Columbia to Harvard rabbit ear

[subalpine_style]

Traversed from Columbia to Harvard today, not sure if I did the true Rabbits but I stayed on the main ridge the entire time, bypassing apparent difficulties to the east and the west, and didn't encounter anything that seemed to be more than high class 4. I was trying to find that awesome looking crack but somehow managed to miss it...is it on the west side of the ridge pretty close to Point 13516? I believe I was on the east side when approaching that final scramble.

[justiner]

The crack would be facing the climber when going from Columbia to Harvard, it's right at the apex of the ridge. To the west, there's a good pitch of climbing down a dihedral to avoid it; Before that, there's a ~5.2 slab you need to climb down just to reach it. It's a pretty prominent tower rock. It would be between Point 13491 and Point 13516 on the traverse. Point 13491 is the Rabbit Ears - and can easily be traversed to the west on a sloping ledge that goes to a low-point in the ridge, so no need to climb back up to the ridgeline itself. Point 13516 is just a Class 2 talus pile. I honestly don't know how you would have avoided the 5.7 crux, as no one else seems to have found a sneak.

Gotta GPX track?

[subalpine_style]

Here's the GPX on Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/2728882410

It was super cold and windy and I really wasn't feeling the top of the ridge, so I stuck a little off the ridge to the east (where it was sunny and calm) as much as I could. If the crux climb was on the apex of the ridge, I believe I skirted it by climbing down east ~50ft into a gully, traversing across a ways on some nice ledges, and then climbing back towards the ridge top. Now I wish I'd taken a few more pictures of the route I took while I was climbing!

[justiner]

Thanks.

Yup, looks like you skirted the actual rabbit ears to the east, then the crux crack afterwards to the east as well. Interesting. Your track is in red:

ss.jpg (262.95 KiB) Viewed 3601 times

According to the topo lines, you only dropped down at the crux like, 40 feet. It's a wonder anyone takes the looooong standard way, if this is all it takes to avoid the major difficulties of the ridge.

[subalpine_style]

Super cool, thanks for the overlay and the notations! Indeed, I was somewhat surprised that the standard route drops so far down after finding this way across, the ridge direct was both quite enjoyable and rather quick. My time from Columbia to Harvard was a little over 1hr30min, I think it can definitely go in under 1hr20min in full light, not sure how much more difficult the route finding would be with less light but I bet it would add some significant time.

[Jorts]

Yup, looks like you skirted the actual rabbit ears to the east, then the crux crack afterwards to the east as well. Interesting.

Just did this yesterday. The crux crack is easy to bypass east. I used a combination of east and west bypasses to skirt any exposed 5th staying ridge proper otherwise. The system of ledges and gullies on both sides were solid. West being a little looser than the grassy east. Reminded me of the Crestone traverse a bit with all the ledges and gullies. I don’t know how this traverse isn’t considered one of the 14er classics. It includes plenty of 3rd-4th class exposed climbing on solid rock with lots of time atop the ridge proper. I enjoyed it more than the Crestones.

[ericahlstedt]

Just wanted to add to this post. From columbia to harvard it is relatively easy routefinding and stable rock to bypass the rabbit ears to the left and the knife edge to crack/mantle move real crux by going right before the knife edge down a gully like 40-50feet and following flatish terrain until it eases up past the crux area and regaining the ridge. I went over the knife edge to check out the move and didnt feel confident making it solo so backtracked the knife edge until I found a weakness to get to the easy terrain below. If you are a confident scrambler, it makes 0 sense to drop way below into the basin following the standard "traverse" route. This should be included as a 5th great traverse imo.

[justiner]

It's super interesting to me that no Nolan's 14 runners use this sneak (myself included), even though the east ridge of Missouri is becoming more common to use. I haven't tried to figure out the sneak, having gotten to the crack and after seeing no obvious sneak, just did it.

[ericahlstedt]

To be fair, it is most likely faster to take the crack/mantle ridge direct move. The slab on the sides of the crack looked pretty bare to me, besides the sort of mini ledge high half way up just to the right of the thin curvy crack, and I dislike crack climbing. You're a more confident climber than me haha I would have wanted to see someone else make the move or have a single piece of gear to protect a potential disaster fall, i looked down at the consequence of falling and turned around. East ridge of missouri from elk saddle is a cakewalk scramble compared to this imo, easier bypasses from the cruxes staying on the left side.

[justiner]

The crack/mantle may be faster, but even the sneak would be way faster than losing all that elevation to do the standard route on the traverse! I have giant hands, so even a #5 crack is a bomber fist for me, but I remember this being tight hands for me. The problem I had was the toe cap of my trail runners making it hard to get a foot jam in. But once I did, there was no way I'd get spat out. I was honestly thinking of bringing a single mocc-style climbing shoe on a future go at the Line.

What roughly would you rate the sneak around the crack on Rabbit Ridge? I may got out and check it out.

[ericahlstedt]

The way that I went, backtracking over the knife edge, looking for a weakness, was a 4th class downclimb with a 2nd/3rd class ledge to regain the ridge towards Harvard on the other side of the crux crack. I can send you my .gpx. and the standard low traverse seems like a total waste of time and energy to lose all of that elevation, the direct ridge traverse with the bypasses seems like the best option imo, unless you have giant #5 hands and feel confident onsighting that crack haha

[Jorts]

Based on your description, I think you relied on the same crux bypass that Sky and I did. It’s intuitive with an iota of mountain sense. Not sure why it isn’t relied upon more. Seems like your average hiker/mountaineer treats this traverse with the same reverence and avoidance as Cap to Snowmass.
I tried to make it clear that it’s a viable and not contrived bypass years back to encourage others to use it but I was mostly ignored. I agree with you, it’s a worthy contender as a “great 14er traverse”.