Little Bear Peak- August 12, 2018- A different approach to the Southwest Ridge

Start Time: 4:20 a.m, Finish: 6:43 p.m. That's 14 hours and 23 minutes of fun.

Distance- 12ish miles... Elevation gain: I started below 8,000 feet, ended above 14,000 feet. With all the ups and downs I don't even want to think about it.

The photographs in this trip report are terrible- my cell phone takes awful pictures. Sorry. Probably the most useful part of this report is the gpx file if you are interested in following my route to access the southwest ridge.

I spy a small ledge to the right just before the vertical rock blocked my progress. I gently let myself down the 3 feet to the ledge. The exposure is daunting here, a massive drop a single step away; there is no question that a mistake here will be fatal. A few loose rocks the size of my hands litter the top of the otherwise solid ledge. Laser focused, there is no room for panic here. I pause to make sure my breathing is relaxed and make a couple careful steps along the ledge as it heads toward a corner. As I round the corner the narrow ledge slopes downward forcing my heels toward the abyss...

In mountaineering, sometimes you have to do things your way. From the moment I looked at the route description probably a full decade ago, I knew I wasn't interested in the Hourglass route on Little Bear Peak. A brutally steep gully with a good chance of water running down it (maybe surprise ice if it is cold), and littered with loose rock perilously perched to take out climbers below. It might be the right choice for most climbers, but I never felt that it would be my choice. If I were ever to finish the 14er list, I knew I would do it by finding a different way up the Bear.

2012: My wife and I made the trip up Lake Como Road and tackled Blanca and Ellingwood. I saw Little Bear up close for the first time, and it was just as intimidating as I imagined. For a time it became my facebook cover picture with the caption 'The monster I fear'.

Years went by and I would think about different routes up Little Bear from time to time. The Northwest Face/Black Hand, The West Ridge Direct, the Little Bear/Blanca Traverse; or some combination of those routes were all considered. Ultimately, I settled on the Southwest Ridge, which seems to be the most common alternate route on the Bear. I had heard a lot of negative things about the bushwhack to treeline. It seemed that most people cross Tobin Creek low to avoid some cliffy terrain. Looking at Caltopo, and confirming with a couple private messages to a forum member, it looked like there was a reasonable alternative. Gain a ridge not too far from Lake Como Road follow it to a bit above 11,000 feet and then do a sidehilling up and down traverse to the base of the next ridge (the Southwest Ridge). This would cross Tobin Creek much higher, allowing for a water refill in route. (Lessen learned- don't expect water in Tobin Creek during an exceptional drought).

Late June 2018- Attempt #1- I set my alarm for midnight, waking after a fitful couple hours of sleep. I drove straight to Lake Como Road to challenge Little Bear Peak. It was a trip I probably should never have attempted. I had just returned from a few days in Maine, and was less acclimated than normal, and I hadn't slept particularly well on this trip. But it was near the summer solstice so I could maximize the daylight and there was a beautiful weather forecast. Naturally, I decided to give it a try.

Everything went well until above 11,000 feet. While making the traverse between the two ridges, I slipped while descending some loose pine needles and fell on my right wrist. I looked down to a solid line of blood and could see some dark material in the underside of my wrist. The bleeding stopped pretty quickly and I figured the pain would stop soon. I continued onward, reaching the base of the southwest ridge. I stopped for a break and realized that my helmet was missing, it must have fallen off when I fell. I sat down and pondered whether or not to continue for several minutes. With no helmet and an injured wrist I decided that the risks were too great and descended. The wrist injury ended up swelling dramatically later in the day and the pain worsened. When I arrived home this led to an urgent care visit, antibiotics, and me pulling pieces of twig from my wrist for 2 weeks. The good news: my alternate method to gain the southwest ridge seemed reasonable. The Bear would wait.

Several weeks later I was ready for Round 2. After filling up on a huge late lunch at the Olive Garden, I drove down to Lake Como Road arriving with enough daylight left to put up a tent. I found people camped everywhere, illegal fires going, and quite a bit of noise. I pulled into one possible spot and the ground was so hard I couldn't even drive my tent stakes into the soil. Frustrated I drove to Alamosa, where I scored the last available room at the Days Inn which was a wonderful overpriced smoking room. However, the bed was comfortable and I slept fairly well, which is probably better than I would have done in the desert.

The next morning I drove to the trailhead and left my car (parked at 7800 to 7900 feet) at 4:20 a.m., ready to face down the Bear. I went with the same approach as my previous attempt. Here are the main details of my route down low... Follow Lake Como Road to 8,800 feet. Bushwhack southeast through the forest (not bad- I even found a jeep road for most of it) while basically holding the same elevation. Turn left on a prominent ridge and continue an easy bushwhack through pinon pines (there are cacti in spots but they are small and the bushwhack is reasonably open, it isn't very bad, I had no problems in the dark). As sunrise came, I found myself around 9,700 feet where the ridge narrows and becomes much rockier. Around this point I strayed just left of the ridge for a few hundred vertical feet as the terrain seemed a bit easier than the ridge crest.

Around 10,300 feet I was back on the center of the ridge, which I followed to around or just above 11,000 feet where I decided to leave the ridge and traverse toward the base of the Southwest Ridge. This traverse involves a lot of rock hopping (some of it quite loose), and where there aren't rocks it is littered with loose pine needles. Minor ups and downs will add up, and this portion of the route took me much longer than expected on both the ascent and descent. Eventually take a semi-steep and fairly loose slope to gain the crest of the Southwest Ridge.

