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Peak(s):  "East Partner Peak"  -  13,057 feet
"West Partner Peak"  -  13,058 feet
Date Posted:  10/14/2013
Date Climbed:   09/05/2013
Author:  dhgold
 Partner Fast Track   

The purpose of this TR is to provide beta on a way to do the Partner traverse that didn't require a rope and took less time than what others have reported. The gist is that taking the natural line and dropping off the ridge for about 100 meters avoided a lot of unnecessary difficulty.

Rough totals: 11.9 miles, 6800' gain, 10 and a half hours.

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Overview map


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Map with more detail of traverse


I followed the Pitkin Lake trail until about 11,000' at which point I headed up East Partner's south ridge encountering some minor class 3 near the summit; the section from the trail to East Partner's summit was probably the most enjoyable of the day.

Once on the traverse I stuck near the ridge crest until the saddle encountering much cl3 and a short, completely avoidable section of easy cl5. At one point I found a gnawed rap sling and bypassed the short rappel with easy cl3 to the north. As others have noted, the area near the saddle is cl2 and for me, at least, a welcome relief from mediocre scrambling. After the saddle, easy scrambling in the vicinity of the ridge resumed until a talus gully interrupted the ridge. The gully dropped about 100' to the base of the ridge where it joined a typical Colorado talus slope. Getting into the gully required a little cl4 which could probably be avoided by those with more patience than I had. From the saddle at the top of the gully the next stretch of ridge looked tedious so I descended the gully and traversed the base of the ridge on cl2 talus for about 100 meters until I got on slabs that lead back to ridge. I knew I'd bypassed some difficulty by following the talus and felt it would have been contrived to do otherwise. The slabs provided some brief and enjoyable cl3 and got me back on the ridge and cl2+ and easy cl3 to West Partner's summit. I found the traverse much easier than others had reported (and quicker at 2 hours) and believe others will agree with this assessment if they too take the natural line and bypass that one section of ridge.

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Most of the Partner ridge with my approximate route marked


The direct ridge from West Partner looked like slow going and not particularly enjoyable so I descended via sidehilling to about 11,400', just west of Pitkin Lake then began ascending towards Outpost via more sidehilling. I did a couple of cl3 moves on short cliffs ascending Outpost but those too could be avoided.

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Most of approximate route from W Partner to Outpost


From Outpost's summit I headed south on the south ridge which was enjoyable and fast going until I left the ridge at 11,600' to head SE down forested slopes and the trail at 9,800'. The bushwhacking on this descent got progressively worse and I would not recommend this as a way to ascend Outpost.

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Training weight



Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):
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Comments or Questions
Monster5
User
Cool
10/14/2013 7:07pm
Nice, informative description. Skips out on the fun part though!

Was the tattered webbing red? We figured there might be a class 3 bypass, but it was a no go at the time.


jbchalk
User
Where is the fun & excitement? :)
10/14/2013 8:56pm
In all seriousness, nice day out, but the really cool portion that totally makes this traverse a Gore classic is the serrated knife-edge ridge proper you totally bypassed. Plus, the traverse doesn't require a rope and can be done in 2 hrs or less no doubt.



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