North Star Mountain - East Ridge

I recruited Nick to go along with me on a Colorado Snow Climb of North Star Mountain's East Ridge. This climb starts at the parking lot at the top of Hoosier Pass on Colorado Highway 9. There is a nice sledding hill just up from the parking lot.

We started out on the jeep road that circumscribes the first hill. I understand that part of this road might be private property, but it didn't appear that the mine owners are too interested in keeping people out. They are mostly concerned with people getting hurt on their property. I promise not to sue. There was one part of the road where the snow was particularly steep. Moving over this snow perpendicular to the slope was a delicate affair.

Once you reach the first saddle the mass of North Star confronts you. It is a fun slog up the slope on a huge snowfield. By the time Nick and I made it to the long ridge, we were quite tired. The weather was turning very windy and cold, so we decided to eat lunch and turn around.

On the return we encountered a few ski-mountaineers skinning up the mountain. It would have been fun to have my snowboard, but instead just snowshoed down. Nick did not use a balaclava so his face was quite wind-burned upon arrival back at the truck.

I must return to North Star Mountain again. I would feel safe climbing this mountain alone and the avalanche danger appears low.

Ice Climbing

I took an ice climbing class from Colorado Mountain School on March 1st and 2nd. The first day we learned the basics of ice climbing. We drove to the Big Thompson falls East of Estes Park about 9 miles on Highway 34. After crossing the river and a one mile steep hike you come to a nice but short frozen water fall. The keys to ice climbing are to stick the front points of your crampons into the ice with your feet level. Keep your heels down. Don't move your feet at all once placed. Placing the ice tool is a bit art and science. You should try to find a slight depression in the ice. Swing your tool with assertion to produce a satisfying "thunk". If the ice "dinner plates", don't pick a new spot thinking the ice is bad. Swing your tool in exactly the same spot. You have removed the loose ice, so the second swing should seat nicely.

As in rock climbing, you should keep three points on the ice at all times. Tying a figure-eight follow through with gloves on is a new experience. There were five in our class the first day and we had fun climbing various routes on the ice. One in particular was an ice column. We learned how strong even a small amount of ice is. We learned how to create an Abalacov anchor by drilling a "V" in the ice with an ice screw. You need a short piece of wire to push a sling thru the corner of the V. Once the sling is thru, you can pair it with a carabiner to create the anchor. It is often used on rappels since a minimum of equipment is left behind.

The second day it was just Christiaan and I in the class with Bill. We went up to Rocky Mountain National Park to practice some vertical ice. The approach this day was much longer and the weather was much colder. We took turns climbing two different routes. On vertical ice it is much more important to keep your feet still. Once you lose footing it is hard to kick around and find another spot. You must get used to leaning back off the ice trusting your ice tools. This allows you to see your feet and find the next spot to front point. When placing an ice screw, you might be tempted to angle the ice screw down as you screw to create an angle. Research shows that a slightly upward angle is stronger since it is the first few threads that hold the load. A downward angle could chip away at the ice at the front. Ice screws are around $60 a piece, so this sport is not cheap (unless compared to snowmobiling :-) )

Atlantic Peak

For my second snow climb from Dave Cooper's "Colorado Snow Climbs" book, I chose the first climb in the book: Atlantic Peak. The Atlantic Peak ascent is a ridge climb, so there is little avalanche danger. I was going alone, so I picked one of the easier routes in the book. I also wanted to grow in my skills and confidence before tackling the more challenging routes. This route proved to be just the ticket. Easy enough to feel safe, yet challenging enough to keep your attention.

To reach the trailhead from Denver, take I-70 to Copper Mountain. Take Highway 91 for 6.4 miles to a large plowed parking lot on the east side of the highway. I left the house at around 7:00 AM, and arrived at the trailhead at around 9:30 AM. Leaving earlier would have been better, both for snow conditions as well as avoiding the ski traffic rush up I-70. There were already quite a few vehicles in the parking lot, so I donned the snow shoes and started out. This area is popular with cross-country skiers, so etiquette instructs that you don't tear up their lanes with your cramponed snowshoes.

The approach to the ridge follows a four-wheel drive road for 1.1 miles. You then cut across the wide snow park and ascend up through the trees to reach the broad ridge at the bottom of Atlantic Peak. Check out the first photo which looks back on the approach. Crossing the park proved to be a little tedious due to the powdery snow on this mid-February day. My snow shoes are of slightly larger than average surface area, yet still sank in the snow for quite a ways. Ascending through the trees was a fun exploration with pockets of sinking snow. Once on the wide ridge, the going in snowshoes turns becomes a problem for your ankles more than a sinking issue. Even with my heel-raisers in place the ascent is a bit steep, pointing my toes upward past the comfort zone. Once I topped the rounded hill, I eschewed my snow shoes, stashed them where I could find them on the descent and proceeded on with my boots and poles.

