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| Alpenglow on Robeson, Bard and Parnassus |
The forecast for Saturday was looking good and there was a
near full moon, so I started putting together plans for a sunrise summit. I
knew this would require more of a nap on Friday night since the sunrise is
around 5:40am this time of year, so I needed to keep the climb close to Denver.
Since I started climbing mountains in Colorado I had been
wanting to do a loop of 13ers near the Urad Mine, which is just out of Empire,
Colorado. In 2012 I had planned on doing it and found out the access was
closed, so it has kind of been on the back burner for quite a while. This loop
consists of Engelman Peak (13,362ft), Robeson Peak (13,140ft), Bard Peak
(13,641ft), Mount Parnassus (13,574ft) and Woods Mountain (12,940ft). Over the past few years I have climbed Mount
Parnassus and Woods Mountain on separate occasions from Watrous Gulch from the
south side, these are easily accessible peaks right off of I-70. For today’s
climb I was going to approach the mountains from the north via the Urad Mine.
I wasn’t too hopeful on convincing anyone to join me on such
an early climb, so I knew I would be climbing solo today. That’s not
necessarily a bad thing, but it meant I really had to be motivated to get out
of bed at 1am to make the drive to the TH. Getting to the TH is quite easy and
it doesn’t require 4WD. From Denver take I-70 heading west into the mountains.
Head north on U.S. 40 that passes through the small town of Empire. Keep on
this road till coming to the hair-pin corner where County Road 202 heads off to
Henderson Mine. Follow this taking the second southern road which is County Road
203 heading to Urad Mine. This is all well marked so don’t worry about getting
lost. I drove up near the mine where there was a pullout on the north side of
the road just before getting to the TH.
I knew this would be a bit of a challenge getting motivated
in the early hours of the morning, but I knew it would be good training for
Rainier, which I have planned for later in the summer. I had to do a bit more
research than I normally do since I would be navigating through the trees in
the dark, but I was up for the adventure. I was at the TH and hiking up the old
Ruby Creek road just before 3am.
The wind was howling pretty good from the start, but it was
quite warm out. Once in the trees along the road the wind didn’t bother me too
much. The only issue was the warm temps had me postholing in the snow 50 yards
into the climb. I had to make my first gear adjustment of many for the day and
put on my snowshoes. The full moon wasn’t helping me as much as I’d like
through the trees, so I was having to rely more on my headlamp this morning. I
would like to get a better headlamp in the future as the Princeton Tec one I
use doesn’t give off the best beam. Lucky for me this is a pretty well used
area and the climb started on a road.
An issue constantly on your mind while hiking solo in the
dark are the creatures that go “bump in the night.” I don’t think too much
about that stuff, but I’m always a bit more cautious when going solo. I’d say I
only heard Sasquatch two, maybe three times. Haha, not really but an owl or
some other large bird scared the crap out of me when it took off as I got close
to it.
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| Engelmann Route Options |
Getting back to the route, I wasn’t sure exactly which gully
I was going to ascend on Engelmann. I knew that the main gully I tagged it to
be Gulley 1 would not be a wise choice. This would be the steepest gully and it
is the most direct route to the summit. Gulley 1 does come all the way down the
road I was on, so I did contemplate using it at one point to avoid finding my
way through the trees. I decided this would not be a wise ascent route being
solo. There were three more gullies to choose from. Based on my Google Earth
research I was shooting for Gulley 2 or 3. The gulley I ended up ascending was
Gulley 4 which I think was a good choice. I was lead to Gulley 4 by some ski
tracks, and I would buy that guy a beer if I ran into him at some point.
Following the tracks was an efficient way through the trees. I got to the split
where you could choose Gulley 2,3 or 4. The ski tracks went to Gulley 4, I still
wanted to try Gulley 2 so I started up an opposite path of the tracks. Well
that lasted about 10 seconds. I got off the tracks and next thing I knew I was
waist deep in the snow. This wasn’t going to work for me so I quickly changed
course over to Gulley 4 following the frozen ski tracks. From this point the
gulley opened up and I was above treeline. I was about an hour into the climb,
and I had planned on 2-2.5hours to summit Engelmann in order to make it for the
sunrise.
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| Dawn to Dusk |
Now that I was out of the trees the moonlight was really
starting to help out. I could had shut off my headlamp, but I kept it on for
quite a while. I had the heel ascenders up on my snowshoes and now it was just
a climb up the snow filled gulley. The climbing was easy, thanks to the frozen ski
track my snowshoes never broke into the snow. My body wasn’t responding too
well this morning though. It’s hard to convince your body to work this hard at
4am with a couple hours of sleep. I’m sure I wasn’t taking in enough fuel along
the way either. But, when push came to shove I just kept moving up the
mountain.
