Little Bear, April-May

Colorado peak questions, condition requests and other info.
Forum rules
  • This is a mountaineering forum, so please keep your posts on-topic. Posts do not all have to be related to the 14ers but should at least be mountaineering-related.
  • Personal attacks and confrontational behavior will result in removal from the forum at the discretion of the administrators.
  • Do not use this forum to advertise, sell photos or other products or promote a commercial website.
  • Posts will be removed at the discretion of the site administrator or moderator(s), including: Troll posts, posts pushing political views or religious beliefs, and posts with the purpose of instigating conflict within the forum.
    For more details, please see the Terms of Use you agreed to when joining the forum.
User avatar
lodgling
Posts: 537
Joined: 6/21/2005
14ers: 58  58  2 
13ers: 18 1
Trip Reports (12)
 

Re: Little Bear, April-May

Post by lodgling »

Good luck. Photos of upper Ellingwood and Blanca (including s face) from LB summit would be greatly appreciated.
User avatar
BillMiddlebrook
Site Administrator
Posts: 6910
Joined: 7/25/2004
14ers: 58  46  19 
13ers: 172 44 37
Trip Reports (2)
 
Contact:

Re: Little Bear, April-May

Post by BillMiddlebrook »

KyleS wrote:I slept in and my skiing buddies left without me, so I took a trip over to the Blanca massif today for a little recon. The Zapata Falls parking lot (9,000ft) had about and inch when I arrived at 1pm and it had melted to spotty 1/2 inch by the time I left around 3pm. I hiked up to about 10,000ft and there was generally 2 inches of new snow with spots up to 4 inches - far less than what NWS was predicting. Furthermore, temps were much warmer than the predicted high and things seemed to be settling quickly. With this in mind, we're going ahead with our planned attempt on Little Bear this weekend. Since we're local, we won't mind turning back if we don't like what we find above treeline.

If you (or anyone else for that matter) are climbing solo, we'd be happy to team up! I think that 3 is a much safer number than 2 or 1.
Are you climbing it Saturday from a high camp or Sunday?
"When I go out, I become more alive. I just love skiing. The gravitational pull. When you ski steep terrain... you can almost get a feeling of flying." -Doug Coombs
User avatar
Bullet
Posts: 2
Joined: 3/19/2012
14ers: 40 
Trip Reports (0)
 

Re: Little Bear, April-May

Post by Bullet »

A buddy and I are planning on climbing Little Bear this weekend as well. It sounds like there will be at least a few more people up there. We'll be hiking up to the lake on Saturday and climbing Sunday morning. More than willing to join up with any other parties. We're coming down from Leadville on Saturday if anyone wants to carpool.
User avatar
KyleS
Posts: 190
Joined: 8/15/2011
14ers: 44  5  7 
13ers: 25 5
Trip Reports (0)
 

Re: Little Bear, April-May

Post by KyleS »

BillMiddlebrook wrote:Are you climbing it Saturday from a high camp or Sunday?
Hike in and camp on Saturday, then summit and hike out on Sunday.
lodgling wrote:Photos of upper Ellingwood and Blanca (including s face) from LB summit would be greatly appreciated.
I'll see what I can get with my point and shoot.
SHmids
Posts: 109
Joined: 9/13/2007
14ers: 58  4 
Trip Reports (0)
 

Re: Little Bear, April-May

Post by SHmids »

Lodgling, I would be happy to email you the pictures I have of Ellingwood from LB from 04-15. I just still can't figure out how to include them in a reply...

Mareshah
User avatar
MonGoose
Posts: 1110
Joined: 8/14/2009
14ers: 58  16  17 
13ers: 51 11 1
Trip Reports (16)
 
Contact:

Re: Little Bear, April-May

Post by MonGoose »

As ETA mentioned, I have decided not to attempt Little Bear this weekend. With the storm that came through on Wednesday and temperatures remaining below freezing, this weekend will resemble a winter climb instead of the spring couloir climb I was hoping for. I think whenever we get 2-3 days of sunny 40 degree weather, the snowpack will settle down and conditions will be ideal but until then, I don't feel comfortable with the conditions.

