Winter 2018 14ers attempt

[Monster5]

He's through the harder part, but the second half of that traverse is a brutal slog in winter with some avy potential on the standard bypasses. I think the second half took us twice as long as the more technical first half.

Again, I like his route choice. Looks like he did West Ridge Direct. I think he bypassed the high mantle crux via upper Hourglass. For an idea of the route, Danny's report from West Ridge Direct to traverse late winter last year here

[Eli Boardman]

I wonder what it will be like traversing to Ellingwood in the dark in winter? I know I wouldn't want to try that. Regardless, sunset from up there will probably be amazing in winter.

[TallGrass]

I wonder what it will be like traversing to Ellingwood in the dark in winter? I know I wouldn't want to try that. Regardless, sunset from up there will probably be amazing in winter.

Perhaps better visibility than in summer if enough snow with the waxing gibbous moon. Love how snow's high albedo creates those cool purple-pink skies. Looking forward to hearing how it went.

[andrewhamilton]

Wow I'm not even sure how to describe yesterday on the Blanca group. I'm motivated to write up a trip report for it and the other adventures I've had this winter.

It was tough in every way.

I hiked in from 8800 feet. At that elevation there was only about 5 inches of snow, but it steadily increased so by the time I reached Lake Como there was a minimum of 18 inches on the road. Up to this point I had followed the tracks of two guys who had just walked up through the deep snow without snowshoes. What an effort they put in, and I figured they must have suffered because they turned back and their path ended in the forest above Lake Como.

Now the snow got to be ridiculous as I was sinking in just past my knee on every step, with snowshoes! At one spot I heard a loud "woooof" as the whole area I was in settled just a bit and a small crack formed in the snow 20 feet away. I was just happy I was in a flat spot and wondered if that would have been a small slide on a steeper slope.

I veered to the right and headed up the standard nasty 1000 foot gully used in summer to get up to the hourglass route. The snow was just totally useless sugary crap, and I was just not feeling like taking chances so I immediately crossed the snowfield and hugged the rocks all the way up the right side. It was slow going but better than worrying about a slide. Once I topped out on the west ridge I could see that the south facing sides of all the peaks were just loaded up with snow, and the north sides were relatively free. So the standard toute up Little Bear would have sucked with every step pushing through wind drifted snow. So I chose to stay on the west ridge to the summit, despite plenty of snow on it as well.

The west ridge was challenging, with snow and ice and slippery lichen all over the place. It's a pretty solid 4th class climb with a few short class 5 sections. So I carefully made my way toward the summit, joining up with the hourglass route just a few hundred feet from the summit. I should have just stayed on the ridge though and ended up on a treacherous rocky rib avoiding deep snow on that route.

Originally I had thought to skip the traverse, descend Little Bear and climb up the standard Blanca route. However I now knew that all routes leading off Little Bear toward Lake Como would suck (hourglass, west ridge, northwest face). I also figured I wouldn't have the energy to spend hours descending then go up the standard route of Blanca with all that snow in the basin.

So I made the executive decision to do the traverse. It was covered in snow and it was quite cold with a steady wind up in the ridge. To make a long story short, I very slowly made my way across the ridge. I used the good old horse back saddle-scootch method in several spots, and stayed on the ridge the entire way to avoid deep snow on the south side of the ridge. The standard route traverses on the south side of the ridge on a few sections but with that snow I didn't want to try.

Four hours later I made the summit of Blanca, with only about 20 minutes until sunset. Ellingwood looked like a snow loaded beast! Actually it was quite beautiful in the late day sun, but how the heck was I going to climb it? The standard summer route crosses several gullies and I could see that they looked very windloaded. With a little more light I might have tried staying on the ridge all the way to Ellingwood, but there was one large notch on the ridge and I didn't want to do it in the dark with crappy snow and in the strong freezing wind. In the end I just forced my away across the deep gullies. It was dark now and a crust was forming that made it incredibly annoying to move through the snow. In several places the sugary snow provided no resistance whatsoever and the only way to escape the snow hole I was in was to crawl out. Finally I was past the gullies and headed up to the ridge for the remainder of the climb. The wind was blowing hard, my face was freezing, and my toes were going numb after all that time in the snow.

Now the real suffering began. After descending Ellingwood (not an easy task) it was deep snow all the way back to my snowshoe tracks from the morning. It was either deep snow or even deeper wind deposited snow. In several places the snow was so deep I lost my balance, and my pole went all the way in so the only thing visible was the handle. Every step was torture. It was a joyful occasion when I reached my tracks from the morning. At Lake Como I took shelter in a wooden shed and tried to start a fire with no luck, so instead I huddled for 3 hours shivering and rubbing life back into my toes before venturing back out into the night for the descent back to my car.

As I write this I'm still in awe of those mountains and just have a hard time coming back to reality.

[bmcqueen]

Wow! Sounds like a bit of a soulcrushing day Andrew! Nice job - it was fun to watch your progress via your inreach through the day - reading your write-up now of what I was watching makes it sound less fun!

[TomPierce]

Wow. Sounds really miserable. Glad you made it back OK, be safe out there.

-Tom

[Eli Boardman]

Sounds like something that will be much more fun to remember than it was to do. When you have time, I'd love to see some sunset pictures from up there!

Did you by chance get a look at conditions on the mamma bear traverse to south little bear and the southwest ridge? I'm planning on attempting that route tomorrow.

[Phill the Thrill]

Incredible! I admire your tenacity and ability to push through the pain. I'm 100% certain I would have called it a day at Lake Como.

[XterraRob]

Such a wicked story, congrats Andrew!

[Cruiser]

It was tough in every way.

Coming from someone with your background, that's a pretty strong statement.

Reminds me of the old Greg Lemond quote about training, "It never gets easier, you just get faster."

Thanks for taking the time to post here and keep us in the loop. What an adventure!

[andrewhamilton]

Did you by chance get a look at conditions on the mamma bear traverse to south little bear and the southwest ridge? I'm planning on attempting that route tomorrow.

You know I was laser focused on my task that I didn't pay much attention toward South Little Bear when I was on the summit. Sorry! As I was ascending the west ridge the south west ridge looked a little more inviting. I suspect there is still going to be lots of that powdery uncohesive snow on the ledges between South Little Bear and Little Bear so just take it slow and be careful! If I recall correctly on that traverse you do drop down on the west side quite a lot and there was plenty of snow on that aspect two days ago.

[dannyg23]

Nice work Andrew. It's definitely a downside to doing that route that you aren't done breaking trail until you get back to the cabin again, and still have plenty of work to do after the peaks. That spot certainly collects a lot of snow too. The upside though, you don't have to go back there again!