|
---|
Mount Bierstadt & Again 8 Years LaterJune 20, 1999 - West Ridge from Guanella Pass
Trent (coworker) and I headed from Cheyenne to Georgetown on Friday night to get an early start on Bierstadt the next morning. By this point in my climbing experience, I was feeling that running late was not being on the trail by about six in the morning to get a jump on the Cottoneers. We found a commando camp spot a mile or so above the USFS Guanella Pass Campground and settled in for the night. The alarm went off all too early at 5 a.m. and we rose and broke camp under headlamps before heading to the parking area at Guanella Pass. I was concerned about the amount of snow that we would have to cross, as I knew little about snow travel, though I did have an ice axe back at home. We parked and found the trail through the willows, the traverse of which I had heard so much of through climbing lore and books over the years. Alas, with the now extant trail cut, the whole concept of passing through the willows would have to await a later climb. We made the headwall and proceeded on up the wide flank of the peak. We crossed some snowfields but avoided most of them before making the West Ridge proper. Then we wandered up the snowy ridge, on the trails and tracks of others leading to the summit. The final pitch was corniced but we knew enough to steer well clear of the edge. We topped out and took in the view of the nearby peaks, still carrying a fair amount of snow, before heading for the less windy lower elevations. Shortly after dropping off the summit, we passed a group of climbing snobs, decked out in their North Face one-piece Gore-Tex climbing suits. I guess we were still too close to being Cottoneers in their book to deserve a response to our hearty good morning salutation. They simply walked past, heads turned away, on their “geared up” pursuit of the lofty Bierstadt summit. You do come across some odd folks on some climbs, you think?
June 24, 2007 - West Ridge from Guanella Pass (photos)
I must close with a well deserved hats off to the trail crews that expended the effort to build and reclaim the route to the top of this "well used" peak. The route is truly a job well done.
A January climb of Bierstadt . . . with far fewer peopleand a touch of frostbite or perhaps a fall or Sawtooth climb
|