Little Bear Peak Trip Report 05/17/2017

Report Type	Full
Peak(s)	Little Bear Peak - 14,041 feet
Date Posted	05/17/2017
Date Climbed	05/14/2017
Author	Psemin42

Little Bear - Time slows in the Hourglass
First sight of Little Bear while hiking in on Lake Como road Camping underneath the North Face of Little Bear From the moment I read about Little Bear and the daunted hourglass danger I knew that the only attempt I would make was to be on snow. So my climbing partner and I settled on a weekend and were ready for the challenge that was about to be bestowed upon on us. But of course, when you make plans a few weeks in advance in Colorado it is almost inevitable that the weather will flare up and try and stop you right in your tracks. As we were getting bombarded by rain and hail here in Denver the radar showed a constant blue bubble of snow above the Sangre De Cristos. The CAIC specifically called out and mentioned that the range was an outlier compared to the rest of the state and was to receive approx. 1-2 feet of snow through Thursday morning. Not great news for a climb that includes a North facing gully and a steep and narrow couloir. We kept and eye on the weather as well as waited for the CAIC Friday update to make a decision. The forecasts called for warm days and freezing temps (30-32) at night, below freezing with windchill. Our hope was that the warm days to end the week would cause all the new snow to wet slide out of the danger zones prior to a summit attempt on Sunday. Finally, Friday night we decided to give it go with the worst case scenario being that we would make a weekend backpacking trip to Lake Como. After a quick stop at the local Cracker Barrel in Pueblo to carbo load with biscuits and french toast we were at the trail turnoff around 4pm. I have a stock Jeep Grand Cherokee and was able to get up about .75m past the 4WD "parking" area (4 miles from the lake), there is a fallen tree that blocks the route about 3 miles from Lake Como so even the most ambitious drivers will be stopped there. After throwing on our packs, admittedly larger than necessary, we were off up the road. The road is not an easy hike as you will be hiking over river rock debris for 90% of the hike. About .5 miles from the Lake the road became completely covered in snow, there is a solid boot pack so even after a day full of sun we did not need to take the snowshoes out. We arrived at Lake Como about 645 and set up camp just to the west of the lake with an absolutely spectacular views of Little Bears north face...that thing is intimidating. We saw a group across the lake and a few people that seemed to be below the North gully checking the snow conditions. As we were expecting, it looked like pretty much every face and aspect of the basin that could possibly avy, did earlier that week. The North gully in particular looked like it had an avy that ran from top to bottom and almost completely wiped away the snow that had fallen the week before. We decided to have a quick fire, dinner and relax in awe of the beauty that is Lake Como and worry about assessing the gully when we got up to the apron the following morning. The alarm went off at 4am and we were up and ready to roll! The moonlight was incredible, we were both nervous we overslept when we awoke to such a bright tent. We hopped out of the tent and immediately noticed that even the snow around camp had gotten a pretty solid freeze in during the night and with very minimal (if at all) sinking when we stepped. With that good sign we scarfed down the usual 14er breakfast, bars and an apple, and were on our way around the lake about 445. We got to the apron of the gully in no time and began to sink a little with each step. We had a quick chat and decided that with the minimal terrain traps we would make it up a little higher on the steeper aspect and assess if we should continue or not. Looking up the North Gully from the apron To our delight the snow became stable again and we both felt pretty comfortable about the snow conditions. This was actually an awesome couloir with great views of Ellingwood and Blanca all the way up, and the 600' goes by real quickly. This is definitely on the list of backcountry couloirs to come back with skis or a snowboard! We topped out of the gully a little less than an hour after leaving camp and were feeling pretty good about our summit chances. Looking down the North Gully Right at the top of the gully there is a rock feature that you go over, so we decided to take our crampons off thinking that we would be rock hopping between snow fields all the way to the hourglass. Boy were we wrong! Right after the rock feature the west ridge was pretty much covered in snow with a surprisingly steep slope. We were way too stubborn and decided that we would just try and boot pack and kick step it across the ridge without putting our crampons back on...1.5 hours later we made it to the hourglass. Traversing the Southwest ridge For future reference, do not be mislead by the beginning rock feature and just keep your crampons on as it took us about 30 minutes to get from the hourglass to the North gully on the way back down with crampons on. We dropped low at first and then made our way back to the ridge for a more mellow slope, although it slightly increases the exposure. You will drop to the right of a tower along the ridge and then follow the side of the ridge to the opening of the hourglass. Taking the ridge line Even after the prolonged boot pack we made it to the famous hourglass and we were not disappointed! Similar to the gully, it appeared that the hourglass had slid out earlier that week as well as the last hundred feet of approach to the hourglass. We were into the hourglass around 745 and were welcomed with some bomb proof snow! The snow allowed for a great front point with your foot maybe sinking in an inch or two. Looking up the Hourglass Looking back down from just below the rappel anchor The ice bulge that had been covering the choke point in the couloir had been completely covered by the new snowfall so it was a straight snow climb right to the summit. After topping out of the hourglass and looking back down, I have no objections to the slope being measured between 45-50 degrees...its a steep one for sure! Throughout the climb my partner and I would knock some snow/ice crisps down onto each other, it was obvious the danger that this area would present with rock and multiple people in it. My advice is to do it in the snow (it hurts less than rock). We hit the summit about 830, coming in a little less than 4 hours from camp. I do not think that I will ever stop being wowed by the views that the Sangre De Cristos give you...their prominence compared to the surrounding land is second to none in Colorado. The connecting ridge to Blanca did not cease to intimidate as well, definitely not something at the top of the list to do but only time will tell! Little Bear - Blanca Traverse We both relaxed and enjoyed the summit views and the warm sun, but the challenging decent was still in the back of our minds. As Sunday was Mother's Day we both gave our moms a call to wish them a good day and I added Little Bear to my Colorado Flag, 20 more! After eating a quick snack we were off again, eager to get the challenges of the hourglass behind us. The biggest piece of advice for the descent would be to take your time and just be confident in your abilities. The majority of the decent was spent faced in front pointing back down with a few opportunities to face down and side step. As is expected, almost the entire decent down the hourglass is spent in a no-fall zone as there are plenty of exposed rocks and terrain traps to really beat you up on the way down. The rappel rope was almost completely covered and iced over so using that as a helping hand was not an option. It took us about twice as long to descend and we were finally out of the hourglass about 10. After a quick layer change we bolted over to the start of the North gully. By this time the sun had done its work on the snow on the ridge and there was a good amount of postholing as we made our way back. It could have all been in my head, but I thought I had heard a "whoompf" or two along the steeper ridge sections. Was pretty happy we got such an early start, would not want to be on the steep aspects of this route any time in the afternoon. The North gully still had some solid snow as we descended and it opened up enough where we were able to glissade the last few 100 feet (best part of snow climbs!). Once back at camp it was sigh of relief to be out of harms way and we took a good hour to just relax and nap before packing it up. Overall, this route was a lot more mentally exhausting than any other standard route I have done. You had to be in total control of each step as well as aware of your surroundings since the majority of the route being in a no-fall zone. I am pretty excited to knock this one off the list and definitely feel like it was a great stepping stone for the remainder of couloir season! Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Little Bear - Time slows in the Hourglass

