Little Bear Peak Trip Report 07/17/2007

Peak(s):	Little Bear Peak - 14,041 feet Blanca Peak - 14,350 feet Ellingwood Point - 14,057 feet
Date Posted:	07/17/2007
Modified:	05/13/2013
Date Climbed:	07/16/2007
Author:	benners

Little Bear/Blanca Traverse and Ellingwood
Peaks: Little Bear, Blanca, and Ellingwood Date Climbed: Monday July 16, 2007 Group: Stu (marmotman) and Ben (benners) Route: Standard up Little Bear, traverse to Blanca, traverse to Ellingwood Time: 10 Hours For about three months now Stu and I have been seriously considering bagging these three in a day via the traverse. We decided a week prior to the climb that this point in the summer seemed like a good time to go for it and our conflicting schedules dictated that it would have to be Monday the 16th. We departed Boulder at 10:00pm on Sunday the 15th and reached the Lake Como Road at 3:00am. We were able to drive to an elevation of 9,500 ft. (thanks to the 4-Runner), our official start time was 4:00am. The hike up the road revealed why exactly this is one of the nation's worst. Pretty amazing stuff. The hike to the trail turnoff was approximately three miles, we arrived at the cairned junction at 5:30am and began the southward ascent up Little Bear's west ridge. Stu ascending the talus gulley used to gain the west ridge From the top of the west ridge the route cuts east across the ridgeline to the bottom of the hourglass. We basically stayed on or near the ridgecrest until we arrived at the hourglass. Looking up the hourglass (As confirmed many times before), staying to the left of the running water (center) of the hourglass seemed to be the easiest and safest route to the top. There was a red, relatively new looking rope next to the old rope and, although we chose not to trust it, we later met two guys who had rapped it the previous day. The rock in the hourglass is very stable and there are only a few sections of what I would consider to be honest climbing, I can see how rockfall would absolutely suck though, make sure there's no one above you! Stu climbing in the hourglass We topped out rather quickly and ascended the remaining three or four-hundred feet to the top, summiting Little Bear at 7:15am. The summit was cold and windy, not what we had hoped for but the weather quickly relented and we enjoyed some loin-girding M&Ms. It really was amazing how for below our position the plains appeared to be. The town of Blanca from the summit of Little Bear, roughly 6,200 ft. below us We began the Little Bear/Blanca traverse at 7:30am. The Little Bear/Blanca traverse The initial downclimb off of Little Bear was probably the hardest section of the entire thing. In certain places the rock is downsloping, smooth, and slippery which was a bit unsettling (Jared Workman suggested the butt slide technique for this section). The exposure was pretty ridiculous; the ridge is narrow (usually a foot or two) with massive vertical drops off both sides and there are near vertical towers and humps thrown into the mix which needed to be climbed over or skirted around. The initial downclimb off of Little Bear One move required us to place nearly all of our weight on a single handhold and lower ourselves over one of these small towers while leaning out over hundreds of feet of exposure. This was the single scariest move I have ever done and it ended up being the worst of the entire traverse. At this point the whole thing became surreal and hilarious, I found myself laughing at the situation which helped take my mind off of the exposure. Looking up at Little Bear's Summit Past the downclimb the ridge levels out which makes things easier but it also becomes narrower. Rather than having two feet to work with the ridge becomes a knife in many places, requiring the "saddle one leg over each side and scoot" technique - not very graceful but we didn't care. It's similar to Capitol's knife edge only this knife sustains itself for a fifth of a mile. After the initial downclimb the ridge narrows even more Stu on his way over One third of the way across the ridge we came to the "Captain Bivwacko Tower" which is marked by a cairn on top. We traversed around the left side of the tower via a small exposed ledge. About halfway across the traverse the ridge becomes wider and more manageable. We were able to increase our speed and although steep climbing was required (often times 4 or low Class 5), the exposure was kept to a relative minimum. Near the midpoint of the traverse, after this the ridge widens Near the end of the traverse the exposure increased again, there are a few narrow sections of "catwalk" which seemed to overhang on both sides (as described in other trip reports). Past these it was a simple matter of climbing up and down several large humps (these can be seen near the end of the traverse in the pic facing Blanca). Although these humps were exposed, they were less steep than they appear in the picture and generally pretty easy to negotiate. One of the exposed catwalks near the end of the traverse We summited Blanca at 9:50am for a traverse time of two hours and twenty minutes. It was very relieving to be on the summit of Blanca, the surreality of the traverse began to diminish and Ellingwood Point became the new focus. Blanca Summit, Little Bear in the background The descent off Blanca is horribly loose but we didn't mind much, the relief of not dealing with exposure overshadowed the crappiness of the loose talus field. We summited Ellingwood at 10:45am, the traverse over from Blanca taking roughly an hour. On the summit of Elingwood we busted out some Capri Sun drink packs. Ellingwood Point from just above the Blanca/Ellingwood Saddle Little Bear Peak from Ellingwood's Summit The descent off Ellingwood is equally loose as the descent off Blanca. We worked our way down to Lake Como which was a really sweet hike, there were about six different lakes at different elevations which drained into each other and then eventually into Lake Como. After soaking our feet in the lake, we descended to the car, ending our hike at 2:00pm. Very intent now on finishing, I headed for Lindsey the following day while Stu returned to Boulder for work. A last look at Little Bear and the traverse Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Little Bear/Blanca Traverse and Ellingwood

