Posts Tagged ‘Centennial’

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Mountaineering – Teakettle Mountain (13,819 ft), Ouray, CO

Thursday, July 24th, 2014

Teakettle Mountain from Coffeepot
Teakettle Mountain from Coffeepot. The dark gash in the mountain is the Black Gully!

Clare and Potosi Peak
Climbergirl and Potosi Peak

Ever since climbing Mt. Sneffels, in July of 2013, I had a desire to climb the two centennial 13’ers flanking it. To the west of Sneffels, Dallas Peak stands guard while to the east, there’s Teakettle Mountain. Both captured my imagination and so I must climb them!

Bruce the Champion of Teakettle Mountain
Trip Leader, Bruce, on the summit of Teakettle Mountain

When I saw Bruce’s trip posted on the CMC website, I called him immediately. We had a pleasant conversation and we agreed to meet in a climbing gym, prior to the trip. The last section of Teakettle Mountain involves 5th class climbing; so it’s important people understand rope management, basic knots, safety, and climbing. Them gym meet-up went well, so the trip was on!

Trip Participants: Bruce (Leader), Tom, Frank, Meredith, Lisa, Helen, and I

Our Progress:
Leave Yankee Boy Basin TH: 5:10am
Base of Coffeepot: 7:40am
Base of Black Gully: 8:10am
Above Black Gully: 8:25am
Base of 5th Class Pitch: 9:10am
Start Climbing: 9:15am
Finish Climbing: 10:45am
Below Black Gully: 11:30am
Started Awful Scree Descent (We went down the direct route, not up/over Coffeepot ledge): 11:45am
Finished Awful Scree Descent: 12:40pm
Return Yankee Boy Basin TH: 1:30pm

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Mountaineering – Dyer Mountain (13,855 ft)

Sunday, July 20th, 2014

Feeling Lazy on Dyer Mountain
Naptime on Dyer Mountain!

Bobby on Summit of Dyer Mountain
Bobby enjoying the summit of Dyer.

After leading the CMC Half Marathon Holy Cross Loop Hike on Friday, I enjoyed a lazy Saturday morning at the Halfmoon Campground. I packed up camp and talked with Bobby about potential bonus peaks for Sunday.

I was anxious about doing the bonus peak solo, since I was a bit fatigued from leading the trip, so I was really happy to have company. We “shopped around” for low commitment peaks in both my 13’ers and 14’ers books. There were so many available, but it didn’t take long for us to decide on one…Dyer Mountain, it is!

Advantages being:
1. It’s on the way home from Minturn.
2. We can get really awesome pizza at High Mountain Pies.
3. My Subaru will have no problem making it to the TH.
4. It is a straightforward climb.
5. Camping near the TH is easy to find. Now, even easier…GPS: N 39 deg 13.732 min. W 106 deg 12.655 min
6. Neither of us had climbed it, yet.

About the TH beta for Iowa Gulch, if you have the Roaches 13er book, ignore the directions in there, they are outdated due to the road being paved much higher up than it was 10+ years ago. The best bet is to use 14’ers.com Iowa Gulch TH directions.

So, on Sunday, Bobby and I hiked from the Iowa Gulch TH to the summit of Dyer Mountain.

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Mountaineering – Mount of the Holy Cross, A Half Marathon Hike, CMC

Friday, July 18th, 2014

CMC Group Summit Holy Cross Ridge
My CMC posse on the summit of Holy Cross Ridge (13,831)
L to R: Bobby, Jane, Clare, Fred, Marshall, and Andreas

CMC Group Summit Mt of the Holy Cross
And an hour later, here we are on Mount of the Holy Cross (14,005 ft)
L to R: Bobby, Fred, Jane, Marshall, Clare, and Andreas

On Friday, I led a Colorado Mountain Club trip on a half marathon loop hike in the Holy Cross Wilderness. With a beautiful weather forecast and an early start, we were bound to have a great day. I was excited about the trip as I had been ruminating about it for months. I was also really psyched to be on the trail with this posse; they are talented, fit, and superb mountaineers!

Our Route:
1. Departure from the Halfmoon Campground at 4:25am.
2. Started hiking south on the Fall Creek Trail at 4:40am.
3. We turned right and headed west up the Notch Mountain trail, hooking up with the Halo route at ~6:00am.
4. Arrive at Notch Mountain Shelter at 8am.
5. We continued heading south and then west to Holy Cross Ridge at 10:50am.
6. From there, we went northeast to Mount of the Holy Cross at 11:50am.
7. Then, we took the standard North Ridge route back to Halfmoon Trailhead, finishing at 4:30pm.

Mt of the Holy Cross Panorama from Notch Shelter
We hiked 13.8 miles, with 5,400 ft of gain, in 12 hours (including several long breaks).

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Mountaineering – Mounts Ouray and Chipeta

Saturday, June 28th, 2014

Mt Chipeta, Pt 13472, and Mt. Ouray
Panorama taken on the side of Mount Ouray (13,971 ft).

Mount Ouray is to the far right of the frame, while a ridge leading to Mount Chipeta and Pt 13,472 stretches out in front. Fred and I decide to tackle Mount Ouray. Later, we make an attempt on Pt 13,472 but decide to turn around on the summit of Chipeta.

Mt Ouray - Not A Selfie
On the summit of Mount Ouray

Mount Ouray was named after Chief Ouray, leader of the Uncompahgre band of the Utes. According to Legends of America, he married Chipeta in 1859 and they were together until the Chief died in 1880.

Dandelions and Mt Ouray
The flowered fields on Mt Ouray’s South Side

Our Schedule
Carpool meetup – 4am
Depart Marshall Pass TH – 5:35am
Gain the Ridge – 6:35am
Mount Ouray Summit – 8:35am
Back to Ridge – 10am
Mount Chipeta Summit – 11:45am
Back to Ridge – 1:20pm
Back to Marshall Pass TH – 2pm

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Mountaineering – Mt. Hope (13,933 ft) via Hopeful Couloir and Quail Mountain

Sunday, June 15th, 2014

Success on Mt. Hope
Summit Shot on Mt. Hope

Hopeful Couloir on Mt. Hope
Hopeful Couloir, our destination!

Summit Register on Quail Mountain
Happy Father’s Day to Dad…My summit registry entry on Top of Quail Mountain

Mt Hope from Quail Mountain
Hope Mountain from Near Summit of Quail Mountain

On Father’s Day, Fred and I set off to climb the Hopeful Couloir on Mt. Hope. It was on my list of desired snow climbs and I was happy Fred was there to join me. While we were out bagging peaks, Dennis was somewhere on the Colorado trail and tooling around Twin Lakes on his mountain bike. It was neat to be up high and wondering where he was over the course of our day.

Our Schedule:
Depart Camp: 4:30am
Nearing Treeline in Sheep Gulch: 5:30am
Hope Pass: 6:30am
Descent to 12,100 ft and donning crampons: 7:10am
Base of Hopeful Couloir: 7:40am
Top of Hopeful Couloir: 9:25am
Top of Mt. Hope: 9:50am
Descending Mt. Hope: 10:15am
Hope Pass: 11:30am
Quail Mountain Summit: 12:30pm
Back to Camp: 2:30pm

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