Blanca Peak Trip Report 05/07/2011

Report Type	Full
Peak(s)	Blanca Peak - 14,350 feet
Date Posted	05/07/2011
Modified	09/10/2017
Date Climbed	05/05/2011
Author	Rastaman566

Cinco de Blanca
Blanca Peak 14,345' May 4-5, 2011 Route: Lake Como-Northwest Ridge Distance: 16 Miles Elevation Gain: 6,373' Solo Distance: Vehicle to Camp: Near Lake Como, 5.4 Miles Camp to Summit: 2.5 Miles Time: Vehicle to Camp: 4.5 hrs Camp to Summit: 5.5 hrs Summit to Vehicle: 5 hrs Means: 7,972'-11,770' Foot 11,770'-12,800' Snowshoes 12,800-14,345' Crampons It took me all of two weeks preceding cinco de mayo to finally decide how I wanted to spend my 2 consecutive days off of work, since they haven't come around very often lately. After many flip-flops on 14ers, I finally decided that Blanca looked to be about the perfect place for those two days. The weather turned out to be just as great as the forecast suggested, and the early morning snow was perfect for the climb I was looking for. Let just say I wasn't disappointed in the least bit. I left Colorado Springs around 8am on Wednesday morning on a beautiful day in Colorado. The Spanish Peaks caught my attention as I headed south and I got even more excited for my first trip to the Sangre de Cristo range. Spanish Peaks South of Pueblo my heart sank when I realized that I forgot to pack my snow pants, or any kind of hiking pants for that matter, so I opted to stop in Walsenburg and pick up a pair instead of driving all the way back to the Springs. As I drove through town I quickly realized there was little hope in finding any snow pants. The only store that looked slightly promising was April's Attic on mainstreet, and even that looked like an antique store when I walked in. The owner, April, was a nice young woman that assured me that her store was the only store in town that carried any men's clothing. The only thing that even resembled what I was looking for was a pair Women's Size 16 Sportina(?) snowpants. April said "they are $9", I said "sold". Turns out, you get what you pay for! More on that later. Anyway, they fit me fine, just a little wide in the hips. Womens Size 16, made for birthing hips! Once I got to the little town of Blanca, I stopped at a store called Hit-R-Mis run by a Native American man named Bill. Hit-R-Mis When he found out my plans to climb Blanca, we both stood outside of his store looking up at the majestic peaks in awe. He told me a story about how Mt. Blanca became one of the four sacred peaks to the Navajo Indians. After hearing this about Mt. Blanca, I felt like my trip became much more important. I asked Bill if the Natives take any disrespect from climbers summitting Blanca peak and he assured me that they don't. This made me feel much more at ease during me ascent. Since this was my first trip to the area, I had to stop at the Great Sand Dunes and summit High Dune and Star Dune. I got a great view of the Crestones and Blanca Massif from Star Dune. Crestones Blanca Massif On my way back to Como Lake Road I even got to see some wildlife. This was turning out to be quite a good trip. Mule Deer When I got to the TH, I actually met a guy coming down that had just summitted Blanca. He ensured me that snowshoes would be a good option, as he had none, and that there were large cornices on the Blanca ridge. This worried me, especially because he told me that Class 3-4 moves were required to get around them. I'll just have to find out when I get up there. I've heard negative things about this TH, and after experiencing it I can only confirm how crappy it is. Maybe I'm a little bit too nervous when it comes to driving my vehicle over large rocks, but holy shit! I decided to park short of 8,000' in fear that I wasn't going to make it out with my Element unscathed. This made for a long hike up to Lake Como (5.4 miles), half of which I spent hiking in the dark. Next time I'm at this TH, I'll bring a mtn bike. Near the turnoff. It can't be that bad, right? There's a positive and negative involved with hiking into camp at dark in an area that you're not familiar with. Negative: If shelters aren't near the trail, you end up setting up camp (a bivy sack in my case) and having a very cold night. You may even find out, like I did, that you set up your bivy about 50 meters away from a shelter. That was stupid! Marmot Alpinist Bivy aka da shit Positive: Since you can't see where you're setting up, the next morning you get to be surprised with the beauty that surrounds you. Camp Having never done Little Bear, and therefore never spent any time researching the route, I'm not really sure if this is the correct gully that puts you on the south side of the mtn near the hourglass or not. Anyway, if that's the correct gully, this is what it looked like 5/5. Little Bear Gully leading to the Ridge? And a look back near Crater Lake. The view of Alamosa at night was pretty cool Actually, it's more of a look forward since I chose to take all my pictures after I summitted, but I'm presenting it as if they were taken before. I left camp a little after 4:30 and started making my way up. As you can see from my topo, some of my ascent wasn't very practical because it was still dark until Crater Lake. I was glad that I brought snowshoes for this portion of the trip. Snow wasn't too deep, but it looked like the guy that went up before me w/o them post-holed from 4-6'', and in some spots a foot. When I talked to him the previous day near the TH, he warned me that his route wasn't very good either, so I ended up creating my own route almost exclusively after 12,000'. Btw, I'd hold out on switching to crampons until the lip around 13,200'. And then those $9 snow pants came back to haunt me! I was practicing my french technique when my upper foot slipped on some loose snow. The foot came down and grazed the opposite pant leg, and that's all it took. When that spike caught the fabric of my $9 snow pants, it was all over but the crying. Before Fortunately, I always duct-tape. As good as new! After As I worked my way up, I also shot for more of a direct line to ridge north of Blanca. Since the hiker, the day before, warned me of cornices on the ridge about 300' from the summit, my plan was to bypass that section by approaching the ridge about 150' from the summit. I ended up hitting ridge about 200' short of summit but I wasn't in the clear yet. Still plenty of cornices to bypass. If one of those bad boys let loose, it'd be certain death on the east side of the ridge. Watch out! Bypassing wasn't as bad as the previous days' hiker had me believing it would be. It definitely wasn't any class 4 moves, but there were some sketch spots that had me worried. At one point, I was forced to cross right of a portion of ridge with a cornice. My solution was to keep one ass cheek on the ridge and the opposite foot on the windward, safe-side. The ridge actually turned out to be a lot of fun! I would have liked a longer stretch of ridge just like that, but the summit came up too fast. Little Bear Ellingwood The way down was pretty uneventful besides how wet and slippery the top layer of snow was getting. It was so warm that I thought I'd be seeing some wet slides, but none. When I got back to Crater Lake around 11:00, some guys were headed up to hit Ellingwood and Blanca. I warned them of the warm snow pack and wished them safe travels. They also had Little Bear in mind for the next morning. I'm curious to hear how that turned out for them. My GPS Tracks on Google Maps (made from a .GPX file upload): Login required to view this map... Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Cinco de Blanca