Peaks: Little Bear, Blanca, and Ellingwood
Date Climbed: Monday July 16, 2007
Group: Stu (marmotman) and Ben (benners)
Route: Standard up Little Bear, traverse to Blanca, traverse to Ellingwood
Time: 10 Hours

For about three months now Stu and I have been seriously considering bagging these three in a day via the traverse. We decided a week prior to the climb that this point in the summer seemed like a good time to go for it and our conflicting schedules dictated that it would have to be Monday the 16th. We departed Boulder at 10:00pm on Sunday the 15th and reached the Lake Como Road at 3:00am. We were able to drive to an elevation of 9,500 ft. (thanks to the 4-Runner), our official start time was 4:00am. The hike up the road revealed why exactly this is one of the nation's worst. Pretty amazing stuff. The hike to the trail turnoff was approximately three miles, we arrived at the cairned junction at 5:30am and began the southward ascent up Little Bear's west ridge.

Stu ascending the talus gulley used to gain the west ridge

From the top of the west ridge the route cuts east across the ridgeline to the bottom of the hourglass. We basically stayed on or near the ridgecrest until we arrived at the hourglass.

Looking up the hourglass

(As confirmed many times before), staying to the left of the running water (center) of the hourglass seemed to be the easiest and safest route to the top. There was a red, relatively new looking rope next to the old rope and, although we chose not to trust it, we later met two guys who had rapped it the previous day. The rock in the hourglass is very stable and there are only a few sections of what I would consider to be honest climbing, I can see how rockfall would absolutely suck though, make sure there's no one above you!

Stu climbing in the hourglass

We topped out rather quickly and ascended the remaining three or four-hundred feet to the top, summiting Little Bear at 7:15am. The summit was cold and windy, not what we had hoped for but the weather quickly relented and we enjoyed some loin-girding M&Ms. It really was amazing how for below our position the plains appeared to be.

The town of Blanca from the summit of Little Bear, roughly 6,200 ft. below us

We began the Little Bear/Blanca traverse at 7:30am.

The Little Bear/Blanca traverse

The initial downclimb off of Little Bear was probably the hardest section of the entire thing. In certain places the rock is downsloping, smooth, and slippery which was a bit unsettling (Jared Workman suggested the butt slide technique for this section). The exposure was pretty ridiculous; the ridge is narrow (usually a foot or two) with massive vertical drops off both sides and there are near vertical towers and humps thrown into the mix which needed to be climbed over or skirted around.

The initial downclimb off of Little Bear

One move required us to place nearly all of our weight on a single handhold and lower ourselves over one of these small towers while leaning out over hundreds of feet of exposure. This was the single scariest move I have ever done and it ended up being the worst of the entire traverse. At this point the whole thing became surreal and hilarious, I found myself laughing at the situation which helped take my mind off of the exposure.

