| Peak(s): |
Mt. Yale - 14,200 feet |
| Date Posted: | 05/13/2014 |
| Date Climbed: | 05/10/2014 |
| Author: | Furrald |
| Mt. Yale - Southwest Slopes |
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I was getting antsy to start 14er season for the year and saw a great trip report from the previous weekend on Yale. We had good weather during the week so I was set on going for it. The trip report really begins Friday night. About 11:30, left the Biergarten in Boulder. Around midnight, finished eating Taco Bell and started searching for hiking gear that had been mostly untouched all winter. Slept for about 3 hours and woke up at 4:15. Left Boulder at 4:45. The drive down 285 was beautiful with low clouds nestled into the mountains as the sun was rising. Lots of elk. The sign to Cottonwood Pass in Buena Vista says "closed", but this closure is past the Denny Creek trailhead. I had dry pavement to the trailhead, where I think I could have beaten Usain Bolt from my car to the pit toilet (Taco Bell...)  Anyway, there were 4 cars at the trailhead already and another pulled up just as I started up the trail at 7:45. The first couple of miles are a pretty easy warmup. A few switchbacks but relatively little gain. I couldn't tell if the first part of the creek crossing had logs under it or was just a snow bridge. There was a nice posthole through it so I stepped across quickly but gently. The temperature was comfortable and the snow was still firm. I only postholed a couple of times in the first 2 miles and at about 2 miles, the trail got a little steeper and I put on micro spikes.  Getting toward the treeline, the views kept getting better and the skies were blue to the south and southeast.  At one section where the terrain steepened noticeably, it looked like the actual trail probably switchbacked a lot more, but tracks all went just about straight up. It looks like one person thought about taking the switchbacks then opted for the more direct route. This is probably why my round trip was under 8.5 miles.  After the initial steep section, the snow thinned out some and was just a few inches deep, but relatively crusty. I went more or less straight up this section and began catching the other groups here. I passed a group of 2 girls and a couple. I was also keeping an eye on dark clouds to the west.   The last push up the boulders to the summit was not a lot of fun. Just below this section I passed 2 guys in a group of 3, and one of them pushed ahead to the summit before me. The rocks were slippery here and the snow made it hard to determine if you were stepping down onto a rock or into a gap between them. I felt clumsy up here with a bit of lightheadedness and no calories.  Oh yeah, side note, when I don't sleep enough, I wake up very nauseous and can't eat food. I managed to put away a bag of energy gummies on the way up for a whopping 190 calories. This was the only food I had all day until getting back to the car. It took a while to get through the boulders but I reached the summit just after 11:30, 3 hours and 45 minutes after leaving the trailhead. Conditions had gotten quite a bit worse. It was cold and a strong wind was gusting up the mountain, so I snapped a few pictures and headed back down. The clouds were also looking much darker and closer than before, and I heard a bit of thunder. The other 2 guys in the group of 3 had made it up at this point and their friend went back to the summit again with them.      On the shoulder just below the scramble to the summit, the wind got much more intense. It was blowing little ice pellets up the mountain. I put on my ski mask but still felt like my brain was freezing as I faced into the wind on the descent. I was so focused on my head freezing that I didn't notice for a little while that I couldn't move the tips of a couple of fingers. I then walked for 5-10 minutes with my hand in my pants to regain feeling and felt like an idiot for not bringing anything more substantial than liner gloves on the hike, especially with poor circulation. Lesson learned. About an hour into my decent, I passed the group of 2 guys who had left the trailhead soon after me. They still intended to go for the summit. Not long after passing them, I overtook the couple who I had passed on the way up. They had turned around at the saddle before the summit ridge. I didn't find the exact same path through the thin snowy section and it was quite a bit slicker this way. Close to the tree line, I passed the girls and made good time back to the car. The snow had softened quite a bit and I postholed several dozen times in the trees. I kept spikes on most of the way and took them off with maybe a mile or so left. The log bridge across the creek had lost a lot of snow throughout the day. My legs were pretty shaky and definitely wanted some food. I got back to the car just after 2 for a round trip time of 6:23. It was starting to rain/wintry mix but the drive back to Boulder was fine. The conditions may be very different now after the heavy snowfall in the area the last couple of days. The CDOT website does not (or did not last week) show conditions on 306 except the warning that Cottonwood Pass is closed. It may not be clear on there if the road is actually open to Denny Creek. Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow): 
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