Blanca Peak 14,345'
May 4-5, 2011
Route: Lake Como-Northwest Ridge
Distance: 16 Miles
Elevation Gain: 6,373'
Solo

Distance:
Vehicle to Camp: Near Lake Como, 5.4 Miles
Camp to Summit: 2.5 Miles

Time:
Vehicle to Camp: 4.5 hrs
Camp to Summit: 5.5 hrs
Summit to Vehicle: 5 hrs

Means:
7,972'-11,770' Foot
11,770'-12,800' Snowshoes
12,800-14,345' Crampons

It took me all of two weeks preceding cinco de mayo to finally decide how I wanted to spend my 2 consecutive days off of work, since they haven't come around very often lately. After many flip-flops on 14ers, I finally decided that Blanca looked to be about the perfect place for those two days. The weather turned out to be just as great as the forecast suggested, and the early morning snow was perfect for the climb I was looking for. Let just say I wasn't disappointed in the least bit.

I left Colorado Springs around 8am on Wednesday morning on a beautiful day in Colorado. The Spanish Peaks caught my attention as I headed south and I got even more excited for my first trip to the Sangre de Cristo range.

South of Pueblo my heart sank when I realized that I forgot to pack my snow pants, or any kind of hiking pants for that matter, so I opted to stop in Walsenburg and pick up a pair instead of driving all the way back to the Springs. As I drove through town I quickly realized there was little hope in finding any snow pants. The only store that looked slightly promising was April's Attic on mainstreet, and even that looked like an antique store when I walked in. The owner, April, was a nice young woman that assured me that her store was the only store in town that carried any men's clothing. The only thing that even resembled what I was looking for was a pair Women's Size 16 Sportina(?) snowpants. April said "they are $9", I said "sold". Turns out, you get what you pay for! More on that later. Anyway, they fit me fine, just a little wide in the hips.

Once I got to the little town of Blanca, I stopped at a store called Hit-R-Mis run by a Native American man named Bill.

When he found out my plans to climb Blanca, we both stood outside of his store looking up at the majestic peaks in awe. He told me a story about how Mt. Blanca became one of the four sacred peaks to the Navajo Indians. After hearing this about Mt. Blanca, I felt like my trip became much more important. I asked Bill if the Natives take any disrespect from climbers summitting Blanca peak and he assured me that they don't. This made me feel much more at ease during me ascent.

Since this was my first trip to the area, I had to stop at the Great Sand Dunes and summit High Dune and Star Dune. I got a great view of the Crestones and Blanca Massif from Star Dune.

On my way back to Como Lake Road I even got to see some wildlife. This was turning out to be quite a good trip.

When I got to the TH, I actually met a guy coming down that had just summitted Blanca. He ensured me that snowshoes would be a good option, as he had none, and that there were large cornices on the Blanca ridge. This worried me, especially because he told me that Class 3-4 moves were required to get around them. I'll just have to find out when I get up there.

I've heard negative things about this TH, and after experiencing it I can only confirm how crappy it is. Maybe I'm a little bit too nervous when it comes to driving my vehicle over large rocks, but holy shit! I decided to park short of 8,000' in fear that I wasn't going to make it out with my Element unscathed. This made for a long hike up to Lake Como (5.4 miles), half of which I spent hiking in the dark. Next time I'm at this TH, I'll bring a mtn bike.

