Little Bear Tips And Hints

[TomPierce]

Others can chime in that have used the fixed rope, but I'm not sure bringing and using your own rope will do you much good. My recollection was that the fixed line could be longer than 70 meters, but as stated I'd welcome the observations of others on that. If I'm right, a single 60 or 70m rope won't do you any good if you anchor from the same anchor as the fixed line, ie you'd only get a 30 or 35m rap out of a single line. I just don't recall how long that fixed line was, but pretty sure you'd need at least twin 60's or 70's if the plan was to use the existing anchor. I'm sure there probably are other anchors but none jumped out as obvious to me, ie no horns, etc. but another anchor may require leaving gear behind (and note that the rock is pretty shattered...choose your anchor wisely). Finally, be sure you're in a good stance when you pull the rope(s), I could see where a too-short line could deposit you on some water polished slabs, a precarious stance if your rope is hard to pull.

Just some concerns, be careful and have fun.
-Tom

[mtsuji]

Thanks Woodie, I have planned on using my own rope for the climb down or even thought about just repelling down. I might just have to consider the traverse if weather and time permits it! How early do you reccomend?

Rappelling! Sorry, I know I'm contributing nothing useful to this conversation but it's a pet peeve

[thebeave7]

My friend and I were up there on Saturday, think we were the only ones to summit Saturday. We did the Tour de Little Bear, though had initially intended to do the traverse. The issue was it rain and graupeled a good deal Friday night, so the rock was still wet Saturday AM. The NW face wasn't bad, just a little damp, but the traverse was quite slick with some graupel on the ledges still at 7:30am. We bailed on the traverse after testing a little of it at the top of the NW face. We descended the Hourglass, which has a solid waterfall coming down it, using a newly placed rope as a handline for the final 20-30ft before exiting. The rope was placed on 8/2/13 (talked to those who put it there), and is in good shape, but examine it for yourself of course. I would agree that bringing your own ropes wouldn't help a lot unless you brought two full length ropes, as the anchor point is more than 50m up from the wettest/most polished section. Route is straightforward, writing up a TR right now so that and some photos should be up later today.

Eric

[djkest]

Prepare yourself. It's the real deal. If you do decide to use the fixed rope, test it out first. When we did LB, we did use the fixed rope for about 5' on the way up, and maybe 40' on the way down. We inspected the anchors and tested them, and also had observed the overall rope quality before using it. Even then, the rope was more like a 2nd handhold than anything else, we supported 80% of our weight on our feet. The rockfall danger is a real threat, we saw this firsthand as a rock we dislodged fell 50-60 feet through thin air before careening through the hourglass at stunning speed. About the size of a softball.

We just did this 8 days ago and I have a TR up about it.

[thebeave7]

TR from this past Saturday on Little Bear, info and pics for you.
http://www.14ers.com/php14ers/triprepor ... ki=Include" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Eric

[andrewhamilton]

Hi, I was up on Little Bear on 7/31. I couldn't believe it but we had the mountain all to ourselves. There wasn't another person on Little Bear the entire day, and there was almost nobody in the Lake Como area at all. So if you really want to avoid people on Little Bear then I highly recommend trying to go in the middle of the week. On Thursday there were several climbing groups heading up the road as we were coming down, so I almost think Friday counts as the weekend, because it sounded like many were planning on climbing Little Bear the next day.

I have always heard the get going early advice, but that has always bothered me a little bit. Sure, I don't want to be in the hourglass when someone else is raining rocks down on me. However, I don't want to be responsible for knocking rocks down on someone else either. Also, everybody else wants to get going early as well, and a couple of years ago I literally got caught up in Little Bear rush hour at around 6:00am in the hourglass, and as I was in the slowest group we were basically dodging bowling balls all the way up. Even if you are in the first group, you could easily be descending when others are knocking stuff down on their way up.

Someone else mentioned going right once you get to the rope anchor. I have never gone right (so I can't speak to that), but I have gone straight up from the anchor, and that route totally sucks. It is near impossible to make it the entire way up without knocking at least a few rocks on the people below. However, on this trip I headed left at the rope anchor, up an orange band of rocks all the way to the edge of the ridge. Over there the rock was pretty solid and there was a decent trail to follow up to the summit. We didn't knock a single rock down the couloir. So I think heading left for the ridge after the rope anchor is a great way to go.

