I think I met you...and I don't think it comes down to personal opinion...I read many different places that you are asked to ascend Columbia, not descend it because the west slopes of Columbia are badly scared and they are trying to really minimize impact on the west slopes as of now. In fact I don't think it is supposed to be hiked at all, but if you are going to, then ascend it. I just feel like minimizing impact to these beautiful places helps make a lot of my decisions when I go in and hike.climbnowworklater wrote:Psycholoco and I just did the traverse from Harvard to Columbia 7-5-13. Tough but fun. Total hike time RT: 7:35
It took 3:05 to summit Harvard, 2:15 to traverse, and 2:15 to get back to TH.
My experience: Harvard was easy on a great trail. The traverse was average with minor route finding. The ascent of Columbia was straightforward and expected.
Descent of Columbia was tough. My thoughts are this: would you rather ascend or descend scree? For this particular trip, I would rather descend scree and be 3 miles from the car after a long day.
The alternative is to climb scree, which can burn my legs out early, and then have 7 miles back to the car after the traverse and Harvard.
It comes down to personal opinion.
And yes it was tough but fun!!! Glad you had a good day out there...the weather looked so so when we woke up at 8 this morning.
