Little Bear West Ridge to Blanca and Hamilton

Day: October 4th, 2020

Trailhead: Como Road (8300 ft)

Route: West Ridge Direct (with variation)

Peaks: Little Bear Peak, Blanca Peak and Hamilton Peak

Mileage/Elevation Gain: 18.99 miles and 7585 ft of gain.

In this trip report I'll share an alternate way we took to summit Little Bear Peak. We did a variation of the West Ridge Direct route where we bypassed the 5.4 crux. I believe this route would make a better (and safer) standard route than going through the hourglass. Next, I'll share our traverse to Blanca Peak across one of the 4 Great Traverses and finally, an out and back we did to Hamilton Peak before heading back down Como Rd.

My group of three started climbing at 3:30 am from 8300 feet on Como Rd. I've come to the conclusion it's not worth the wear and tear on my truck to drive any higher. We then set a good pace up to the lake, and it was still dark when we entered the gully which would take us to the ridge. The gully was steep and loose, but there was plenty of solid rock on the far left to climb. It was just starting to get light as we topped out on the ridge. There was a faint trail to follow here as we climbed the ridge through the talus. Initially we stayed low on the ridge following the standard route. Just as the trail turned southeast towards the hourglass, we turned northeast towards a notch in the west ridge where we would join the direct ridge route.

After a talus hop to 13200 feet we began a steep class 3 scramble directly towards the west ridge. The rock was mostly solid and fun climbing.

Once on the ridge proper the rock got even better with more nice class 3 scrambling. There was an occasional (maybe 2 or 3) class 4 moves that were a bit airy, but not extreme, and over solid rock.

Eventually we ran into a headwall and attempted to find a way around or over it. We found there were several difficult, but doable options; however, I found a ledge that easily went around it and dumped us on the very upper section of the standard route. As I'm always up for the path of least resistance, we went with it, and there was an easy scramble here to the summit. Within 10 minutes I was standing on the summit of Little Bear Peak for my 4th time. I was a little shocked at how easy it was (relatively speaking). I had been expecting several class 5 sections on this route. Although I was prepared to take them on I was glad we easily bypassed them (following the path of least resistance).

This was a great route for those looking for an alternative to the Hourglass. It was probably shorter, less difficult and we encountered very little rock fall danger.The other option for avoiding the hourglass is the SW ridge. I've done this route 3 times and thoroughly enjoy the challenge of it (and highly recommend it); however, I believe this West Ridge Variation route would be a better option for most, over the arduous journey up the SW ridge.

After a quick snack we were off for the Little Bear-Blanca Traverse and the last of the 4 Great Traverses for me. We headed north from Little Bear summit towards the down climb to the traverse ridge. Many call this down climb the crux of the route and it definitely felt that way. It is steep and highly exposed. The rock is very solid with good footholds though, so it was manageable with great care. It was challenging and fun, but I was very relieved to get past it. The other much talked about crux, Captain Bivwacko, didn't bother me much as I just slid under the overhang without difficulty.

I will not go over the details of the rest of the traverse and will just share pics. There were way too many towers and highly exposed catwalks to remember specifics. There were more than enough class 4/5 moves along the way to keep the adrenaline flowing. It took us about 3 hours to reach the summit of Blanca Peak at a leisurely pace.

The Traverse was probably my favorite of the 4 Great Traverses. It was also probably the hardest as well, in my opinion. Not necessarily because it had harder moves, but more because it seemed to have many more difficult, highly exposed moves than the other traverses. In other words, there were more chances to make a mistake with a bad outcome.

We didn't stay long on Blanca as we still wanted to get Hamilton Peak. I had just done this peak in June, but one of my partners hadn't yet and really wanted it. Apparently, I forgot how long the ridge to it took and I happily agreed. It was a 3.2 mile out and back to Hamilton Peak.

So we headed south off Blanca down a steep talus slope towards a small saddle 400 vertical feet below. From there we followed the ridge over many small points until reaching Hamilton. Most of the ridge was class 2+ with an occasional easy class 3 section. There was almost always extreme exposure to climbers left. While the right had a more gradual slope and could be used to avoid obstacles on the ridge as long as you didn't mind lose talus. It was always best to stay ridge proper though.

The round trip to Hamilton Peak and back to Blanca took about 3 hours and 30 minutes. That pretty much ate up all my time, so I had to pass on getting Ellingwood Point too and headed down Blanca to Como Rd and my truck. My partner managed to run up Ellingwood Point to finish the slam and caught up down the road.