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I had hoped to put an overnight trip together this weekend to take a shot at Mt. Harvard, but struck out with a handful of partners. I loaded my car up Friday night with everything I thought I might need for whatever I decided my objective would be, then went to work Saturday morning with all of the other CPAs. As I looked around my gear room, my green kids sled that got to come out with me basically every winter weekend during Denali training last year caught my eye. It looked at me like, "what am I? chopped liver? I never get to go with you anymore!". So I threw it in the car just in case.
My trusty green kids' sled - excited to go for a walk.
Saturday as I thought about my options, I was really drawn to an overnight pack-in. The thought crossed my mind of still going for Harvard, but this was one of those rare times when I talked myself out of something as being a pretty stupid idea. Harvard is a huge undertaking in winter as I understand it, and I hadn't seen any signs of anyone up there trenching in many, many weeks. The forecast for the Sawatch for Saturday night was a low of -3 with wind chill values between -25 and -30. Fun. Weird that I couldn't find a partner...
Sunday didn't look balmy either - high near 10 with wind chill values between -15 and -25. Finally ruling Harvard out, but still wanting an overnight, I decided on Mt. Antero. I sent Melissa my itinerary as I left work and drove towards Buena Vista with a quick stop in Fairplay for a Gatorade to hydrate me on the way in and serve as a night time evacuation device since I realized I forgot my pee bottle at home.
Stats:
Crew - me, myself and I. With some company from cold and wind.
Saturday afternoon approach to camp at Baldwin Creek - 2 hours
Sunday climb - 4:04 to summit; 6:32 RT to camp. 1:11 back down to my car after packing up
Day 1 - Saturday
I headed up Chaffee County 162 to the Baldwin Gulch turn-off, arriving about 3:10. I hoped to be walking by 3:30 PM, but since all of my gear was just tossed in my car the night before, I had to spend a bit of time getting it organized and getting my sled and pack loaded. I've found putting heavier gear in the sled in a large duffel bag works really well and is really quite an efficient way to move weight uphill, as long as you are traveling on a road or clear cut trail. Had I decided to pack in for La Plata via the winter route, the sled would have stayed in the car. No way I would try to navigate deadfall with that thing! At 3:39 PM, I was ready and headed off up the Baldwin Gulch road.
My trencher gives up!
I was somewhat optimistic since there were some snowshoe tracks already on the road. Perhaps I would enjoy a nice trench all the way to the summit. Or....more likely, I would send Melissa a note at 4:02 PM announcing that my pre-trencher had already given up and I was on my own. No matter - there was still a faint outline of a trench from a couple weeks ago and if I walked carefully, I could feel the firm snow under my feet. Occasionally I failed to follow the old trench and was rewarded with a nice knee deep plunge. Very refreshing.
Guess I'm the trencher now.
Sunset was at 5:52 PM, so I was on the clock a bit to get up to the creek and get my tent set up before it got dark. Exactly 2 hours in, I arrived at the creek crossing and began digging out my tent platform. Since I was still down below tree line, there was really no wind to speak of, so it was a smooth process of getting settled in for the night. I find getting the stove lit is always one of the cruxes for me. Inevitably, I end up taking my gloves off to prime the pump and light the stove and my hands up end freezing. Last night was no different. Before long though, I was enjoying my beef stroganoff dinner and getting water bottles filled for Sunday. Sleeping with water bottles at the bottom of the sleeping bag isn't great, but it beats frozen water in the morning.
Home sweet home. Crux 1 - stove is lit!
I was in my bag ready for bed by about 7:45 PM, and actually had one of my better nights of sleep ever in a tent. Between my 4-season Mountain Hardwear Tent and my -25 sleeping bag, I was nice and toasty.
Day 2 - Sunday
Second crux of the trip - getting out of that toasty sleeping bag. I didn't bother setting an alarm since I knew I'd be checking my watch a few times during the night. My goal was to be walking around 6:30, so I pushed myself to get moving at 5:30 AM. My oatmeal didn't sound good for breakfast, so I just ate the donuts I bought with the Gatorade and called them breakfast. I got the stove lit, made myself a cup of coffee and things were looking up.
My load was lighter without the sled and overnight stuff, but the snow got much deeper once I crossed the creek. I was moving slowly, delicately stepping in my micro spikes hoping to stay on top of that faint old trench. I went 6" to one side or the other too often though and was using more energy than I needed to be, so I stopped and put on my snowshoes. I don't care for the things, but they serve a purpose.
Lots of trenching opportunity! Maybe a large group is about to catch me to help?
My toes were cold being down in the fresh snow, but I chugged along to tree line where I stopped for a quick snack to put a bit of real food in me before really beginning to climb (sorry Hostess - those donuts taste good, but there's not much food in them). I did Antero last year on March 25th for my spring grid slot on a green avalanche forecast day. I climbed a snow gully that day, then descended most of the road across several slide paths that freaked me out a little. Since the Sawatch were yellow today and have been orange a few times, I decided I would stick to the rocky rib that goes straight up to Point 13,800 today and not mess with crossing anything remotely suspect. I stashed my snowshoes at the bottom of the rib and headed up. Once out of the trees, the wind reminded me it was there and of the daunting wind chill forecast.
I felt like I had my full body armor in good shape today though after the Culebra neck hickey incident last weekend, so I cruised up hill, suddenly making much better time than I was down in the snow. It was getting quite cold as I crested Point 13,800 and I was really hoping I could stay on the east side of Antero's fun little rocky section and get some shelter from the wind.
Antero from my rib.
Thankfully, the east side went no problem and it was indeed sheltered much to my delight. That relatively nice weather didn't last long though once I got through that stretch onto the final summit ridge. The wind was blowing steadily - not as bad as last week, but still not great. I got to the summit about 10:40 AM, took off my mitten to get a quick picture or two, then jammed my quickly freezing hand back into the mitten. Ouch! It's cold up there!
The summit from my last sheltered spot. Summit selfie Cronin showing herself.
The descent was uneventful, but I was unfortunately now going into the wind and having to hold my hood up over my head to shield the tiny bit of my face that was showing. I was thrilled to get back to tree line and my snowshoes so I could cruise back down to camp sans wind.
My home on the way out.
I quickly packed up my camp, loaded my sled and headed out for a little over an hour of descent back to my car. I hadn't seen a soul the whole time on the mountain - not Saturday and not Sunday. The benefit of the pack-in Saturday was that I was down at my car by 3:00 PM and back at my house (after a pizza) by 6:15 PM in time to see my kids before they went to bed. It's fun sometimes to have a day or two in the mountains all by yourself and I find that it makes me appreciate seeing my family that much more when I get home. Thanks for reading.
One of the ice flows on the way out.
My GPS Tracks on Google Maps (made from a .GPX file upload):
"The forecast for the Sawatch for Saturday night was a low of -3 with wind chill values between -25 and -30. Fun. Weird that I couldn't find a partner..."
Absolute classic!
Congrats on your solo winter summit and getting home safe and sound to the family.
Actually wind chills on Colorado Mines Peak (above Berthoud Pass) were in the -35 to -40 range when I looked Sunday morning. So yeah, it was a bit cold! I imagine the nose guard came in handy again!
Great adventure, great write up. Thanks for sharing!
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