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Peak(s):  Mt. Harvard  -  14,424 feet
Date Posted:  07/12/2015
Date Climbed:   07/07/2015
Author:  liveinstereo
 Collegiate Peaks North to South Linkup   

A group of friends, including my wife and I, set out to link peaks in the northern and southern portions of the Collegiate Peaks Wilderness. The trails available did not make it an easy feat, as there were no routes anywhere close to direct between Missouri Gulch and Denny Creek, so we decided to get creative. We planned our trip to start at Missouri Gulch, summit Missouri, and then head over Elkhead Pass. From there, we would take the nearly unused North Slopes route up Harvard (with packs), and descend via the standard route into the Horn Fork basin. At that point, the link would be made and we would be able to summit Columbia and then Yale via established trails.

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Route Plan


The trip started off with a big mishap--I left my boots at home, and had to head into Buena Vista to grab a new pair of shoes for the trip. Knowing it was a big trip, I opted for trail runners to avoid a long and painful break in period. Heading back to the TH, a storm began to pour rain, and we hiked up to camp in Missouri Gulch soaking wet. Luckily, the weather cleared enough to get camp set up and (mostly) dry our things. We woke up at 5am to try for Missouri, and started the day in a shroud of low-hanging fog.

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The stream crossings immediately soaked my highly absorbent shoes, which wouldn't be dry again for the next two days. We dropped most of our gear at the Missouri trail junction and headed up. The fog stayed low and there was no storm energy at that point, so we decided it was safe to start our bid despite the clouds. We kept a close eye on the weather throughout, but the lack of wind or storm energy kept us confident that we had a few hours, at least. We got to witness a beautiful summit view, with fog and wispy clouds in the valleys and partially obscuring neighboring peaks.

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Missouri Ridge

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Missouri Summit


It was a unique view for mid-July, to say the least. A few quick glissades on soft slush and we were back down to head over Elkhead Pass. We cleared the pass, and the wind started to pick up. The GPS said 2.6 miles to camp, but that straight-line estimate turned out to be far from the truth. The storm hit and we got a soaking rain for two hours, flooding the trail and overrunning the streams. It was an exhilarating challenge. The trail south of Elkhead Pass seemed almost unused, and, due to weather, we hadn't seen a soul all day. We rushed to camp, alternately frustrated with the soaking and thrilled by the sense of adventure.

We did some haggling over where to set up camp, as it became clear that Harvard's north slopes route was neither well-marked nor well-traveled. We eventually found the "fork" in the trail, where, after some searching, we discovered a log bridge (unclear if it was man-made or accidental). We set up camp, attempted to dry our things, and got some sleep.

We started the day under the same low clouds and fog as the previous day, but felt the weather cues we were seeing indicated a similar day with lots of moisture but little storm energy until the afternoon. We headed over the bridge and immediately lost the trail. After a whole lot of searching , we decided that it was likely there wasn't really a trail to find, so we followed the GPS points and the topo and headed up. My wife came upon a herd of about 100 elk bedded down for the rain, and we also saw mountain goats on the broad grassy slope. As we worked our way up the mountain, the air grew chillier, and we ended up finding the summit in a light snow.

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We reached the summit, all the rocks covered in a wet, but luckily not frozen, coating. As we crested the summit and began our descent to the front side, the sky lifted, revealing some beautifully rugged views of the surrounding jagged ridgelines. It felt like we had walked into an adventure advertisement, and the view completely validated the feelings of awe we had been feeling since the day before.

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Harvard Descent


We found our way down to camp, set up, and got in our tents just in time to wait out another two hours of light to moderate rain. We emerged to cook, clean up, and set our plan for the next morning with the hope of a little sun. By this point, my feet had been wet and/or numb for most of the day.

We awoke the next day and headed up Columbia, which was buffeted by a moderate, but piercingly cold wind. My feet were again numb, which was made more frustrating by the fact that the trail was washed out, and we spent most of our ascent on the scree field, unable to pick out where we had lost the trail. We reached the summit to find a layer of snow and ice on the rocks, but under the morning sun (!), it melted off rather quickly.

