4/22/2023 Route: West Ridge Posted On: 4/22/2023, By: supranihilest Info: Not really in good shape for skiing but a fun day on skis anyway. Took the Kendall Mountain Road (CR-33) to Deer Park. Frozen, icy snowmobile tracks in the morning. A couple inches of powder as we got higher. 13,109 has five couloirs: the north splits the summit and is very steep, and then there's four to the west, each progressively easier as you go farther west. Snow up high was a mix of rock hard, crevasse-like sastrugi and powder over grass. Not great for skiing or cramponing but whatever. We went up the westernmost couloir since the middle three had giant, vertical cornices on them. We brought skis to the ridge but there wasn't enough coverage there or to the south to make a good ski so we left them at the top of the couloir and booted to the summit. Variable conditions ranging from dry to thin powder to powder on ice to dense snow. One 50 foot snow catwalk at the top of the couloir just west of the summit that we booted over. Short Class 2+ scramble to the top. Reversed back down and skied the apron (up higher still hadn't softened much) on dust on crust back through the trees to the road which had softened nicely and made for a good, long, moderate ski out. |
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9/16/2022 Route: deer park Posted On: 9/16/2022, By: zootloopz Info: Wemi updates: vestal basin looking snow free. North faces of the chicago basin peaks, jagged, pigeon and turret, animas, monitor, etc all have snow on the upper 500 feet. |
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8/24/2022 Route: Kendall BM to 13109 Traverse Posted On: 8/26/2022, By: JasonKline Info: Have you ever had the ridiculous idea of soloing the Kendall Benchmark to Pt. 13109 traverse when you only have a low-clearance sedan? Not only can you not set up the car caravan between the Titusville site and Deer Park as per bergsteigen's report, but you also have to park almost all the way down near Silverton because the road requires higher-clearance pretty early on? If you ever decide to engage in such foolishness, it took me about 16.2 miles and 7,300'. Also, the gully you ascend to reach Kendall Peak really is as soul-sucking as everybody says. At least it's still summer conditions. |
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8/31/2020 Route: From Whitehead + Point 12,936 Posted On: 9/1/2020, By: supranihilest Info: There's a drop of several hundred feet from Whitehead to 13,109. While the ascent ridge up 13,109 is easy it gets narrow, exposed, and loose near the top. Be careful in that section. To descend go back to the saddle with Whitehead then south down steep grass. Locate the Whitehead Gulch trail and take it west as it snakes high above the gulch and eventually curves around 13,109's west ridge and begins heading north. Continue following it to the road. Bonus peak, Point 12,936: descend to the Whitehead Gulch trail and instead of going west go east. The trail will curve around the far end of the gulch and eventually ascend to a flat area. Point 12,936 is the ridge-y peak dead ahead. It's Class 2 grass around the backside or Class 2+/Easy Class 3 scree up the black scree gully in the middle. Near the summit the ridge narrows and erodes away into a very narrow (like one step wide) notch with high exposure on both sides. It's one sketchy move and you're across. This summit might have the best views of any in the state. See the photo for the view. Descend once again taking the Whitehead Gulch trail and follow directions above back to the road. |
