Evans and Bierstadt via the Sawtooth Ridge

[JeremiahG]

Good call.

[DoctorBreaks]

A few thoughts/suggestions on the Tour, from doing it last September:

Departing from switchback on the Mt. Evans Road described in the route description, a lot of people have told of descending the first gully that looked like it would go. That one turns out to be nasty loose, manageable but not ideal. The "next" gully is better terrain. My group ended up taking one further east, just before the saddle rises back up toward Epaulet Mountain. The gully we took was very nice terrain, a gentle, grassy slope. The only drawback for that gully is that it adds distance and some elevation loss/gain to the route.

In the basin, cross the creek at the first opportunity. Avoid the willows at all cost.

Bierstadt's East Ridge is great introductory class 3 terrain - fun scrambling, solid rock with fractures which provide easy handholds without destroying the integrity of the rock.

For the crux section on Point 13,641, traverse right along ledges to bypass the class 5 section described in the route description. That class 5 section did not look that hard in photos or to my eye from a distance, but I fully trust Bill Middlebrook's description. I'm sure there's some moves/exposure in that vicinity that are beyond what I would want to take on unroped. Look for a hairpin left turn back up a ramp to regain the ridge - but not too soon. There is a least one such left-turn ramp which puts you back on the ridge too soon - below the class 5 terrain. How far to you go before you come to the "right" ramp? Hard to describe, but it's always further than you think it will be.

From the summit of Point 13,641, it's still a fairly long ridge walk on class 1-2 terrain to reach Bierstadt's summit.

There are multiple cairned trail options for descending Bierstadt on the east side of the Bierstadt-Sawtooth ridge. As someone else noted, higher is generally better. If time and weather are working out and are enjoying the exposure, there are lots of fun scrambling options on the gendarmes along the ridge before you cross over to the exposed traverse on the west side of the Sawtooth. But bear in mind, it's a long way from the Sawtooth to the summit of Evans. Also, there's quite a bit of elevation gain from the low point on the Bierstadt-Sawtooth saddle, up to the point where you cross over to the west side of the ridge.

The traverse along the west side of the Sawtooth isn't nearly as spooky as it looks in photos. Yes there's a huge drop, but the ledge traverse is generally wide. And, there are also secondary ledges a short distance below the trail for the most part, which really alleviate any objective danger along there. I remember only one narrow spot with no ledge below, where it was necessary to focus and move carefully through.

Where the traverse dog-legs to the left, you have a choice of lower or higher routes. There's a thread on this site about that choice, including a poll, from last year - you can search for it if you're interested. Lower is wide, with some loose stuff, and enough incline to look a bit sketchy from a distance. I don't know what it's really like because we went high, and loved it. That's a much narrower ledge system that demands your attention. A fall would take you down steep slabs onto the lower trail, very bad news. But the upper trail never got too narrow and handholds were ample.

When you exit that traverse, the scrambling is essentially over but you have a long class 1-2 hike to the summit of Evans. I think it's around two miles. You first traverse the gentle north slope of the Sawtooth until you hit the saddle with Evans' west/north ridge system. Then the main trail winds below (south of) the ridge crest. I think following the ridge proper would be more fun if time/weather/energy allows - which was not the case when we were there, so we took the trail. You'll know you're getting close to Evans' summit when tourists wearing sandles start appearing, often with their dogs. But it's still further than you think to the summit. It always is.

This is the best write up ever. I wish I had it on Saturday! Lol I got lost like 4 times because many different places so to park at the first switchback. This turned out to be horribly false. The first switchback was actually about .5 miles from Summit Lake and I was searching for the gully and wasted an hour. Finally after walking for an hour I saw Bierstadt and Sawtooth and just decided to go that direction and luckily found the gully. There is no defined trail from the gully to the ridge. I ended up on the east ridge but with little direction found myself on some pretty sketchy sections and had to go back and forth until I found what I assumed was the right path. Got past Pt.13,641 and clouds rolled in. Had to duck into the basin really quickly and had to ascend the gully back to the car.

