Mt. of the Holy Cross Trip Report 07/04/2006

Report Type	Full
Peak(s)	Mt. of the Holy Cross - 14,007 feet
Date Posted	07/04/2006
Date Climbed	07/01/2006
Author	ceadda

Mt of the Holy Cross - Standard route
I thought what a better way to officially kick off Hike for Hope than to start on a mountain with a cross. Hike for Hope is about raising money to help the orphan children of the world. (www.hike-for-hope.com) The cross is a symbol of HOPE and it seemed an appropriate mountain to climb. freeze and I went in on Friday night. To get to the Mt. of the Holy Cross wilderness you first have to ascend to the top of Half Moon Pass. At Half Moon Pass, we were at 11,500 feet. We decided to camp just on the other side of Half Moon Pass because we did not want to carry all of our gear down into the valley. The valley floor is at 10,500 feet. We knew that after climbing Holy Cross the next day, we would not want to carry all of our camping gear back up to the top of Half Moon Pass. For those of you who are going to camp, consider this option. It saves a lot of weight on your way back up to the top of the pass. We pitched our tent at about 8:00 pm on Friday night and watched the sun go down behind the mountains. It was tremendous. After a couple of games of cribbage, Freeze and I attempted to go to sleep. I am embarrased to say that when I am having trouble sleeping...I SNORE BADLY! I was having trouble on Friday and ended up driving Freeze out of the tent at around midnight. He went and slept by the creek that comes off of the shoulder of Notch Mountain. We had set our alarm for 4:00 am, so we had did not get a great nights sleep. At 4:00 am, freeze made his way to our tent and woke me up. I was suprised to find that I had driven my friend out of the tent and felt kind of bad. But it was ok. By 4:20 am we were descending the very steep cliff trail to East Cross Creek (a 1000 feet below our camp) by headlamp. Fortunately, the trail is well marked, we had our trekking poles, and the descent came off without any problems. We then started up the other side of the valley (the beginning of our ascent) up to the Mount of the Holy Cross summit. When we were just about to treeline at around 11,700‘, the sun rose above Half Moon Pass. What a glorious site this was. A few minutes later, freeze and I got our first view of the summit from the trailhead. I was hiking much stronger than I was last week on Antero. I made sure that I stayed hydrated and had none of the problems with nausea and cramping that I did on Antero. We kept following the ridge up a talus slope toward a ridge we followed to about 13,400‘. From the ridge, we watched a waterfall in the valley below. It was so loud we could hear it on top of the mountain. Here is a picture looking back toward Half Moon Pass from half way up the Talus ridge. The last 600‘ is a pretty steep climb toward the summit. freeze and I went up the steep slope and summited at about 8:20 am. There route was free of any snow fields and was fairly easy. The wildflowers were absolutely gorgeous through the entire climb. Just because...here is a picture of a columbine I took. This was one of my favorite climbs. It was absolutely gorgeous and I thouroughly enjoyed myself. Thanks to freeze (as always) for his great friendship and for joining me on this climb. Here is one more picture. From half way down the pass toward East Cross Creek, you can see almost the entire route. Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Mt of the Holy Cross - Standard route

I thought what a better way to officially kick off Hike for Hope than to start on a mountain with a cross. Hike for Hope is about raising money to help the orphan children of the world. (www.hike-for-hope.com) The cross is a symbol of HOPE and it seemed an appropriate mountain to climb.

freeze and I went in on Friday night. To get to the Mt. of the Holy Cross wilderness you first have to ascend to the top of Half Moon Pass. At Half Moon Pass, we were at 11,500 feet. We decided to camp just on the other side of Half Moon Pass because we did not want to carry all of our gear down into the valley. The valley floor is at 10,500 feet. We knew that after climbing Holy Cross the next day, we would not want to carry all of our camping gear back up to the top of Half Moon Pass. For those of you who are going to camp, consider this option. It saves a lot of weight on your way back up to the top of the pass.

We pitched our tent at about 8:00 pm on Friday night and watched the sun go down behind the mountains. It was tremendous. After a couple of games of cribbage, Freeze and I attempted to go to sleep. I am embarrased to say that when I am having trouble sleeping...I SNORE BADLY! I was having trouble on Friday and ended up driving Freeze out of the tent at around midnight. He went and slept by the creek that comes off of the shoulder of Notch Mountain. We had set our alarm for 4:00 am, so we had did not get a great nights sleep.

At 4:00 am, freeze made his way to our tent and woke me up. I was suprised to find that I had driven my friend out of the tent and felt kind of bad. But it was ok. By 4:20 am we were descending the very steep cliff trail to East Cross Creek (a 1000 feet below our camp) by headlamp. Fortunately, the trail is well marked, we had our trekking poles, and the descent came off without any problems.

We then started up the other side of the valley (the beginning of our ascent) up to the Mount of the Holy Cross summit. When we were just about to treeline at around 11,700‘, the sun rose above Half Moon Pass. What a glorious site this was.

A few minutes later, freeze and I got our first view of the summit from the trailhead.

I was hiking much stronger than I was last week on Antero. I made sure that I stayed hydrated and had none of the problems with nausea and cramping that I did on Antero. We kept following the ridge up a talus slope toward a ridge we followed to about 13,400‘. From the ridge, we watched a waterfall in the valley below. It was so loud we could hear it on top of the mountain.

Here is a picture looking back toward Half Moon Pass from half way up the Talus ridge.

The last 600‘ is a pretty steep climb toward the summit. freeze and I went up the steep slope and summited at about 8:20 am.

There route was free of any snow fields and was fairly easy. The wildflowers were absolutely gorgeous through the entire climb. Just because...here is a picture of a columbine I took.

This was one of my favorite climbs. It was absolutely gorgeous and I thouroughly enjoyed myself. Thanks to freeze (as always) for his great friendship and for joining me on this climb.

Here is one more picture. From half way down the pass toward East Cross Creek, you can see almost the entire route.

Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

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