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Snowmass and
Hagerman first thing in the morning.
Snowmass and
Hagerman from Geneva Lake.
First shot
of the west slopes of Snowmass.
The lower
boulder field on Snowmass.
The west
slopes route on Snowmass.
I finally got to a point where there was a turn.
Frustrated, I got out my other GPS, my Garmin Vista. This GPS
was designed for trails, so it would get a signal better, regardless of
the trees. I was confused at first when the Vista indicated
that I was located midway between the north and south roads to Lead
King Basin. From my memory I knew that this point was a
freaking mountain. I finally figured it out and realized that
The initial
crux at the top of the boulder field.
Class 3
scrambling up the west slopes with boulders perched above.
Class 3
scrambling up the west slopes.
As I got back down to the proper road, I chickened out, and decided to
go all the way back to the main intersection. My mind was
The Snowmass
summit geomarker.
Capital Peak
from the summit of Snowmass.
Rob at the
summit of Snowmass.
The first
part of the Hagerman travers.
I continued down the road again. Ultimately I reached the
Lead King Basin area. It was after 10 pm at this
point. I passed by a sign that said, “National Park Parking
Area.” I continued up a little more to the point where I
thought the actual trailhead was. There was a single vehicle
parked at the trailhead area. I decided to just go ahead and
park back down at the parking lot. I reached the parking lot,
and breathed a sigh of relief. I was physically and mentally
The mid part
of the Hagerman travers.
The final
part of the Hagerman traverse.
The following morning I decided to allow myself to sleep in a
bit. I didn’t get up until 5 am. When I woke up, I
kind of just sat there for a while before I started to get ready to
go. I got dressed and gathered my stuff for the
trail. I left the car, and started out of the parking
lot. Almost immediately I noticed a trailhead sign,
indicating, “Geneva Lake”, my destination. I followed the
Geneva Lake
during the descent.
Great shot
of Snowmass and Hagerman during the drive out at the top of the Lead King
Basin 4x4 road switchbacks.
At the base of Snowmass, the route up was pretty clear. My
route would take me directly up one of the main gullies.
First I would climb a short boulder field. At the top of the
boulder field there were several options for gaining the next part of
the route. Straight, looked like two class 3 or class 4 water
falls. Just to the left was a wet and muddy stepped upclimb. I chose the wet upclimb. It was probably a
mild class 3. At the top of the wet climb, I continued onto
class 2+ or class 3 terrain. As I continued upwards, I
decided to stay out of the gully. Instead I chose to climb
just to the left of the gully. The route was very steep, and
there were several very large boulders on the route above me.
Most were the size of automobiles, and they were pitched on end,
sticking up out of the mountain precariously. They looked
like they could bust loose at any moment. My thought was that
these boulders would fall towards the center of the gully if they did
come loose. Although the gully travel would be easier, I didn’t
want to be in that gully (aka bowling alley) if rock started
falling. I continued up the route. At times I was
following loose dirt. At other times I was slab climbing
large rocks. None of the climbing was very hard.
All of it was class 3 or easier. But, the route was very
steep. I found myself going in sprints of 30-50 feet at a
time. I’d stopped for a quick breath then sprint for another
30 feet. As I got towards the top the route got even
steeper. The most technically challenging climbing was
towards the top. It stayed class 3, but it was steep class
3. I ultimately made the top in 3 hours 50 minutes from the
trailhead. My goal was to beat 4 hours. When I
reached the top, I was surprised to see two other people
there. I had been so use to hiking alone that they literally
scared the crap out of me when they said, "hi," as I approached the
top. I should mention that I was the only person on the Lead
King Basin route today. These people had come from another route.
I said, "hi" to the folks on top. I can’t remember the names,
but they were from North Carolina and Virginia. They was
visiting fourteener hikers like myself. As we talked,
another guy – from Washington state – came up. This was the
most people that I’d seen on a summit during my whole trip. I
chatted with them for a few minutes, then they started their
descent. I snacked, took pictures and video, then started my
descent. I should mention that I was thinking seriously about
doing the traverse to Hagerman. That route involves at least
two class 5.0 moves, and at least 2 hours for the traverse. I
decided that I was just not interested in this today. I’d try
it another day. I was tired and ready to be done.
I continued my descent. The initial steep down climb was
slow. My first 1000 feet took 40 minutes to
descend. As the terrain got a bit easier – and less steep –
my second 1000 feet of descent took 30 minutes. I made the
wet down climb. Just for kicks and giggles, I chose a
technical class 4 down climb option to gain the boulder
field. I continued down the boulder field and back to the
main trail. On the main trail, I continued to the
lake. At the bottom of the lake, I spotted several young
trout in the creek. I continued downhill. The trail
was easy, but my legs were tired. I was really ready to be
done with this trip. I should mention that the weather was
beautiful. On the descent I stripped down to shorts and a
short sleeve t-shirt. If I weren’t stressed out about the 4x4
drive out, I would have probably enjoyed the hike out more. I
finally got back to the car in around 6 and ½ hours for the whole
trip. The drive out was relatively uneventful. I
chose to go ahead and take the north road out. In my opinion,
neither road is better than the other one. With Snowmass
complete I was done with the Elk fourteeners. Leaving
Hagerman behind means that I’ll have to come back another day if I want
to complete all of the Colorado centennials (top 100 peaks).
No problem. The Snowmass area is a worthy area to revisit.
| THE
NUMBERS |
TIME
(hh:mm) |
DISTANCE
(miles) |
| TH
to
the Lake |
1:00 |
2.0 |
| Lake
to
the base the west face |
1:00 |
1.7 |
| The
base of the west face to the summit of Snowmass |
1:20 |
1.0 |
| On
the sumit of Snowmass |
0:20 |
- |
| The
summit of Snowmass to the base of the west face |
1:20 |
1.0 |
| The
base of the west face to the lake |
0:52 |
1.7 |
| The
lake to the trailhead |
0:50 |
2.0 |
| TOTAL |
6:42 |
9.4 |
|
|