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For the longest time I was convinced that the SW Ridge up Little Bear would probably be the best bet for a summit climb that avoided the Hourglass. Then came along the trip report by CaptainSuburbia which changed my mind (https://www.14ers.com/php14ers/tripreport.php?trip=20799). In this report they ascend the West Ridge direct while bypassing the crux wall near the summit. This route had me stoked for the peak and I went to find a partner. I met Colin in a CMC class and we ended up making the trip down south on Thursday night.
We backpacked in to Lake Como for the night and got ready for our attempt in the morning.
Phot Credit: colin j
Disclaimer: all that is below is subjective to my own experience and perception. I'm sure that everyone who has done or seen what we saw today would say something different about the day. I just hope this helps with your planning.
We started up at 5:25am. We ascended the standard gully to the ridge, then the traverse to the base of the Hourglass. According to the report by CaptainSuburbia, the turnoff is around 13,200' . At this point you scramble up to the west ridge.
The route we took
The yellow arrow in the photo shows a flat topped scree field. This is where we ascended to the ridge. It was a class 3 scramble that had some loose bits.
Gaining the ridge (Class 3)
Once we gained the ridge and looked over the edge at the immense exposure, we knew the route's difficulties were about to begin. Our time on the ridge, however, was cut short due to a difficult move around 13,600'.
A difficult spot
We found this move on the ridge to be quite committing and risky. It maybe ran at either hard class 4 or low 5th class, but the commitment that the move would take is a lot. Also, because we were planning on descending this route we weren't sure how it would go. From the photo, the route kind of goes around the ledge-like feature on the right.
In the end, after much contemplation, we turned around at this move. The route goes no doubt, but we just didn't feel ready for this type of risk or commitment. I would recommend checking this route out if you feel more comfortable on this type of terrain, but we decided to play it safe and retreat. Kudos to all who have done this move.
One of the purposes of this trip was to document the entire route, but because that didn't happen, I can't testify for any of the terrain beyond this point. Oh well, what to do now? Because we were near the Hourglass entrance, we decided to go down and take a peek.
This photo shows some more of the terrain on the slope to the ridge.
Colin unscrambling the slope (get it?)
We reached the base of the Hourglass and took a quick break to see how we felt.
Base of the Hourglass
We decided to give it a shot and actually ended up summiting around 9:30am (the time includes the detour we made checking out the west ridge). Because there are a million reports on the Hourglass, I will just go quickly through it.
Climbing up
There was a good amount of water in there, but going to the left a bit, we were able to ascend without too much difficulty.
More Hourglass
Summit ridge
Photo Credit: colin j
Photo Credit: colin j
The summit was great and the descent wasn't bad either. We ended up waiting a while for a couple groups to ascend, but it was alright because weather was clear.
Photo Credit: colin j
The hike out was great and we felt good to have still summited despite our failed West Ridge attempt. I honestly don't feel like the Hourglass is as bad as it is made out to be. I know it entirely depends on the day and conditions, but by being super duper cautious of not knocking anything down, I thought is was enjoyable.
A huge thanks to Colin for joining me and to CaptainSuburbia for the initial route idea. You are and your squad are badasses.
Little Bear is a sweet peak and I'd like to repeat it someday. And maybe give that ridge another shot...
Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):
Thanks for inviting me; it was a real fun day in the mountains.
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