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Peak(s):  Mt. Lincoln  -  14,293 feet
Date Posted:  04/24/2009
Modified:  05/18/2009
Date Climbed:   04/23/2006
Author:  Easy Rider
 Putnam   

4/23/2006



It was difficult for me to get out and climb that spring. Plenty of great days in the backcountry, just not out of the Gunnison valley. In the mean time, hoped to ride just a couple of the 14ers for the sake of progress. Lots of attention on Pyramid after the Davenport descen; there was a good window, but the weather was supposed to continue to be unsettled and warm, I picked a low angle one on the other end of the spectrum: Putnam, on Lincoln. I was glad to be able to preview the snow conditions from Hoosier Pass, and know that the effort would be rewarded.

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Though this was an easy peak, it is an east facing route, and I took the usual precautions with and early start to avoid any premature thawing. Awake at 3:30, and by 4:00 am, departing from a pullout on the Roberts road at Moose Creek, and riding the bike in hard boots to the switchback down to the north at 11,1oo. The puddles by the road were not yet frozen, reinforcing my decision to stay on low angles this weekend.


The board was already split, but the skins needed to be pulled. I hooked them over the top, and pulled down, listening to the glue crackle. ZZzz ZZzz traversing up into some really dark woods with a cloud covered night sky, I slowed myself a bit, and relaxed to avoid the desperate claustrophobic anxiety that can come in here when there is no trail either in front of, or behind me. I trended left and then directly up the gradual slope to avoid steep open areas down slope. It flattened out for a bit, and I checked my direction off the jake brake of a truck rolling down Hoosier, and caught a couple brief flickers from the headlights. I stopped at treeline, and waited for the sky to lighten.


I noticed that the snow in Putnam was navigable from a vantage on the next rise, but had to continue up to see if it joined with the upper slope. With easy ground to cover, thoughts inevitably regressed to other difficulties. I was thankful for the partners I had during the pow season, but they were all on to other things. Now that spring was here: it was off to Shasta, moving closer to the Front Range, stuck in Silverton, emersed in the craigs, gone to Utah, back to Michigan, up to Denali, a puffy kankle, the last day at Vail, three girls to take care of, building a house, and so forth, and all impossibly functional. It was just some struge-infested lump in the Ten Mile anyway. The sunrise improved my mood.

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The little radio from wal mart was out of Heidi's range from the parking. I tried the other channels, catching trucks on the pass for a moment. From the summit, the hard boots felt a little clumsy on the smooth frozen snow, but there were softer carves further down in the bowl. I walked fifteen feet to the right to the top of Putnam for a nice long cruiser to 11,3oo. I skinned back up to catch a scruffy tree run back to the switchback at 11,1oo. I rode my bike back up to the TH for breakfast.



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