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| Bard Peak |
Along the gulley there are multiple options to head up
steeper slopes to make the line more direct to the summit. I chose to stay in
the gully as the steepness was just right to continue with my snowshoes on and
not have to dig out my crampons. I followed the gulley to the ridge, and it did
get quite a bit steeper as I got closer to the crest of the ridge. Once I made
it to the ridge I took some of my first pictures you will see in the album with
the moon and the glow of the sun rise. I still had a bit of a climb to get to
the summit of Englemann, but I had a good 45 minutes before sunrise. The ridge
is very broad and the light was good so I finally shut off my headlamp. At
5:10am I was on the summit of Engelmann, the first of three 13ers for today.
The wind was constant and it was freezing. I was on the
summit and I had a good half hour till the sun came up. This wasn’t good. I
took a few pictures and I started to search for a place to get out of the
elements. Its wasn’t happening, there was nowhere to hide. I took a few minutes
to dig out all my jackets and my warm gloves and I kept moving. I would keep my
eye on the horizon hoping to watch the full sunrise, but at this point I was
more frozen than anything, so I was focused on moving to stay warm.
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| Me on the summit of Bard Peak |
I was making my way down to the saddle where I connected to
the ridge and from there it was about 300 vertical feet to the summit of
Robeson. Just before reaching the saddle I stopped and watched the sunrise. It
was really neat to be able to see that, and I was never so thankful for the
sun. I wasn’t even sure I was going to continue to Robeson at this point. The
wind still never stopping, was wearing me down piece by piece. I couldn’t
convince myself that it was time to head back, hell it was only 6am. I started
the climb up to Robeson. As I started up the northeast slope the alpenglow
caught my eye. This is when the first sunlight hits the mountain in the
morning, and it’s quite the sight to see. It cheered me up a bit and I was
convinced there was hope.
I’m not sure what time I was on the summit of Robeson, but
the sun was up and my fingers were almost thawed out. I was so close to bailing
and having to come back for Bard, but the sun saved me today. I figured about
45 minutes to the summit of Bard from Robeson. Bard is really the reason I am
back here anyway, it’s the big boy of the three. I’ve been close to its summit
before when I did Mount Parnassus a few years back. I’m extremely glad I got
over the mental barrier and continued up Bard, It was a really fun climb from
the small bump that was Robeson.
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| Robeson and Engelmann from Bard Peak |
There was about 600 vertical feet to gain to Bard’s summit.
I kept my snowshoes on, but there was a lot of rock bands to work through to
keep the route as easy as I could. At 7:10am I was on my third 13er and the
last one for the day, Bard Peak. The panorama view from Bard was one of the
best I’ve taken in in Colorado. The sky was clear and the sun was not directly
overhead for once, so I was hopeful some pictures might come out this time. I
just use my iPhone so I don’t expect too much.
As I was making my way up the final pitch of Bard I had
decided I would not continue to Parnassus and Woods. Their ridgelines would be
much more time consuming. There were oodles of cornices and I felt the safe
option was to return the way I ascended. I had previously climbed those
mountains, so it didn’t take much for me to convince myself this was enough. I
sent out a few texts to let people know I indeed did not get eaten by Sasquatch
and was starting my descent.
Going back was going to be pretty quick. Everything was
still frozen so that was a bonus for me. I took of my snowshoes and grabbed my
ice axe and started plunge stepping down the north ridge of Bard Peak. I
attempted to glissade a few times, but it just wasn’t working. I made a
traverse around Robeson and found myself at the top of Gulley 4 at about 8am.
The gully was still in the shade so I knew a glissade could
be quick. I figured I’d give it a shot. It was an unwise decision. You could
get moving pretty good as the top section was steep, but it was ice, not snow.
My ass still hurts from sliding over the old ski tracks. About halfway down the
gulley I couldn’t take it anymore. I got up and started hoofing it down on
foot. I’m sure this would be a sweet slide/ski in the afternoon, but I wasn’t
going to wait around that long.
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| Grays and Torreys |
I started down just in boots with no traction. As I found
myself getting off the track from my ascent line the snow was crusty and led to
postholing. Soon I decided to put on my snowshoes, figuring they would work
better than crampons as the temperature started rising. This was a good choice
as I was able to make really good time down the route and in no time I was back
to the trees. I had a goal of being back to my truck by 9:30am so now I had a
little motivation. I kind of let gravity do most of the work for the route
through the trees and I was almost in a trot at times. I made it back to the
car around 9:10am.
This was a fun climb, I haven’t done a solo early morning
climb in years so it’s good to test yourself mentally like that. I highly
recommend this route, there are so many options, and I will come back to do the
loop maybe during the summer time. If you go up think about bringing a helmet.
I did see some rocks come screaming down the gulley as the sun started hitting
the upper sections. Now it’s time for me to get some beach time in, and maybe a
hike or two in California next week. Cheers!
Date: May
21, 2016
TH
Elevation: 10,300 feet
Engelmann
Peak Summit: 13,362 feet
Robeson Peak
Summit: 13,140 feet
Bard Peak
Summit: 13,641 feet
Total
Ascent: 4,155 feet
Total
Distance: 8.37 miles
Class: 2
Partner:
Solo
Moving Time:
4 hours 32 minutes
Stopped
Time: 1 hour 51 minutes
Nice dude! Why are you solo? So motivated!
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