Little Bear Peak Trip Report 08/23/2007

Peak(s):	Little Bear Peak - 14,041 feet
Date Posted:	08/23/2007
Date Climbed:	08/14/2007
Author:	canyongoddess

Little Bear, bare, in one day
Before I start, let me just say that there are few things in life that I hate as much as I hate the Lake Como road. These things include (but are not limited to): Marzipan, people who refuse to think critically, and the DMV. Hiking up the Lake Como road is extremely unpleasant - lots of opportunities to twist your ankles on the rocks, a nasty side angle, and hot temps. But now that I've got my griping out of the way, on with the TR. Miles: 12.8 Elevation gain: 6050 ft Time: 10.5 hrs My dad and I decided to make this a day climb rather than haul tent-filled packs up to Lake Como, which, in retrospect, was a fabulous idea. This is a long, but doable, day climb, somewhere on par with Longs (in terms of comparable mileage/elevation). It's possible to camp down low on the Lake Como road (right at the passenger car pull-off), but take note that the ground is too hard to stake any tents down. (FYI, if leaving your tent up while hiking, make sure to weight it down with rocks...not that I'm speaking from personal experience or anything, but there is a barbed wire fence just south of the parking that is a tent magnet.) We started hiking rather late around 5:45 AM and reached Lake Como around 8:30. At one point on the road (around mi 3 or so) there is a creek crossing, which was not too bad - we hiked upstream about 50 ft to a narrower crossing with an overhead tree branch to hold onto for balance. Once at Lake Como, the trail continues on to the obvious, cairned cutoff for the West Ridge route. The initial scree-filled gulley up to the ridge was actually the most unpleasant part of the whole climb. There is some stable, Class 3 scrambling occasionally on the left side, but it's not consistent nor much of a relief. Here is quite possibly the most unflattering picture of me with a decent view of this gulley up to the ridge: Once at the notch above the gulley, the route traverses below the ridgeline - not on the ridge crest - and is well-cairned and relatively stable and pleasant. Cairns lead all the way to the base of the Hourglass. There was quite a bit of water running down the center of the hourglass, but it was easy to keep our feet dry by climbing on the left side (as Roach suggests). The steep parts provided solid rock for nice Class 3 scrambling with one Class 4 move (not too tricky at all). Here's dad on the Hourglass: Note the ropes running down the center. Areedhay did a nice job describing these ropes in a previous TR. And yes, above this, the exposure lessens but the rock becomes looser. We were lucky to be the only party on the peak the entire day. The stress of the climb would be much greater if we had had to worry about kicking rocks down on other folks or having people kick stuff down on us from above. Above the hourglass, cairns abound, and the summit can be approached from several angles. I ended up contouring around to the right and going up a small gulley that was quite easy Class 3 scrambling on solid rock. My dad was below and to the west of me, and so I raced to the top in order to set up a banner for him - this was his 54th fourteener! His favorite food are the chocolate chip cookies from Wahoo‘s Fish Tacos, so I brought one of those up with corresponding candles: Little Bear-Blanca ridge: And of course, in keeping with my goal: NOTE: My father had started descending, out of view, when this was taken by self-timer. We ended up using the ropes for a rappel down the hourglass, which made things much speedier and easier. However, I wouldn't suggest this at all for anyone who isn't comfortable with rappelling techniques. After the Hourglass and the traverse back over to the ridge notch, the gulley was much easier descending than ascending - you are basically glissading down rock. Once back down to the lake, we had a great view of the peak: Thankfully, the weather was perfect during the whole climb. Unfortunately, this meant for some seriously hot temps on the way back down the Lake Como road. I'm sure many of you are familiar with this crazy road, but here's just one shot of what some people drive up: Sadly, after this climb, I had to drive back to Seattle, where yesterday I had to climb 4000 vertical feet just to get to the elevation of the Boulder/Denver metro area. (Side note: If anyone reading this is from or will be visiting Seattle, drop me a PM - would love to meet some forum members) All in all, a very challenging but extremely rewarding climb. The blessings of good weather and no crowds definitely added to the rewards and lessened the difficulties. Additionally, both my dad and I are pretty comfortable on Class 4 terrain, which definitely also helped lower the anxiety and raise the fun factor. Wear a helmet and avoid crowds if possible. That said, this is a terrific peak! Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Little Bear, bare, in one day

Before I start, let me just say that there are few things in life that I hate as much as I hate the Lake Como road. These things include (but are not limited to): Marzipan, people who refuse to think critically, and the DMV. Hiking up the Lake Como road is extremely unpleasant - lots of opportunities to twist your ankles on the rocks, a nasty side angle, and hot temps. But now that I've got my griping out of the way, on with the TR.

