Mt. of the Holy Cross Trip Report 09/15/2008

Peak(s):	Mt. of the Holy Cross - 14,007 feet
Date Posted:	09/15/2008
Date Climbed:	09/01/2008
Author:	climber714

Holy Cross coulier
My buddy Jim and I climbed the Holy Cross coulier on the first weekend of September and it was great. The snow was still in great condition although there were some patches of dry ground and loose scree. Only about a third of the way did we encounter a "tight spot" where the snow melted away from around a large boulder making it difficult to get up,over,and around it. Definitely had to use some mixed climbing skills throughout the climb. We chose to go the Roach‘s route of avoiding the cliff band at the very bottom and circle around to the Bowl of Tears then cut up towards another cliff band before dropping into the coulier above the cliffs at the bottom. It was near the point of cutting across to drop in that I lost my rather new helmet. It fell off my pack and rolled nearly all the way down to the bottom. If anyone wants a new helmet--it‘s there for the taking. I wasn‘t about to climb all the way back down there and get it. Look to the left side of the route as you begin ascending up the mountain from the Bowl. It shouldn‘t be too hard to find. Unless some militant marmot claimed it and is wearing it. One last word....we set up camp the night before near the intersection of the trail below the falls and reconed the initial route. This is strongly suggested. Even then we still had some difficulty staying on route as there were many side trails and game trails and the main trail was not marked well. After finally crossing a large boulder field on way to Bowl of Tears we saw only ONE cairn before turning up the slope. Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Holy Cross coulier

My buddy Jim and I climbed the Holy Cross coulier on the first weekend of September and it was great. The snow was still in great condition although there were some patches of dry ground and loose scree. Only about a third of the way did we encounter a "tight spot" where the snow melted away from around a large boulder making it difficult to get up,over,and around it. Definitely had to use some mixed climbing skills throughout the climb.

We chose to go the Roach‘s route of avoiding the cliff band at the very bottom and circle around to the Bowl of Tears then cut up towards another cliff band before dropping into the coulier above the cliffs at the bottom. It was near the point of cutting across to drop in that I lost my rather new helmet. It fell off my pack and rolled nearly all the way down to the bottom. If anyone wants a new helmet--it‘s there for the taking. I wasn‘t about to climb all the way back down there and get it. Look to the left side of the route as you begin ascending up the mountain from the Bowl. It shouldn‘t be too hard to find. Unless some militant marmot claimed it and is wearing it.

One last word....we set up camp the night before near the intersection of the trail below the falls and reconed the initial route. This is strongly suggested. Even then we still had some difficulty staying on route as there were many side trails and game trails and the main trail was not marked well. After finally crossing a large boulder field on way to Bowl of Tears we saw only ONE cairn before turning up the slope.

Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Comments or Questions

cheeseburglar	In September? 9/17/2008 4:57am Very cool. I climbed that couliour in June years ago and it was almost a mixed climb. How was the mixed climbing? Did you set protection anywhere? Ice pro or rock? I can‘t spell coilior either.
climber714	Holy Cross 9/17/2008 5:06am Nada, Just an ice ax for each of us. It was great snow. We could kick in steps pretty well but could not be done without crampons. We also did not see any evidence of anyone being there recently. Was a great climb!
lightburn	Cross coulior 6/25/2009 9:15pm Anyone have any comments on if decending from the saddle on Notch mountain is better than going via the climbers trail off of east cross creek? Janet Lightburn

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