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RT~5.5 miles
~2300‘ elevaton gain
A leisurely 6 hours (including almost an hour on the summit)
October is such a great time of year to hike. A beautiful cool and clear day and no need to worry about afternoon weather.
Blue Lakes TH had only 2 other cars in the parking lot at 8:45am when we got started on the trail. The easy beginning leads away from the lake.
We decided to take an alternative route that consisted of a fun rock scramble to gain the ridge instead of staying next to the river. This was a FUN class 2+ scramble possibly with 1 or 2 class 3 moves. I would recomend this way to everyone.
Once we gained the ridge, it was an easy stroll over to the Fletcher/Quandry saddle.
As quoted in Summitpost, we took "ye old boulder hop" across the flat saddle.
The final 500+ feet pitch to the summit was steep. There‘s really no trail, so we stayed just below the ridge crest and switchbacked up to the summit. I coined the new term "talus mess" climbing the final pitch.
The rigid cliffs beautifully framed the Sawatch range.
The view from the summit was INCREDIBLE!! We had the entire mountain to ourselves, unlike our crowded neighbor Quandry to the east.
The Sawatch range.
Pyramid and the Bells.
Our summit poses.
The decent was slow because of all the loose talus. We followed the "standard route" down, but there wasn‘t much of a trail. There was some fun scrambling down this way also.
It was a great day. This is a worthwhile mountain falling only 49 feet short of the magical 14k mark. In my opinion, the view was WAY better than from the top of Quandry, only a mile away.
Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):
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