Little Bear Peak

Route: West Ridge and Hourglass
Posted On: 1/1/2014, By: JohnnyDangerous
Info: My friends and I climbed up to Lake Como on 12/29 from US 150. The truck got stuck right off the highway so we snowshoed from the road. This added 1.8 miles each way to our trip. We attempted Little Bear on 12/30, but turned around at point 12,980. We made the decision to turn around based on our route options. We could have continued the standard route, but from photo #1 you can see the route has high avy danger. We also considered maintaining the ridge route as we carried rope, and climbing gear. Ultimately, we turned around as it was 10:50am, and either decision would have us descending technical terrain in the dark. If anyone has a winter Little Bear attempt in mind I would recommend following our tracks. Three men on snowshoes packed the trail pretty well so you can probably get away with microspikes until 10,000'. We also added plastic to the door way of the cabin so you will at least have wind protection at night. We descended on the morning of 12/31. 

Route: West Ridge and Hourglass
Posted On: 10/24/2013, By: Kpobean
Info: I have just returned from climbing Little Bear‘s SW Face via the "Hourglass" Couloir. As of Wednesday October 23rd there was what I would call "Lean" winter conditions along the West Ridge (approach gully) as well as the SW Face. The snow was comprised of a thin crust under which lay heaps of cold unconsolidated "sugar" lower on the West Ridge (approach) and along the base of the SW Face. The "Hourglass" was in better shape and had varying qualities of frozen snow and ice; there were two segments along the ascent of the "Hourglass" which were very thinly covered- near the bottleneck (narrowest portion of the couloir there was a 10 foot section of ice and rock (nothing unmanageable) as well as another section higher up near the end of the "Hourglass" at the so-called "fork in the road". As I began the ascent of the "Hourglass" I saw the existing fixed line underneath the frozen snow; since I was guiding two friends (Both competent intermediate mountaineers) I decided to attempt to uncover the line as I climbed in the event one of my companions felt uncomfortable with the descent. Our original plan was to ascend Little Bear and then complete the traverse to Blanca. After attaining the summit of Little Bear and pausing for the requisite photo(s) I began the down climb to assess the plausibility of our next goal- the ridge traverse to Blanca. Needless to say I encountered atrocious snow conditions approximately 150 meters from the summit. The "crux" of the down climb was under heaps of "sugary snow" which obscured the ridge and gave way as I "wallowed" & swam down the ridge. I decided the conditions were simply too dangerous to continue with my party and made the call to re-ascend to Little Bear‘s summit and descend the "Hourglass" and SW Face. Incidentally the fixed line is in relatively "good" condition (recently replaced prior to the snowfall). There were several segments which had been damaged but "butterflied" off by another climber. There was also a much older rope located higher in the "Hourglass" which, though weathered, appeared in decent enough shape to use as a hand line. I would say the route was in "relatively" good shape for this time of year and was not surprised to find the "early winter" unconsolidated snow. We began our climb at 4am and would recommend an early start for anyone thinking about climbing this particular route in the next 2-4 days; the goal should be sunrise on the summit so the snowfields remain relatively consolidated and frozen for the descent. 

Route: West Ridge and Hourglass
Posted On: 9/30/2013, By: spadflyer12
Info: The gully to get up to 12,600' has quite a bit of snow and requires micro spikes, an axe is useful on the way down. The hourglass is covered in loose ice and snow and has a pretty strong stream running underneath the frozen stuff. We ascended the West Ridge Direct and descended the hourglass. I ended up repairing about 5 core shots in the fixed line which is getting to be very rotten. The descent off of Little Bear to start the traverse is covered in snow and very dangerous. 

Route: West Ridge and Hourglass
Posted On: 9/27/2013, By: jimmccall
Info: A few inches of snow remain in the gully and microspikes worked well going up and coming down. The traverse to the hourglass and above it were mainly dry and only small sections of snow. The hourglass had dry rock on climbers left. The rope is cut to 4 strands up high so we didn't use it at all. Not enough slack in the line (portions are in ice for the season). Didn't really need the rope ascending, but it would have been good on the way down. 

