Blanca Peak Trip Report 09/13/2007

Peak(s):	Blanca Peak - 14,350 feet Little Bear Peak - 14,041 feet
Date Posted:	09/13/2007
Date Climbed:	08/17/2007
Author:	slaggbottom

LB - Blanca Traverse (w/ video of catwalk!)

Comments or Questions

SarahT	Absolutely awesome pics! Thanks for sharing. 9/13/2007 6:57pm ...and congrats on this classic traverse.
BillMiddlebrook	Excellent! 9/13/2007 7:38pm Way to go! This will be very helpful to those researching the traverse. Thanks for posting.
doumall	Well done... 9/13/2007 10:44pm Glad you added it here. We used it to get syked for our own trip as it was certainly the best beta out there. One friendly correction: The tower you call bivoac is not bivoac... the true tower is 100 yards down the ridge from the climber in the pic with the caption: ”At some point around here, Dave, still up on Little Bear, snapped a picture of one of us on a tower along the ridge. Look for the tall dark skinny guy on the first ridge tower... ” You can go over the first tower which involves a short 5.0-5.2 downclimb on the LB side.
Spam	Excellant 9/14/2007 3:12pm Probably the best TR I have read. Put that one in Wikpedia for the definition of ”exposure”! Congratulations on a truely insane traverse!
Patinator	Dang 9/14/2007 5:22pm With all of those pictures, I am surprised that you had time to climb 1st rate reporting and climbs.
lordhelmut	Sick 11/30/2010 5:28pm For some reason my balls started to hurt (weird) just watching that video, maybe it brought back too vivid of a bad memory, those loose rocks along the catwalk toy with your psyche in all the wrong ways. This, along with Prakash's TR, are phenomenal, thanks for having the courage to take your digital out while manuevering through that catwalk, you must have nerves of absolute steel.
susanjoypaul	Outstanding 11/30/2010 5:28pm I feel like I just watched "Little Bear to Blanca - The IMAX Movie." This may be as close as I ever get to that one - the vertigo was a bit much :-) You guys rock. Nice job. Thanks for taking the time to post all the great pictures and descriptions as well; I'm impressed that you remembered all that detail!
slaggbottom	bivoac tower 11/30/2010 5:28pm Thanks for the info on bivoac. We knew it was somewhere on the first 1/4th of the ridge (though this 1st tower is probably like 1/12th across the ridge), and had the notion from other TRs that this 1st tower was it. Regardless, we both considered this to be the main "tower crux", as it's the first you hit, and you can't see what kind of downclimb is on the Blanca side of it (if you consider climbing up the 5.0/5.2 LB side - which I didn't want to have to downclimb with so much exposure if we needed to turn back). Surprisingly, i don't recall passing the real bivwacko tower then. It's supposed to be one of the cruxes, but apparently we found that the route was obvious enough to skirt around it (or possibly over it?). Maybe by the time we reached it, all the previous exposure and knife edges had rendered it "old hat". Don't think I have a pic of it even. I can feintly remember a rock with a cairn, but apparently it didn't register in my memory as a defining element of the ridge... Your trip report is awesome, BTW. I really enjoyed the numerous pics and great views that I didn't capture. This traverse is so amazing, and there's so much to it, that no matter how many TRs you read going in, you'll be blown away when you get out there, and will have plenty to explore and figure out.
maverick_manley	superior... 11/30/2010 5:28pm report dude... We found it on your website before we headed out. You've got some impressive stuff there. Several other reports we found refered to the first tower as Capt. Bivwacko tower as well. The actual Bivwacko tower had a cairn on top of it. In my report I've posted a picture of doumall up on top of it standing by the cairn. It had a very faint ledge system on its West side that you could traverse across. We found it pretty simple to climb right over the first tower. How did you post your video? I got one close to the catwalk but had no clue how to post it.
slaggbottom	videos 11/30/2010 5:28pm This TR is hosted from my site, and in my html file I just put a link to the .avi file, like I would a .jpg (view the source of my html file). Does Summit Post use html? Not sure how they construct TRs. They might not support video, though you could try uploading it as a pic. BTW, it wasn't until I saw how your report was sourced from a link to Summit Post that I realized I could easily do the same with a link to my site. Didn't know 14ers.com worked that way. I might add my Snowmass S-ridge route, and Capitol Peak hike from last year (i have a video from the knife edge).
scotthsu	bivwacko 11/30/2010 5:28pm you know, to this day, i'm still not sure which one is the real bivwacko tower. i think i went right up and over it without knowing it when i did it great TR, and congrats on the traverse! -scott
jdfors	Holy Sh!t 11/30/2010 5:28pm Wow what an awesome TR. I felt like I was right there with you guys. The pics were phenomenal. The video was insane. I definetely don't think I have the cojones for that traverse but congrats to you guys for doing it!!
slaggbottom	Two Bivwackos 11/30/2010 5:28pm So to sum up the Bivoac Tower details: The first tower you hit descending from LB, that is often mis-represented as Bivwacko Tower, can be passed along the left, as in my report, but might be easiest to climb straight up and over given doumall/maverick's info. It's a 5.0-5.2 climb, but there is nothing tricky on the descent on the other side. Still, the ridge below the tower on the LB approach side is pretty narrow and exposed, so a fall during the climb up the tower would be very bad. But there looked to be decent holds. The holds around the left are good too. The second (and real) Bivwacko Tower can be passed on the right, which is the "Ben takes some pics of me climbing up along the crack in the right side of the rock..." caption. This route is pretty obvious, and shouldn't be an issue to anyone that has made it to this point.
doumall	More on Bivoac 2/5/2011 12:22am There is actually a pretty good sequence of you climbing around the right side of the bivoac tower... the caption is: ”Ben takes some pics of me climbing up along the crack in the right side of the rock, to gain the ridge again... ” I can see how people wouldnt notice the tower, as getting around it isnt as difficult as many moves prior. Its also not very obvious from the LB side when you approach it. The LB side of the tower was only 15 to 20 feet tall, while the blanca side is probably 40. Scotthsu, you probably would have noticed climbing down the other side of it, unless your a supreme rock god?

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