Mt. Harvard Trip Report 06/21/2014

Peak(s):	Mt. Harvard - 14,424 feet Mt. Columbia - 14,075 feet
Date Posted:	06/21/2014
Modified:	01/29/2016
Date Climbed:	06/21/2014
Author:	jaleutious

(Combo) Harvard and Columbia Traverse
We did Mt Harvard and Mt Columbia via the Harvard/Columbia Traverse which was a 15-mile roundtrip hike mostly on trail with some scrambling near the top of Harvard and coming down from Columbia due to washouts. Just as we did with Mt Massive two weeks before, we started out very early, meeting in the parking lot of the Jeffco Government Center light rail station at the western end of the "W-Line" to accommodate hikers from Denver riding out on the light rail before meeting to drive up to the trialhead. I will say that in the Denver area for hikes in the Front Range or Sawatch, I think this is the best spot to meet as it does not require everyone to bring cars- especially if carpooling is the plan. On weekends at the Jeffco Gov. Center, parking is free on saturdays and sundays in some spots in the garage just east of the light rail platforms. Due to this being a late-spring ascent, there was still snow on the trail above the 12,500' level or so. I came equipped with proper hiking boots & chains while a few other hikers in our group had heavy spikes which came in handy. There was a decent amount of bushwhacking and mud puddles in the saddle before you reach the switchbacks going up Harvard. Once we got on the switchbacks, it became a back and forth between sections of rock and heavy snow before it mostly just became snow. We summitted close to 9:30 and were all feeling pretty confident about continuing to Columbia via the traverse. We began to descend but somehow lost the trail. I partially credit this to our group not being careful enough but there was also the complication of snow obscuring where the trail went so we ultimately ended up taking much more time than we needed to reach the summit of Columbia. It was a long trek the way we went of class 2 and 3 bouldering so I highly recommend not going this way- STAY ON TRAIL! I would recommend doing this combo in mid-July to hopefully avoid these snow conditions. Having a clear trail would have made this far easier. We eventually reached Columbia after a heavy amount of frustrating scrambling as we attempted to find the trail again which we ultimately failed to do until we reached the summit. Here, we found a pretty large group of European hikers who explained where the came from so after taking a break, we began our descent. It was almost noon by the time we left the summit of Columbia which, had we not lost the trail, and required map & compass work, I am convinced we would have saved at least an hour or so. Going down from Columbia was a little tricky because there had been significant washouts that took out major sections of the trail. I recommend care when going down this way: the trail was one for he steepest I have seen in the Sawatch Range. Still, we all reached the tree line again without injury and before we encountered any awful PM weather though it looked like a storm was on our tail. The sections of trail without snow-cover were a bit more muddy than what we saw on My Massive so by the time we reached the car, we were very thankful to be back down. We reached the car safely and drove back down to the Jeffco Gov. Center light rail station and parking lot without any more issues. Ultimately, it was a pretty good day where we were able to bag two summits even though we had difficulty on the saddle. My final word of warning would be to do this hike between July and October where you will likely have an easier time with less snow on the traverse. Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

(Combo) Harvard and Columbia Traverse

We did Mt Harvard and Mt Columbia via the Harvard/Columbia Traverse which was a 15-mile roundtrip hike mostly on trail with some scrambling near the top of Harvard and coming down from Columbia due to washouts.

Just as we did with Mt Massive two weeks before, we started out very early, meeting in the parking lot of the Jeffco Government Center light rail station at the western end of the "W-Line" to accommodate hikers from Denver riding out on the light rail before meeting to drive up to the trialhead. I will say that in the Denver area for hikes in the Front Range or Sawatch, I think this is the best spot to meet as it does not require everyone to bring cars- especially if carpooling is the plan. On weekends at the Jeffco Gov. Center, parking is free on saturdays and sundays in some spots in the garage just east of the light rail platforms.

Due to this being a late-spring ascent, there was still snow on the trail above the 12,500' level or so. I came equipped with proper hiking boots & chains while a few other hikers in our group had heavy spikes which came in handy. There was a decent amount of bushwhacking and mud puddles in the saddle before you reach the switchbacks going up Harvard. Once we got on the switchbacks, it became a back and forth between sections of rock and heavy snow before it mostly just became snow.

We summitted close to 9:30 and were all feeling pretty confident about continuing to Columbia via the traverse. We began to descend but somehow lost the trail. I partially credit this to our group not being careful enough but there was also the complication of snow obscuring where the trail went so we ultimately ended up taking much more time than we needed to reach the summit of Columbia. It was a long trek the way we went of class 2 and 3 bouldering so I highly recommend not going this way- STAY ON TRAIL! I would recommend doing this combo in mid-July to hopefully avoid these snow conditions. Having a clear trail would have made this far easier. We eventually reached Columbia after a heavy amount of frustrating scrambling as we attempted to find the trail again which we ultimately failed to do until we reached the summit. Here, we found a pretty large group of European hikers who explained where the came from so after taking a break, we began our descent. It was almost noon by the time we left the summit of Columbia which, had we not lost the trail, and required map & compass work, I am convinced we would have saved at least an hour or so.

Going down from Columbia was a little tricky because there had been significant washouts that took out major sections of the trail. I recommend care when going down this way: the trail was one for he steepest I have seen in the Sawatch Range. Still, we all reached the tree line again without injury and before we encountered any awful PM weather though it looked like a storm was on our tail. The sections of trail without snow-cover were a bit more muddy than what we saw on My Massive so by the time we reached the car, we were very thankful to be back down. We reached the car safely and drove back down to the Jeffco Gov. Center light rail station and parking lot without any more issues.

Ultimately, it was a pretty good day where we were able to bag two summits even though we had difficulty on the saddle. My final word of warning would be to do this hike between July and October where you will likely have an easier time with less snow on the traverse.

Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

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