Sawtooth from Evans side

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steelfrog
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Sawtooth from Evans side

Post by steelfrog »

Don't hear much of people doing the Sawtooth from the North. Is there a reason for this from a climbing/hiking standpoint? Is it more difficult going N-S?

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DaveSwink
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Re: Sawtooth from Evans side

Post by DaveSwink »

The exit ramp from the Sawtooth to Mount Evans is tilted towards the edge and covered little ball bearing-type grit. That would be less comfortable to descend than to go up.
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Derek
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Re: Sawtooth from Evans side

Post by Derek »

Reasons I can think of:

1 - Exit ramp is a bit harder to find. Not HARD, but involves a "find" that you dont have coming from B.

2- I'm assuming this is the biggest reason: If you are starting from Guanella, you have to start the day with the willows...no clear path through like heading up Bierstadt. Only thing worse the dealing with willows is dealing with willows 5 minutes into the start of your day.
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Re: Sawtooth from Evans side

Post by SikYou »

I have seen a number of people coming from the north on the sawtooth. Last year there was guy that came from Evans, summited Bierstadt, and made it back over the sawtooth all in the time it took me to cross the sawtooth. I guess I'm slow :wft:
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Re: Sawtooth from Evans side

Post by RunRalphieRun »

Derek wrote:Reasons I can think of:

1 - Exit ramp is a bit harder to find. Not HARD, but involves a "find" that you dont have coming from B.

2- I'm assuming this is the biggest reason: If you are starting from Guanella, you have to start the day with the willows...no clear path through like heading up Bierstadt. Only thing worse the dealing with willows is dealing with willows 5 minutes into the start of your day.
Not to mention all of the mud early in the season... This was my first class three hike and after the mental challenge on Sawtooth going through the willows to end the day is both mentally and physically challenging.
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Re: Sawtooth from Evans side

Post by MitchellS »

I didn't mind the Willows on the descent actually, I think the worst part would be ascending the gulley towards Evans. That gulley was no fun. It's steep and loose, and I would definitely not like to do it as an opening salvo on the day. I don't think the Sawtooth itself would present too much difficulty, the trail seemed in good condition earlier in the year when I was there.
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Re: Sawtooth from Evans side

Post by SikYou »

You can avoid the willows by starting/finishing on Evans.
I'm slower than Scott P.
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Tory Wells
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Re: Sawtooth from Evans side

Post by Tory Wells »

I've done the Evans/Bierstadt combo w/ Sawtooth from Guanella Pass and there were two things I did not enjoy about the route: the willows and accompanying marshy area suck really bad, and the gully that leads down Mt Spaulding to the willows/marsh is no fun either. When I return, it will be for the Tour D'Abyss route because it avoids all that crap and gets you to the fun east ridge on Bierstadt.
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I can't really say I would recommend Evans/Bierstadt from Guanella for those reasons, whereas everything I've seen about Tour D'Abyss makes it look like a much better alternative. I think it would also be great to start the Tour D'Abyss from Summit Lake to make it a little more sporting.
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iholdthepain
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Re: Sawtooth from Evans side

Post by iholdthepain »

Starting at Summit Lake is kinda what I'm curious about. After reading all the accounts, there's no way I want to do the willows from Guanella Pass. Maybe someone knows more about that exit ramp, and how much more dangerous (if at all) it would be to begin the traverse on that side, summit Bierstadt, and then do the east ridge in reverse, back across and up to the road.
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Re: Sawtooth from Evans side

Post by Tory Wells »

iholdthepain wrote:Starting at Summit Lake is kinda what I'm curious about. After reading all the accounts, there's no way I want to do the willows from Guanella Pass. Maybe someone knows more about that exit ramp, and how much more dangerous (if at all) it would be to begin the traverse on that side, summit Bierstadt, and then do the east ridge in reverse, back across and up to the road.
I don't think finding the exit ramp would be all that hard to find (a lot of foot traffic there and cairns) nor do I feel it would be any more dangerous from that side. It's *kinda* steep and *kinda* loose, but slower, deliberate movements would make it a non-issue, in my opinion. I think your route would go just fine, assuming you are prepared for the route finding on the Sawtooth and east ridge of Bierstadt.
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Re: Sawtooth from Evans side

Post by DeTour »

iholdthepain wrote:Starting at Summit Lake is kinda what I'm curious about. After reading all the accounts, there's no way I want to do the willows from Guanella Pass. Maybe someone knows more about that exit ramp, and how much more dangerous (if at all) it would be to begin the traverse on that side, summit Bierstadt, and then do the east ridge in reverse, back across and up to the road.
As far as that ball-bearing section of the Sawtooth traverse goes, there is a higher route which follows a narrow but passable ledge and is solid. There was a "high vs. low" poll in the forum last summer, and detail on it in a few TRs, including mine, which SikYou linked earlier in this thread. The entrance to the "high path" would be, well, higher than the standard traverse entrance - but there is at least one spot where the two almost merge, and you could opt for the high path at that point, which would bypass the scree slope descent.

As far as the rest of Tour d'Abyss in that direction ... the most fun climbing sections IMO were Point 13,641 and from the Bierstadt-Sawtooth saddle up to the point where you cross over to the Sawtooth traverse. Doing the Tour via Evans first would put you down-climbing both of those sections - not terribly difficult in general, but I would just consider climbing up them to be more fun. The challenge on 13,641 would be finding the ramp to exit before the class 5 section.
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Re: Sawtooth from Evans side

Post by Cthulhu 2008 »

SikYou wrote:I have seen a number of people coming from the north on the sawtooth. Last year there was guy that came from Evans, summited Bierstadt, and made it back over the sawtooth all in the time it took me to cross the sawtooth. I guess I'm slow :wft:
Were you on the Sawtooth on September 7th last year? I chatted with a guy who had a climbing helmet with a 14ers.com sticker. I think I was wearing a Florida Gator visor that day. I didn't have a helmet as I wasn't planning on doing a double Sawtooth, but the weather was so perfect that I had to go for it after coming up via the Chicago Lakes.
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