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Tabor Peak - Standard Route - Snow Peak - Deluge Lake Trail
Tabor Peak (Sawatch Range)
July 6, 2014
6.9 miles and 3000 feet from the Tabor Creek trailhead. The trailhead can be reached from Highway 82, west side of Independence Pass. South on Lincoln Creek Road 4 miles up with the trail on the right side. Lincoln Creek is a rough road but a 2WD high clearance vehicle can make it up in dry conditions.
It was our anniversary weekend but I managed to sneak in a quick trip. I wanted to snag West Tellurium too but it would have taken much longer to traverse over to than the 4 hours or so I had allotted myself.
The wife was waiting at the trailhead, taking pictures of flowers and hiking about the area but I had told her I would not take too long (even for a slow old guy). Unfortunately last fall I had reached Tellurium Peak only to have a blizzard hit the peak, and so I bailed out then. Oh well, I will need one more time up Lincoln Creek Road.
The valley.
Tabor and ridge.
Icy lake Tabor.
Slope.
Ridge.
The ridge was a little "knifey" in some sections but otherwise it went well, no drops or notches. I stayed to the ridge except in one short section and a few easy moves were necessary. A bit of a drop to the Tabor Lake side on occasion, the west side was not so much.
A look back down.
The north ridge of Tellurium.
The ridge back to the saddle.
The ridge and grassy slopes from below.
The descent track is better than the ascent since I avoided the rock and talus coming down that I had crossed going up.
Tabor Lake again.
Nice water falls.
The trail.
I found this trail coming down and followed it for just a short way before leaving it. The trail seemed to be heading the opposite way I wanted to go.
A good trail and fairly quick trip. If you would like the gpx file you can pm me.
Our boat on Twin Lakes.
The Dexter House built in 1895 or so.
The Interlaken Hotel, closed in the 1930's.
Snow Peak (Gore Range)
July 12, 2014
10.8 miles and 4550 feet (250 feet gain and loss between 2.5 and 3.5 miles out as the trail drops to the creek). The trailhead is off I-70, the first exit on the east side of Vail. Take Bighorn Road left, under the highway for 2.5 miles, back under I-70 and parking on the left. There is a sign and many warnings about dogs being on a leash (it's for the children).
You start on the Gore Lake/Creek Trail for 0.2 miles and take a left at the sign for the Deluge Lake Trail.
Since there are other reports on this hike I don't believe I am giving away any Gore secrets, just adding another perspective.
The Deluge Lake Trail is a fairly steep approach to the lake area that is also a constant climb except for that section I mentioned above.
Rising sun.
Snow Peak from the meadow below its southwest ridge.
Drops of rain.
It had rained for several hours during the night so everything was soaked.
Snow Peak.
There were reports from earlier summits when there was still snow gaining the ridge by a shallow, treeless gully. I saw the gully but actually went up some steeper grassy slopes farther north.
The grassy area is right center in the picture.
We crossed this drainage first.
The grassy area is right center in the picture.
Flowers and grass on the ridge.
Flowers and rocks.
A look back down at the easy section.
A fuzzy spider waiting for its prey.
Flowers and Grand Traverse Peak.
The Class 3 scrambling begins.
Snow and Valhalla.
The southwest ridge.
A look back at the first section of ridge.
A look ahead.
I spent a good deal of time route finding, maybe it was just me, but I could not see a direct or a defined track. I started on the ridge, dropped east, then west and when I hit the notch on the west side, it was a pretty good drop. I was able to find a narrow way from the west side back to the east side along the notch, and crossed over.
I came down this stretch along the notch/gully.
A look across.
A look down the east side and snow.
Once across the snow and a little way down the gully we climbed the rocks back up and over to a grassy section. A little more scrambling up on the west side of the summit to the top and we were there.
I had thoughts of heading to Valhalla and also the north ridge is Class 2, so we dropped off the summit after a short stay. The ridge is east, down and then to the north.
The saddle and ridge to Valhalla.
Grand Traverse Peak and Deluge Lake below.
Snow Peak from the saddle.
Once down at the saddle it began to hail. I guess it did not take too much to talk me out of traversing to Valhalla on this day, the body was feeling a bit tired and sore, so we went on down the trail towards Deluge Lake. As it turned out the clouds and hail/rain did not last too long and by the time we were in the last few miles out it really turned hot.
After a dunk in the creek by the parking, we headed home.
As a note to myself, if I was going to do this again and wanted to hit Valhalla too, I think I would have saved the time and energy by going to the Snow - Valhalla saddle, drop the pack, take the 30-40 minutes to Snow and back, then head north to Valhalla. My philosophy is generally, you take what the peak offers you, do what you need to do to summit. There are exceptions of course. Can it be "fun"? sometimes and sometimes not so much. It is like at the time you are doing the climb, you ask yourself "why am I doing this"? because it doesn't seem like too much fun, but afterwards you think, "well that was rewarding, getting that accomplished, I guess I will do another one".
My GPS Tracks on Google Maps (made from a .GPX file upload):
hope it is of some help, have fun with the hike, Al
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