5/28/2011 Route: West Ridge and Hourglass Posted On: 5/30/2011, By: tmathews Info: Snow was fine down low, nice and firm. There was no evidence of recent slide activity and we were comfortable on it. There were chunks that may have been from an old slide, but nothing recent. As we got into the hourglass constriction it turned to ice. We did a lot of front-pointing with our crampons and used the picks on out axes quite extensively. Above the constriction the snow is better, but we took a line up the west ridge. The melting snow is causing a lot of spontaneous rockfall. We rapped down the constriction because the sun hadn‘t softened it up enough. |
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4/23/2011 Route: West Ridge and Hourglass Posted On: 4/24/2011, By: Cool Hand Luke Info: Everything up to the notch gulley is in great condition, but the traverse from the notch to the Hourglass is icy in spots. Once at the Hourglass conditions are icy and a rope is necessary to ascend and descend safely. Everything above Lake Como received a decent amount of snow over the weekend and snowshoes are highly recommended. |
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4/23/2011 Route: West Ridge and Hourglass Posted On: 4/27/2011, By: uwe Info: This was a CMC Centennial Climb. Lake Como Road up to Lake Como, OK. May dance around a little snow and ice higher up as you get close to the lake. Lake Como to couloir - snowshoes or post-holing, your choice. West Ridge traverse mostly clear with patches of snow and ice. Can be skirted around, but more work/time. Once you move off into the snowfield, crampons required. Hard ice/rotten ice through hourglass area. Set up a fixed line for folks to prussik up. Rest of way to summit was slowly working through mixed climbing. Final summit approach has decent snow. Must Gear: crampons, ice ax, helmet. Recommend rope. Snowshoes - your call. We had an interesting day with weather. Storm blew in just as we finished our move up through the hourglass. For the remainder of the climb to the summit and back to camp, we were reduced to a CRAWL due to poor visibility, route challenges, heavy winds and blowing ice, sleet, snow. Tough conditions for a Bear Dance. But dance we did; just wasn‘t pretty. |
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3/21/2011 Route: West Ridge and Hourglass Posted On: 3/22/2011, By: Artvandalay Info: The Lake Como road is clear of ice and snow up to about 10K ft. The roundtrip distance to Little Bear is no different now than it would be in summertime unless you have a modified 4x4 that can drive further up the road. Postholing was a huge problem once I reached Lake Como. Snowshoes would be highly beneficial. It took me about 90 minutes to hike from Lake Como to the bottom of the gully at 11,900 ft without snowshoes. Probably should have taken 20 minutes. I wouldn‘t advise attempting the Hourglass without an axe and at the minimum microspikes. Crampons would be highly advisable. There are portions of the Lake Como road that have snow covering water that is unseen. I dropped through a few times submerging my boots completely in water. Watch for that. Great weather and low winds until mid afternoon when they picked up a bit. Controlled glissades made for a quick descent. Another reason to bring an ice axe. |
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1/29/2011 Route: Little Bear - Blanca Traverse Posted On: 1/31/2011, By: mountainmicah83 Info: On Saturday we, like many other 14ers members, decided to take advantage of quite possibly the nicest day of this winter and Tackle the Little Bear to Blanca Traverse. This is just a quick taste tester to provide current conditions. Full TR to come soon. On como road, we made it to the standard 8,800‘ and a decent 4WD with short wheel base could make it maybe another half mile or less. There is intermittent snow to about the halfway point to the lake at 10,200‘ish and then pretty much solid snow from there to the lake. 6.5 hours Cabin at Como Lake to LB summit 4.5 Hours traverse time LB to Blanca 3.5 Hours descent time from Blanca to cabin at lake w/no snow shoes. |
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7/13/2000 Route: West Ridge and Hourglass Posted On: 7/14/2020, By: cragar Info: My 2 sons and I climbed Little Bear on 7/13. The hike up the gully was brutal and steep. This area was the worst rockfall on the entire climb. Microspikes helped. The traverse took us about an hour but there are plenty of cairns and the route is easy to follow. We ascended to the bottom of the hour glass chute. It was almost completely dry. I recommend that climbers check the weather the day before the summit climb to verify that it did not rain on the mountain. In dry conditions the gully was not overly difficult and there were plenty of holds. At the rope anchor, we ascended to the left. The rock climbing is a 3 and there was hardly any rock fall because we were careful. We coordinated our ascent up the gully and top section with another group of 3 climbers and did not have any problems. Going left at the anchor point causes a longer climb to the summit but avoids the sea of talus going right presents(even though the right route is shorter). We descended the same way we went up. We used the rope as a guide through the chute as we walked down carefully. If this area were wet, it would be much riskier. We crossed the traverse and descended the gully. Rockfall in the gully was bad but if you descend carefully you should not have a problem. It is one of the few fourteeners we have climbed where the descent takes as long as the ascent - three hours each way. My final remarks: the gully was worse than expected, the hourglass was easier and can be done with climbers who have some experience on the harder fourteeners. |
