Little Bear Peak

Route: West Ridge and Hourglass
Posted On: 8/17/2024, By: cyrrus
Info: Climbed standard route 8/16. Significant water in the hourglass made climbing very challenging. Apparently huge rainstorm night of 8/14. So much water in basin had to ford the river on lake como road and take off shoes. As a consequence of the water, we used the rope up and down. Was just a stream flowing but everything was wet. Would have been super sketchy without the rope which was in good condition. Went up about 11 oclock above the rappel station, lots of loose rock there. Down climbed as far left (from below) as possible and rock was very stable. Quite a breeze. 

Route: Lake Como Approach
Posted On: 7/31/2024, By: DorothyK
Info: Perfect conditions to hike Little Bear. Just a tiny trickle of water in the Hourglass. Brand new rope and anchor just put in, so you can trust it for now. Be super careful on the initial gully (just after turn off from main trail by Lake Como).. that's where some serious rockfall happens (we heard a huge rock avalanche the night prior in one of the gulleys). 

Route: West Ridge and Hourglass
Posted On: 7/28/2024, By: ICantHearYou
Info: Not sure if it warrants a report, but it looks like there's a new rope up. Water is still running down the gully, so the rope was soaking wet. You probably would freeze your hands off if you use the rope. We went up left of the rope to mitigate rockfall risk, and never really went close to the rope. Didn't downclimb the gully, so I can't say how useful it would be, but my guess would be not useful at all. 

Route: Lake Como Approach
Posted On: 7/28/2024, By: b_moar
Info: Summer conditions overall! Ascended the standard route on Friday, 7/26 with a group of 3 other climbers. The gulley up to the ridge was easy enough to follow, as was the ridge leading up to the hourglass. There was a hailstorm the previous night so the middle of the hourglass had running water and small pools of hailstones. As stated in a previously entered condition report, there is a brand new rope that has been fixed into place with all older ropes being removed. I didn't bother to utilize this going up or down, and opted to stay to the left side of the hourglass. Only a couple other groups were in front of and behind us. Near the summit, I noticed another group below us accidentally letting loose a few torso-sized meteors into the hourglass. I swear I saw the rocks fly over the heads of a few other climbers before shooting out of sight. Fortunately, nobody was hurt. Regardless, it only made me respect and fear this mountain more seeing the danger firsthand. 

Route: West Ridge and Hourglass
Posted On: 7/25/2024, By: 9patrickmurphy
Info: The hourglass has a steady trickle down the middle as usual. The ropes in the hourglass were in horrible shape, knots all over the place, sheath hits galore, several spots of full desheathing. My party cut the ropes down and packed them out. The ropes would not have been helpful even if they were in good shape as they went right down the middle where all the rock was covered in water. I dont really understand why ropes get left up here, ropes are expensive and their service life in such a rockfall-ridden gully cant be reasonably more than a few days. The anchor, however, is in excellent shape. We brought our own 60m rope and a fiddlestick to single-strand rappel the hourglass, which got us well below the worst difficulties. As for the climbing, my group agreed that the rock was all much more solid than we were expecting. The scrambling was fun, the only dangerous rockfall area is the hourglass, which deserves the hype. We were glad to be the first ones up and we only had one other party above us as we were descending, who was nice enough to let us get out before they came down. 

Route: West Ridge and Hourglass
Posted On: 7/21/2024, By: backcountrybrodes
Info: Parked at 8,700ft - me and a friend logged 13.01 miles and 5,958ft in 10h 42m. Full summer conditions until the first snow comes in a couple months. Be wary of wet rock during monsoon season - i.e. if it rained hard the night before maybe give the whole summit gully a little time to warm up in the morning while still watching for afternoon storms. Definitely try to time it to where no one is above you in the final gully, and on the flip side try to find the solid rock stretches on the way down because EVERYTHING funnels into the hourglass. Happy summit sending! 

Route: West Ridge and Hourglass
Posted On: 7/17/2024, By: wahpaha
Info: Summer conditions! 

Route: Lake Como Approach
Posted On: 7/14/2024, By: daway8
Info: Joined Joey_parm and mindfolded for the first part of the day going up CaptainSuburbia's West Ridge Indirect route. Although we all had copies of his report/pictures, we found it harder than expected to locate the right spot to go up. Gaining the ridge is steep, loose class 2 with a sprinkling of class 3. We all felt the ridge itself had at least a couple moves that were more like class 4. Also, all agreed that the route finding was not as straightforward as the standard route - though perhaps with a little more studying of the route beforehand and zeroing in on some good landmarks, this could be alleviated. Also, the ridge is wickedly exposed during the spot where there's a little class 4. The other two returned by that route and apparently struggled a bit with route finding coming down as well. I continued to the LB-B Traverse including the extra credit of throwing in Captain Bivwacko, which is definitely NOT where loj coordinates locate it .Those coordinates lead to an easy class 4 tower with no easy bypass - the class 5 tower that matched the descriptions always given of Captain Bivwacko is further down the ridge at 37.57051, -105.49543. This location was definitely class 5, totally unnecessary for doing the ridge, but really fun, and had the described obvious but wickedly exposed bypass on the left which I took after coming back down Bivwacko the same way I went up. Traverse proper took me 4hrs but the hike back to my parking spot at 9,500ft felt like a neverending death march. Blanca summit has a plague of almost biblical proportions of some freaky little gnats or something - not bothered at all on the Traverse or below Blanca, other than a small number of mosquitoes at the lake but the bugs on Blanca were epic. Went down the ridge before resting because of that. 

