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I came back for more of Huron Peak on Wed 11/11. I didn't finish an earlier attempt on Halloween, but this time things were going to be different!
Me and a 14er buddy from Loveland drove up to Leadville Tues night and met up at Charlotte's Saloon w/a hiking couple from Boulder. There were originally going to be 2 or 3 additional people in our group that read my post in Climbing Connection, but not everyone could make it.
After we all had a few beers the Boulder couple went back to their room in town, and my buddy and I drove out to the trailhead to make camp. My last trip report from Halloween warned of deep snow on the road. Most of it had melted (thankfully), and 390 was pretty easy to navigate. However, the 4-wheel drive segment past Winfield was covered in a solid sheet of ice. At first we tried it, but the Honda Pilot just slid backwards and did a 180. Luckliy we didn't hit any trees or rocks, and attached chains around the front wheels. The chains did the trick and got us all the way back to the trailhead.
For anyone about to climb Huron; if you do not have chains or serious traction, you will be parking below the trailhead and hiking in an additional 2 miles, imo.
The couple from Boulder weren't at the trailhead by the time we broke camp, so we started up the trail around 6:10am. As we learned later they ran into the same sheet of ice we did, and had the same experience with their vehicle sliding backwards, spinning around, etc. So they hiked in the additional two miles.
The weather was perfect, and not too windy.We had a good view coming around the corner of the three apostles, John and Paul were easy to spot, not sure where Ringo was...
10 days earlier we needed snowshoes, but this time the snow on the trail was packed nicely. The biggest obstacle was ice - thank god for Yak Trax.
As we approached the saddle our friends started to catch up!
Me on the summit.
My buddy on summit.
Our new hiking friends having breakfast at summit.
Their cool dog.
Nice view of neighboring Brown's Peak, and Elbert (I think) at the rear left.
The road = solid ice
Winfield
We all got back down a little after Noon and had lunch together in Leadville. It was a pleasant hike. I might be adding some more pics to this trip report later.
Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):
Chuck, I would like to get w/you sometime after you get back from your trip, and maybe get a beginners course in using an ice axe, if you are into running clinics for newbies.
Beautiful! I knew you guys would have great weather but didn‘t realize just how nice the route would be. Congrats!
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