First sight of Little Bear while hiking in on Lake Como road

Camping underneath the North Face of Little Bear

From the moment I read about Little Bear and the daunted hourglass danger I knew that the only attempt I would make was to be on snow. So my climbing partner and I settled on a weekend and were ready for the challenge that was about to be bestowed upon on us. But of course, when you make plans a few weeks in advance in Colorado it is almost inevitable that the weather will flare up and try and stop you right in your tracks. As we were getting bombarded by rain and hail here in Denver the radar showed a constant blue bubble of snow above the Sangre De Cristos. The CAIC specifically called out and mentioned that the range was an outlier compared to the rest of the state and was to receive approx. 1-2 feet of snow through Thursday morning. Not great news for a climb that includes a North facing gully and a steep and narrow couloir. We kept and eye on the weather as well as waited for the CAIC Friday update to make a decision. The forecasts called for warm days and freezing temps (30-32) at night, below freezing with windchill. Our hope was that the warm days to end the week would cause all the new snow to wet slide out of the danger zones prior to a summit attempt on Sunday. Finally, Friday night we decided to give it go with the worst case scenario being that we would make a weekend backpacking trip to Lake Como.

After a quick stop at the local Cracker Barrel in Pueblo to carbo load with biscuits and french toast we were at the trail turnoff around 4pm. I have a stock Jeep Grand Cherokee and was able to get up about .75m past the 4WD "parking" area (4 miles from the lake), there is a fallen tree that blocks the route about 3 miles from Lake Como so even the most ambitious drivers will be stopped there. After throwing on our packs, admittedly larger than necessary, we were off up the road. The road is not an easy hike as you will be hiking over river rock debris for 90% of the hike. About .5 miles from the Lake the road became completely covered in snow, there is a solid boot pack so even after a day full of sun we did not need to take the snowshoes out. We arrived at Lake Como about 645 and set up camp just to the west of the lake with an absolutely spectacular views of Little Bears north face...that thing is intimidating. We saw a group across the lake and a few people that seemed to be below the North gully checking the snow conditions. As we were expecting, it looked like pretty much every face and aspect of the basin that could possibly avy, did earlier that week. The North gully in particular looked like it had an avy that ran from top to bottom and almost completely wiped away the snow that had fallen the week before. We decided to have a quick fire, dinner and relax in awe of the beauty that is Lake Como and worry about assessing the gully when we got up to the apron the following morning.

