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A downside of spring climbing is the inevitable sunburn, no matter how much sunscreen is used. What to do, what to do? Hey, I know! How about a night climb? With a favorable moonrise/moonset schedule a couple of days before a full moon, Randy and I decided to give Hoosier Ridge a try.
We drove to Hoosier Pass in the early evening, found a good place to set up our tent, and then crossed State Highway 9 to the start of a gated road that heads east through the trees and then north to a radio tower.
We hiked (and occasionally postholed) along the road
The nearly-full moon is visible above the road
The road begins to leave the trees
Just below 11,800', the road heads north (left) to the radio tower (far left on the horizon) while a trail continues east (right) along the Continental Divide
Heading east along the Continental Divide toward a 12,814' ridge bump (with many more ridge bumps to follow)
The setting sun is about to disappear behind North Star Mountain (13,614'), west of Hoosier Pass
Red Mountain (13,229') and Hoosier Ridge (13,352') came into view as we ascended the ridge
A view of Red Mtn. and Hoosier Ridge from higher along the Continental Divide; there are lots of ups and downs along the ridge to these peaks
On top of a ridge bump along the Continental Divide, with Red Mtn. and Hoosier Ridge still a couple of miles away
Red Mtn. and Hoosier Ridge are getting a little closer
The view north from the Continental Divide;, with Red Mtn. visible to the right
The view south from the same location as the previous photo
The nearly-full moon over Mt. Silverheels (13,822') to the southeast
It's getting darker
Past a 12,953' ridge point. the ridge turns north and still has plenty of ups and downs on the way to Hoosier Ridge and Red Mtn.
Almost to the summit of Hoosier Ridge
Red Mtn. from the summit of Hoosier Ridge, with the lights of Breckenridge visible to the north
Looking south along the ridge from the summit of Hoosier Ridge
Plenty of snow between Hoosier Ridge and Red Mtn.
We continued on toward the saddle between Hoosier Ridge and Red Mountain. We intended to climb Red Mountain until we thought better of it.
Red Mountain's cornice convinced us to leave this peak for another day
We reascended Hoosier Ridge's summit and continued along the Continental Divide. A shooting star flashed by as we retraced our footsteps.
The moon provided enough light that we didn't need our headlamps until we were in the trees, about 1/3 mile from the trailhead. Happily, the snow had hardened considerably in the cool night air, so postholing was very infrequent now. Back at Hoosier Pass, we jumped into our sleeping bags for a few hours of sleep before driving home.
Even though we'd hoped for two summits, the trip was still a success, especially with Hoosier Ridge being Randy's 200th ranked 13er. We may try another night climb sometime.
Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):
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