Route: West Ridge Variant
Posted On: 7/13/2024, By: Joey_parm
Info: Similar to the 6/29 report by user dfeezell, myself and two others also summited LB via CaptainSuburbia's TR (https://www.14ers.com/php14ers/tripreport.php?trip=21616). They may also post conditions, or even a TR of their own, so from my perspective: The photos in CaptainSuburbia's TR were very helpful in gaining the ridge from the standard. The crux, for me, was definitely Class 4 and a little awkward going up; very awkward coming down it. And you can't afford to mess up here. Luckily the rock is very solid, as is the case on the remainder of the ridge, with a few wobblers - so don't let your guard down. It took us a minute to find the correct set of ledges and portion thereafter to get to the southwest face - we took a path that lead to a short class 3 climb over a small chock stone and then continued climbing up from there. Route finding on the way back down was challenging in some places, and there is much loose rock to contend with descending from the ridge back to the standard. This can be alleviated with good line selection, but not eliminated. Much care needs to be taken in this regard because the standard route runs right below this. The same applies when you are gaining the ridge from the standard on the way up. If you have major concerns about the hourglass, give this route a go. Keep in mind, you are trading a relatively straightforward standard route and the dangers of the hourglass for a route that will likely take much longer / entail more route finding and have you on more loose rock when you ascend and descend the west ridge. 

Route: West Ridge *Indirect*
Posted On: 6/30/2024, By: dfeezell
Info: We climbed Captain Suburbia's "West Ridge Indirect" route (https://www.14ers.com/php14ers/tripreport.php?trip=21616) that skips the hourglass by heading up to the ridge at 13,100 ft. There is no snow on the route and the rock is solid on the ridge. Crux moves on the ridge are extremely exposed and a bit awkward. We thought it was class 4 in that short stretch. The rest is class 3. It looked like there is no snow of any consequence on the standard hourglass route. 

Route: Lake Como Approach
Posted On: 6/25/2024, By: Brandon0135
Info: There is only one patch of snow at the bottom of the hourglass which you can easily avoid entirely. Everything else is snow free. However, there is a steady trickle of water coming down the hourglass that makes it very slick. Best to avoid this entirely if possible by taking the harder climbing to the left, or wait for this to all dry out. The only rock fall we saw was what we accidentally caused. Do not climb this with any groups above you. 

Route: West Ridge and Hourglass
Posted On: 6/14/2024, By: joshchristian280
Info: Summited Little Bear 6/13/2024: Parked car at about 8500 feet, hiked the rest of the Lake Como approach to camp at Lake Como for the night. Summitted Ellingwood and Blanca the first day, stayed at camp for Little Bear the next day. The gully up to the top of the ridge was still almost completely covered in snow. There were a few patches you could travel on without, but spikes and ice axe were very helpful for going up that gully. Most of the traverse along the ridge was clear. Big snowfield right below the hourglass, again spikes and ice axe very helpful for traversing/gaining this field. After this, no more snow. The rope/anchors all looked to be in good condition. Started at 4:30, summited, by 7:30, down by 10, snow was pretty firm almost the whole way through. 

Route: West Ridge and Hourglass
Posted On: 6/2/2024, By: coloradomojo
Info: Hiked in on the afternoon of the 5/31 after having been able to drive that miserable road to 10k ft leaving a 2.5 mile hike to the lake. Camped at the lake where about half of the ice has melted. Started climb at 4AM and puddles around the lake indicated a freeze overnight. Stashed snowshoes at base of snow field. Climb up snow field was solid with complete snow coverage the entire way. Travel along the ridge was made without crampons, cutting steps where necessary to avoid having to throwing crampons back on for a 10 ft wide snow field. Put crampons back once snow became (nearly) consistent before the hourglass. Snow in the hourglass was solid but becoming rotten in the tightest section (image). Will be melted out soon I imagine. Higher up (~25m below fixed anchor) there is a rock step that is mixed section (solely rock and ice) that is challenging to descend without rapping. Above the hourglass sun was beginning to hit the snow softening it up. Summited with Tony E (72 year old badass!) about 9AM. Started descent in softening snow and rocks above the hourglass beginning to become loose. We brought and left an older 40m static rope and single stranded it to get us below the mixed section. Use at your own risk! I imagine that rocks have already started shredding it in the past 24 hours. Suggest a 60m rope for a two-rope rap from that fixed anchor to get below the current mixed section. Descent through hourglass went fine front pointing in solid snow in the shade below the mixed section. As soon as we were out and safely off to the side, a handful of dinner plate size rocks came literally shooting out of the hourglass. Travel back across the ridge was tougher with snow softening up and post-holing to thigh deep on occasion near rocks. Final snow field was soft but able to be plunge stepped mostly (a few occasions front pointing was required, and some glissading was had). Below the snowfield the snow was soft. We brought snowshoes but given the short distance back, would recommend against bringing them (lot of weight to pack in). Recommendations: 1) Go very soon if you want the hourglass as a (mostly) snow climb. 2) Start very early for descent travel over more solid snow 3) Bring a 60m rope to rappel the current mixed section 4) forgo snowshoes, especially if starting early 5) Give Little Bear respect. If you don't have solid mountaineering experience this peak could bite you hard 