Looking up at Little Bear's Summit

Past the downclimb the ridge levels out which makes things easier but it also becomes narrower. Rather than having two feet to work with the ridge becomes a knife in many places, requiring the "saddle one leg over each side and scoot" technique - not very graceful but we didn't care. It's similar to Capitol's knife edge only this knife sustains itself for a fifth of a mile.

After the initial downclimb the ridge narrows even more

Stu on his way over

One third of the way across the ridge we came to the "Captain Bivwacko Tower" which is marked by a cairn on top. We traversed around the left side of the tower via a small exposed ledge. About halfway across the traverse the ridge becomes wider and more manageable. We were able to increase our speed and although steep climbing was required (often times 4 or low Class 5), the exposure was kept to a relative minimum.

Near the midpoint of the traverse, after this the ridge widens

Near the end of the traverse the exposure increased again, there are a few narrow sections of "catwalk" which seemed to overhang on both sides (as described in other trip reports). Past these it was a simple matter of climbing up and down several large humps (these can be seen near the end of the traverse in the pic facing Blanca). Although these humps were exposed, they were less steep than they appear in the picture and generally pretty easy to negotiate.

One of the exposed catwalks near the end of the traverse

We summited Blanca at 9:50am for a traverse time of two hours and twenty minutes. It was very relieving to be on the summit of Blanca, the surreality of the traverse began to diminish and Ellingwood Point became the new focus.

Blanca Summit, Little Bear in the background

The descent off Blanca is horribly loose but we didn't mind much, the relief of not dealing with exposure overshadowed the crappiness of the loose talus field. We summited Ellingwood at 10:45am, the traverse over from Blanca taking roughly an hour. On the summit of Elingwood we busted out some Capri Sun drink packs.

Ellingwood Point from just above the Blanca/Ellingwood Saddle

Little Bear Peak from Ellingwood's Summit

The descent off Ellingwood is equally loose as the descent off Blanca. We worked our way down to Lake Como which was a really sweet hike, there were about six different lakes at different elevations which drained into each other and then eventually into Lake Como. After soaking our feet in the lake, we descended to the car, ending our hike at 2:00pm. Very intent now on finishing, I headed for Lindsey the following day while Stu returned to Boulder for work.

A last look at Little Bear and the traverse

Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Comments or Questions

native_mntguy	Great!! 7/18/2007 6:56am We enjoyed watching you traverse the ridge over to Blanca as we sat on Ellingwood....here is a pic of you guys
janaynay	this is why i will never do LB 7/21/2007 5:29am >After soaking our feet in the lake, we descended to the car, ending our hike at 2:00pm. DUDE!!! this was NOT a hike! Mere mortals only wish Little Bear was a HIKE. way to go - awesome report and pics. you guys rule.
StevieTwoShoes	Nice Work 7/21/2007 11:48pm native_mntguy is right. It was fun watching you guys from Ellingwood as you traversed. Congrats on the Grand Slam and a great TR.
nlmoritz	Awsome!!! 7/22/2007 6:25pm Though it looks as if it will be a while before I even think of that traverse! Nice work!
catfish hank	yeah 11/30/2010 5:28pm Nice Work. I know when I get up on exposure like that, I dont even have the nerve to take my pack off and reach for my camera. Think I'll do da Bear on some snow.
jamienellis	Amazing! 11/30/2010 5:28pm I don't think I'll be attempting that traverse for a while; but your TR and pics were awesome. Keep 'em coming!
MountainMatt	Rock On 11/30/2010 5:28pm This is probably one of the best TR that I've seen of the traverse. WICKED!
Matt	Making Denny‘s look bad 1/19/2011 3:38am Wow. That is a bona fide Grand Slam. The pics of the traverse should give people a real clue as to what's involved. Those are the best I've seen around here. What are you going to do to top this one, summit all the Grenadiers in a day? Polish off the Keyhole route walking on your hands? I think you guys should challenge maverick_manley to a duel.
14ergirl	WOW! 2/5/2011 12:22am I will never climb Little Bear, but it was fun to live vicariously through you guys- great report!

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