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| Me on the Summit of Mount Machebeuf |
All work and no play makes Nick a dull boy. Well we all know that line came from the
movie The Shining, but there is some truth to it. Between school and work I haven’t been able
to get out in about three weeks so I felt due for a climb. Wednesday would be my first day off of work
and school in quite a while so I sent out a message to my Facebook cronies and
Paul replied. I didn’t have much time to
research anything much, since I really should be using my time for other
things, but nobody said I was perfect.
Paul and I tentatively made plans for a Mount Guyot climb so
we were getting somewhere. I picked Paul
up about 7am, which was rather late for us, but we mountain climbers need our
beauty sleep too. Things felt off from
the start, primarily because the sun was out, and it felt like a late
start. Somehow I convinced myself that
the drive to Mount Guyot would take too long, so we started discussing closer options. I thought Mount Machebeuf would work out well
for us. I had been in the area of the
mountain a few times already this year; with the most recent being my climb of
Mount Bethel; a neighbor to the west.
After a pit stop in Georgetown for some Powerade, we made the decision
to switch plans and were only a few exits away from our new TH of Herman Gulch.
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| The Ascent Gully |
Herman Gulch TH is really easy to get to. Any vehicle that can drive to the divide can
make it since there is pavement almost to the TH. Take I-70 West from Denver and get off at
exit 218. Once getting off the freeway
take an immediate right at the stop sign that turns onto an improved dirt road
for about 100yards ending at the Herman Gulch TH. There is a restroom which is always a bonus
and a large parking lot, which I would say fills up on most weekends. Before I get carried away with the climb I
thought I would add a little history to this report. Mount Machebeuf is named after the first
bishop of Colorado Reverend Joseph P. Machebeuf, he resided in Colorado from
1860-1889. There is your fun fact for
the day, now on with the climb.
About half past 8am we were geared up and ready to go. Neither of us knew completely what was in
store for us since we were more or less climbing on the fly. We took off along the trail heading to Herman
Lake at a mellow pace. I’m glad that
Paul hadn’t been knocking off mountains lately because it made my pace feel not
so slow today. The trail is in excellent
shape, I’m assuming most of the traffic is heading to Herman Lake. This is also part of the Continental Divide
Trail (CDT), so I’m assuming the upkeep is a lot higher compared to the Watrous
Gulch trail heading to the east. I have
looked at climbing this mountain a few times, but not recently so we were kind
of guessing on which route to follow. I
know the CDT comes to the west ridge of Machebeuf, but I don’t think either of
us was looking for trail hike today. It
seemed as when we approached the first major gulley, we both looked at each
other and said: Does that look good? It
was funny, but that’s when you know you’re with a good climbing partner, your
ideas are in sink even though nobody is really saying anything.
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| The Summit! |
I can say this now that I have done the climb; my depth,
height whatever perception you want to call it is crap. From the base of the gulley I thought maybe
1,000-1,200ft to the summit…not even close.
When I got home and figured out the elevation on my TOPO program, it
turned out to be more of around the 1,800ft range to the summit from the start
of the gulley. For those of you familiar
with Colorado climbs that is about the length of the Dead Dog Couloir on
Torreys Peak. I know a couple times I
wondered if we were making any ground.
About a quarter of the way up the gulley we took our first break. I was heating up pretty good at this point
since it was more vertical gain than anything so I had to strip my outer fleece
layer and suck down some water.
Everyone knows the answer to this. What happens almost the second you take a
jacket, sweater or any layer off? The
dam wind tries to freeze you out, that’s what happens. I hate it, but as I have found out in my
years in the mountain, this is the way it’s going to be. Not too far up the mountain I was slinging my
pack off, digging out my jacket and putting it back on. I’ll tell you what…sometimes, it’s a vicious
cycles between the weather and your layers.
The climbing was in your face steep, just the way I like it. It is like climbing natural stairs, and to
tell you the truth I think it makes climbing mountains pretty easy. Lucky for the both of us we were in no hurry,
so we took our sweet time heading up the gully.
I would stay to the left of the drainage; it’s just easy climbing for
the most part. We did hit some “kitty
litter” scree around the 12,000ft range and the boulders were loose. This only lasted for about 100 vertical feet,
so prepare for a little suffering. Hey,
if you didn’t suffer a little, it wouldn’t be worth it…right. Ha-ha.
