Mt Harvard & Mt Columbia

Colorado peak questions, condition requests and other info.
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Jorts
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Re: Mt Harvard & Mt Columbia

Post by Jorts »

The only reason I looked for the SW approach was because I had read how awful the west one was. But it was good. See no reason to opt SW instead of west.
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Mitsugi
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Re: Mt Harvard & Mt Columbia

Post by Mitsugi »

I am also considering how to tackle this hike as we have it planned for early July. I think our consensus at the moment is to camp in the basin at the fork that splits off to H or C.

The question is whether to wake up early, do Harvard south slopes and then come back down and go up Columbia from the west. OR to go up Harvard south slopes and then do the traverse and meet back up at our campsite.

We once did Halo ridge on Holy Cross without camping and I would describe that hike as...pretty brutal. So I figure to do the traverse it would be foolish not to camp in the basin. I asked once before on here but anybody else have any stories comparing Halo Ridge with the HC Traverse? Any suggestions as to the best way to tackle this?

I guess from the basin to Harvard is roughly 3000 feet? And the the basin to Columbia is about 2700 ft? For a total of 5700 feet? That's so much. On the traverse I realize you give up about 1,400 feet but that means that the traverse from the basin is around 4400 feet? I'm thinking that's about right and I'm guessing at peak exhaustion that 1,300 foot difference is going to make a big impact.
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Imcp
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Re: Mt Harvard & Mt Columbia

Post by Imcp »

Last summer, my brother, a friend, and I attempted the HC traverse from the Cottonwood Creek TH. I would not recommend it unless your group is very fit and/or loves talus hopping. Personally, I think that it is much less effort to gain 1,500 extra feet hiking than it is to gain the 1,400 feet on talus. It probably would have been faster to go up Harvard and back down to the basin and then up the standard route on Columbia.

There is a lot of route finding on the traverse which makes it slow, especially if you get stuck and have to go back a bit. The biggest problem is that the only bailout option on the traverse is to go down to the Colorado Trail which adds a lot of extra distance and time (I estimate it added 3 or 4 miles). We had to do that because the friend got altitude sick and decided to descend without looking at a map of the area. I was pretty far behind due to a blister but had the map and would have insisted we go over the summit.

Getting from the traverse down to the CT is its own challenge because the trail doesn't actually exist above the pond just below the 3650 meter contour on the Caltopo map (around 11,900 on google maps), or if it does, the marsh hides it. Waterproof shoes or boots are extremely important in the Frenchman basin. Below the pond there are spots where the trail disappears although we did alright finding it in the dark so it's probably not too bad.

I think if I had to do the traverse again I would rather do Columbia to Harvard. The talus hopping route seemed to be more obvious when we started to descend.
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druid2112
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Re: Mt Harvard & Mt Columbia

Post by druid2112 »

I've done H from Frenchman (before the gates opened due to elk, Doh!!) and the loop/traverse H-->C from Hornfork/Cottonwood. Some points:
* First - don't be like me and make sure the gate is open if you choose Frenchman. If it's not, it makes it really long (~19 miles RT just to do Harvard, we camped).
* The improvements to the Columbia trail mentioned above were not there when I came back down Columbia into the HF basin. At the time, I remember thinking I was REALLY glad I didn't have to go up Columbia from HF basin. Perhaps it is better now.
* There is a LOT of talus hopping on the traverse, so hope that's your thing - sounds like irrespective of which option you go with, you will get to love the talus.
* If you end up going H-->C on the traverse, don't be afraid of going down too far off the ridge to get to the low point. I, like many others (I'm assuming), stayed up a little too high and ended up on some less than ideal terrain. It even mentions it in the description, as I recall, and I still didn't go down low enough.
* In either case, the traverse between H & C is no joke, it makes for a long day. Yes, there are other routes on this site that are more difficult. But this traverse is not to be taken lightly, just sayin.
* Fun! Great way to spend a day.
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