For those of you heading out this weekend, please be safe and I hope you have a great trip.
User avatar
big_red_pride
Posts: 390
Joined: 5/28/2010
14ers: 33  1 
13ers: 16
Trip Reports (6)
 

Re: Little Bear, April-May

Post by big_red_pride »

Hi everyone,

A party of 3, including myself are planning to go to LB this weekend. I'm trying to get a gauge of how many others are planning the attempt as well. I just want to be as safe as possible and want to avoid a lot of traffic on the peak! Hope everyone will be able to enjoy the weekend weather, if it comes in as forecasted. :-"
User avatar
seth0687
Posts: 113
Joined: 8/7/2010
14ers: 21  1  1 
13ers: 2
Trip Reports (0)
 
Contact:

Re: Little Bear, April-May

Post by seth0687 »

big_red_pride wrote:Hi everyone,

A party of 3, including myself are planning to go to LB this weekend. I'm trying to get a gauge of how many others are planning the attempt as well. I just want to be as safe as possible and want to avoid a lot of traffic on the peak! Hope everyone will be able to enjoy the weekend weather, if it comes in as forecasted. :-"
FWIW, I don't think 1 rock dislodged while we were in the hour glass, or upper portion of the hourglass.....

Good luck,

Seth
User avatar
big_red_pride
Posts: 390
Joined: 5/28/2010
14ers: 33  1 
13ers: 16
Trip Reports (6)
 

Re: Little Bear, April-May

Post by big_red_pride »

seth0687 wrote:
big_red_pride wrote:Hi everyone,

A party of 3, including myself are planning to go to LB this weekend. I'm trying to get a gauge of how many others are planning the attempt as well. I just want to be as safe as possible and want to avoid a lot of traffic on the peak! Hope everyone will be able to enjoy the weekend weather, if it comes in as forecasted. :-"
FWIW, I don't think 1 rock dislodged while we were in the hour glass, or upper portion of the hourglass.....

Good luck,

Seth
Thanks Seth. I received a message from someone who is going up to tackle the peak on Saturday. My group will be hiking in on Saturday and going for it on Sunday. The weather is looking great, I hope it holds!

Steve
User avatar
big_red_pride
Posts: 390
Joined: 5/28/2010
14ers: 33  1 
13ers: 16
Trip Reports (6)
 

Re: Little Bear, April-May

Post by big_red_pride »

BillMiddlebrook wrote:
KyleS wrote:I slept in and my skiing buddies left without me, so I took a trip over to the Blanca massif today for a little recon. The Zapata Falls parking lot (9,000ft) had about and inch when I arrived at 1pm and it had melted to spotty 1/2 inch by the time I left around 3pm. I hiked up to about 10,000ft and there was generally 2 inches of new snow with spots up to 4 inches - far less than what NWS was predicting. Furthermore, temps were much warmer than the predicted high and things seemed to be settling quickly. With this in mind, we're going ahead with our planned attempt on Little Bear this weekend. Since we're local, we won't mind turning back if we don't like what we find above treeline.

If you (or anyone else for that matter) are climbing solo, we'd be happy to team up! I think that 3 is a much safer number than 2 or 1.
Are you climbing it Saturday from a high camp or Sunday?
Hey Bill. I will try and get some pictures of Blanca when going for LB on Sunday and post them when I return.

Steve
User avatar
BillMiddlebrook
Site Administrator
Posts: 6910
Joined: 7/25/2004
14ers: 58  46  19 
13ers: 172 44 37
Trip Reports (2)
 
Contact:

Re: Little Bear, April-May

Post by BillMiddlebrook »

Thanks!
"When I go out, I become more alive. I just love skiing. The gravitational pull. When you ski steep terrain... you can almost get a feeling of flying." -Doug Coombs
User avatar
nyker
Posts: 3231
Joined: 12/5/2007
14ers: 58 
13ers: 25
Trip Reports (69)
 

Re: Little Bear, April-May

Post by nyker »

big_red_pride wrote:Hi everyone,

A party of 3, including myself are planning to go to LB this weekend. I'm trying to get a gauge of how many others are planning the attempt as well. :-"
big_red_pride, I won't be there this weekend...hopefully soon!
Post Reply