Route: West Ridge and Hourglass
Posted On: 6/4/2024, By: andy_schlichting
Info: Blanca Group update: Summited Little Bear and South Little Bear on Saturday and Ellingwood and Blanca on Sunday with my sister. I can't overstate how much I hate hiking that road up. Anyways, the snow has melted around the lake campsites and the ice has melted off half the lake--I'm sure it'll be completely gone by this weekend. Snow starts basically right at the lake and is mostly continuous to all three summits. I was here the same weekend last year and there is a lot more snow than a year ago. Little Bear: the snow up the north gully to the ridge was really good going up in the dark. Heading down in the early afternoon, it was awful and soft with a lot of postholing and some slipping. Had to self-arrest once. The west ridge was the only dry section the whole weekend. The hourglass has solid snow from the base to the summit, with a short section of mixed climbing at the top of the hourglass. The choke in the hourglass is very icy so you'll need to kick in there. Anyone looking at the LB-Blanca traverse, it looked like it was in good shape. The ridge is mostly dry but you'll need crampons to cross the gullies (as I did last year). Heading over to South LB, I left my crampons on the LB summit because this ridge was mostly dry and no traction was needed. A fun, short, exposed class 3 scramble. Ellingwood: We chose to do Ellingwood first since on Sunday it would get first sun and soften up before Blanca. This was a great decision. Snow was really good in the dark up to the base of the Ellingwood south couloir where it was very inconsistent. A lot of postholing below 13k in the couloir, but it got solid the rest of the way. You can leave your crampons on the false summit at the top of the couloir for the short scramble up to the true summit. Blanca: This was a fun adventure. I didn't pay attention to the route on here and chose to onsight it. Mostly stuck to ridge direct on the traverse from Ellingwood and that was fine until probably the last bit where the saddle cliffs out, which forced us to downclimb some class 4 to get to the true route below the ridge. I'd probably recommend figuring out where to descend from the ridge direct rather than downclimb where we did while it's got snow on it. Once we got on-route to the saddle, we followed snow the remainder of the way up Blanca. The snow was mostly solid the entire way up Blanca since it hadn't gotten sun yet by 9 a.m. The descent started to soften and there were sections, particularly below Ellingwood, where postholing was awful. That said, overall there was less postholing than I expected. Crampons and ice axe are necessary for all three peaks. I'm not sure snowshoes would've helped in the late morning or early afternoon and I definitely don't think they're worth the extra weight up that road. Get on this soon while the snow is solid! There's no safer time to do these peaks to avoid rockfall. 

Route: West Ridge and Hourglass
Posted On: 5/20/2024, By: slawrence2011
Info: Packed into Lake Como 5/17 from 5 am to 9:30 AM. Meant to start at 3, but slept in, by 9:30, the snow was too soft to do much. Snow started having drifts around 10,5, more substantial above 11,2, but by the time I packed out 5/19, wasn't worth skiing anything below the lake, melting super fast. Above the lake, snow is continuous and glorious. Started from Lake Como around 5 AM. Wore Crampons basically the entire way. Moderately poor overnight freeze meant punching through crust between ankle and knee depth entire way to ridge, but at least it made it avy stable. Easy to follow cairns along S side of ridge, and mainly traveling through snow, kept crampons on, stable in the am. Booting up the hourglass, had continuous snow, with a crux of a couple feet wide, where my crampons hit the rock beneath and ice axe obviously only went down a couple inches, moved through that quickly. Great smooth snow up above literally to the summit. Summited around 11, waited until 11:45 to drop so the snow could soften. The climbing crux was actually easy skiing, as there was a traverse sneak. I cheated and side slipped 4-6 feet near the bottom where it got narrow, and half the jump turn was still shaded, bullet proof, and debris, and other half was sun warmed. Skied all the way to 12,4 to make it worth it (some one told me later this is private even at this elevation, please let me know if so), and regained the ridge route out. I heard some whumphing on the snow around 1-2 PM, very scary to cross even brief islands between rocks. I went to the top of the ridge and just followed that vs. the cairns to avoid the hazard. Skiing the N couloir at 2 all the way to camp was glorious, but probably a bit too late.