Bushwhacking

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cougar
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Re: Bushwhacking

Post by cougar »

hokiehead wrote: Thu Sep 30, 2021 7:35 pm other than a few miserable but short passages through horrible willows (Scott Gomer descent from Sawtooth, Casco Pk) that I'll call a BW4, the worst extended bushwack I've done is Copeland Mtn in RMNP from Wild Basin. I'll give that a BW3. Then, when exiting the forest, we got the opportunity to talus hop up the slope another 1000'.
I've done that postholing in 3-4 ft of snow in all that large deadfall. Add postholing to any bushwhack to bump it up a couple notches. Or darkness.

Other common things are willows (IPW and recently Sawatch) and the gamble/scrub oak in the foothills. Those oak branches don't move. I ended up hanging in a large patch that filled a gully, caught like a fly in a spiderweb. Hit lots of wild rose vine thorns in some gulches too. Lots of that to trip over and land on in the east.

One of my worst was going up around Thousand Falls in RMNP. Was more east of the creek and going up the wrong bump at first, jungle of huge fallen trees with all their big branches, between trail ridge and fall river roads. Eventually got better.

The "shortcut" through Hells Hip Pocket in the Never Summers is bad, due to a steep loose slope. Left me scraped up and bloodied. Didn't save any time over the ridiculous 3 mile switchback of Red Mtn trail as the other half of our crew who took the trail met us at the same time on the ditch road.
More often than not shortcuts are more work.

Getting lost in Mt Zirkel wilderness up North Fork of Elk creek was like being in the Everglades of CO, waist to chest deep grass and about 50 creek crossings attempting to minimize that. Then got into the big lilies.
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Bombay2Boulder
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Re: Bushwhacking

Post by Bombay2Boulder »

supranihilest wrote: Thu Sep 30, 2021 6:53 pm
Bombay2Boulder wrote: Thu Sep 30, 2021 6:45 pmBV 4.5- The "route" up Whitehouse and Ridgway from Ridgway Hut was the absolute worst bushwhacking I have done for a peak in CO yet, . I think between the approach and return I almost went through this for 5 hours.
Having done the same northern approach for Corbett Ridge from the Ridgway Hut area, I mostly agree - worst 13er bushwhack I've ever done, I think. Desert 8ers make it look like a joke, but for a 13er approach I give it a Jesus Christ/5. Whitehouse and Ridgway are actually quite delightful via Weehawken if you ever repeat them!
I didn't do enough research about those peaks and found about the route and the TR on the site after I got back. :-D Still got Corbett left, motivation is very low for that.
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Re: Bushwhacking

Post by highpilgrim »

Climbing steep choss full of teddy bear cholla cacti is pretty much the nastiest whacking you’re likely to find.

Cholla barbs will stick to anything, including the soles of your boots. And then the segment instantly separates from the main cactus. Skin is an easy further attachment.

Once attached, the only thing I’ve found to get them off is bbq tongs. Willows? Hah!

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Boggy B
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Re: Bushwhacking

Post by Boggy B »

Bombay2Boulder wrote: Thu Sep 30, 2021 9:43 pm
supranihilest wrote: Thu Sep 30, 2021 6:53 pm
Bombay2Boulder wrote: Thu Sep 30, 2021 6:45 pmBV 4.5- The "route" up Whitehouse and Ridgway from Ridgway Hut was the absolute worst bushwhacking I have done for a peak in CO yet, . I think between the approach and return I almost went through this for 5 hours.
Having done the same northern approach for Corbett Ridge from the Ridgway Hut area, I mostly agree - worst 13er bushwhack I've ever done, I think. Desert 8ers make it look like a joke, but for a 13er approach I give it a Jesus Christ/5. Whitehouse and Ridgway are actually quite delightful via Weehawken if you ever repeat them!
I didn't do enough research about those peaks and found about the route and the TR on the site after I got back. :-D Still got Corbett left, motivation is very low for that.
In this vicinity, the approach to the N face of Whitehouse is fairly heinous.

The NE ridge of Corbett & Son via the Dallas -> Corbett trail is chill by comparison.

I would think to get a 5 it has to be a DNF. For me this would be heading south up the ridge immediately west of Box Factory Park. Somewhere in that unmitigable deadfall with thorns filling all the gaps we spent 1.5 hours between two closed contours and called it quits.
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Re: Bushwhacking

Post by supranihilest »

Bombay2Boulder wrote: Thu Sep 30, 2021 9:43 pm
supranihilest wrote: Thu Sep 30, 2021 6:53 pm
Bombay2Boulder wrote: Thu Sep 30, 2021 6:45 pmBV 4.5- The "route" up Whitehouse and Ridgway from Ridgway Hut was the absolute worst bushwhacking I have done for a peak in CO yet, . I think between the approach and return I almost went through this for 5 hours.
Having done the same northern approach for Corbett Ridge from the Ridgway Hut area, I mostly agree - worst 13er bushwhack I've ever done, I think. Desert 8ers make it look like a joke, but for a 13er approach I give it a Jesus Christ/5. Whitehouse and Ridgway are actually quite delightful via Weehawken if you ever repeat them!
I didn't do enough research about those peaks and found about the route and the TR on the site after I got back. :-D Still got Corbett left, motivation is very low for that.
Whiley and I still have 12er "Angel Knob" over there and Corbett is fairly easy from the Knob. You'll be first on our list of demented souls to contact when we go up there. :-D
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supranihilest
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Re: Bushwhacking

Post by supranihilest »

Boggy B wrote: Thu Sep 30, 2021 9:55 pm
Bombay2Boulder wrote: Thu Sep 30, 2021 9:43 pm
supranihilest wrote: Thu Sep 30, 2021 6:53 pm

Having done the same northern approach for Corbett Ridge from the Ridgway Hut area, I mostly agree - worst 13er bushwhack I've ever done, I think. Desert 8ers make it look like a joke, but for a 13er approach I give it a Jesus Christ/5. Whitehouse and Ridgway are actually quite delightful via Weehawken if you ever repeat them!
I didn't do enough research about those peaks and found about the route and the TR on the site after I got back. :-D Still got Corbett left, motivation is very low for that.
In this vicinity, the approach to the N face of Whitehouse is fairly heinous.