Route: West Ridge and Hourglass
Posted On: 9/23/2013, By: pinhead
Info: I think mileage in the route description is wrong. My GPS tracker showed 5.5 mi from the pulloffs at 8800 to Lake Como; the guide says 4 mi. I showed 17 miles roundtrip from the pulloffs to the base of the Hourglass (zero viz above 13k Sunday); the guide has 13 for the summit from the bottom of the road. Bill, please double check that mileage :-) 

Route: West Ridge and Hourglass
Posted On: 8/30/2013, By: Tango2Hotel
Info: There is a brand new orange rope in the hourglass that is well anchored and installed by the US Army on 8/27. There is a small nick in the rope about half way up but that is all. A group of four of us all used it on our ascent and descent, one by one. Still some nice water running down. 

Route: West Ridge and Hourglass
Posted On: 8/10/2013, By: trumpetsailor
Info: Water was running down the middle of the hourglass on 9 August. There was also verglass on some of the rocks on the route. There were about 8 climbers (including two of us), so there was significant rockfall. There was a fairly new orange rope with some sections of an old blue rope at the bottom of it in the hourglass. 

Route: West Ridge and Hourglass
Posted On: 7/27/2013, By: The Viper
Info: The Hourglass is very wet. Running water with a big puddle at the bottom that the rope is sitting in. I believe the new rope is the blue one that runs all the way to the bottom of the hourglass. However, it has two sections where the sheath has been destroyed and the core is exposed. Both of these sections are in the first 30-40 feet in the bottom of the rope. 

Route: West Ridge and Hourglass
Posted On: 7/24/2013, By: MichiganBrian
Info: Hourglass is very wet, with a constant stream running through it. No verglass today (and we were in the hourglass around 6am). Do not use the shorter rope, it is in terrible shape. The newer rope is ok, but deteriorating quickly from sitting in the stream all day. Left side of the constriction is the driest area, and had surprisingly solid rock. 

Route: Little Bear - Blanca Traverse
Posted On: 7/22/2013, By: petrofinder
Info: Summer conditions. Newer rope that looked in good shape. Tons of Mosquitos at the lakes. Not crowded on this Monday. Only saw one other at the top when viewing from Blanca. 

Route: Northwest Face
Posted On: 7/7/2013, By: Nelson
Info: I sumitted today via MW Face, a magnificent route if you follow the route. If you follow the "Nelson Direttissima" it is more of a challenge. I was on top at 8:30 and the weather was already coming in. Because I am just back from sea level, I was not moving fast enough to beat it on the traverse. I elected to descend the standard route and found it very loose and wet. There is no way to descend without dislodging rocks of all sizes. Because of the daily rainfall, there is a stream running full blast down the middle. The rope is short and useless. Of my four descents of the standard route this was the worst. 

Route: West Ridge and Hourglass
Posted On: 7/7/2013, By: 14er Fan
Info: Attempted Little Bear on 7/5/13 but decided against it once we saw the condition of the Hourglass. It had a solid stream of water and the rope appeared to be cut about 30‘ above the ‘pinch‘ in the hourglass. The conditions were very slippery and it was difficult to reach the rope without going over the stream. However, there were plenty of people who completed it in spite of the conditions. 

Route: West Ridge and Hourglass
Posted On: 6/16/2013, By: SherpaSara
Info: Plenty of running water and verglas in the Hourglass, which can make the descent a bit tricky. The anchor webbing looks like brand new. The fixed rope (it‘s pale orange-ish) has four or five core shots and the sheath is completely stripped in many places. In short, I definitely wouldn‘t trust that rope. 

Route: West Ridge and Hourglass
Posted On: 6/15/2013, By: Johnson
Info: No snow to climb through in Hour Glass. A little snow around HG which is causing slight water run through but not excessive. Small snowfield at the base of the gully. Rest of route is snow free. 

Route: West Ridge and Hourglass
Posted On: 5/29/2013, By: dannymiller15
Info: - Road is dry to Lake Como - Lots of available camping without snow on the WEST side of Lake Como. East side still had lots of snow. - Some very minimal post holing east of the lake to the west ridge cut-off but it should melt out pretty quickly. - The initial gully on the west ridge still had snow bottom to top, but is melting quickly. I was hitting rock with my ice axe on a pretty consistent basis. See Pix 1 (taken from Lake Como) Traverse from the west ridge to the bottom of the hour glass was mixed snow and rock. About 50/50 snow/rock from the 2nd notch on the West Ridge. See Pix 2. - Hour glass was still snow-filled from bottom to the anchor. But is melting fast. It was firm in the morning, but very soft by 11am on decent. Not sure it will hold a week. See Pix 3. - Above the anchor, the route was dry. Some limited variglass/ice but it was easy to avoid. PM me with any questions.