Route: S/SE/NE slopes
Posted On: 2020-02-03,
By: SarahTInfo: Started from Eureka. Several slides have crossed CO-110 but its in safe condition at the moment. A dumb route finding error caused me to opt to climb steep south facing slopes to gain the SE ridge a bit below 12,000'. Not recommended - snowshoes and ice axe is never a good combination! Once on the SE ridge there was one steep section but the snow was in good condition. To descend I started down the SE ridge and then soon bailed to the NE slopes, which were by far the safest option and let me avoid descending the steep bit on the ridge. I descended the North Fork drainage back to the road (after bagging Engineer & Seigal). It is very narrow and steep slopes loom on either side - not a place to be except in the best of conditions. I had to do an 8' jump near the very bottom to get down a strange rock wall - man made I think.