[Hungry Jack]

Are there any good photos of the upper Sawtooth traverse route? Would like to try it in combo with the east ridge later this summer.

EDIT: Found one:

[DoctorBreaks]

Once you get done with the East Ridge doing Sawtooth is nothing. I didn't think the gully was bad at all, just plan on having wet feet for your ascent to gain the ridge lol.

To be honest the East Ridge scared me quite a bit lol. Found myself in a lot of very sketchy situations. The move off of PT 13641 was terrifying. I would imagine the move I made was definitely class 4. I had really no good holds and it was too far to lower myself using my arms only. The exposure was pretty intense also lol. Overall I loved it. Great for my first class 3. Although it was really scary at times, it wasn't anything I knew I couldn't do. Just kind of telling myself that it wasn't so bad. I'm going back this Saturday to try again. I definitely didn't want to be caught on Sawtooth during a storm.

[bbass11]

So is the sawtooth pretty free of snow now? Would an ice axe be unnecessary?

[darkins44]

We did the Sawtooth last year. My wife and 2 other guys did the upper part. I was a little ahead and was committed enough to the lower route that I just did that. My wife thought the lower looked and felt crazy so she went high but I never felt scared as a fall on the lower would just result in a face of scree and you wouldn't slide off.

[justiner]

Should be fine without an ice axe. All the snow you're likely to come across is either avoidable, or you're walking right on top of it.

[justiner]

For the crux section on Point 13,641, traverse right along ledges to bypass the class 5 section described in the route description. That class 5 section did not look that hard in photos or to my eye from a distance, but I fully trust Bill Middlebrook's description. I'm sure there's some moves/exposure in that vicinity that are beyond what I would want to take on unroped

The exposure on the direct arete up is pretty brutal - you're basically looking all the way to the base of the ridge. The moves aren't too sustained, - maybe two or three tricky moves, and then it eases back up, again. If you're not comfortable, the ramp system to the East works just fine. I don't know if bringing a rope makes too much sense up there - it'd be a long, long hike with the rope, and any time lost with extra equipment, means move time exposed to those pesky storms.

[DoctorBreaks]

For the crux section on Point 13,641, traverse right along ledges to bypass the class 5 section described in the route description. That class 5 section did not look that hard in photos or to my eye from a distance, but I fully trust Bill Middlebrook's description. I'm sure there's some moves/exposure in that vicinity that are beyond what I would want to take on unroped

The exposure on the direct arete up is pretty brutal - you're basically looking all the way to the base of the ridge. The moves aren't too sustained, - maybe two or three tricky moves, and then it eases back up, again. If you're not comfortable, the ramp system to the East works just fine. I don't know if bringing a rope makes too much sense up there - it'd be a long, long hike with the rope, and any time lost with extra equipment, means move time exposed to those pesky storms.

I didn't even know about the ramp system lol. Felt like I was just climbing the entire time with constant exposure.

[Bob Loblaw]

So is the sawtooth pretty free of snow now? Would an ice axe be unnecessary?

There is no snow on the Sawtooth itself. There is a lot of snow on the face between the summit of Bierstadt and the saddle on the Sawtooth. I would recommend an axe to glissade that section. You can avoid the snow by staying very high on the ridge or very low, but why waste time? I saw a lot of people struggling down the snow last weekend without axes. The tennis shoes probably didn't help though...

[Air Squared]

I didn't even know about the ramp system lol. Felt like I was just climbing the entire time with constant exposure.

You must have stayed pretty high up on the ridge??

I crossed the Tooth about 100ft below the ridge line, and had almost zero exposure the entire route. For being my first Class 3 hike, it was a great experience in the fact that it provided a serious challenge and some much needed experience, but never really presented a whole lot of danger (at least that's how I felt about it during the route).

EDIT: Nevermind, I now realize you're talking about the EAST ridge. My mistake.

[Air Squared]

Yeah I did a writeup on here ranking class 3 routes in the front range. I list the easiest as sawtooth but put Longs standard keyhole next in line, then this ridge, then quandary's west.

You have a link to that write up??

I'm interested in checking it out....