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I was itchin' for a long day and boy did I get it. I met up with a good friend of mine, Carl, and we decided to ski up and climb "Hancock Peak" which is south of St. Elmo. I climbed Monumental Peak, further south of "Hancock Peak," last year in March in two days and I knew that the long approach to the town of Hancock from St. Elmo was going to be well packed down by snowmobilers. Nevertheless, due to my peak baggin' nature, I was able to find and add an additional two 12vers.
I picked up Carl from his house at 3:45 AM and we started the drive to St. Elmo. The coffee helped. We parked at the forest service road leading to Hancock just short of St. Elmo and we were skinning up the road by 6:45 AM. The trail was well traveled by snowmobiles and appeared to have been groomed a few days earlier which made for a speedy approach on skis.
Once we made it to Hancock, we started skinning up the Alpine Tunnel Trail. Again, the trail was well traveled by snowmobiles and at ~11,140 we took a turn to the south and headed directly towards Hancock Pass. We skied up the basin and made a traversing ascent on the final 300-400 feet to Hancock Pass. Just above 12,000 we ditched our skis and our packs, climbed south on loose class 2 talus, gained the northwest ridge of Hancock and climbed a more solid snow blown ridge to the summit. We arrived at the summit at high noon and took some photos. The weather was perfect.
Even though Carl was feeling good, he was unsold on climbing Mt. Chapman. We decided to meet at the saddle between Mt. Chapman and Pt. 12,383 while I bolted ahead to climb Mt. Chapman. Since the ridge looked more docile from the Mt. Chapman-Pt. 12,383 saddle and I had the option to go packless, I figured I would ski to that saddle and climb the north ridge of Mt. Chapman. I quickly descended Hancock, strapped the skis back on and skied to the Mt. Chapman-Pt. 12,383 saddle. Unfortunately, the last 30 feet to the saddle was steep and slushy, so I took off the skis and climbed to the saddle where I ditched my skis and pack.
The north ridge of Mt. Chapman was indeed docile and I made good time to the "first" and real summit. When I got to this summit, the southeast summit appeared higher and had a cairn. Doh, the topo was left in the pack. I thought I remembered the first summit being the real summit but just to make sure, I made a quick hike over to the southeast summit. It would have certainly been quicker to ascend this summit from Hancock Pass. I returned back up and over the real summit and back to the saddle where I met Carl and my pack. After reviewing the topo, I learned of my extra exercise.
We removed our skins and enjoyed a nice ski to William's Pass. From the pass, there was a direct snow slope to the summit of Mt. Poor. We strapped our skins back on our skis and made the 700 foot ascent to the summit. Once we reached the summit just past 3 PM, we took a break and removed our skins. The ski down back to our packs was mellow and went fast as the snow was a wind blown hard pack. We reached our packs, took another break and skied northeast from William's Pass and intercepted the Alpine Tunnel Trail. Once we intercepted the Alpine Tunnel trail we traversed on the trail west then southwest back to the town of Hancock. The snow in the trees definitely had the spring time crust.
After reaching Hancock, we made excellent time as we skate skied down our groomed highway back to the car. We reached the car at 5:15 PM. Although the approach was long, the peaks had great docile skiing.
Looks like a good day, I am curious how many of the 13er and 12ers have you summated now.
Recognize this placeâ��¦..
It's that couloir on Gladstone (the one closest to the west ridge) you suggested to me July of 07. It turned out to be a real sweet snow climb last weekend. I was unable to summit once on the ridge but I liked the climb so much that I will use for access on another attempt in a few weeks. Thanks for the suggestion and all the posting you do on lesser known 12ers and 13ers out there.
Be well,
Ken
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