Mt. Bierstadt Trip Report 06/01/2024

Report Type	Full
Peak(s)	Mt. Bierstadt - 14,066 feet Mt. Blue Sky - 14,268 feet Mt. Spalding - 13,863 feet
Date Posted	06/01/2024
Date Climbed	05/31/2024
Author	Lubellski

Sawtooth Traverse
I'd been eyeballing the Sawtooth Traverse for some time, eagerly awaiting the opening of Guanella Pass. Yeah yeah, I didn't want to walk up the road from the gate (coming from the FairPlay side, I live in Salida). I'd scoured the dot com and YouTube reading trip reports and watching videos, preparing as best I could. At this point I had done 37 14ers but not Bierstadt or Blue Sky. I wanted to do them before the entire Front Range showed up on Bierstadt. I got to GP around 730am and was on the trail up Bierstadt by about 745am. There was patchy snow almost immediately, still firm but with much evidence of afternoon potholing. The hike up Bierstadt was straightforward and easy, maybe a dozen other people on the mountain, several coming down already so they must have started very early. It was pretty cold and windy on the top, so I did not linger to make a route assessment headed off the north side and onto the start of the ridge. There was still a lot of snow, and it is quite steep up top. At only about 915am, it had already warmed quite a bit in the morning sun and was pretty sloppy. I did my best to get onto the rocky ridge which provided much better footing. Coyotes were yipping from the Abyss Lake basin, very cool. And not surprisingly, nobody was around. I did see sporadic boot track from someone that must have done the route within the last week or so. After reaching what many others described as the first crux, the very prominent gendarme, I took a moment to pick a line and put on my helmet. I found the granite to be very solid with many good hand holds.I chose to go, more or less, straight up as opposed to off to the right. This worked out well as it shot me out in the perfect spot to cut onto the climbers left and into the meat of the route. I found that part of the climb to be very fun, with great views back to Bierstadt where I could see my line. Things got much more interesting as I started route finding on the west side of the Sawtooth. It was still very shaded, with a lot of snow that was all very firm and icy. I found an occasional carin but figured most of those were made in conditions with less snow. It was still a good confidence builder that my route finding waste totally off base. I had to recalculate several times, backtrack, and choose better. I finally reached what, to me, was absolutely the crux of the route. It was a steep snow field, maybe only 50 feet long, but in my estimation the wind loading, freeze and thaw, had built it to at least a 50 percent angle. The runout led to a cliff, and this area in the summer would have been just steep scree. I was hoping for a band of rock I could use to cross, but there was none. I could see a carin on the other side, and I could see the ridge that would take me out of the traverse. It all looked so close. Most of us have probably heard of a phenomenon called "bending the map". We mentally create a picture of the world to conform to our beliefs instead of recognizing it for what it is. I only had micro spikes, and the slope CLEARLY called for crampons. Bending the map happens a lot when people are in trouble, lost. They think "oh the road is just over that hill" and start making irrational decisions, becoming even more lost. I considered turning around, but convinced myself that the way back up to Bierstadt was worse than just making this crossing. I bent the map. Had I not had an axe, I would have turned around for sure. But I'd sure wished I had two tools AND crampons. With crampons I think one tool would have been sufficient. Anyhow, I slowly made my way across the slope while kicking in maybe 1.5" wide steps. My ice axe plunge felt very secure which gave me just enough confidence to continue. After what seemed like ages but was probably only 10 minutes, I reached solid rock on the other side. The remainder of the ridge was nice and easy. The exposure was legit, but the ridge was wide. The traverse took me about 3 hours, very slow going. After exiting the Sawtooth, it took about 1.5 hours to reach Blue Sky (also going over West Blue Sky). I quickly repacked my gear and headed back over WBS, as I also wanted to tag on Spalding (quick and easy). The snow was still holding my weight remarkably well at this point and my snowshoes remained on my back. However, once I entered the gully to the SW of Spalding the snow turned to mashed potatoes.And it remained that way through the endless "Dead Marshes" back to the parking lot. Overall the day took 9 hours to cover about 11 miles. It was a great adventure that pushed me to the edge of my capabilities in the mountains. Excited to keep learning and progressing my skills to take advantage of this incredible state. Please don't judge me for not having crampons. We all have different risk tolerances and we all approach the mountains differently. And all of us make mistakes, which not bringing my crampons definitely was on this day. Thanks for reading, feel free to ask questions! Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Sawtooth Traverse

I'd been eyeballing the Sawtooth Traverse for some time, eagerly awaiting the opening of Guanella Pass. Yeah yeah, I didn't want to walk up the road from the gate (coming from the FairPlay side, I live in Salida). I'd scoured the dot com and YouTube reading trip reports and watching videos, preparing as best I could. At this point I had done 37 14ers but not Bierstadt or Blue Sky. I wanted to do them before the entire Front Range showed up on Bierstadt.

