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Peak(s):  French Mountain  -  13,942 feet
Frasco Benchmark  -  13,885 feet
Date Posted:  07/21/2015
Date Climbed:   07/19/2015
Author:  Jay521
 Sacré bleu!   


Une journée dans les nuages.


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Trailhead: Halfmoon Creek
Route: Southeast Face
Length: A little over 10 miles
Vertical: About 3600 feet
Ascent Party: Solo

Bonjour, je m'apelle Jay et ceci est mon voyage rapport sur la Montagne des Français. J'espère que tu aimes. Si vous le faites, s'il vous plaît "comme" et écrire un commentaire.

OK - that stretches my High School French to the limit. Apologies to all the real French speakers out there.

Three or four years ago, I did Casco Peak. Can't recall what TR I read on it but it just looked like a really neat mountain. And it was. I was on snowshoes some of the day so I didn't exactly make great time. While on that trek, I eyed French Mountain as a future project and I finally got around to doing it. Even though the weather wasn't exactly bluebird, I still had a great time.

I chose to drive across Halfmoon Creek as described in Bill's route description. Going across at 6:30 in the morning and the water didn't even get my rock rails wet so the level was something less than 13". That afternoon when I drove back across, it had risen to cover my rock rails so it had gone up by at least 3". But still no problem. One note here. There are two crossing areas. Both are accessed from the same road and are side by side. I chose the eastern one (the one pictured in Bill's route) as the creek is wider there. The one just upstream (west) of that looks to have a more severe drop-off on both sides. I figured my FJ could handle either one but why risk it?

I also chose to park just across that crossing and hike the road. I could have easily driven to the second crossing about a mile up but I had been sitting behind the wheel for hours and was itching to start walking. BTW - The second crossing should only be attempted by modified 4X4's, ATV's or a McLaren 650S Spider (if you have that much money, you can hire Sherpas to carry it across).

To the pictures (captions below photos)
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The road just after the first crossing.


A couple pictures taken at the second crossing.

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The rocks on the other side are larger than they appear...


I managed to get water in one boot crossing the creek but hardly noticed any discomfort. Coming back down with hot feet, I intentionally waded through the crossing.

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Beyond the crossing, there is a neat rock field


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And the road gets better.


It's a bit over 4 miles to the Iron Mike mine and you are on a road the entire way. I'm not into road hiking but this one isn't all that bad given the lack of traffic and the great views.

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Lower parts of French Mtn.


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Mount Elbert west slopes.


I took several pictures of Casco but it seemed the summit was always lost in the clouds. Casco is one pretty mountain.

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First real view of Casco from the road.


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First picture of French - its summit also in the clouds.


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Still on the road. Casco on the left.


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Iron Mike mine with Casco behind.


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Iron Mike mine with French in the background. My route would take me up to the saddle just left of the summit.


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Going across to the base of French was reminscent of a scene from The Sound of Music


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From here, it doesn't look as steep as it really is.


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I'm STILL trying to get a good shot of Casco.


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Even Mount Elbert is lost in the clouds. And this picture gives a better idea of the incline going up to the saddle.


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At the saddle, going for the summit.


It seems like the summit is just over the next bump. And soon enough, it is.

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Drop off to the west.


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A look down through the clouds at the Champion Mill from the summit.


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Mount Elbert. I imagine there are hundreds of people on that summit. And I had French Mountain all to myself. Never saw an



A short 360 vid from the summit.

As the weather was holding (for the time being), I decided to give Frasco Benchmark a shot.

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Heading back down to the saddle.


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And starting up towards Frasco BM


The weather started getting worse as I ascended and ultimately, I put the camera away so there are no pictures from the FrascoBM summit. At least I think it was the summit. Visibility was falling quickly and it seemed like every direction was down. I did not find a benchmark but I did not spend a lot of time looking as the rain was starting to make the rocks rather slick and I felt I needed to get down before it got worse. I gave up my plans to go to the saddle described in Bill's route description (and shown in pic #11 earlier in this TR) and backtracked my route. "The devil you know is better than the devil you don't". Naturally, as I was getting back to the Sound of Music spot, the weather cleared. Oh well. That route will wait for another day.

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Last picture before the rain started in earnest.


It was a rather uneventful hike out. The weather would clear a little bit and then just as I stopped for lunch, it started raining rather hard (naturally). So - as my friend GreenhouseGuy is fond of saying - "Mother Nature Always Wins." And that was true this day.

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The first water crossing on the way out. Any 4X4 can cross this I think - although I saw no evidence that anyone else tried


This was another fun, fun hike to a summit that sees probably less than one tenth of one percent of the people who visit neighboring Mount Elbert. If you want a nice hike with great views and few people, French Mountain and FrascoBM are for you.

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As I don't carry a GPS, this is an approximation of my route.


And, some wildflower pictures to close...

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As always - thanks for taking the time to read this and PLEASE be careful out there!



Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33


Comments or Questions
MtnHub
User
Sehr gut, Herr Jay!
7/21/2015 2:03pm
That’s about the limit of my German, which is way more than my French!


Jay521
User
Danke, Doug!
7/21/2015 3:46pm
I think the only other German words I know are "bier" and "fräulein". But then, I guess that’s all I need to know, eh?


rajz06
User
Tres Bien...
7/21/2015 4:30pm
Monsieur Jay! Thanks for another solid beta. I’d like to add Casco to the mix when I attempt this group – what’s your take on that ridge route?


Jay521
User
Casco
7/21/2015 4:36pm
Raj – Merci! It’s pretty straight forward from the saddle to FrascoBM. I can’t speak to the route from there to the saddle just before Casco as I couldn’t see it. But I can speak about the route from that saddle up Casco and then on down to the next saddle and back down as that’s the way I did Casco years ago and that route is solid. A couple easy class 3 moves near Casco’s summit (and Bill talks about it in his route description), but you won’t have any trouble. I think Derek did a TR on the route of all 3 sometime back and Derek (like you) always writes solid reports.


Kitten
User
Merci beaucoup!!
7/21/2015 8:08pm
I’ve had these peaks on my radar for this Summer, hopefully I can attempt them soon. Thanks for the beta, very nice report and useful information. I am not sure my Suzuki SX4 can make it through the first crossing, I remember making it about 1.5 miles passed the Massive TH. How far would it be from there?


Jay521
User
Kitten
7/22/2015 8:02am
I think it’s about 2 miles to that little junction to the first stream crossing so another half mile further than you got. I seem to recall that the road after the first mile or so past the Massive TH was better than the first mile so I think you could make it at least to the stream crossing. Later in the fall – or maybe in a dryer year – you might be able to drive the crossing. Or bring water shoes. They are some nice mountains and I’m sure you will enjoy them.


Tempelton
User
Excellent report
7/22/2015 9:58am
Thanks for posting! Whattaya think about a mountain bike from the Massive TH... good idea or too rocky/steep?


Jay521
User
I’m not a mountain biker - but...
7/22/2015 10:10am
... I think it could be done. A couple rocky areas but not bad...


Tempelton
User
Neither am I,
7/22/2015 9:26pm
and that’s the problem



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