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| Looking East-to-South Parnassus to Snictau |
Above the 12,000ft range there was a good hundred feet or so
of 45+° climbing. I had to use my hands
a few times, but the climb remains a class 2 in my book. Needless to say, it gets steep. Find the grass steps and all will be
well. Paul decided to take a breather
for some fuel, and I kept plugging along up the mountain. The wind was so chilly I kept telling myself,
once I get to the summit I will pull out my down jacket and warm up. It wasn’t too chilly, but the wind was less
than friendly. I soon realized the rocks
we were climbing to were not the real summit, so I started a minor
traverse. Just follow the gulley to the
top of the ridge; from there it’s a simple hike to the true summit. As I arrived onto the main ridge I wasn’t
exactly sure which was the true summit so I walked to the mound to the west
then followed a faint ridge trail to the east to what I would call the true
summit. The wind was just vicious on
top, I didn’t have my wind meter but I would guess the winds were at least in
the 40’s.
Once on the summit I didn’t know what to do. All that time in the windy cold I was saying
to myself there would be a nice wind shelter built that I could use to escape
from the elements. Well, that didn’t
happen quite the way I had envisioned.
There was nothing, a bare summit.
I would call this mountain probably a hill in-between larger summits, so
nobody ever excavated a wind shelter on top.
That was disappointing because it was so cold, but that is life. I took the standard pictures all around. The pictures won’t bring out the chill but I
would guess it was in the low 20’s.
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| Hagar and the Citadel |
I wasn’t on the summit for more than a few minutes when I
saw Paul making his way to the mini saddle between the false and true
summit. When he got there I was getting
chilled having not put on my down jacket yet since there was no hiding
place. I suggested we try and find some
shelter to have a fuel break and warm up and he almost didn’t even stop on
top. That must have been the quickest
summit visit ever. There was nothing
close to hide behind, so we went to the lee side of the hill and hunkered down
as low as we could get. The wind was
still howling, but it wasn’t unbearable.
I was quick to pull out my down jacket and mittens. Oh, those mittens…if there is one piece of
gear that is a must, it is the mittens.
They warm you so fast; I don’t know why I spent so many years without
them. I ate about half my PB&J and
suggested we move somewhere “more friendly” lucky for me Paul was in total
agreement.
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| Mount Snictau in Black & White |
Since this whole trip was pieced together on the fly, we
didn’t even know which way to go down. I
knew I didn’t want to descend our ascent route, it was just too steep. The wind was blowing from the west so that
ruled out the west ridge heading towards Herman Lake. Option 3: we work our way along the ridge and
drop down to Watrous Gulch Trail.
Beautiful, we had a plan. The
route down was mellow and wide open. We
kept saying how sweet a glissade would be, tons of slope and lots of
run-out. I would love to come back this
way in the winter just to play.
Once we made it to the first tree/bush, I’m not sure exactly
what they were; we took a good long lunch break. Of course we picked a spot with a view;
Torreys Peak was looking so impressive it was hard to look away. I finished my PB&J, some pretzels a beef
stick that I would later regret and a hand full of anti-inflamitories. My right foot was getting sore (plantar
flascitus), but not too bad. After the
break I was feeling much better. The
good thing was for once today I knew exactly where we were and had a good idea
of how far it was back to the TH.
After we saddled up for the remaining descent, we dropped
about 200 vertical feet and met up with the Watrous Gulch Trail. That was a nice feeling to be on a trail for
the remaining part of our climb. We ran
into a group of ladies a few minutes later, who thought I was a friend that
they hiked with. Scarry, there are two
of us running around out here. Ha-ha. On the hike out my foot loosend up and it was
very enjoyable. For those of you that
don’t know this trail there is clear views of Torreys Peak and Mount Snictau
for the remainder of the hike. If that
doesn’t put a shit eating grin on my face nothing will. It is an absolute beautiful end of the day. I love it, Paul and I had another excellent
day in the mountains. Every day I get
out I am thankful for. Get out and climb
your mountain, hike your trail…whatever gives you that shit eating grin!
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| GPS Track |
Date: 10/9/2013
Starting Elevation: 10,300ft
Mount Machebeuf Summit: 12,805ft
Total Gained Elevation: 2,600ft
Class: 2
Distance: 5.33 miles
Time: 3:20 moving, 2:00 stopped.
Climbing Partner: Paul