After flattening out for a ways the ridge steepens and narrows. The climbing becomes mixed snow with some rocky sections requiring some low-end scrambling. You can see an example in the last photo. On February 16, 2008 the snow on this ridge was very hard-packed. The drop off on each side of the ridge is long and dangerous. I wished I had brought my crampons. Dave doesn't say they are required, but I advise you to bring them along just in case. I took slow and steady steps, making sure that each foot placement was solid as I proceeded along the ridge. Since my pace was slowed it took me a while to traverse the seemingly endless ascent. I didn't quite make it to the top of Atlantic Peak. My legs were not in prime condition and the hour was getting late, so I stopped for lunch. The middle photo shows the broad ridge to the right of the center. The ridge continues heading to the right in this photo. Atlantic Peak is the third summit which is not very pronounced in this picture. See if you can spot my snowshoe tracks up the broad side of the ridge.

You could see many skiers and snowshoers in Mayflower Gulch far below. I was the only one on this climb, but it was comforting to know that there were others around in case of emergency. Not sure how I would get their attention so far away! There were a group of people building an igloo in the park, and others exploring the old mines.

The descent was fun but uneventful. I tried glissading a couple of times, but the angle of the slope was too low. I think I will try this route again and attain the peak. It is safe enough to go alone when you can't find a partner: at least in my humble opinion. Take responsibility for yourself.

Grizzly Peak

Dave Cooper's Colorado Scrambles book has given me many enjoyable weekends in the Colorado mountains, so when his new book "Colorado Snow Climbs" came out I had to get it. The book is great. I decided to start out with one of the easiest climbs in the book: Grizzly Peak. This climb is relatively safe to do alone, so I felt reasonably safe.

The Grizzly Peak climb starts at the top of Loveland Pass. This route follows the ridge line so there is little avalanche danger and the wind packed snow requires no snow shoes. I took my ice ax and crampons, but used neither. My mountaineering boots and hiking poles were adequate. However, the book states that an ice ax is useful on the final ascent which I never reached.

The first section is a gentle climb to the Grizzly Peak ridge. It is a good cardio workout at altitude. Once I reached the ridge it became very windy. I had my balaclava on, but there was still a portion of my nose and cheeks exposed. As I started down the ridge to approach the second peak the wind was blowing me very hard. I was warm, so I continued on.

As I approached the intermediate peak on the ridge, the weather was turning bad. I decided to not push my luck all the way to Grizzly Peak and turned around. When I got back to the truck my nose and cheeks had some frost-bite. Still it was a very enjoyable early January climb. My first winter snow climb!

Mount Morrison

Just outside of Denver, Colorado near the Red Rocks Amphitheater is Mount Morrison. I joined Sean, Sam, and Mark on a climb of this close in mountain on 11/17/2007. I had not been out of the house since hunting season and I was really getting antsy.

This hike is good for late fall and winter. We decided to tackle it in order to keep our legs in shape for ski season. To get to the trail head simply take the Morrison exit off of C-470 and go to entrance 4 of Red Rocks. Immediately after the turn off there is roadside parking and the trail head is just across the road.

It turns out that the beginning and ending of this trail are quite steep. The middle section gives you a bit of a break on the angle of incline. The first photo looks back at the trail after the initial steep section. You come up to the point at the center-left of the photo then follow the ridge around. The second shows the trail ahead from the middle leg. You simply follow the ridge to the face of the peak.

As you follow the ridge you can see the Red Rocks Amphitheater below you at times as well as nice views of the city of Denver. As you approach the final ascent of the mount, the level is easily Class 2. I may return here soon to make this ascent more interesting with a bit of scrambling. Check out the nice scrambling rocks in the third photo.

There are many deer in this area so be sure to keep your eyes peeled. All in all a very nice hike. Not too exerting yet enough to satiate your climbing jones. Here's a nice view of the Red Rocks Amphitheater. I wonder if you could hear U2 sing "Sunday, Bloody Sunday" from up here?

Hunt 2007 - Part 3 of 3

After hunting exclusively in the towers area all week we decided to ride up the airport road and hunt around a basin. Plus after Friday's pack Dave and I didn't want much of a hike. After having a flat on Dave's trailer, we decided to take three pickups each with an atv in the back. This made us a bit late as we headed up the road. Last year I ran out of gas on this road, so I took along an extra gas can.

As we started getting into the pinions, Justin spotted some deer near the catch pond. We spotted a nice buck, but couldn't get off and get our rifle's in time. Dave and Justin headed out and spotted another little buck and took him. The buck traveled 10 yards up hill with a 6 inch hole in his side. Steve and I went farther up the road. Steve decided to walk down at the gulch where the other buck headed. I found a nice opening on the hill and decided to glass for awhile.

