Lone Eagle Peak Comparisons

[kwhit24]

Joe Grant (@alpineworks on Instagram) just hiked this yesterday and posted quite a few cool videos about some of the exposure and route. Very cool stuff. Looks amazing and quite intense in some spots! That's why I like following people like Joe and Anton on IG because they talk about the routes and show some awesome terrain

[rgmcnair12]

the trickiest part of the route is the class 4 down-climb to gain access to the summit ridge. it is steep and loose, but going back up not much of an issue. Here is a picture of the area from a couple weeks ago.

[jchapell]

Thanks all! If anyone has a gpx file (to use as a general guide, not a yellow brick road), I would certainly be interested in it!

[eskermo]

Thanks all! If anyone has a gpx file (to use as a general guide, not a yellow brick road), I would certainly be interested in it!

If you need a gpx, or even cairns, you probably should not attempt this route. I say that knowing little about you aside from your peak checklist, and the fact that you asked an Internet forum first. So I apologize if I underassumed your technical abilities.

This peak does not compare with any 14er. If you don't have lots of experience scrambling up AND down 4th class and extensive route finding coupled with extreme exposure, I just don't think this is a good route choice. While not impossible to figure out for a novice, there are too many places you could get off route and really get yourself into trouble or more technical terrain.

After a lot of experience scrambling, dealing with exposure and difficult route finding, I think scramblers will find this peak insanely rewarding and fun. However, the opposite may be true if you get in over your head before you're ready for it.

Half the fun of the route is figuring it out yourself. You don't need a GPX for that.

[jchapell]

Thanks all! If anyone has a gpx file (to use as a general guide, not a yellow brick road), I would certainly be interested in it!

If you need a gpx, or even cairns, you probably should not attempt this route. I say that knowing little about you aside from your peak checklist, and the fact that you asked an Internet forum first. So I apologize if I underassumed your technical abilities.

This peak does not compare with any 14er. If you don't have lots of experience scrambling up AND down 4th class and extensive route finding coupled with extreme exposure, I just don't think this is a good route choice. While not impossible to figure out for a novice, there are too many places you could get off route and really get yourself into trouble or more technical terrain.

After a lot of experience scrambling, dealing with exposure and difficult route finding, I think scramblers will find this peak insanely rewarding and fun. However, the opposite may be true if you get in over your head before you're ready for it.

Half the fun of the route is figuring it out yourself. You don't need a GPX for that.

I have no disagreement here at all eskermo, thanks for speaking up! No apologies necessary for noting our technical abilities, which (beyond the checklist) would include additional exposed 3+ scrambles in CO, UT, CA, and Grand Teton (guided) climb and are both decent climbers that are comfortable with exposure, but not a ton of class 4 downclimbing in particular.

We are trying to thoughtfully and safely build our experience base for future climbs. I was thinking that if/when we wanted to, it provided a good stretch objective with a relatively short approach (from a crater lake basecamp) and somewhat lower elevationl, whether this year or the future...and if we decided to bail, just the mirror/crater lake backpack would be a blast in and of itself. However, you may be saying this is not a great peak to "stretch" our experience on. I'd love to get in some harder scrambles that don't necessarily involve the loose rock of the Elks etc., so would be all ears for other suggestions! We just happen to have a week of childcare from the grandparents in September, so we are thinking through our options.

I also should have clarified - I was hoping to use the GPX as a general guide to check out the route via google earth, rather than the breadcrumb yellow-brick road when on the mountain...

All that to say - eskermo I really appreciate your feedback, and while I realize it would be next level for us, I haven't ruled it out...but feel free to verbally slap me to my senses if necessary

[angry]

Did you pick a date to do this or decide on something else?

[jchapell]

Did you pick a date to do this or decide on something else?

The original thread was last year...we ended up putting it off for a year, and climbed it a couple weeks ago - my trip report is here: https://www.14ers.com/php14ers/triprepo ... trip=19054
Let me know if you have any questions in response to this thread!