| High, Windy Solitude on Humboldt Trip Report |
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| High, Windy Solitude on Humboldt   | 
| Page Type: Trip Report Location: Colorado, United States, North America Date Climbed/Hiked: Apr 22, 2006 Activities: Scrambling Season: Spring | Page By: COTrekker02 Created/Edited: Apr 23, 2006 / Jun 28, 2006 Object ID: 189913 Hits: 751 Loading... Page Score: 86.63% - 2 Votes Loading... Vote: Log in to vote |
A Long Slog With an exciting yet ambitious peak list this season, my wife and I decided to take advantage of the warm temperatures and lack of snow in the Sangre de Cristo range of Southern Colorodo, and climb Humboldt Peak.
We drove to the cool little town of Westcliffe on Friday and had dinner at Sangrita. After dinner, I grabbed the requisite 6-pack of beer for the weekend and we headed up the South Colony Road to see how far we could get. It was dark with no moonlight, so I slowly made my way up the road, past the private property section. About 2.5 miles past the 2wd parking area, near the Nat'l Forest boundary, we decided to stop. Only in the morning when we began hiking did I see that I could have easily made it past the Rainbow Trail intersection and not far from the first creek crossing. Nonetheless, we slept in the back of the Nissan, with great views of the lights in the Wet Mountain Valley below. (I should also note that this road lives up to it's reputation. While we did alright in our Xterra, we hit our running boards several times and there are definitely some oil-pan busters along the road!)
We woke at 6 a.m. and downed a quick breakfast of pop tarts, granola bars, and O.J. - a champion's breakfast. It was a warm morning with occasional wind gusts, but a day that gets you excited to begin the hike. So we left the car at 7:10 a.m. and headed up the road. We avoided snow until approx. 9,700 feet where we encountered large drifts. Even though it was warm, it was early, so we were able to walk on top of the snow, and didn't need our snowshoes. This was a relief. We saw one man camping by his Jeep near the road, and no one else.
At 9:15 we were at the end of the actual road and below Broken Hand peak. We took the main trail (which was covered) deep into the basin and then a hard right through the woods up to lower S. Colony Lake. While crossing the basin, we crossed the bottom of several small avalanche paths, but the snow was consolidated and mostly melted higher on the steeper, more dangerous slopes. We donned our snowshoes through this part, because the snow was very soft and we were post-holing without them.
A Windy Summit Bid We made it around the lower lake and then took off our snowshoes. We headed across the bench east of the lakes towards the main trail, but cut up to the ridge just south, or right, of where the main trail gains the saddle of Humboldt. We should have headed right for the main trail, because the off-trail scrambling on the small, loose scree was tedious.
We gained Humboldt's west ridge at 11:15, four hours after leaving the car, and snacked on some trail mix, hiding behind some rocks. I should note that once above the lakes gaining the ridge, the wind was relentless, and made the scrambling twice as hard. I would guess gusts of 40-50 mph. It almost knocked us off the slope several times.
We slowly made our way up the West Ridge trail towards the summit, stopping often to hide from the wind, catch breath and take in the awesome views of the Peak and Needle (Crestones). We reached the solitary summit at 12:15, five hours after embarking from the car. We couldn't find the register, which was most likely hidden beneath some snow that had gathered behind the wind break. We ate more sausage and cheese, snapped some photos, and decided to get off the windy summit.
We had large grins on our faces, though, because we both knew this is why we had endured the tough day of climbing. Being alone at 14,000 with 360 degree views is a feeling that's as fulfilling as any I know, and always worth the hardships.
The views from the peak were spectacular, with the Wet Mountain valley 10 miles to the east, and the upper San Luis Valley 15 miles to the west. We had views of the Crestones, Kit Carson to the west, the Northern Sangres to the north, the Blanca group to the south, the Sawatch to the northwest, Pikes Peak to the north, and even views of the Mosquito, 10-mile and front ranges. It was awesome! Notably absent in the Sangres, though, was snow! These valleys will have a tough time making ends without the needed snowpack/snowmelt this summer. A Shorter Descent? We left the summit and headed down. We looked for Mountain Goats on the steep cliffs of Humbodt's north face, but to no avail. We decided to take the more direct East ridge back to the valley and our car. This is a very easy, fun ridge to descend. You are feet from the sheer cliffs of the north face, which on this day we stayed far from, for fear of a 50 mph gust that would sail us over the precipice. I did sneak some looks, however. Who could resist!
After hiking for 20 minutes or so, we met two gentlemen who were on a summit bid via the East ridge. We chatted briefly about our days, and then I asked them about how they gained the ridge. They answered via the Rainbow Trail from the S. Colony Road.
We parted ways and my wife and I continued the fun, easy descent along the very long East ridge. Now here is where a long day at altitude can lead you astray... I knew we needed to go all the way to the Rainbow trail, but couldn't recfity in my mind that we should be continuing this far along the ridge. I didn't remember our car being that far down the valley and didn't want to overshoot it, or end up in the wrong drainage. Even though I had my map and knew that we hadn't hit the Rainbow trail yet, we decided to again donn our snowshoes and descend back to the road in the valley...leaving the ridge much too early...
The first 500 vertical feet were fun, slogging over wet, melting snow. This changed quickly... We entered tighter pine forests where the snow was still wallowing. The slope became steeper and steeper, until we were navigating 30 degree pitches through tight foest. We took off our snowshoes when the snow became spotty and alternated between bare, muddy ground, and post-hole worthy snow drifts.
The forest changed from exclusively pine to pine/aspen, and the floor was tangled with downed trees, mud and large rocks. I took more than one tumble onto my back, which added to my frustration. We knew that we were heading the right way, but longed for a clear trail, and to see the snow-covered road ahead of us. After 30 minutes of bushwacking, the slope flattened and we soon found the S. Colony Road, my trusting wife right behind me, always the trooper! We hit the road at about 10,100, and slogged through the wallowing road snow the last 700 vertical feet and 1.5 miles to our car. It was a wonderful site! We had reached the car at 4:15, 9 hours after we had left it for our Humboldt summit bid!
We dumped the gear in the back and bounced around back to the 2wd parking area where we lost our pants, boots, gators and other muddy gear. We headed into Westcliffe where thankfully they stocked big bottles of Gatorade. I had two... We were on the road and back in our living room at 8pm, thankful that our first peak of the season was under our belts, but thinking to ourselves that maybe we'd wait until June for our second peak attempt... when there isn't so much snow... Images
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Sangre de Cristo Mountains > Humboldt Peak > High, Windy Solitude on Humboldt