The alarm went off at 4am and we were up and ready to roll! The moonlight was incredible, we were both nervous we overslept when we awoke to such a bright tent. We hopped out of the tent and immediately noticed that even the snow around camp had gotten a pretty solid freeze in during the night and with very minimal (if at all) sinking when we stepped. With that good sign we scarfed down the usual 14er breakfast, bars and an apple, and were on our way around the lake about 445. We got to the apron of the gully in no time and began to sink a little with each step. We had a quick chat and decided that with the minimal terrain traps we would make it up a little higher on the steeper aspect and assess if we should continue or not.

Looking up the North Gully from the apron

To our delight the snow became stable again and we both felt pretty comfortable about the snow conditions. This was actually an awesome couloir with great views of Ellingwood and Blanca all the way up, and the 600' goes by real quickly. This is definitely on the list of backcountry couloirs to come back with skis or a snowboard! We topped out of the gully a little less than an hour after leaving camp and were feeling pretty good about our summit chances.

Right at the top of the gully there is a rock feature that you go over, so we decided to take our crampons off thinking that we would be rock hopping between snow fields all the way to the hourglass. Boy were we wrong! Right after the rock feature the west ridge was pretty much covered in snow with a surprisingly steep slope. We were way too stubborn and decided that we would just try and boot pack and kick step it across the ridge without putting our crampons back on...1.5 hours later we made it to the hourglass.

For future reference, do not be mislead by the beginning rock feature and just keep your crampons on as it took us about 30 minutes to get from the hourglass to the North gully on the way back down with crampons on. We dropped low at first and then made our way back to the ridge for a more mellow slope, although it slightly increases the exposure. You will drop to the right of a tower along the ridge and then follow the side of the ridge to the opening of the hourglass.

Even after the prolonged boot pack we made it to the famous hourglass and we were not disappointed! Similar to the gully, it appeared that the hourglass had slid out earlier that week as well as the last hundred feet of approach to the hourglass. We were into the hourglass around 745 and were welcomed with some bomb proof snow! The snow allowed for a great front point with your foot maybe sinking in an inch or two.

Looking back down from just below the rappel anchor

The ice bulge that had been covering the choke point in the couloir had been completely covered by the new snowfall so it was a straight snow climb right to the summit. After topping out of the hourglass and looking back down, I have no objections to the slope being measured between 45-50 degrees...its a steep one for sure! Throughout the climb my partner and I would knock some snow/ice crisps down onto each other, it was obvious the danger that this area would present with rock and multiple people in it. My advice is to do it in the snow (it hurts less than rock). We hit the summit about 830, coming in a little less than 4 hours from camp. I do not think that I will ever stop being wowed by the views that the Sangre De Cristos give you...their prominence compared to the surrounding land is second to none in Colorado. The connecting ridge to Blanca did not cease to intimidate as well, definitely not something at the top of the list to do but only time will tell!

We both relaxed and enjoyed the summit views and the warm sun, but the challenging decent was still in the back of our minds. As Sunday was Mother's Day we both gave our moms a call to wish them a good day and I added Little Bear to my Colorado Flag, 20 more! After eating a quick snack we were off again, eager to get the challenges of the hourglass behind us.

The biggest piece of advice for the descent would be to take your time and just be confident in your abilities. The majority of the decent was spent faced in front pointing back down with a few opportunities to face down and side step. As is expected, almost the entire decent down the hourglass is spent in a no-fall zone as there are plenty of exposed rocks and terrain traps to really beat you up on the way down. The rappel rope was almost completely covered and iced over so using that as a helping hand was not an option. It took us about twice as long to descend and we were finally out of the hourglass about 10. After a quick layer change we bolted over to the start of the North gully. By this time the sun had done its work on the snow on the ridge and there was a good amount of postholing as we made our way back. It could have all been in my head, but I thought I had heard a "whoompf" or two along the steeper ridge sections. Was pretty happy we got such an early start, would not want to be on the steep aspects of this route any time in the afternoon. The North gully still had some solid snow as we descended and it opened up enough where we were able to glissade the last few 100 feet (best part of snow climbs!).

Once back at camp it was sigh of relief to be out of harms way and we took a good hour to just relax and nap before packing it up. Overall, this route was a lot more mentally exhausting than any other standard route I have done. You had to be in total control of each step as well as aware of your surroundings since the majority of the route being in a no-fall zone. I am pretty excited to knock this one off the list and definitely feel like it was a great stepping stone for the remainder of couloir season!

Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Comments or Questions

snowypeaks

Thanks!!
5/17/2017 6:18pm

Nicely done, thanks for the excellent report.

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