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| Mount Helen |
During the
end of May, Paul and I made an attempt on Mount Helen. This was not the mountain we were targeting
that day, as both of us really wanted to climb Crystal Peak. As we got back into Crystal Creek basin the
snowpack was pretty extreme, so plans from climbing Crystal shifted over to
climbing Mount Helen from the north. We
were not on the route of the traditional approach for Helen, so we had to tramp
through the deep snow across the valley to meet up with the base of the
mountain. We were contemplating routes
up the north eastern face, but the slope was extremely steep. We gained a few hundred feet and made it into
some rock bands where the technicality seemed too much for the both of us on
our first climb out for the season. We
decided to turn back and come back for Helen from the traditional route in a
few weeks.
Now that
three weeks had passed Paul and I were eager to get back into the high country
and give Helen another shot. The best
way to approach Helen is from the Spruce Creek TH. From Breckenridge drive 2 miles south and
turn west onto Spruce Creek Road. Follow
the road up a small hill and follow it as it turns to the south. A couple miles down the road will leave you
at the Spruce Creek TH. We parked there
for the start of our hike. The road was
clear at least as far as the Wheeler Trail which is (1.25 miles from Spruce
Creek TH) is used in the approach for Helen.
The road was in great shape so any vehicle that made it to the lower TH
could have made it to the Wheeler Trail intersection. There is room up there for five or six
vehicles.
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| Breckenridge Peaks |
The Spruce
Creek Road intersection and Wheeler Trail is where the hike of Helen will start
for most people. A couple hundred yards
up the trail the vegetation to the southwest will start to clear. Follow the opening till the route intersects
with a creek. Follow this creek to the
main east face of Helen. From there it
is a simple hike up the mountain to the summit.
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| Paul and Nick on the Summit |
I may have
given you some proper guidance to climbing the mountain, but that doesn’t necessarily
mean we took that route. In my family it’s
known as the “Karl Way.” From the
Wheeler Trail we passed the locked gate and hiked about 50 yards then started
up the mountain. There were a few rocky
patches and aspen groves we had to fight our way through, but nothing much more
than that. We found our way to the creek
and followed that to the open east face.
The north side of the creek had dry patches of dirt following the tree
line that we utilized to avoid the snow as much as we could. Soon enough the dirt ran out and we had to
take our snowshoes out.
For the most
part we were able to float on top of the snow, but there were sections of slush
where we would drop to knee level with our shoes on. That made for some heavy steps, but lucky for
us those conditions didn’t last too long.
We climbed the main snow field to about 11,500 feet then we stashed our
shoes there. From that point to the
summit the snow patches were a lot more spread out and we thought it would be
faster just playing frogger in-between them.
The going wasn’t too bad, but this was the highest either of us had been
in quite a while so the elevation was slowing us down a bit.
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| Pacific and Father Dyer |
Once we got
to around 13,000 feet we could see a couple of people on the summit. Soon they skied down the hundred or so feet
to us and we chatted for a few minutes.
Paul and I were pretty envious of their skis, as that would have been a
great descent that day. Another 10-15
minutes of climbing up and we found our way to the summit.
I was
feeling pretty good for this being my first peak since December. If I had a few more peaks under my belt a
trek to Father Dyer would have been awesome.
The connecting ridge looks like a fun scramble, but I will have to do
that on another trip. The Breckenridge peaks
are all pretty impressive, I’m hoping to climb a few more this summer and
explore some new area. The highlight of
the day may have been the glissade down.
All-in-all we probably dropped 1,000 feet vertical sliding, which is
always a nice relief to my knees. Was a
good climb, now Paul and I have unfinished business with North Star Mountain
coming up soon I hope.
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| GPS Track |
Date: June
13, 2015
TH
Elevation: 10,375 feet
Mount Helen
Summit: 13,158 feet
Total
Elevation Gain: 2,783 feet
Distance:
5.16 miles
Moving Time:
3hrs 15min
Stopped
Time: 2hrs 30min
Climbing Partner:
Paul
Photo Album Link:Mount Helen
