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| Rosalie Covered in Snow |
After my failed attempt on Guyot yesterday I had a sour
taste in my mouth. I wanted to get back
out but wasn’t sure where I would go.
The motivation seemed to be lacking, otherwise this decision would have
been much easier to make. I started
thinking about south facing routes within an hour or so of town. Now, I wasn’t thinking too hard because I
went to bed without any plan in place for the next adventure. I slept in waking up around 7am.
Still unsure what where to go, I pulled up my topo program
on the computer and started searching. I
decided to go back to the Tanglewood Creek area which I have been four or five
times this year already. From the Deer
Creek TH there are many options: Mount Logan, Kataka, Bandit, Rosalie, Royal or
the Pegmatite Points. Then there is
always the option of just having a nice snowshoe without a summit, so there was
a plethora of opportunity, but Rosalie is always the target.
To get to the Deer Creek TH head south on HWY285 from the
metro area, turning north on County Road 43A which turns into Deer Creek Road
(43). Follow the main road (43) for
about 7 miles till there is a jog to the left, hang a left following this road
towards the Deer Creek CG. Follow the
dirt road along the north side of the CG for about a mile ending at the Deer
Creek TH.
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| Tanglewood Tree |
Since I was not in a hurry because I really thought this
would be a snowshoe trip with a view I didn’t arrive at the TH till about 10am. This is probably the latest start time I have
ever had, but it was nice to have a relaxing morning. I geared up attaching my snowshoes to my pack
and I was off.
The trail was covered in snow from the beginning, but it was
a hard pack so I decided to see how long I could go without shoeing up. Good news is the first bridge has been repaired;
it was washed out during all the Colorado flooding earlier this fall.
At 1.10miles there is a junction with the Rosalie Trail, but
for this climb stay on the Tanglewood Creek Trail. Right around mile 2 the pack on the trail was
not so great so I decided to put on my snowshoes there.
There are some deviations to the trail this winter compared
to other times I have been up this way.
The long switchbacks are few and the gain is more direct to the clearing
of tree line above the willows. Those
that have been on the trail before I’m sure will notice it, and this made the
trail much fainter which would become an issue later.
After about 2.5hours of hiking I was finally coming out of
the forest. The last section was very
taxing to me, so I was already contemplating my plan for the day. I was moving at what felt to be a snails
pace, but I was still moving up the mountain.
I was shocked to see this make-shift trail came out just below where the
normal trail exits the forest. That was
good to know I was at least in the right area.
Now that I was back on the normal route I did the traverse that brings
you about 600ft below the saddle of 12,000ft.
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| View to the Southwest as the Sun Fades |
I started up the snow drift infested tundra and found no
consistency in the snow pack. Some areas
were ice hard and some were pillow soft.
After gaining another 200ft I found a spot to sit and have lunch.
I was dog tired and had basically given up on a shot of
climbing Rosalie at this point. For
lunch I packed a Skippy PB&J, so I gobbled that down with some
Gatorade. After a good 20 minutes I
decided I should probably pack up and head down. As I was attaching my snowshoes back on my
pack I kept looking up at the saddle. As
far as I was concerned I was still heading down the mountain, but something was
pulling me up the hill at this point.
So, I just followed my feet. Call
me crazy but it was like I was being given an invite to continue upwards. I told myself I would hike to the saddle then
I would at least have a high point of 12,000ft before heading home.
We have all been in this situation at one point. You sit there and ponder the mountain and
think how long could it possibly take, and then you just start hiking. From the saddle I had about 1,600ft go, but
thankfully most of the route was free of snow.
My traverse lead me a little above the saddle so I had a slight advantage
and convinced myself that I was going to climb Rosalie today.
The main issue now was light. With the winter solstice right around the
corner, the daylight vanishes very quickly.
I left my lunch break around 2pm, so there was only about two hours of
light left before the dark set in. Lucky
for me I always pack a headlamp.
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| The Saddle and the Pegmatite Points |
Once on the ridge there was a sense of newfound energy. I think there is something to be said about
Skippy PB&J, the energy I had was immense.
I felt like I was moving well, till about 12,800ft. The sledge hammer hit me and I started taking
bits of the mountain at a time. The
snail pace was back, and right in front of me I could see the sun lowering at a
quick rate. It was literally one foot in
front of the other over the last 700 vertical feet. I was pretty spent, but kept moving at a
somewhat steady pace, that is when I wasn’t gasping for oxygen.
At 3:30pm I finally made the summit of Rosalie. It was a great feeling and the wind was
blistering cold. After taking a few
pictures on the summit it took quite a while to get feeling back in my fingers. This is another day to be thankful for down
mittens. I spent maybe five minutes tops
on the summit. I gathered myself and
started on the trek down the mountain.
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| Summit Pano Looking at Mount Evans |
A plan I’ve had before was to connect this with Bandit, but
since light was going to be an issue that was out for this trip. I basically followed my path down to the treeline
with the help of a few short glissades on the hard packed snow. By the time I was to the trees the light was
out it felt like someone just flipped the light switch to off. I pulled out my head lamp and found the faint
trail in the snow heading through the trees.
My main concern was if the trail would be visible and if I
had good working batteries in my headlamp.
I was able to follow the trail pretty easily; there were a couple times
that I would check my surroundings to make sure I was on route. This is something that if I was not totally
confident in my abilities as a mountain climber I would have turned back hours
ago. But I have a lot of confidence in
my experience on the mountains so I felt good and safe trekking through the
trees in the dark. Don’t do this solo
unless you are prepared, you are the only way out of these situations and it
takes many years to get comfortable with navigation in the dark and freezing
cold.
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| Summit Shot |
It felt good to be back at the truck. All my layers were soaked from sweating on
the descent. I grabbed some water and
hit the road. I knew I had to get in
cell range as soon as possible so Kristi knew all was good. By 6:40 I was able to get the call in and we
were both able to relax a bit after that.
Today was a good climb, probably the toughest day I’ve had
in the mountains in Colorado. Those
inner demons of solo climbing tried to get me a few times, but luckily my senses
never left and I had some good music to listen to for the entirety of the
trip. Everyone needs to know their
capabilities and limits before heading into the backcountry. I can’t stress that enough; the last place to
break down is on a solo climb in the middle of nowhere. Be careful in you climbs, use your brain and
don’t overextend yourself especially while climbing solo. Everyone have Happy Holidays!
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| GPS Track |
Date: 12/18/2013
Starting Elevation: 9,282ft
Rosalie Peak: 13,575ft
Total Gained Elevation: 4,787ft
Class: 2
Distance: 9.83 miles
Time: 6:25 moving, 2:10 stopped.
Climbing Partner: Solo
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