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-10.5 miles
-5500 feet
-start...6:15am
-finish...1:30pm
I'm on a role right now...2 trip reports in one night. If only I was this efficient in college.
I continued my attack on the high 13ers this past weekend. I was looking for another traverse hike where I could tick off a few peaks. I chose an area that is known for it's long string of high peaks...the Tenmile Range, just outside of Breckenridge.
Dani, Timber and I left CO Springs at 4:15am and got to the Blue Lakes trailhead at 6am. The plan was to do Drift and Fletcher together...then I would break off to the North, leaving Dani to head back to the car and pick me up at the Crystal Lake trailhead.
Sunrise over Blue Lakes
Making our way up the talus under Fletcher's "hanging valley"
Dani under Quandary's south face
Drift and Fletcher...Drift is on the far left. At this point we realized the dog was not going to be comfortable getting to the summit of Drift. So Dani & Timber went up Fletcher while I worked my way back to Drift.
Here's the line I took up Drift
This traverse had some noticable exposure and was the trickiest part of the route
Drift summit ridge...from the summit I decided to descend back down and then up to Fletcher...just didn't know enough about the ridge.
View to the north...Pacific, Atlantic, and Fletcher from left to right.
Dani on Fletcher summit with ridge to Drift behind her
Mike on Fletcher's southeast ridge
Fletcher, Atlantic ridge...there are huge towers on this ridge which would make a direct traverse difficult. I'm guessing rope & protection would be needed.
Here's a view of my route from the Fletcher saddle in to the east side of the ridge. I tried to stay as high as possible...staying a few hundred feet above the lakes.
Ridge to Pacific with Crystal, Peak 10, and Father Dyer to the right of Crystal
Tilted view of Pacific, Crystal ridge
Looking down the Pacific's North Couloir. Roach describes this route as "the finest snow climb in the Tenmile range". It reaches 65 degrees at its steepest point. Going to have to come back for that one in the spring.
From Crystal, looking down at the route to Lower Crystal Lake. Dani parked the jeep about a mile from here and walked up the road to meet me.
Me with Father Dyer and Crystal Peaks in the backround.
Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):
Greenhouseguy and I saw someone standing on Pacific around 11:00 from the Father Dyer/Crystal saddle, must have been you! You‘re right that ropes would probably have been needed for the Fletcher/Atlantic ridge. From what Cooper says in his book about that ridge, its pretty rotten and one of the most dangerous in his book. You probably made a smart choice dropping around. Good job, very impressive day!
Ha...What up Cousin? You defintely caught me. It was a combination of Orten‘s play and that hike that put me over the edge. Just couldn‘t keep my eyes open.
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