Pikes Peak Trip Report #2
Trail: Parked 18 or so miles up the road, Class 5.2, ~3 miles, ~2000 ft elevation gainMatt LaCoco and I had been playing phone tag all week with the ultimate goal of meeting up on Saturday and trying to tag the Y Couloir on Pikes. Matt had been told by a local guide that the route was completely in more than a week before and no new snow followed by several days where the temperature remained below freezing had us confident in attempting the route. I also wanted to get back and hit Pikes because I want to redo the 14ers Jen hasn't done, with her, so that we can maybe finish them together. Jen had previously accompanied me on our first attempt which aborted after gaining more than 6000 feet and 11 miles on the Barr Trail due to a nasty bout of AMS I experienced right near the end.
I met Matt at his home in the Springs around 7:30 after which we grabbed a quick bite to eat and drove up to the entrance to the Pikes Peak Tollway. We hung out and chatted for a while until the road opened and then took off up it. For those interested Little Italy looks absolutely bomber right now. We made good time up the road and parked behind some signs which described the alpine environment. From here we geared up, headed up to the left of some little hump and strapped on crampons before descending some snow. (around 10:00 in the morning)
Our plan had been to attempt the Rumdoodle Ridge and down climb to the bottomless pit but this failed for one very simple reason: I didn't bother with much in the way of beta. I have found that routes are increasingly more interesting if you bring along technical gear and play choose your own adventure. This feels much more like mountaineering than following precise descriptions in books. Couple this new found way of hitting peaks with a barometric altimeter that was badly out of whack and you have three people on the Heroe's Traverse. We realized this pretty quickly and went for it anyways.
Jen down climbing (not as steep
as it looks)
The downclimb ranged
from 30-45
degrees and after awhile we found several cliff bands. We
spent a
good bit of time trying to find a route down only to be ultimately
stymied. While the snow was fine and the weather good we were
still concerned that we had spent to long playing around to get back to
the truck by 5:00 (closing time). It turns out that Matt and
/I
think allot alike and neither of us had a problem switching plans
midday to accomadate the situation. Jen was adamant about
hitting the peak and Matt and I still wanted a climb of something so we
picked a random couloir which we could see topped out back on easy rock
above.
Another shot of Jen on snow
We decided to go for it
and headed up
to the couloir. As I was carrying my Canon 20D I didn't take
any
shots in the couloir proper. Whatever route we choose ended
up
being great. The couloir itself was of the constricted type
with
rock walls/bands on either side and reached constrictions of 3 feet.
Jen heading up to the start of
our mini-adventure
I was pretty comfortable
aiming up it
as I had brought my usual assortment of rope, cams, slings, pickets,
and nuts. We all harnessed up before entering just in case we
encountered stiffer terrain. The couloir itself was great.
While it was only ~500 feet in gain the angle stayed between
45-55 degrees in the constricted region and had two sections
of
short vertical climbing on snow and moss covered rock. In
both
these sections Matt and I went first and I would then set up a quick
anchor system (one took quite a bit of looking and digging for before a
place for two Aliens could be found), girth hitch five 48 inch runners
together and throw it down to Jen who would then clip in. In
both
these sections she flew right on up. After the second rock
section we had to navigate a 60 to 70 degree section of rock which was
snow and moss covered. As it turns out moss takes crampon and
axe
points quite well. I scrambled right up what was ~5.4
slab on crampons out as I thought it was a more
direct route than that Matt and Jen had taken. It was, but it was also
the one point on the climb that I got nice and sketched out. After this
portion
the constriction eased and the couloir opened back up until the top.
Climbing out of the constriction
(I'm vertically above them in this shot)
I have to thank Matt for
his generous
kick steps up through the constriction, He would go on ahead
and
scout the route as I belayed or waited for Jen to pass the tricker
section. After the second section where I belayed Jen up I
insisted she stay on the anchor past the snowy slabs so she would be
ahead of me on safer grounds. This meant Matt got to kick
steps
up through the steeper sections. We reconoitered at a series
of
rocks and found that the final part of the couloir went at about 60
degrees with a short (5-10 ft) section of 70 degrees.
I headed up after after scrambling up a final series of rocks and kicked steps through this portion (Matt had already had a larger distance of equally steep stuff so I figured it was my turn).
I headed up after after scrambling up a final series of rocks and kicked steps through this portion (Matt had already had a larger distance of equally steep stuff so I figured it was my turn).
Matt and Jen Finishing up (way steeper than it looks)
I was supremely proud of
Jen this
day. We had allot of steep snow, wet climbing in crampons,
and
all in a couloir which was pretty darn cliffed out in. The
only
downside to the day was that this little couloir topped us out 500 feet
above and a quarter mile away from the car. This was enough
to
give us all a good laugh since we all felt like rock stars for getting
up the damn thing we had just climbed and then found ourselves a stones
throw from the truck. Since we had gone through all the
effort we
headed on up and summited Pikes anyways. This puts Jen at 21
14ers now and on a stretch much harder than anything one would
encounter on the standard routes.
Jen Owning Pikes Peak
I had a blast climbing
today. I
think taking a mountain by unknown routes is allot of fun.
Sure,
you might have to bail if it gets out of hand but if you go up
something you can get down and don't mind turning around then why not?
What I've slowly learned over the last few years is that the
climbs are not about the summit or about lists. Climbs are
about
the experience, how or if you get to the top doesn't much matter as
long as you do it safely and have fun in the process.
The
top is really just a place to enjoy a sandwich, some soup, get a marmot
shot, and to kick back with friends and loved ones. I'm
really
looking forward to redoing the 14ers with Jen as I spent to much time
obsessively driven by 'The List' and didn't properly enjoy the
experience. (OK, I'm not looking forward to redoing the Sawatch...)
