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It was a beautiful sunny day yesterday. A bit too sunny for hiking off a mountain covered in snow. As I hiked off Mount Yale with my snowshoes, it was like walking down hill through lumpy mashed potatoes. I can't imagine what it would have been like without the snowshoes. These photos are from the climb taken with my point-and-shoot camera.
Starting out on Friday at Avalanche Gulch Trail Head
The Avalanche trail head provides access to Mount Yale's east ridge. I hiked up to the ridge (12,000') on Friday and set up camp.
Bivy location on the East Ridge saddle at 12,000 feet
There was absolutely no wind and I had a great view of Mount Princeton of to the south as I enjoyed the last of the sun's warmth.
Mount Princeton as seen from my bivy location. Not a bad view to go with my cup of tea.
After the sun went down it got cold. The sky was clear and still no wind. It was quiet. Around two in the morning I had a brief freak-out moment. I had been laying in the bivy bag for about 5 hours (not sleeping) with all the zippers zipped up trying to keep warm when some small rodent, chipmunk or weasel by the feel of it, ran right across the bivy bag and me! I imagine the rodent may have been more startled than me as I jumped inside the bag.
The pay-off for spending a freezing night at 12,000 feet and dealing with kamikaze rodents is getting to see a sunrise that you can only experience high on a mountain.
Sunrise on Yale's norther slope.
I stood there watching the sun peak over the clouds and paint Yale's northern slopes. I'm not sure why, but Pink Floyd's Great Gig In the Sky was in my head. It seemed to work well for a sunrise on a high Colorado peak.
Sunrise over the cloud cover.
Looking back at my bivy location as I start up the first hill on the ridge
I quickly put my summit pack together, micro spikes, ice axe, and crampons (just in case). I left my snowshoes near camp hoping the ridge line snow would be minimal or wind packed. I started moving at 6 am on excellent, firm snow. This would not be the case on the way down. Hiking Yale's East Ridge to the summit is like climbing two mountains. The first false summit is intimidating.
A view of the false summit.
Once over that, there's the final push to the true summit. If you're not expecting it, it can be really disheartening to crest the false summit only to see another huge ridge line ahead. I'm not sure the two photos really convey the immensity of actually seeing the route. It was intimidating and exciting all at the same time. If you look closely at the saddle between the false summit and the summit, you can see two specks, hikers who had passed me earlier in the day.
The true summit with two climbers in the saddle.
I really appreciated the steps they kicked into the slope ahead of me.
Climbers kicking steps. They started really early at the TH and passed me. Thanks for the steps!
I finally made the summit at 10:30. I will never get tired of seeing the Rocky Mountains from the top of a high peak.
The view from the top.
Mount Harvard and Columbia stood high to the north while the snow on Princeton and Antero glowed brightly to the south. After about 15 minutes there were about twenty of us on the peak.
14ers at the Spring Gathering. I had no idea.
Most had come up Yale's standard route (West Ridge) from the Denny Creek TH. We all took photos for each other and shared some oxygen deprived conversation.
It feels good to be on top.
The snow was starting to soften as I left the summit at 10:45. I used my axe on a couple of exposed snow slopes on the way up but felt sure footed on the firm snow with my micro spikes. On the way down the sure footing "slid" away as the sun softened the snow and I was really glad I had the axe for self belay on those exposed slopes. I was back at camp by 1 pm and down to my t-shirt. I packed up quickly and put on the snowshoes for the final trek down though the lumpy mashed potatoes. At about 10,500 feet, I was finally out of the snow and happily took off the snowshoes. The remaining two miles of the hike were really hot!
I reached the trail head just a little after 5 pm, utterly tired and in a total state of inner calm. The first sip of the cold, New Castle Ale from the cooler was an incredible experience topped only by the feeling of the cool breeze on my feet as I freed them from their hiking boots and wool socks.
It's been said "Alpinism is the art of suffering". But, the rewards of hiking the high country are well worth it.
Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):
So, 14er member Kimo and I bivy’d almost exactly where you did on the route (same time of year too, I believe) about 4 years ago. Not only did our bivy location look the same, but we have the same bivy sack. THEN...you wrote about the rodent. During our night, I heard soft gnawing near my head and woke up to torn up poles, stove and pack. (Which was hung from a tree.) Kimo had a strange sensation of something sleeping ON him in his bivy, and upon waking up found a condensation free patch on the bivy where some small animal had been sleeping on him! Crazy rodents up there.
Derek, it sounds like the rodents are getting smart. I did think it was a little strange that a chipmunk would "accidently" scamper onto my bivy sack. Now I know, from your story, it probably was no accident!
Globreal, yes I had a pad but went sans sleeping bag to save space. I figured I had enough layers to deal with temps in the low twenties. That was until I had a water bottle leak issue (they never happen when it’s warm...). I blame it on a new bottle that was hard to tell when the lid was cross threaded! So, it was a little uncomfortable. Eating all my extra food helped. Still, I really enjoyed the climb.
May I ask what boots you were wearing for this trip? I have not climed a 14er in the spring when snow is present but I plan to hike Mt. Yale just about the same time as you did next year. Wonder if my qore–tex Vasque’s with good socks, gaitors and micro spikes will do the trick or do I need something moer substantial.
I was wearing Zamberlan 996 VIOZ GTX. An all leather general purpose backpacking boot. I use a single pair of wool socks. This boot is stiff enough to take crampons but flexible light enough for most of my backpacking and climbing. I definitely wouldn’t want to do long stretches of front pointing though... These boots have worked really well for me. Super comfortable as long as the temp stays about 10 deg F or higher. On this trip I believe the temp stayed above 20 deg F on the saddle at night.
Your Vasques with gaitors spikes will probably work out. A lot depends on how cold it is and your tolerance for cold feet. I definitely used my snowshoes getting up to the saddle and for the first part of the ridge.
Good luck with your trip!
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THEN...you wrote about the rodent. During our night, I heard soft gnawing near my head and woke up to torn up poles, stove and pack. (Which was hung from a tree.) Kimo had a strange sensation of something sleeping ON him in his bivy, and upon waking up found a condensation free patch on the bivy where some small animal had been sleeping on him! Crazy rodents up there.