Near the turnoff. It can't be that bad, right?

There's a positive and negative involved with hiking into camp at dark in an area that you're not familiar with.

Negative: If shelters aren't near the trail, you end up setting up camp (a bivy sack in my case) and having a very cold night. You may even find out, like I did, that you set up your bivy about 50 meters away from a shelter. That was stupid!

Positive: Since you can't see where you're setting up, the next morning you get to be surprised with the beauty that surrounds you.

Having never done Little Bear, and therefore never spent any time researching the route, I'm not really sure if this is the correct gully that puts you on the south side of the mtn near the hourglass or not. Anyway, if that's the correct gully, this is what it looked like 5/5.

And a look back near Crater Lake.

The view of Alamosa at night was pretty cool

Actually, it's more of a look forward since I chose to take all my pictures after I summitted, but I'm presenting it as if they were taken before.

I left camp a little after 4:30 and started making my way up. As you can see from my topo, some of my ascent wasn't very practical because it was still dark until Crater Lake. I was glad that I brought snowshoes for this portion of the trip. Snow wasn't too deep, but it looked like the guy that went up before me w/o them post-holed from 4-6'', and in some spots a foot. When I talked to him the previous day near the TH, he warned me that his route wasn't very good either, so I ended up creating my own route almost exclusively after 12,000'. Btw, I'd hold out on switching to crampons until the lip around 13,200'.

And then those $9 snow pants came back to haunt me! I was practicing my french technique when my upper foot slipped on some loose snow. The foot came down and grazed the opposite pant leg, and that's all it took. When that spike caught the fabric of my $9 snow pants, it was all over but the crying.

Fortunately, I always duct-tape. As good as new!

As I worked my way up, I also shot for more of a direct line to ridge north of Blanca. Since the hiker, the day before, warned me of cornices on the ridge about 300' from the summit, my plan was to bypass that section by approaching the ridge about 150' from the summit. I ended up hitting ridge about 200' short of summit but I wasn't in the clear yet. Still plenty of cornices to bypass. If one of those bad boys let loose, it'd be certain death on the east side of the ridge.

Bypassing wasn't as bad as the previous days' hiker had me believing it would be. It definitely wasn't any class 4 moves, but there were some sketch spots that had me worried. At one point, I was forced to cross right of a portion of ridge with a cornice. My solution was to keep one ass cheek on the ridge and the opposite foot on the windward, safe-side.

The ridge actually turned out to be a lot of fun! I would have liked a longer stretch of ridge just like that, but the summit came up too fast.

The way down was pretty uneventful besides how wet and slippery the top layer of snow was getting. It was so warm that I thought I'd be seeing some wet slides, but none. When I got back to Crater Lake around 11:00, some guys were headed up to hit Ellingwood and Blanca. I warned them of the warm snow pack and wished them safe travels. They also had Little Bear in mind for the next morning. I'm curious to hear how that turned out for them.

My GPS Tracks on Google Maps (made from a .GPX file upload):

Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Comments or Questions

jameseroni	Nice 5/7/2011 6:57pm Way to get it done. That looks like a heck of a route to do Solo. What'd the temp drop to over night, how far up can you ride on a mountain bike?
wooderson	Good read 5/8/2011 2:39am Sounds like a great adventure, and your write-up was a pleasure to read. You really did a number on those $9 snow pants! But a hell of a repair job, too. Thanks for posting, and congrats on what must have been a tough solo climb!
jimmtman	Great job 5/8/2011 2:54am Beautiful photos! I was thinking about going to this group in June and do the LB-Blanca traverse but looks like a lot of snow still. I may have to wait until later in the season.
Rastaman566	Thanks 5/8/2011 4:17am I imagine riding up that road on a mtn bike wouldn't be any more difficult than riding up the beginning switchbacks in route to Pikes Peak. It's going to be less grade than Barr Trail but more obstacles with those large boulders. So I think it could be done from the turn-off all the way to Como Lake; although, it would be quite the work-out. It dropped about 5 degrees below freezing at night (elev. 11,800). With the sleeping bag and the bivy, I only woke up about once an hour in a violent shiver. That shelter really wouldn't have helped that much because there wasn't very much wind. I appreciate the kind words! It's an amazing spot on earth.
pioletski	Well done! 5/8/2011 7:34pm Good job, duct tape and all. Looks like you picked a perfect day. I'm seeing a lot of snow in some of your pictures, like at the summit. Would you say there is continuous snow from the summit down to the basin (i.e., is it skiable)?
Rastaman566	Ski Descent 5/9/2011 2:30am I did not see a continuous line from summit down to the basin, and I was looking for one too. Even if you got extra creative, you'd have to take off skis or snowboard for at least 25% of the descent. My photos actually make it look like there was more snow than there actually was.
JohnK	Good pics 5/9/2011 9:38pm Thanks for posting.. I'm heading up there end of the month. Ridge looked fun.
Johnson	At Least.... 6/2/2011 2:57pm they were only 9 bucks! It's possible you could have had to do some duct tape repair on $200 pants! Sweet bivy and great report. Congratulations on this one!

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