Last week Tara and I made our first trip up the the Keystone boulders for the season. This is a spectacular place, with unprecedented views of Buffalo Mountain and the Summit County valley. Climbing up above the stuff we developed last season, we found another series of gems with hard problems coming out of several cave-like boulders strewn amongst the talus. There is still a ton of undeveloped stuff up here, most of it needing some serious cleaning.
Tara on the lower section of the left cave problem
The lower section of the left cave problem
Moving into the crux of the left cave problem
The right cave problem, getting into the undercling for the big throw…
Sticking the crux mega-reach on the right cave problem
Contemplating future problems…
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Here in the Northern Colorado Rockies, we have had a slow start to the alpine trail running season. Usually by this time most of the peaks are free of major snow patches and the trails are relatively dry. Not this year. We have had consistently cool days and nights, so the snow has stuck around longer then usual. No problem, you just have to be willing to get a little wet…
Mount Neva is on the left, we ran up to the pass and then took the north ridge to the top.
Today, Tara and I decided to see how the Arapaho Pass (11,906 feet), Caribou Pass (12,110 feet) area was doing. This is one of our standard trail runs during the summer, as it is easy to access and can be banged out either before or after work. The trail up to the pass is 90% dry, with only a few sections of snow that one has to post hole through. Getting to Caribou Pass, however, is still difficult. The usual route around the north side of Mount Neva (12,814 feet) is still snowed in. So, instead we decided to cruz up Neva’s north ridge and tag the top.
Looking north from the top towards the Never Summer Range and RMNP.
Neva is a great mountain, with outstanding views on all sides of the Continental Divide, Grand Lake to the west and the Gore Range, the Never Summers to the north, and Mount Evans and James Peak to the south.
The Gore Range from the top.
Part of the ridge to the top of Neva
The storm clouds came as usual, and by the time we were heading down things started to look ominous. A classic trail run in the Colorado Rockies: snow, water, thin air, crisp temps, and amazing views. Who could ask for more?
Tara running up the talus to the ridge of Mount Neva
Me running down; see the clouds building in the background…
And of course, there are the wildflowers just starting their season…
If you are stuck on numbers, here they are:
Elevation Gain: ~2,694 feet
Distance One way: 4.2 miles
Arapaho Pass elevation: 11,906 feet
Mount Neva elevation: 12,814 feet
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Focusing on summit routes in the park, the book will be the first of its kind. Anticipate a 250-page guide covering routes to nearly 80 summits in and near Zion National Park, including photos and maps.
Just a handful of the summits featured in the book are The West Temple, Mountain of the Sun, Twin Brothers, The Watchman, Mount Kinesava, Mount Spry, South Guardian Angel, North Guardian Angel, Johnson Mountain, Bridge Mountain, Mount Moroni, Lady Mountain, Angels Landing, Cathedral Mountain, North Sentinel, Deertrap Mountain, Langston Mountain, Mount Majestic, Tabernacle Dome, Canaan Mountain, Pine Valley Peak, Red Butte, Checkerboard Mesa, Smithsonian Butte, Horse Ranch Mountain…
“That list one keeps in one’s head of places to see and explore in the Zion area will surely get longer after one gets his hands on this book. “Knowledge is power” someone said or wrote. This guide is definitely powerful. The descriptions are concise and down to earth. ‘Sheep turds as well as cairns will help lead the way.’” - Jeff Branin, North Carolina
“…the book [...] is clear and informative, yet has a homey, cozy style to it. Not nearly as dry as much of the genre. I am really enjoying the read so far. A must for any serious outdoor library.” - Steve Ramras, Colorado
Cover photo by Rick Kent Cover design by Michael Cressman
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In the book, a total of 239 peaks in and around Las Vegas are covered. Heavily featuring hiking, scrambling and climbing routes in Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area and Lake Mead National Recreation Area, it also covers mountains in Mojave National Preserve, Sedona, Grand Canyon National Park and Great Basin National Park…to name but a few! Dig it.