I spotted the deer in an upper meadow. I was hoping Steve would get a shot, but he didn't. Dave drove his atv right into the park where the deer were. If I could have shot from here, I wonder if I would miss.

Later we decided to go on up, even though it was midmorning. Steve and I went to the end of the road. He went down to overlook the meadows. I went up and across to overlook the far bench. I made it all the way to upper texas, but not to where D got his bull.

The forest ranger gave me a ticket for not having current stickers. Steve filled his buck tag with a nice 3pt. My atv made it back to the truck with plenty of gas to spare. Not sure what happened last year, though we did go across the top then.

Saturday night we cut up two hind quarters at camp and Sunday we broke camp and went back to town. I spent nine hours at Dave's cutting up meat.

Hunt 2007 - Best of 3

I took Tuesday night off from hunting to watch Dave's son Justin play in the pee-wee football superbowl. Wednesday Michelle and I built the rest of Millie's fence. Steve and Dave both had to work and Dalton had to return to Moab to sell his 4Runner.

Thursday it was only Dave and I hunting. I decided that it was high time I went up into the high bowl to get the bull I seen in there opening morning. Two young guys pulled a six point out of there opening morning. We followed two other guys up the towers trail. Every time we caught them they would take off ahead. Finally at Dalton's rock, I passed them as they stopped to watch the sunrise.

As I continued up, I heard some rustling in the trees. The hunt was on. Turned out to be just a bunch of beef cows in the high meadow.

As I topped the ridge and looked into the bowl I spotted two bulls sparring. Very cool. They were at least 600 yards away, so I decided to try to get closer. The bulls where whistling and bugling.

It took me an hour and a half to come down the hill, cross the oak brush and meadow. The willows and oak brush got so thick I was getting stuck with thorns and sticks. Finally I made it onto the boulder outcroppings above the high meadows. I knew those two bulls were here somewhere, likely bedded down as it was approaching noon. I found a nice bench and set up my backpack as a shooting bench and decided I would stay here all day if necessary. I even contemplated spending the night here. If I built a fire and used my space blanket it might be less than miserable overnight.

I was getting chilled sitting in the shade so I decided to find some sun and a different angle. It didn't take long before I spotted a nice bull lying up hill from the meadow where he was sparring with his buddy that morning. My blood was pumping, but he wasn't at all aware of me so I took my time and found a nice rock to take my shot. I dropped him in his bed with one shot! I was very happy.

I gathered my things and worked my way down to the meadow thru more oak brush and then up to his bed. By now the day was warm and I stripped down to shirtless to do t he dressing. I felt very wild there bare skinned with my knife covered in blood. A couple of hunters watched from the ridge below Indian Point as I finished skinning my bull. I didn't have a bone saw to quarter him, and the hour was late enough that I knew I wouldn't have time to return to this place from my atv today. So I skinned the elk head and removed it from the neck. I set off for the atv with antlers in hand. I would return tomorrow for the meat.

The trip back to Dalton's rock was an hour and a half of nasty bushwhacking thru thick oak brush. There is a reason not too many people hunt up here. I was getting tired by time I reached my atv at the towers.

I made it back to camp before Dave and Steve did. They had taken an evening hunt up the diagonal road to try and get a buck. We celebrated my successful hunt and decided to try and get the bull out via W Gulch rather than the towers trail. The next morning we left my atv at the end of gulch road and headed over to the towers trail. As we headed up the road we came upon a guy who had high-centered his 2WD truck in the ditch. We tried to get him out with Steve's truck but no luck. We were the first ones onto the trail, but we were way past sunrise. The hunt wasn't fruitful this morning. As we headed on up we found a better trail to my elk from Dalton's rock. If you stay a bit lower by skirting the bottom of the open parks the oak brush isn't quite as thick. It still didn't change our plan to head down into w gulch for the pack.

We loaded my pack with a hind quarter and the backstraps. Dave took the other hind and we put the front quarters in the tree. The trip down the gulch as a bitch. By far the worst pack ever. The vertical is brutal for quite a ways as soon as you start down. I think taking the tower ridge would have been easier. To make matters more fun, as we arrived at the atv, we spotted a buck running. We decided we better go hunt him as tired as we were. He went up and around the hill and eluded us. Dave chewed my butt for talking him into hunting that buck. lol.

My first elk in three years made me very happy. Thursday was my best day hunting, Friday my worst!

Hunt 2007, Part 1 of 3

Unlike last year, this year I wasn't going to miss opening day. Steve and I were the only hunters, Dave had a football game, Dalton went partying with his friends, and Ronnie couldn't leave Denver until Sat. morning.

We hunted the bowl in the morning, then heard shots above Dalton's rock. We decided to go higher. I seen 4 cows in the meadow below Dalton's rock, but didn't get a shot. Just then I heard shots on the back side of Dalton's rock. Steve tracked and shot a nice 5-pt bull. His first opening day bull ever.