[dehrlich101]

I am hoping to climb Little Bear in a few weeks, but all this talk about not trusting the fixed ropes or bringing a rappel rope is starting to make me think twice about doing the hourglass route.

I wasn't planning on using the fixed rope unless it was absolutely necessary.. Is it next to impossible descend the hour glass without the aid of the fixed rope or repelling? I've heard that some of the rock is polished and wet.. Can that be avoided at all?

Thanks

[Jeff Valliere]

Seems like just about everyone who has been in or near the hourglass has a falling rock story to tell. When we climbed the SW ridge route on 2004, a member of our group accidentally pulled out a microwave size rock while above the hourglass, where it rocketed down the very center of the hourglass with startling speed and destructive power (precipitating other rocks to fall as well). Fortunately, there was nobody else around, but the tone of the day went from light hearted and jovial to a bit more serious.

Just the sheer number of similar stories has repelled me from the hourglass.

[Billy the Kid]

I am hoping to climb Little Bear in a few weeks, but all this talk about not trusting the fixed ropes or bringing a rappel rope is starting to make me think twice about doing the hourglass route.

I wasn't planning on using the fixed rope unless it was absolutely necessary.. Is it next to impossible descend the hour glass without the aid of the fixed rope or repelling? I've heard that some of the rock is polished and wet.. Can that be avoided at all?

Thanks

I have talked to a few people who were able to ascend and downclimb the hourglass without using the aid of the ropes with no issues at all. It seems to be one of those topics that really varies from person to person. I also have not climbed Little Bear yet and am planning to do so, soon. I'm still considering my options and not sure how I want to tackle this one. Part of me just wants to go in the middle of the week with a few people, and just take my time and downclimb the hourglass, and hope to have a little bit of luck on my side?

[thebeave7]

I am hoping to climb Little Bear in a few weeks, but all this talk about not trusting the fixed ropes or bringing a rappel rope is starting to make me think twice about doing the hourglass route.

I wasn't planning on using the fixed rope unless it was absolutely necessary.. Is it next to impossible descend the hour glass without the aid of the fixed rope or repelling? I've heard that some of the rock is polished and wet.. Can that be avoided at all?

Thanks

Dehrlich101, I agree with Billy, its very subjective. We used the rope on Saturday just cause it was brand new and was much faster and easier than trying to slowly pick our way down. I only used it a few times as a handline while in the waterfall section. If you see my TR and the photo of the Hourglass, if you go to climbers left the rock was mostly dry and would be a decent class 4 climb around the worst of the water, otherwise its fairly straight forward without the rope in my opinion. Still the rockfall issue, but we were lucky in that no other parties were on the route that day.

Eric

[herdbull]

I did this route a month ago with another climber I met at the lake. Neither one of us used the rope and never needed it. We both put a load on it at the bottom just to check it but I never once felt like I needed to use it. Nor was I planning on using it. In fact we both commented during the climb that it didn't seem all that difficult or challenging. Seems this climb gets a lot of hype and it is made out to sound very intimidating. Just keep your wits, make good choices, have patience and all will be fine.

We sent a total of 1 rock down the hourglass from the bottom to the summit and back down again but avoided all the loose stuff up the main route. If you go left at the anchor and go up and around the big knob of rock that sticks out you will avoid the loose crap and sending rocks hurling at the speed of light down the hourglass. It's a great, solid, and straight forward route to the left of the anchor.

I really wouldn't worry about this route before getting there and getting into it. You don't need the "pre-game" jitters so to speak. Go and have fun!

[Billy the Kid]

I have also heard that the climber’s let side, on the ascent, is the best place to be. The rock is pretty solid and you can usually avoid any water coming down. Almost everyone I have spoken to or received feedback from have stated that making it up the hourglass was MUCH easier than coming back down. Definitely the issue of falling rock is what we need to be most worried about. That’s what makes this mountain so tough! You can do everything right, but if a marmot decides to knock some rock down, there’s nothing you can do!