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Peak(s):  Mt. Shavano  -  14,230 feet
Tabeguache Peak  -  14,158 feet
Date Posted:  10/23/2011
Date Climbed:   10/16/2011
Author:  arianna2
 Shavano and Tabeguache -windy combo   

We came up the night before with our pop up without knowing if there was any good camping around. There was great camping for tents and trailers all the way up the road to the trailhead. There is no camping directly at the trailhead, but there was a small road that you can go down with camp sites there. The weather projected to be great so we slept in just a little bit. We got started at 0700. It took us some where around an hour and a half to get up to tree line.
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There was very little snow on the southeast slope, however, the wind was picking up.
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On the saddle the wind was brutal. We estimated that it was blowing around 50mph. It was hard to stay on the trail sometimes. Luckily, it wasn't horribly cold, so we pushed on.
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We arrived on the summit at about 10:40 where some folks were hunched down, getting a break from the wind.
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It was a little daunting to think of the long hike, in that wind, over to Tabeguache. We committed ourselves after a short 10 minute break.
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We were able to stay below the top of the saddle some which protected us a little, at least until we reached the lowest part of the saddle. The wind was so interesting because it came in "waves" crashing up on the mountain. If you couldn't see, you might think you were at the ocean. There was more snow in places, but by stepping in other people's shoe prints, I was able to keep most snow out of my boots. Luckily, the wind wasn't quite as bad going up Tabeguache.
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We reached that summit at 12:10. We hung out there for a half hour before making that dreaded hike back up Shavano.
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At least 2 groups decided to go below the saddle and around the base of Shavano to get back to the southeast slopes. Since we hadn't read anything about that route, we decided not to follow. As we kept seeing the false summits on the way back up Shavano, I began to feel bad we didn't. I could see them way down there and we ultimately weren't too far behind them coming off Shavano. We re-summited at 1:53. We didn't go that full way over to the saddle and down the Angel area because it looked like we could just cut across. It was a little steep but quite secure and probably shaved off some time.
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We ran into one group that went that low route and he said that there was quite a ways (like half mile) that was class 4 and therefore difficult, so then we didn't feel as bad. Even though it was a beautiful sunny day, it was nice getting back down and out of the wind by 4:35.
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