There has been a lot of recent focus on some of the alternate routes up Little Bear, as understandably, nobody is fired up to negotiate the notorious Hourglass gully. I have been no exception. In the past few years, especially since last September when I climbed Capitol Peak, I viewed Little Bear as perhaps my most challenging remaining task in terms of doing all of the 14ers, one that I’d want to do sooner rather than later, and tried to come up with a plan as to how to get it done.

Of course in my research the Hourglass sounded abhorrent to me but I quickly ruled out other options. I don’t have the experience to do it as a snow climb. As for the ridge routes, they just seemed too long and tedious (for me) and too much elevation gain in one day. I’ve accepted in recent years that personally, anything much over 4500 feet really needs to be split up into two days for it to work. So, risky as the Hourglass seemed, deep down, I knew that would probably be the only way that I’d be able to summit Little Bear. So this trip report covers the standard route up & down the Hourglass, with hopefully a bit of encouragement. I’m not here to say that it’s not as bad as people say, because it kind of is. However with a solid team in place and a sound plan, the risk can be managed.

Toward the end of 2020, Mark Spinner reached out to me on 14ers.com on a potential plan to try to get together for a Sangre peak or two in the summer of 2021 as we both had similar goals and similar peak lists. After some back and forth we agreed on a Lake Como trip, with the focus and top priority being a Little Bear summit via the standard route. We met up in the spring for a quick hike and talked logistics, agreeing on late August (after schools started up) and during the week (for obvious reasons). We also were on the same page about the seriousness of the Hourglass, a super early start, and the humility to turn back if the mountain seemed too crowded. To minimize this, we chose Monday, August 23 as a summit day. Keith Meyer joined us and the previous Sunday, we set off for Lake Como to camp.

With my 2018 Jeep Cherokee I lost the nerve to keep driving about 2.4 miles up the road, leaving us with about a 5 mile hike to the lake.

The hike to the lake was hot but we were all thankful to be blessed with a weather forecast with no rain in it.

I had hiked to Willow Lake a month prior and in comparison my pace here was slower, probably due to more sun exposure. But it was nice to reach Lake Como with plenty of daylight to spare.

Mark and Keith talked to a few others who were camping and attempting Little Bear, and everyone seemed to be planning to start at 5 AM like we were. So we decided as a group, let’s try to audible to 4:30. I believe I slept about 2 hours, was very excited about that because I’m always thankful just to get any sleep and by about 4:45, we were off and running.

I wasn’t overly enthusiastic to climb the first gully completely in the dark as I’d never done anything other than trail hiking in the dark. We knew it was necessary though to keep the risk of climbers above us in the Hourglass at a minimum. The moon was full that night, and I actually appreciated not being able to see in great detail what we were climbing up. It kind of helped direct me to focus on the task of getting up that thing. I did slow us down a bit (a fast 700 feet is just a lot right out of the gate in the morning) and I did have concern that a couple of groups of 2 did pass us up in the dark. However, we still reached the notch at 6 AM and this is the view you want at the top – still dark.

The traverse below the ridge was uneventful other than the surprising image of clouds attempting to develop so early in the morning.

One thing that I found very helpful to our group’s safety was that from this point forward, Keith (who seemed to be moving the fastest) offered to be the “scout”, generally being up ahead, and providing a visual on the progress of the groups that had passed us. With this dynamic, we always knew as a group where the other parties were (generally speaking).

Which is really the only “safe” way to climb the Hourglass. You definitely do not want to be climbing up it blind, with no idea of who is above you or where they might be. When we reached the Hourglass, we were fully aware that anyone who passed us was up and out of it already, leaving just a solo climber descending (who probably left before we did)

Once in the Hourglass, at 7 AM, the strategy was simple, with Keith completing sections first, stopping, visualizing above, and waiting for Mark & me to come up.

And of course, as the trailers, Mark & I could constantly monitor if anyone was behind us. Keith inspected the rope and anchor, and gave it a passing grade. The section at the bottom (just out of reach of the rope) seemed the most challenging.

It is this steep, and even in dry conditions there was still water trickling down. My mind went to the east gully of the Needle in comparison but the Hourglass is much steeper in my opinion. Some sections were comparable, but other parts (including most of the terrain near and just below the rope) were steeper, sheerer, with more challenges to find holds, and more consequence of a fall, than anything that Crestone Needle offers.

