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Peak(s):  Mt. Yale  -  14,200 feet
Date Posted:  05/05/2014
Date Climbed:   05/03/2014
Author:  Lithic
 14th 14er, 2014 - Mt. Yale- Southwest Slopes   

My friend Matt and I broke in the 2014 season with an ascent of Yale via the Southwest Slopes route. We got a bit of a late start (arrived at the trail head at 9:30 am), but we were relieved to discover that Cottonwood Pass is completely clear to the Denny Creek TH. There is still quite a bit of snow on the trail, but we managed to use only our microspikes on the way up, with minimal post holing. However, sticking to the established trail was somewhat difficult, based on the snow accumulation and the fact that there were several established foot paths that broke off after about 2 miles in. There were also plenty of ski tracks scattered about on the mountain.

Regardless, once we hit treeline it was evident where we needed to go. From treeline, it took us about 2 hours to make summit. There were only a few other people on the mountain, including a very unprepared cotton squad, with shorts and low-cut shoes. These three decided to follow us, and we learned that one of the three had run out of water about half an hour to go. We gave him a vitamin water, but I'm not sure it did him any good. It always freaks me out to see someone run out of water above treeline, and still ascending.

Summit conditions were beautiful. It was fairly warm, with minimal wind. Really couldn't have asked for better weather! After taking some pictures and resting for a few minutes, we headed back down.

The descent was much less pleasant. The warm temperatures had softened the snow up since our ascent, so we started post holing through the snow patches. After about 20 minutes of this I threw on my snow shoes, which helped out quite a bit. I can't expect that the cotton squad enjoyed the descent too much either.

It turned out to be a fairly long day (8 hours roughly). The inactive winter months definitely take a toll on the body!
Still, I would recommend this hike to anyone trying to get an early season 14er, as long as you have proper gear, including snow shoes for the descent. I expect that the trail should be much nicer in just a week or two, as long as the weather holds up. We could already begin to see considerable melt in just a few hours.

Anyway, it was my 14th 14er, so I was pretty excited! We plan on trying Princeton in two weeks.



Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):
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Comments or Questions
The Moose
User
Congrats
5/6/2014 1:30am
I was there that same day, I saw that ”cotton squad” as well.

Our group took a long time to descend, sadly we got stuck postholing in the warmest part of the day. I agree that soon this trail will be quite pleasant!


JK5280S
Older 14ner
5/6/2014 9:53pm
Glad you had a good climb. I climbed many of the 14ners back in early 70s and cotton was the gear of the day. Got wet several times but did not die as many think you will if wearing denim and flannel.


Furrald
User
Thanks for the report
5/14/2014 2:56am
This report was basically how I decided to go and try Yale this past weekend. I had pretty similar conditions except for a very windy summit with the storms coming in. Sounds like you guys had a great climb.



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