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Columbia's Icy Summit


We headed down, this time on the trail, and found the point where a massive washout had destroyed about 200-400 vertical feet of trail, making it clear why we'd had such a hard time on the way up. We broke camp and headed down the trail to the junction with the Browns Pass Trail to our next camp. We got to experience the beauty of Kroenke Lake and took a quick dip before heading over the pass. Unfortunately, one of our group members had an old case of Achilles tendonitis flare up as we reached the pass, knocking him out for the next day's ascent of Yale and making the remaining miles incredibly painful.

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Up to Browns Pass


We pushed ourselves to reach camp near the Mt. Yale trail, but stopped about a mile and a half from the junction due to the injury. We camped, woke up early, and hit the trail a little after 5am the next morning. By this time, the Mountain House had certainly taken its toll on our stomachs, and we were thankful that breakfast was simply oatmeal, giving our systems a chance to recover. Dehydrated meals are great for weight savings, but five days straight is a lot of sodium and processed food to eat in one stint. We headed up Yale, making great time, and reached the summit from the junction in 2 hours, 37 minutes, a pretty respectable pace given how tired we were at that point. The top was icy, windy and cold, so we didn't spend long before hitting the trail back and heading for the car.

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Ice on Yale

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Yale Summit

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Yale Summit


Overall, it was a fantastic trip! Not many people can say they've linked those four peaks in that order, and the deep backcountry feeling we got while we were on the north side of Harvard was refreshing. For two days, we saw fewer than ten people in total. I guess that's another benefit to hiking in the rain, snow, and ice as well. We also pushed our bodies to achieve goals we were not sure were possible. Over the course of the trip, we gained 18,000 vertical feet, and covered 42 miles, which included four mountain summits, one of which we backpacked and all of which we did in less-than-perfect weather. It was a trip not to be forgotten.

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Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):
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Comments or Questions
mathguy
User
Wow!
7/12/2015 5:32pm
I’ve been on Elkhead pass and climbed Yale a couple of times, but
I never thought of joining the two in one trip. You showed amazing
perseverance with the significant weather challenges that you faced.
Well done.


liveinstereo
Thanks!
7/13/2015 7:20am
I appreciate the compliment. Let’s chalk it up to having a second car at the end. It made us feel like we couldn’t turn back, which was a good motivator.


Jay521
User
What MathGuy said...
7/13/2015 8:23am
You really pushed hard to get those. Hats off!


youngk2844
User
Elevation, Elevation, Elevation
7/17/2015 11:45pm
Wow! That’s a whole lot of elevation. And, Harvard with full packs!! Impressive. Congrats on a successful adventure. I’m planning for August to do Belford, Oxford, Missouri in one day, then Harvard and Columbia the next from a base camp at Little John’s Cabin. I’m interested in hearing why you backtracked off of Missouri then up and over Elkhead Pass (losing and regaining elevation) instead of descending Missouri’s SW ridge to the saddle between Missouri and Iowa and then dropping down to pick up the Elkhead Pass trail into Pine Creek. I plan to descend Missouri’s SW ridge but this will be my first time on Missouri. Maybe your route is better?


liveinstereo
Route Choice
7/18/2015 9:45am
Hey youngk2844,

I’m not sure we looked closely enough at the choices to realize we could descend Missouri via the SW ridge. So lack of knowledge is a big factor (we planned the whole route in an hour the night before we headed out). The second reason, because I did have an idea like that in the back of my head, was just to minimize carrying the full packs over 14ers. I figured the others in the group wouldn’t think that was a "fun" challenge. I think you make a big tradeoff between total elevation gain and difficulty of each step. But coming down and going up and coming down again was a looong way to do it. I would consider how big your packs are and the physical conditioning of your group. Also, would your route mean you were going to carry the packs over all three peaks???

I can’t wait to see that trip report! Please link it here if you think of it.


youngk2844
User
Keeping It Light
7/19/2015 3:03pm
Liveinstereo,
OK. I understand. Trading off more light miles for less heavy elevation makes total sense. For my hike, I’ll use a base camp in the Pine Creek valley allowing me to use a light day pack for each day of climbing. I’ll let you know how it goes.



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