This is why it’s imperative to be aware of who might be above and plan accordingly. Encountering a falling rock while committed in one of these sections would be very bad. Lots of loose rock in the upper sections too.

But it is possible to mitigate the risk. Be early, be fast, communicate and be aware, and make safe decisions. We were thankful to be up there on a day with so few others on the peak. Had there been more people up there (passing us up in that initial gully) I was ready and willing to stop and wait, (and not summit) since I was holding up our group just a bit. Everyone in our group was willing to turn back and try again on Tuesday had we encountered a crowd of the nature that would have made it difficult to monitor who was above or below in the Hourglass. It’s not possible to eliminate the risk up there. But it is definitely possible to reduce it, and sort of get it out of your head. I think our group was able to accomplish that.

On the ascent we chose to head to the right after the anchor (as the route description indicates, you can go left or right). In hindsight there was some very steep climbing in here, almost to the point of, how in the world will I climb down this.

It would have been better to go left – it’s more travelled, better cairned, probably less loose rock, and we opted for that on the descent. More direct line back to the anchor too. Left is best. Our group unanimously agreed on that.

8:10 AM was the earliest I’d ever reached a 14er summit, and this record would not even last a full day as I’d reach Ellingwood Point summit at 7:30 AM the following morning.

It was strange to see clouds like this so early in the morning.

We could see west but had zero visibility toward Blanca or the connecting ridge. I’ve been partially or fully socked in on just three 14er summits – and they’ve all been in the Sangres!

So this was not a “sit on the summit and soak in the view for an hour” routine. The view was frankly, not that great.

That early in the AM the weather wasn’t going to develop but we also knew the Hourglass descent loomed and continued to take a businesslike approach. We watched a twosome descend off the summit and gave them some leeway before heading down ourselves.

Again, we descended to the right off the summit (which would be left of the rope anchor if ascending) and found this to be very straightforward back to the anchor. The rope was very helpful on the descent.

Downclimbing the section with the rope was challenging, more so than anything I’ve done and the coaching offered by Keith especially was helpful.

Footholds were tough to locate just below the roped section and it was good to observe each other.

I know there are times I tempt myself with thinking “I’ve got the experience to go solo on this” but on Little Bear I was very happy to be in a group and more specifically, in a group of 3. I’m fine on a Class 2 peak by myself but Little Bear seems well suited for a team approach. As a solo climber I’d never be able to manage things like “is anyone above me in the Hourglass” on my own. With a team it’s easier.

Also it seemed like we communicated very well at all points during the “high risk” situation in the Hourglass. Sometimes I think we all have the tendency to get focused on the grunt work of the task at hand and assume “everyone else in the group is OK” but on Little Bear constant communication served us well. As a group we were spread out which expanded our field of vision but we were in constant communication with “no one above” or “climber below” or “I’m stopped, you can proceed” or “put your left foot there”. We worked really well as a team and it seemed like a group of 3 was a perfect fit to minimize the risk of Little Bear and especially the Hourglass.

That “first gully” was substantially less pleasant to descend in daylight than it had been to ascend in the dark. I had no idea that it was this loose under the moonlight. Also funny how I have no memory of being bothered by climbing over the talus pile on the ascent, yet on the descent, I was wondering why can’t I just go around this thing.

Still, we were back to Lake Como before noon and what a beautiful sight.

Once back to the campsite, staying another full day for Blanca / Ellingwood, provided a solid 9 hours to hang out at the lake and observe the mountain we had just climbed, a view I never did tire of on that day.

God makes all things possible but a big part of that equation was working together as a team. I know there are some reading this with the thought, “that Hourglass, I just can’t, there’s got to be another way”. I know that there’s a lot of discomfort with the pure randomness of rockfall and there was for us too. We were in the Hourglass for a good 2 hours and that is a fair amount of time. Again, the risk cannot be eliminated or ignored. But with thoughtful planning, caring teamwork and persistent communication and observation, along with a willingness to turn back at any point, I do believe that it’s possible to reduce the risk of this climb to an acceptable level, for our individual perspectives.

I’ve been at this since 2010 and until very recently, I never seriously figured I’d climb Little Bear so I’ll always be grateful for the team of Mark & Keith, and how the day turned out.