On Saturday, I met up with Mark and we drove to Lake Como Road. Our destination was Little Bear; a much feared or admired (depending upon your perspective) 14er in the south end of the Sangre De Cristos. In a prior trip, I did not climb it because of bad weather, so I was hoping to get a good window this time.
Unfortunately, on the way up to Lake Como, the skies opened up on Mark and I. We took shelter in the boughs of an evergreen and used a tarp to stay mostly dry. We waited for nearly an hour as hail, lightning, and thunder boomed. Finally, it let up long enough for us to make it to the lake.
Mark at the start of our hike. Down really low on Lake Como road (just a little past where the passenger cars stop).
Me hiking Lake Como Road, for the second time.
Mark and one of the 4wd cruxes – Jaws 2
I call this, Aspen Alley. It’s so beautiful!
When we got to Lake Como, we set up our tents in the damp cold. It was in the low 50s and humid. Yuck. I had a bad feeling about the weekend. It wasn’t just the weather; there were at least 8 other people who were planning to do Little Bear in the morning. So, even if we had awesome weather, it wasn’t a good day to climb. With all those people up there, being on the face was not a good idea. Darn!
I can’t even see Little Bear…this is…Not Good!
Ever the optimist, I took a little walk to re-familiarize myself with the route (since we planned to get an oh dark thirty start. As the sun was setting, a cloud settled into the area and by the light of my headlamp, I made it back to the lake.
Cabin on Lake Como Road, above the Lake. I wish it were for sale, with a little love…
With as much rain/moisture as there was, I seriously doubted we would try for the summit in the morning. I wanted to do the face route and then traverse to Blanca and the rock was in bad shape.
On the way back to camp, I stopped at a nice campfire by some super laid back dudes. One was from the Denver area and one was from a non-Denver area. They had wine and weed and offered me both. I had to turn them down on both offers, but I made use of their campfire to dry off my clothes. They were totally nice guys, and in hindsight, I wish I would have gotten their contact information.
Over the course of the night, the wind howled relentlessly. Mark told me he didn’t sleep a wink and neither did I! I could hear the sound of noise as other people got up to climb Little Bear via the Hourglass (standard) route. I told Mark there was no way I’d be climbing. With the lack of sleep, the wetness of the rock, and the sheer numbers of people who were headed up, it wasn’t safe.
So, I spent 3 more hours shivering in my damp sleeping bag, and then we packed up and hiked out. I was thankful for the experience (even a bad day in the mountains is normally better than a mediocre day in the city) but saddened at the bad timing. At least the mountain isn’t going anywhere…there’s always a next time, if you play it safe and have good fortune!
As we were leaving camp, I saw two guys come down off the mountain. They didn’t summit. They got to the hourglass (were the first ones) and it was covered in wet ice. On top of the poor route condition, visibility was less than 10 feet and worsening, so neither of them thought it was safe to continue. What is amazing to me is what they said next, they saw 6 other people continue climbing! Why would anybody do that?!? Is it worth your life?!?
That week, I trolled the internet searching to see if there were any accidents. I couldn’t find any evidence of a problem, so maybe those people turned around. Or maybe they kept going and actually made it without getting hurt. Who knows; but at least I felt better knowing it didn’t turn into a complete disaster!
Tags: CO, Little Bear, Mountaineering, Sangre De Cristos