Miles: 12.8
Elevation gain: 6050 ft
Time: 10.5 hrs

My dad and I decided to make this a day climb rather than haul tent-filled packs up to Lake Como, which, in retrospect, was a fabulous idea. This is a long, but doable, day climb, somewhere on par with Longs (in terms of comparable mileage/elevation). It's possible to camp down low on the Lake Como road (right at the passenger car pull-off), but take note that the ground is too hard to stake any tents down. (FYI, if leaving your tent up while hiking, make sure to weight it down with rocks...not that I'm speaking from personal experience or anything, but there *is* a barbed wire fence just south of the parking that is a tent magnet.)

We started hiking rather late around 5:45 AM and reached Lake Como around 8:30. At one point on the road (around mi 3 or so) there is a creek crossing, which was not too bad - we hiked upstream about 50 ft to a narrower crossing with an overhead tree branch to hold onto for balance. Once at Lake Como, the trail continues on to the obvious, cairned cutoff for the West Ridge route. The initial scree-filled gulley up to the ridge was actually the most unpleasant part of the whole climb. There is some stable, Class 3 scrambling occasionally on the left side, but it's not consistent nor much of a relief. Here is quite possibly the most unflattering picture of me with a decent view of this gulley up to the ridge:

Once at the notch above the gulley, the route traverses below the ridgeline - not on the ridge crest - and is well-cairned and relatively stable and pleasant.

Cairns lead all the way to the base of the Hourglass. There was quite a bit of water running down the center of the hourglass, but it was easy to keep our feet dry by climbing on the left side (as Roach suggests). The steep parts provided solid rock for nice Class 3 scrambling with one Class 4 move (not too tricky at all). Here's dad on the Hourglass:

Note the ropes running down the center. Areedhay did a nice job describing these ropes in a previous TR. And yes, above this, the exposure lessens but the rock becomes looser. We were lucky to be the only party on the peak the entire day. The stress of the climb would be much greater if we had had to worry about kicking rocks down on other folks or having people kick stuff down on us from above.

Above the hourglass, cairns abound, and the summit can be approached from several angles. I ended up contouring around to the right and going up a small gulley that was quite easy Class 3 scrambling on solid rock. My dad was below and to the west of me, and so I raced to the top in order to set up a banner for him - this was his 54th fourteener!

His favorite food are the chocolate chip cookies from Wahoo‘s Fish Tacos, so I brought one of those up with corresponding candles:

Little Bear-Blanca ridge:

And of course, in keeping with my goal:

NOTE: My father had started descending, out of view, when this was taken by self-timer.

We ended up using the ropes for a rappel down the hourglass, which made things much speedier and easier. However, I wouldn't suggest this at all for anyone who isn't comfortable with rappelling techniques. After the Hourglass and the traverse back over to the ridge notch, the gulley was much easier descending than ascending - you are basically glissading down rock. Once back down to the lake, we had a great view of the peak:

Thankfully, the weather was perfect during the whole climb. Unfortunately, this meant for some seriously hot temps on the way back down the Lake Como road. I'm sure many of you are familiar with this crazy road, but here's just one shot of what some people drive up:

Sadly, after this climb, I had to drive back to Seattle, where yesterday I had to climb 4000 vertical feet just to get to the elevation of the Boulder/Denver metro area. (Side note: If anyone reading this is from or will be visiting Seattle, drop me a PM - would love to meet some forum members)

All in all, a very challenging but extremely rewarding climb. The blessings of good weather and no crowds definitely added to the rewards and lessened the difficulties. Additionally, both my dad and I are pretty comfortable on Class 4 terrain, which definitely also helped lower the anxiety and raise the fun factor. Wear a helmet and avoid crowds if possible. That said, this is a terrific peak!

Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Comments or Questions

cftbq	Congrats to both of you! 8/23/2007 8:15pm What a way to finish the 14ers! Amazed to see that I share all three of your dislikes. Now, I just hope I can luck out as nicely as you did on both the weather and the absence of other climbers when I finally get around to trying this difficult peak. You make it sound so easy!
Kevin Baker	? 8/23/2007 10:15pm So have you successfully been in the buff on all of your 14er summits to date? It must have been tough getting this done on the easy ones.
gdthomas	self-timer 8/23/2007 11:31pm Thank God for technology. For a minute there I thought one grey-haired man wearing multi-colored leis snapped the shot!
roozers42	You never know who you'll see on here! 8/24/2007 3:43pm Chrissie - Awesome trip report. I was surprised to see a picture of your dad - I know him from the piano world. Please tell him ”congrats” from Jen Bratz. We should climb together sometime!
summitseeker	Marzipan??? 8/26/2007 1:09am How in the world can you hate marzipan??? yummmmmmmy!
lordhelmut	DMV 11/30/2010 5:28pm canyongoddess, you are spot on with this one, i'm not gonna get into this one, I was in a good mood today. Also, something along those frustrating lines are people who feel they need to merge on to the highway going 25mph and create a ripple effect with the traffic. I consider myself to be opptimistic by nature, but when I see this, biological warfare goes off in my head. Anyways, thats an intimidating and unforgiving area, good job on the day climb.
KeithK	Critical thinking... 11/30/2010 5:28pm I'm very critical every time something obstructs the view of gorgeous mountain scenery!!! Seriously, that is so cool that you got to share that with your dad. Congratulations!
Jon Frohlich	Awesome TR. 11/30/2010 5:28pm All these Little Bear trip reports are starting to make me think that this climb won't be as bad as I've built it up to be. I'll still wait until next year to tackle this one though. Congrats to your dad. And why do I have this sudden strange urge to visit Seattle?
Aubrey	fantabulous 11/30/2010 5:28pm Great trip report! SUPER congratulations to your father! It must've felt great to be with him on his finisher ... and, well, just to be with him on another summit. I've also wondered about your bare summits on Grays, Torreys, Bierstadt, Quandary ... Either you were lucky to be alone or others were lucky to be there. Good luck in your quest. How 'bout a frontal on the next one? I'll avert my eyes, 'cuz I'm married and all, but I'm sure others would enjoy it.
Canman	Bear, bare 11/30/2010 5:28pm Geez, nekkid female gymnastics on top of 14ers....what's next?
maverick_manley	dem %&^%# black rectangles 11/30/2010 5:28pm must go... That's quite a trip, hiking all the way up from the bottom TH. Nice report.
Steve Knapp	Bare on Little Bear, I love it! 11/30/2010 5:28pm Canyongoddess, congrats on climbing Little Bear in one day. And major congrats to your Dad too. That is a long day without using a high camp. Does your Dad consider himself done with the 14ers now? (Some people use different numbers) We're going to miss your trip reports here. See you on Rainier next year!
daslug	Bare.........on the Little Bear 11/30/2010 5:28pm Congrats to your Dad. Two suggestions, #1 I think to document the peak you are on you should lay next to the benchmark and #2 I would volunteer to hold the black box so you wouldn't have to edit the photo
MountainMatt	Very Nice 11/30/2010 5:28pm Congrats to your Pops! Thanks for the TR, I'm looking forward to seeing more.
Hawkeyeclimber	I found your match 11/30/2010 5:28pm I got a chuckle out of your climbing reward so thought I would let you know your next goal. http://www.gadling.com/2007/10/11/climbing-everest-naked/ I get to Seattle every few weeks for work if you ever want to discuss climbing. I'm scheduled to do Raineir in 09 with some friends. Take care, Rob berdigolfr@aol.com
Matt	Naked? 1/19/2011 3:38am You forgot to take off your shoes. Should that count? lol.
Spam	Congrats 2/5/2011 12:22am Congrats to your Dad!! Right on! that damn black box keeps following you! Way to knock off a hard one!

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