Photo courtesy of Michael Cressman/Design by Michael Cressman
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Where:Zion National Park, UT When:June 2009 Partners:DB, Dimples & Mishka
Some of the views from the summit of Horse Pasture Plateau
After all I’ve done in Zion, it was hard for me to imagine that I’d not yet made the long hike to the top of Horse Pasture Plateau. Although the Plateau might not seem like much of a summit, it happens to be the highpoint of the West Rim Trail and affords intense panoramic views into Phantom Valley, down the Right Fork drainage, and across to dozens of rarely (and some un-) climbed peaks.
Since we came up from Zion Canyon, we decided to cap off the 17-mile, 4,400 feet of gain roundtrip day with a bonus bag of Angels Landing on the way out. Good stuff!
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On Friday Tara and I went up into the Park to check conditions and see what the snow was doing. Surprisingly, there is still a ton of snow in Chaos - both Lower and Upper. The Gobot area is burried, Stars and Stripes is just emerging, the Bush Pilot was completely under snow, and so on. Luckily, Tommy’s Arete was dry, so we did a couple laps on that before heading down canyon to some stuff that was dry.
Everything else in Chaos is pretty much still snowed in for a couple more weeks. If we get some hot weather, it could melt out faster.
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As I mentioned, I was doing two posts on some of the recent mountain trail running conditions here along the Colorado front range. Kingston Peak from the Tolland Road out of Rollinsville is a great one. Another one, often that requires a little more melting out of snow before it is runable, is St. Vrain Mountain.
As of May 31, there was still a bit of snow. The trail was dry up until about treeline, at which point I had to do some serious snow running. However, the day was too good, the sun was shinning, and I was excited to be up high again. No one had made it across the substantial snow fields, up past the first headwall, across the flat saddle above treeline, and then up the final face of St. Vrain Mountain.
I guess as they say, the early bird gets the worm…
Round-Trip Length: 8.9 miles (includes .75 mile unmaintained segment to summit)
Start - End Elevation: 8,940′ - 12,162′ (12,162′ max elevation)
Elevation Change: +3,222′ net elevation gain (+3,370′ total roundtrip elevation gain)
Directions:
To get to the St Vraim Mountain Trailhead take Highway 7 south from Estes Park to the town of Allenspark. Just inside Allenspark turn right on Ski Road (107) and follow it for 2.2 miles to the trailhead.
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I’ve been doing a bit of endurance training this spring. Not only in terms of trail running, but also for climbing. Over the winter, bouldering dominates with short, powerful moves. However, now I’m trying to get back into alpine shape for the upcoming season, and to do that I have been doing laps at the Gutter.
Located up on the Second Flatiron, the Gutter is an excellent place to build up strength and endurance. At ~80 feet long, this forearm pumping problem will get you breathing hard and searching for your chalk bag in no time. With two cruxes, some real good rests, and a steep, sustained overhang the gutter is one of my favorite places in the spring.
The last time we were there I tried to get a couple pictures, but the place is hard to photograph. As you can tell from the only one that “kinda” turned out, the gutter is a slot that you can either climb “in” or on the “lip” for a range of 12b to 13a roughly.
Shady in the afternoon, I’ll probably hit the place up a couple more times before it gets to hot and the higher stuff opens up.
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Focusing on summit routes in the park, the book will be the first of its kind. Anticipate a 250-page guide covering routes to nearly 80 summits in and near Zion National Park, including photos and maps.