Sunday with the whole crew, we decided to hunt radio towers again and then haul Steve's bull out. We woke to a blizzard. The ride on the atv's was a pelting of ice in the face. We decided to stay in Dave's truck and see if the storm let up. Finally in the afternoon the snow let up and we were hoping for some good hunting. Dalton headed up to his rock as we dressed out the elk. We didn't have any luck.

Monday Dalton wanted to go hunt his meadow. The road to his meadow starts at the powerline and heads diagonally across the desert. Dalton watched the meadow while I took a walk up the hill and then back to the peak toward Well's Gulch. No elk tracks in sight, but I did see some cat tracks at the top of the peak. This peak offers nice views in all directions.

Since I told Dalton I would be back at the ATV by noon, I headed down the ridge. As I approached the meadow at the end of the road I spotted a little buck. He wasn't a hundred yards from the ATV, so I decided to fill my tag. I considered taking the 300 yard shot, but decided to try to get closer. I sneaked to within 150 yards and crouched to take my shot. A clean drop with one shot.

The two does with him were hanging out waiting for him to join. They seen me but were not spooked. I watched them for a while and took some photos. The buck turned out to be a small 2pt. I lost my camera so I can't post the photos :-(

Castle Peak

Brian and I made an attempt on Castle Peak on September 15th. It had been five years since I was in the Aspen at all and even then it was a quick trip to meet Angie to get Matt home. (I-70 was closed due to a sink hole in Vail.) I had never been up the Maroon Creek Road, and let me tell you it winds through a very beautiful valley.

The road eventually turns to dirt and becomes more and more difficult. You can actually take a jeep or ATV most of the way up the mountain. As for us, Brian took us up past a couple switch backs, and then we parked just below a nasty hill. No use tearing up his SUV when we came to hike! We hiked up the 4WD road that you can see in this first picture. We parked down below tree line in the valley you can see in this photo.

We hiked to the end of the road to a parking area. From here the trail traverses a boulder field then gains the ridge behind the cliff at the left top of the second photo. Castle Peak is the mountain you can see behind this foreground peak/cliff face. Brian has been having trouble with his neck from all those years of hockey. At this point it was really starting to bother him so we had a decision to make. Push on or turn around.

The weather had been looking sketchy all morning long and as we looked up to the ridge above we could see that it was snowy from the night before. Other hikers were going on, but we decided to turn around. The ridge is only rated Class 2, but Brian said it is challenging. I was looking forward to the climb, but I didn't want to push our luck either.

On the hike back down we met up with a lady and her dog. As we chatted with her, the poor dog took a rest. As she started to move on, she couldn't get Fido to get up: he was pooped. Quite funny. Once back at the truck, we headed down and caught up to gal and dog. We gave her a ride back to camp.

Brian and I contemplated a short hike to the Maroon Bells viewing area, but instead decided to get lunch at a great sandwich shop in Aspen. I can't remember the name, but it is directly across the street from the Aspen City Market. Thanks for buying lunch Brian! We'll conquer Castle Peak another day.

Dalton Invades Las Vegas

Yet another post that has nothing to do with climbing. This Vegas trip was to celebrate Dalton's 21st birthday!

We took off from Denver in our new Dodge pickup. We picked up Dalton in Green River. We were very late, so Dalton had to wait at the gas station in the sun. From there it was a long trip across Utah to Mesquite where we spent the night. James, Veronica, Jessi, and her friend Mike went to the rodeo, but all we did was go to the seafood buffet. We had a little after party in V's room.

The next morning we met up with Angie, Matt, and Natasha at the Indian Reservation. We played some slots that actually give you quarters and bought some fireworks. Once in Vegas we decided to do the stuff you don't have to be 21 to do. So the first day we rode the coaster at NY, NY. We attended the Excalibur jousting show yet again. Dalton wanted to and it was his birthday, but if I never see this show again that would be fine. Dalton didn't make it to midnight to celebrate his 21st.

Sunday morning we cruised down Fremont Street. We stopped into the Gold Nugget and had Dalton's first legal drink. We all did a shot of Petron.

Sunday we went to Circus Circus to win some stuffed animals for Cayden and allow Dalton to celebrate with his mom, brother, and sister. We then went to Toby Keith's Bar in Harrah's. Check out the bartender pasting D's license to his forehead. James and V went back to the room, and we took D and Jesse to the Picasso art show in the Bellagio.

Sunday night we went to the Ooo-Lah-Lah show. Very nice show with cute girls. Back on Fremont street Dalton had a large drink with his mom, and got his picture with more girls. Dalton crashed early. I tried to wake him to go to the strip club but he was done.

Monday we went and had lunch at Hooter's. Check out the girls here!

While I'm glad we drove the new truck on this trip, the next time we go to Vegas I am definitely flying.