I got to GP around 730am and was on the trail up Bierstadt by about 745am. There was patchy snow almost immediately, still firm but with much evidence of afternoon potholing. The hike up Bierstadt was straightforward and easy, maybe a dozen other people on the mountain, several coming down already so they must have started very early. It was pretty cold and windy on the top, so I did not linger to make a route assessment headed off the north side and onto the start of the ridge. There was still a lot of snow, and it is quite steep up top. At only about 915am, it had already warmed quite a bit in the morning sun and was pretty sloppy. I did my best to get onto the rocky ridge which provided much better footing. Coyotes were yipping from the Abyss Lake basin, very cool. And not surprisingly, nobody was around. I did see sporadic boot track from someone that must have done the route within the last week or so.

After reaching what many others described as the first crux, the very prominent gendarme, I took a moment to pick a line and put on my helmet. I found the granite to be very solid with many good hand holds.I chose to go, more or less, straight up as opposed to off to the right. This worked out well as it shot me out in the perfect spot to cut onto the climbers left and into the meat of the route. I found that part of the climb to be very fun, with great views back to Bierstadt where I could see my line.

Things got much more interesting as I started route finding on the west side of the Sawtooth. It was still very shaded, with a lot of snow that was all very firm and icy. I found an occasional carin but figured most of those were made in conditions with less snow. It was still a good confidence builder that my route finding waste totally off base. I had to recalculate several times, backtrack, and choose better. I finally reached what, to me, was absolutely the crux of the route. It was a steep snow field, maybe only 50 feet long, but in my estimation the wind loading, freeze and thaw, had built it to at least a 50 percent angle. The runout led to a cliff, and this area in the summer would have been just steep scree. I was hoping for a band of rock I could use to cross, but there was none. I could see a carin on the other side, and I could see the ridge that would take me out of the traverse. It all looked so close.

Most of us have probably heard of a phenomenon called "bending the map". We mentally create a picture of the world to conform to our beliefs instead of recognizing it for what it is. I only had micro spikes, and the slope CLEARLY called for crampons. Bending the map happens a lot when people are in trouble, lost. They think "oh the road is just over that hill" and start making irrational decisions, becoming even more lost. I considered turning around, but convinced myself that the way back up to Bierstadt was worse than just making this crossing. I bent the map. Had I not had an axe, I would have turned around for sure. But I'd sure wished I had two tools AND crampons. With crampons I think one tool would have been sufficient.

Anyhow, I slowly made my way across the slope while kicking in maybe 1.5" wide steps. My ice axe plunge felt very secure which gave me just enough confidence to continue. After what seemed like ages but was probably only 10 minutes, I reached solid rock on the other side. The remainder of the ridge was nice and easy. The exposure was legit, but the ridge was wide. The traverse took me about 3 hours, very slow going.

After exiting the Sawtooth, it took about 1.5 hours to reach Blue Sky (also going over West Blue Sky). I quickly repacked my gear and headed back over WBS, as I also wanted to tag on Spalding (quick and easy). The snow was still holding my weight remarkably well at this point and my snowshoes remained on my back. However, once I entered the gully to the SW of Spalding the snow turned to mashed potatoes.And it remained that way through the endless "Dead Marshes" back to the parking lot.

Overall the day took 9 hours to cover about 11 miles. It was a great adventure that pushed me to the edge of my capabilities in the mountains. Excited to keep learning and progressing my skills to take advantage of this incredible state. Please don't judge me for not having crampons. We all have different risk tolerances and we all approach the mountains differently. And all of us make mistakes, which not bringing my crampons definitely was on this day. Thanks for reading, feel free to ask questions!

Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Comments or Questions

Jay521	Nice! 6/2/2024 7:54am I assume the 5th and 6th pictures are of the crux you spoke of? Bet that got your heart rate up, eh?
BillMiddlebrook	Steep snow 6/4/2024 6:09am Ah, now I see how you got into such steep snow on the west side of the Sawtooth. Instead of crossing to the west side at the normal notch, it looks like you went up the next gendarme and then went left, putting you in much steeper terrain. Your tracks in photos 5 and 6 show a very high line. If you look closely, you can see some faint tracks below - closer to the normal traverse line. Spicy!

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