Quandary Peak Trip Report 02/29/2020

MY FIRST WINTER SKI DESCENT!!!
1/58 in 2020 February 27, 2020, 6:00 PM It's Thursday, and I'm looking for something to do this weekend. I got an email from the CU Hiking Club earlier that week saying that they were running a trip to hike Quandary Peak on Sunday. While I could've applied for this trip, I was already planning on skiing on Sunday at a resort with some friends. But the idea of climbing Quandary hadn't left my mind. By Thursday, I had asked the few friends I had that owned a backcountry setup if they wanted (or were able) to climb with me on Saturday. Everyone turned me down, saying they had a test they had to study for the next week, or that they were heading home to somewhere else for the weekend already. Oh well, I guess that's college. No matter. I was still gonna climb Quandary. But now I was gonna solo it. I had been checking the avalanche forecast the past few days, as well as the weather history and forecast into the weekend. Everything was looking perfect. I knew that if the Hiking Club was gonna go climb this 14er in February with microspikes, then there would be tons of other people up there too. A solo attempt wouldn't really be a solo attempt, except that I was the only person in my hiking party. I thought that if I was gonna solo a 14er for the first time, this would be the way to do it. I planned on driving up to the trailhead the night before and sleeping in my car. I would get up there, eat a little food, and go to sleep. February 29, 2020, 8:30 AM I woke up drove the 5ish minutes up to the trailhead from where I had parked the night before, and discovered that there were already tons of people. My plan was going smoothly so far. By 9:15 I was moving. I skinned up about a mile from the parking lot to tree line. Here, the snow became super variable, going from extremely hard, wind packed snow to thin snow with rocks poking out to powder with a thin sun crust on top. Given that it was a bluebird day, I was also heating up quite a bit, so I decided to just boot-pack the rest of the way up with my skis on my back. After about 3-4 hours of hiking, I reached the summit. This was the 2nd time I had been to the top of Quandary, the first time being like 5 or 6 years ago during the summer. That time my dad and I had taken the West Ridge Route, but today I was taking the East ridge route since it was safer and much more accessible. I had reached the summit of the first of the 58 CO 14ers in Winter! And now for the ski descent. I clipped into my skis at the very top, traversed a little bit back along the ridgeline, and realized that the snow was going to be terrible to ski down. The snowpack was rock hard, and miniature wind drifts made it super annoying to ski. Luckily, I managed to find a line from near the top down to the 2nd false summit that let me make some nice turns. The skiing here was still not great, but at least I wasn't clipping rocks or hitting wind drifts. The only problem was that the snow itself was rock hard and nearly icy, so I had to carve really hard in order to stay upright. The slope itself wasn't super steep either, maybe 28 degrees. I need to get an inclinometer. I made it back down to the tree line and decided to not follow the trail back to the parking lot, which led skiers right down the mountain. Instead, I went skiers left, where there was a bunch of nice powder, sheltered from the wind, so this was the only 100 feet of skiing where I got some nice powder skiing (above treeline). I had brought my avalanche gear with me, just in case, but there wasn't really anywhere on the mountain that I felt I needed it. From here, I must've gone nearly thousand vertical feet through dense forest back down to the main road that cut through the valley between Breckenridge and Fairplay, totally exploring by myself, though I was following some other ski tracks that other people had made probably earlier that day. I got down to the valley floor and realized that I was on the other side of the mountain from the parking lot (not the completely other side, but around the corner. Oops.) I ended up having to walk back up the road to the parking lot, which in the end was probably 2 mile (just a guess). At some point I ditched my skis and bag in the snow next to the road in a hidden spot and walked much more comfortably up, all the while trying to hitchhike. Living in the post 9/11era, almost everyone nowadays is scared of hitchhikers. I never really understood how much it sucks to be a hitchhiker on the side of a busy road. It really makes you realize how snobby a lot of people are. Some people would at least wave to me, but some wouldn't even move away from me while driving 50+ mph. They would nearly run me over! The snow bank on the side of the road left, in most places, about 2-3 feet of space between the white line on the road, so I couldn't really move, either. Luckily, some super nice dude did pick me up and give me a lift to the parking lot, which was literally right next to the main road. It saved me probably a mile of walking. The adventure ain't over till you're back to the car. After a 6 hour day (one of the shortest 14er hikes I've had), I had successfully summited Quandary! Thanks for reading! More to come :) Risk is for managing, not for chance. ~Hogan Warlock~ Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

1/58 in 2020

February 27, 2020, 6:00 PM

It's Thursday, and I'm looking for something to do this weekend. I got an email from the CU Hiking Club earlier that week saying that they were running a trip to hike Quandary Peak on Sunday. While I could've applied for this trip, I was already planning on skiing on Sunday at a resort with some friends. But the idea of climbing Quandary hadn't left my mind.