Just a handful of the summits featured in the book are The West Temple, Mountain of the Sun, Twin Brothers, The Watchman, Mount Kinesava, Mount Spry, South Guardian Angel, North Guardian Angel, Johnson Mountain, Bridge Mountain, Mount Moroni, Lady Mountain, Angels Landing, Cathedral Mountain, North Sentinel, Deertrap Mountain, Langston Mountain, Mount Majestic, Tabernacle Dome, Canaan Mountain, Pine Valley Peak, Red Butte, Checkerboard Mesa, Smithsonian Butte, Horse Ranch Mountain…
“That list one keeps in one’s head of places to see and explore in the Zion area will surely get longer after one gets his hands on this book. “Knowledge is power” someone said or wrote. This guide is definitely powerful. The descriptions are concise and down to earth. ‘Sheep turds as well as cairns will help lead the way.’” - Jeff Branin, North Carolina
“…the book [...] is clear and informative, yet has a homey, cozy style to it. Not nearly as dry as much of the genre. I am really enjoying the read so far. A must for any serious outdoor library.” - Steve Ramras, Colorado
Cover photo by Rick Kent Cover design by Michael Cressman
Visit 1800blogger to see all of our industry leading blogs.
In the book, a total of 239 peaks in and around Las Vegas are covered. Heavily featuring hiking, scrambling and climbing routes in Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area and Lake Mead National Recreation Area, it also covers mountains in Mojave National Preserve, Sedona, Grand Canyon National Park and Great Basin National Park…to name but a few! Dig it.
Photo courtesy of Michael Cressman/Design by Michael Cressman
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Where:Zion National Park, UT When:May 2009 Partners:Ram & Andy Archibald It had been nearly a year since I’d seen Ram, so I was pretty stoked to have him onboard with Andy and I for a hike up an obscure, backcountry peak that Ram would later call ‘Zippy’. With a somewhat long, off-trail approach, we eventually gained some pleasant slickrock that led us toward the final ridge leading to the summit. As we hiked along to the highpoint, the views really opened up.
Cruising up
Andy nearing the summit ridge
Here comes Ram
North to South and North Guardian Angel
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Where:Zion National Park, UT When:May 2009 Partners:Solo After bagging Zippy with Ram and Andy Archibald, I headed off alone to bag another peak on my Zion to-do list. After ultra-thick brush stole my watch from my wrist, Ram would dub the peak I climbed ‘The Timeless Spire’. Indeed.
From the summit
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Where:Zion National Park, UT When:May 2009 Partners:Ram Ram somehow talked me into an ascent of Middle Echo Canyon in conditions we knew to be icy. Icy enough, we’d heard, that a group had been rescued from there the day before while attempting to descend the slot.Initially lacking ice but with a pleasant, light flow, we soon encountered a large(ish) snow block, then an iceberg or two, then…jeebus!
[...pics to come...]
Afterward, he and I headed over to Aires Butte for a run up that fun, little mountain via its 4-pitch, 5.5 southeast face route called ‘Led by Sheep’.
Ram in Middle Echo before hell broke loose
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Where:Zion National Park, UT When:May 2009 Partners:Andy Archibald On a rest day after two glorious days in Zion with good friends, Andy and I decided to do the 12.8 mile roundtrip hike to Never Done Mountain. Highly rewarding with awesome scenery and pleasant walking, we enjoyed ourselves immensely. On the summit of Never Done Mountain
Looking into the Left Fork of North Creek on the way to Never Done Mountain
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In another attempt to get our legs into full mountain running shape, Tara and I decided to hit the Boulder Skyline Traverse. This is perhaps one of the most classic trail running traverse routes along the Colorado front range, and will easily test the leg endurance of any avid trail runner. The objective is easy: traverse all of the peaks along the Boulder skyline from Boulder Canyon to Eldorado Canyon. This includes Flagstaff, Green Mountain, Bear Mountain, and South Boulder Peak.