The NE ridge of Corbett & Son via the Dallas -> Corbett trail is chill by comparison.

I would think to get a 5 it has to be a DNF. For me this would be heading south up the ridge immediately west of Box Factory Park. Somewhere in that unmitigable deadfall with thorns filling all the gaps we spent 1.5 hours between two closed contours and called it quits.
Well I guess I'm going to have to check out this ridge in Box Factory Park. Good excuse to go there since I've never been. A bit off topic but how's that amazing looking couloir on Whitehouse's north face? It was impressive from Corbett and I figure of all people you've at least scoped it if not climbed it.
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Re: Bushwhacking

Post by letitbeirie »

It's from back east so count it or not as you like, but if you want to get a first-hand look at what separates athletes from adventurers go for a nice long hike in Linville Gorge, NC.

The better, maintained parts are definitely BW 0 but there's a huge network of unmaintained trails that are mostly BW 2-4. A lot of them really blur the line between trail hiking, scrambling, and bushwhacking.

This is one of the maintained trails on the USGS map.
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Here's one of the more adventurous ones that isn't on the map. The surveyor's tape isn't LNT but the route is easy to lose and if you get lost here nobody's coming looking for you.
Image

Can you find the trail? It's in there...
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The view from here is discouraging
Image
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Re: Bushwhacking

Post by blazintoes »

It all counts! All cardinal directions, states and even other countries. At least you're on route (I see the orange tape). Nice pics!

This forum topic also stems from the recent and many centennial finishers. Reading quips about the bushwhacks and nodding my head after having been there on old occasions. Congrats to all BTW. As some chose Vallecito vs. No Name for the Jagged approach, Balsam Lake is another avenue BTW after tackling Vestal and that is definitely BW1. There are many TR's with pretty summit pics but not really of bushwhacking so keep sending your stories and pictures as I'm suffering from a mild case of ennui from school and enjoy the breaks.

The desert is definitely a place where all things spiky live. As you look out at the wonderfully inhospitable terrain and plan your next move, you know better than to bushwhack. I'm curious about OldTrad's Hayduke experience. Just because there aren't downed trees; bushwhacking on Utah's sandy rocks can be terrifying. Did you experience any quick sand?There's a route on MP for a Utah peak that suggests bringing an ice ax to get up and down the choss. Fun! Some trekkers just have a knack for choss, which you must have if you plan to finish the 13ers.
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Re: Bushwhacking

Post by Chicago Transplant »

I think 1-3 are the most common around here. If the deadfall is light and there aren't a lot of willows then bushwhacking is fine. As those get annoying or the steepness gets to where you need a tree belay it boosts to a 3. Getting into a lot of scrub oak gets in the 3-4 range. For me 4 needs to be thick avalanche debris/deadfall or long stretches of tangled branches that dramatically slow progress. The only reason you are there is because there is no other option or you'd have to go really far out of your way to avoid it. I don't think I've ever had anything I'd consider a 5, if I don't turn around and give up its hard to call it a 5 and I don't think I've had anything bad enough to where I've turned around. I have had a few that I've gone down as a matter of a loop that I would not have gone up, I guess that could be a 4.5?

Here is the Lime Creek avalanche debris in 2019, we needed to go through it to get to the car as we did a loop and came into it from above. If we were coming up we probably would have turned around, it was like this on an off through multiple slide paths from Fairview Lake to Eagle Lake, at least a mile and a half. I'm in there somewhere.
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Re: Bushwhacking

Post by Presto »

BW 4 ... ah, yes ... some of the "trails" we used to backpack in and climb peaks in the Northern Cascades. :roll:
As if none of us have ever come back with a cool, quasi-epic story instead of being victim to tragic rockfall, a fatal stumble, a heart attack, an embolism, a lightning strike, a bear attack, collapsing cornice, some psycho with an axe, a falling tree, carbon monoxide, even falling asleep at the wheel getting to a mountain. If you can't accept the fact that sometimes "s**t happens", then you live with the illusion that your epic genius and profound wilderness intelligence has put you in total and complete control of yourself, your partners, and the mountain. How mystified you'll be when "s**t happens" to you! - FM
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Re: Bushwhacking

Post by Jon Frohlich »

El Capitan from Guadalupe Peak in Texas. Not even slightly enjoyable. Just don't. At least a 3, maybe a 4. I don't know how much blood was lost but enough. For added suffering you have no choice but to reverse course and go back the way you came.
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Re: Bushwhacking

Post by OldTrad »

You haven't really suffered bushwhacking until you've tunneled through the massive poison oak growth that extends between the road and the base of the Finger Lick'n cliff in Yosemite Valley. And of course, the suffering is the gift that keeps on giving for many weeks after.
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