By Thursday, I had asked the few friends I had that owned a backcountry setup if they wanted (or were able) to climb with me on Saturday. Everyone turned me down, saying they had a test they had to study for the next week, or that they were heading home to somewhere else for the weekend already. Oh well, I guess that's college.

No matter. I was still gonna climb Quandary. But now I was gonna solo it.

I had been checking the avalanche forecast the past few days, as well as the weather history and forecast into the weekend. Everything was looking perfect.

I knew that if the Hiking Club was gonna go climb this 14er in February with microspikes, then there would be tons of other people up there too. A solo attempt wouldn't really be a solo attempt, except that I was the only person in my hiking party. I thought that if I was gonna solo a 14er for the first time, this would be the way to do it.

I planned on driving up to the trailhead the night before and sleeping in my car. I would get up there, eat a little food, and go to sleep.

February 29, 2020, 8:30 AM

I woke up drove the 5ish minutes up to the trailhead from where I had parked the night before, and discovered that there were already tons of people. My plan was going smoothly so far.

By 9:15 I was moving. I skinned up about a mile from the parking lot to tree line. Here, the snow became super variable, going from extremely hard, wind packed snow to thin snow with rocks poking out to powder with a thin sun crust on top. Given that it was a bluebird day, I was also heating up quite a bit, so I decided to just boot-pack the rest of the way up with my skis on my back.

After about 3-4 hours of hiking, I reached the summit. This was the 2nd time I had been to the top of Quandary, the first time being like 5 or 6 years ago during the summer. That time my dad and I had taken the West Ridge Route, but today I was taking the East ridge route since it was safer and much more accessible. I had reached the summit of the first of the 58 CO 14ers in Winter!

And now for the ski descent. I clipped into my skis at the very top, traversed a little bit back along the ridgeline, and realized that the snow was going to be terrible to ski down. The snowpack was rock hard, and miniature wind drifts made it super annoying to ski. Luckily, I managed to find a line from near the top down to the 2nd false summit that let me make some nice turns. The skiing here was still not great, but at least I wasn't clipping rocks or hitting wind drifts. The only problem was that the snow itself was rock hard and nearly icy, so I had to carve really hard in order to stay upright. The slope itself wasn't super steep either, maybe 28 degrees. I need to get an inclinometer.

I made it back down to the tree line and decided to not follow the trail back to the parking lot, which led skiers right down the mountain. Instead, I went skiers left, where there was a bunch of nice powder, sheltered from the wind, so this was the only 100 feet of skiing where I got some nice powder skiing (above treeline). I had brought my avalanche gear with me, just in case, but there wasn't really anywhere on the mountain that I felt I needed it.

From here, I must've gone nearly thousand vertical feet through dense forest back down to the main road that cut through the valley between Breckenridge and Fairplay, totally exploring by myself, though I was following some other ski tracks that other people had made probably earlier that day.

I got down to the valley floor and realized that I was on the other side of the mountain from the parking lot (not the completely other side, but around the corner. Oops.) I ended up having to walk back up the road to the parking lot, which in the end was probably 2 mile (just a guess). At some point I ditched my skis and bag in the snow next to the road in a hidden spot and walked much more comfortably up, all the while trying to hitchhike. Living in the post 9/11era, almost everyone nowadays is scared of hitchhikers. I never really understood how much it sucks to be a hitchhiker on the side of a busy road. It really makes you realize how snobby a lot of people are. Some people would at least wave to me, but some wouldn't even move away from me while driving 50+ mph. They would nearly run me over! The snow bank on the side of the road left, in most places, about 2-3 feet of space between the white line on the road, so I couldn't really move, either.

Luckily, some super nice dude did pick me up and give me a lift to the parking lot, which was literally right next to the main road. It saved me probably a mile of walking.

The adventure ain't over till you're back to the car. After a 6 hour day (one of the shortest 14er hikes I've had), I had successfully summited Quandary!

Thanks for reading! More to come :)

Risk is for managing, not for chance.

~Hogan Warlock~

Report Type	Full
Peak(s)	Quandary Peak - 14,272 feet
Date Posted	02/29/2020
Modified	09/18/2020
Date Climbed	02/29/2020
Author	hogantheepic

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