The method: Getting a late start (10:20ish AM), we parked the car at Chautaqua and started up the Flagstaff Trail. From the top of Flagstaff, you cruz over to Green Mountain and run up the Saddle Rock/E.M. Greenman trail to the top. From there, you drop down the west side on the Green Bear trail and pick up the Bear Peak West Ridge trail to the summit of Bear. From there, you can traverse south and over to South Boulder Peak. We opted to go back over Bear and down Fern Canyon, then run the Mesa Trail back to the car. Some like to have a second car parked at Eldorado so they don’t have to make it an entire loop, but I prefer doing the entire loop. The scene: The day started off cold and cloudy. We thought it was going to rain; little did we know that by the end of the run it would be blue skies and sunshine. The only people we encountered were on the summit of Bear and on the way down Fern. Otherwise, it was an amazing way to see the city of Boulder and the plains beyond as you run over 5 peaks in a spectacular setting. The Stats: As with most trail runs, the numbers don’t do it justice. From what I can gather, the route we did is only around 12 miles and 6,000 feet of climbing. Your quads will think you did double…
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Well, today we hit the high 80s mark on the thermometer. That means the spring snowpack is going to melt out really fast again this spring. Seems to be happening more and more: we get a good snow pack built up in March and April to only have it melt out by the end of May. Growing up I remember when it would last well into June and sometimes even into July. No worries, just means a longer season running peaks…
However, in honor (or remembrance) of this past winter, we put together another fun little telemark video of some highlights from the season. Nothing spectacular, but I think the film goes well with the sound. If nothing else, this video will keep the snow stoke going through those hot summer days to come.
It has all the usual antics: switch, 180 switch, backcountry telemarking, and some drops and jumps. Let’s hope this summer is not a roaster like last year…
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Focusing on summit routes in the park, the book will be the first of its kind. Anticipate a 250-page guide covering routes to nearly 80 summits in and near Zion National Park, including photos and maps.
Just a handful of the summits featured in the book are The West Temple, Mountain of the Sun, Twin Brothers, The Watchman, Mount Kinesava, Mount Spry, South Guardian Angel, North Guardian Angel, Johnson Mountain, Bridge Mountain, Mount Moroni, Lady Mountain, Angels Landing, Cathedral Mountain, North Sentinel, Deertrap Mountain, Langston Mountain, Mount Majestic, Tabernacle Dome, Canaan Mountain, Pine Valley Peak, Red Butte, Checkerboard Mesa, Smithsonian Butte, Horse Ranch Mountain…
“That list one keeps in one’s head of places to see and explore in the Zion area will surely get longer after one gets his hands on this book. “Knowledge is power” someone said or wrote. This guide is definitely powerful. The descriptions are concise and down to earth. ‘Sheep turds as well as cairns will help lead the way.’” - Jeff Branin, North Carolina
“…the book [...] is clear and informative, yet has a homey, cozy style to it. Not nearly as dry as much of the genre. I am really enjoying the read so far. A must for any serious outdoor library.” - Steve Ramras, Colorado
Cover photo by Rick Kent Cover design by Michael Cressman
Visit 1800blogger to see all of our industry leading blogs.
In the book, a total of 239 peaks in and around Las Vegas are covered. Heavily featuring hiking, scrambling and climbing routes in Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area and Lake Mead National Recreation Area, it also covers mountains in Mojave National Preserve, Sedona, Grand Canyon National Park and Great Basin National Park…to name but a few! Dig it.
Photo courtesy of Michael Cressman/Design by Michael Cressman
Visit 1800blogger to see all of our industry leading blogs.
Where:Zion National Park, UT When:May 2009 Partners:DB Passing some ceremonial feathers, as well as scattered candles and coins along the slickrock, we made our way to the summit of a ‘new’ peak I was calling The Scarlet Begonia. Expecting tons of brush up high, we actually encountered a fairly pleasant walk to a nice, somewhat open summit with exceptional views. We weren’t expecting much from this peak, but got a lot in return. A fine half-day out.
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Where:Zion National Park, UT When:May 2009 Partners:Little DB With the biting gnats out and active, DB and I led off blindly into what would later prove to be a week of itching agony and attempted a new peak I was calling ‘Rosebud’. The southwest face of North Guardian Angel in the distance With an easy and mostly enjoyable approach to the saddle below the peak, significant cliffs soon presented themselves and my heart sank. But, not one to give up easily, I snooped around for a break. Cactus flowers in bloom Surprisingly, and to my utter joy, a hidden class 2-3 talus chute allowed a way through the cliffs and we soon found ourselves walking easily to the summit. The views there were enormous! Lambs Knoll, Red Butte and Tabernacle Dome from the summit DB rests in front of the Cougar
DB with some mallows below Rosebud
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We went up to see how the trails were melting out and how the high-altitude running was shaping up for the season. Although it is a little early, along the Colorado front range there are some spots that melt out early and allow you to get in some excellent high-altitude running.