Once on the crest of the SW ridge there is still a ton of work to do. 2 prominent bumps are next, Points 12,900 and 13,133. The rock in this area isn't bad, a bit loose in spots but certainly not terrible. I made ok time on the ascent of this terrain.

Above PT. 13,133 the rocks gradually become larger, a few spots of minor scrambling develop, and some exposure begins. Overall nothing too dramatic until you get to the last major point before South Little Bear.

After the last bump before South Little Bear there is a minor descent which includes a knife edge (lots of air on left side). There was a loose toaster sized rock on top of this knife edge, so make sure you are checking all your holds. I think that you could take some ledges to climber's right and avoid the knife edge but I saw no reason to do this as it would involve additional descending. The rest of the route to South Little Bear is straightforward. I actually cat-napped for a few minutes on the south summit, and took a few gulps of water. I decided to leave my pack on South Little Bear to not have to deal with the extra weight on this scrambling. Taking only my SPOT, cell phone, wallet and car keys I pressed on for the true summit.

The Mama Bear Traverse- After my brief rest I looked out on what was ahead of me... fortunately the true summit of Little Bear didn't look far away. I stayed ridge proper for a couple minutes and then descended climber's left to go around a few obstacles. I found a passable class 4 route on solid rock that didn't drop too far below the ridge. It looked like there was an easier (maybe only class 3) but looser option possible by descending farther but I didn't see the need. I regained the ridge and stayed ridge proper for some easy but exposed scrambling. As you get close to the notch in the ridge, direct passage seemed to be blocked by a large rock.

I spy a small ledge to the right just before the vertical rock blocked my progress. I gently let myself down the 3 feet to the ledge. The exposure is daunting here, a massive drop a single step away; there is no question that a mistake here will be fatal. A few loose rocks the size of my hands litter the top of the otherwise solid ledge. Laser focused, there is no room for panic here. I pause to make sure my breathing is relaxed and make a couple careful steps along the ledge as it heads toward a corner. As I round the corner the narrow ledge slopes downward forcing my heels toward the abyss... The large rock above becomes my savior now. I reach above me, and grab it with both hands to help me balance on the slanted ledge. Facing the rock and not looking at the drop below, I take a few more perilous steps. My new hiking shoes have good tread and my grip remains secure. The ledge meets back with the ridge crest below the large obstacle and I am back on safe terrain. It is an easy hike to the summit from here, mainly class 2 with a few easy class 3 moves, and in a few minutes I take the final steps onto Little Bear's summit.

I stepped onto Little Bear's summit to complete solitude, on a Sunday in August. The climbers from the Hourglass route were gone, probably already back in camp after an early start. It is around 11:30 a.m. and the sky is still mostly clear. I expected to feel a lot of emotions, but don't. I still need to get down and I must remain focused. And I want to get back to my water, the blazing sun is making me thirsty. I failed to get a single decent summit shot (does this mean I have to do it again?) I send out my SPOT signal and and text my wife. I see no reason to linger and after less than 10 minutes I am on my feet again.

Just below the summit you will cross above the top of the Hourglass and see the billions of loose rocks waiting to fly down it. A couple minutes later I was back near the notch... I decided to try the other side of the ridge this time to get around the vertical rock. I found a pretty reasonable route that wasn't nearly as exposed. Definitely class 4, but generally solid rock and I felt quite comfortable this time.

The rest of the traverse seemed to go easily, and I don't remember any major details except that there was fun scrambling and exposure. The traverse took me 30 minutes in each direction.

I had stashed a liter of Powerade on PT 13,133 and that was the motivation I needed to keep going. The endless rock begins to wear you down on this route, but keeping a slow but relatively steady pace seemed to work ok. The sun was beating down on me most of the afternoon, and I had stupidly chosen to wear a dark blue long sleeved shirt. I knew that if I took off the shirt I would get a bad sunburn, so I kept it on but it was killing me. There is no shade for so long on this route and with no wind on this day it was brutal.

Finally there were a few clouds, and combined with the thin trees as I descended there was at least some shade. I reached Lake Como Road and called my wife, letting her know not to wait up for me as I would be home quite late. I hoped for a 4wd vehicle to offer me a ride on the last portion of the desert hike, but no such luck. I staggered to my car and through off my pack, glad to have completed the bear.

A few final thoughts are below

• This route took me a little longer than it took me to do Capitol (might have been a little quicker than Capitol if I had started at 8,800 Feet.
• I usually drink very little while hiking (example 16 oz on Maroon a few days before this hike). I drank 3 liters of liquid (2 water/1 powerade) on this trip.
• If you take this variation to gain the southwest ridge, don't count on water at the Tobin Creek crossing, there wasn't any. This could be due to the exceptional drought, maybe there would be some in a more typical year.
• Mostly solid rock, fun scrambling and exposure make for a fun finish to this route. If there was an easy way to get to PT 13,133 everyone would probably do this route. The tedious rock on the slopes before PT 13,133 is not enjoyable. If I were to do it over I would choose the same route, as this is a reasonable alternative to the Hourglass route. It may be longer and more exposed, but I have little doubt that it is safer.
• My SPOT GPX tracker was all over the place (showed me several hundred feet below the ridge for a while, etc). I made my own GPX to approximate my route.