saddle between Esprit & Shavano was swept nearly dry and expectedly came with increased sustained winds.

At this point I really wasn't sure where the summer trail up to Shavano was. I knew CFI has been working on a reroute and I could see an obvious trail to the summit filled in by snow, but I also spotted a braided trail system off to the left. Upon approaching a little further, however, a previously camouflaged bighorn sheep herd including some rams with very mature horns looked up at me from grazing over the most apparent trail. I thought it best to leave them be and reroute via the braided slushy gravel paths.

The detour directed me towards some large, fun scrambly blocks just below the summit ridge. Footsteps from a recent hiker up the standard E ridge led the way through the rest of the minor snow and boulders to the top.

After seeing Tabeguache from the Shavano summit I was satisfied that I only planned for the latter. The E-facing slopes leading up to the Tab summit ridge held more snow than the route I had taken, and I was already on my second pair of socks after getting the first damp from postholing through the large-grained snow earlier. It looked like I could thread through rock patches to avoid too much trouble, but was glad not to deal with it after gaining decent elevation already and having a longer rocky return still to go.

The sheep had moved away a bit so I didn't have to skirt around them so far on the way down Shavano. The last elevation gain that remained was a mellow 200 ft back up to Esprit. I might have considered taking the more direct and possibly less blocky SE ridge of Esprit for the way back, but I had to pick up some gear I had stashed on the E ridge.

I realized not long after starting the rocky descent that it would have been nice to have a helmet despite the class 2 rocks. On a smoother angled boulder surface my legs cartoonishly slipped out from under me and I caught a good chunk of my weight on another rock with my elbow. As someone who's struggled with concussion injuries, it probably would've been bad news if it was my head clunking on a boulder instead. The talus was mostly stable and not Elks-level loose, but it wouldn't have hurt to have some extra margin for injury in such an unfrequented area.

Otherwise the descent went without a hitch and I made it back to the weather ring near treeline around headlamp-time. It was a bit harder to retrace my steps in the dusky ambiance--I fumbled down another desiccated tundra stream, crossed some refrozen snowfields, and contoured over my last patch of steep talus for the day on the way back to the trees.

The faint aurora of the sun's last light crowning Esprit Point faded to an inky star-speckled canvas contrasting the crescent moon's Cheshire smile. In the dark I couldn't initially regain the game trail I had used on the ascent and ended up too high up on the ridge with more snow and downed trees. It wasn't long before I ran into a track closer to the gorge on the west side of the ridge, but not too long after that it dissipated. I continued lightly bushwhacking downhill until I encountered another game trail and repeated this process of lost-and-found until I reached the old mining road.

After the mining area, the slope eased up and the worn path along the ravine was more obvious. It led me back to the shallow snow-filled depression crisscrossed with blackening aspen logs and soon I came upon the moraine edge. Instead of returning along the top of the moraine back to the CO Trail, I decided to cut directly down the scrubby slope to save time--it looked like quite a few deer had done the same anyhow. Once again upon the CO Trail, it was only a few minutes before I reached my car for a long but successful 11 hr outing.

The gain on this trail really smoked my legs--granted I hadn't gotten out on steep trails too much this winter, and I'm for sure glad I didn't take the even steeper and more sustained SE ridge up to Esprit. However, it's uncommon to find a winter 14er trail that doesn't require flotation and avoids avalanche hazards. After a larger snow dump I'd be more cautious of wind-deposited snow layered on the steep snowfields among the talus near treeline and would probably opt for sticking to the low-angle trees just below the upper ridge.

I really appreciated the ages of animal cousins and perhaps a period of prospectors crafting the trails tracing this subalpine ridge. If I had more stamina and an earlier start I likely could have tagged Tabeguache, but I'm planning to explore another off-trail route for that mountain as well. Thanks for reading!