We thought we would check out the Tolland Road (also called Mammoth Gulch Road), as that is often melted out early and allows for some good elevation gain: going from ~10,000 up to ~12,00 at Kingston Peak. However, there was still a little too much snow to get any real distance in, so we opted for Plan B: Rollins Pass Road.
Now, this is usually not my favorite, as high clearance cars are allowed to drive on this in the summer (although there are several spots now that require 4-wheel drive to navigate), but we wanted to get in some high-altitude miles on our legs and lungs. Luckily, the road was still blocked at the beginning by a huge snowbank, so there was no one on it.
The road gently climbs for around 10 miles one way, allowing you to really put in some good distance above 10,000 feet. Currently there are two large snow sections that you have to cross, but otherwise the running was dry and clear.
Often overlooked, Rollins Pass Road is one of the better early season mountain training spots along the Boulder front range area. Close to town, good distances, nice altitude, and fabulous views make this spot an excellent place to get in some early season high-altitude miles. We put in 15+ miles above 10,000 feet. Just warming up for another summer mountain running season.
Visit 1800blogger to see all of our industry leading blogs.
Focusing on summit routes in the park, the book will be the first of its kind. Anticipate a 250-page guide covering routes to nearly 80 summits in and near Zion National Park, including photos and maps.
Just a handful of the summits featured in the book are The West Temple, Mountain of the Sun, Twin Brothers, The Watchman, Mount Kinesava, Mount Spry, South Guardian Angel, North Guardian Angel, Johnson Mountain, Bridge Mountain, Mount Moroni, Lady Mountain, Angels Landing, Cathedral Mountain, North Sentinel, Deertrap Mountain, Langston Mountain, Mount Majestic, Tabernacle Dome, Canaan Mountain, Pine Valley Peak, Red Butte, Checkerboard Mesa, Smithsonian Butte, Horse Ranch Mountain…
“That list one keeps in one’s head of places to see and explore in the Zion area will surely get longer after one gets his hands on this book. “Knowledge is power” someone said or wrote. This guide is definitely powerful. The descriptions are concise and down to earth. ‘Sheep turds as well as cairns will help lead the way.’” - Jeff Branin, North Carolina
“…the book [...] is clear and informative, yet has a homey, cozy style to it. Not nearly as dry as much of the genre. I am really enjoying the read so far. A must for any serious outdoor library.” - Steve Ramras, Colorado
Cover photo by Rick Kent Cover design by Michael Cressman
Visit 1800blogger to see all of our industry leading blogs.
In the book, a total of 239 peaks in and around Las Vegas are covered. Heavily featuring hiking, scrambling and climbing routes in Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area and Lake Mead National Recreation Area, it also covers mountains in Mojave National Preserve, Sedona, Grand Canyon National Park and Great Basin National Park…to name but a few! Dig it.
Photo courtesy of Michael Cressman/Design by Michael Cressman
Visit 1800blogger to see all of our industry leading blogs.
Where:Zion National Park, UT When:April 2009 Partners:Sarah Thompson & Dwight from CO I arrogantly suggested to Sarah and Dwight that we complete the 3rd ascent of G2, a fine, backcountry summit near Bridge Mountain on the east side of the park. But lo, that was not to be. For Dwight found an arrowhead just below the summit! That evening (or was it a couple days later?), I shared with Zach, who’d claimed the first ascent of the peak in February 2008, that Dwight had found an arrowhead. Deflated once again, he told me that he’d recently read somewhere of an early 20th century ascent of the peak! Man, first ascents are hard to come by, even in steep, scary, and loose Zion! All photos by Sarah T
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Playing around in the shallow upper narrows
The 2nd rappel, a biggun
DB gets in on the fun
DB rests in front of the Cougar
