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| Mount Sherman |
A few of my friends wanted to get out and climb a 14er this
weekend. They didn’t have to even twist
my arm. We chose Mount Sherman, since I
think this is the easiest 14er and a good way to get introduced to high
altitude climbing in Colorado. The original
plan had eight of us heading up together, but as we left our meet-up location
only five of us were on the way to Sherman: Chris, Angie, Craig, Brian and
myself.
We met at the Meyer Ranch Lot off of 285 around 5:30 and
were soon off after everyone arrived.
From Meyer Ranch it is about an hour and a half drive to the TH of
Sherman. Since we could all fit in one
vehicle Craig offered to drive his minivan, so we were off in style. Shortly
after the Four Mile Creek turn-off the road turns to dirt for the last 12
miles. This can take some time, but any operational
vehicle could make it. As we arrived
there was a good 20 cars already at the TH.
The parking near the gate was full so we parked about 100 vertical feet
below in a pull out.
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| The Crew on the Summit |
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| Chris, Angie and Craig on the Route |
Not long after we arrived at the TH we were off up the dirt
road. It was a little chilly and the sky
was blue, so a good start for a 14er.
One of the nice things about this mountain, is it is never hidden so you
can visibly see yourself getting closer every step. I got off to a quick pace and after the first
quarter mile slowed down after I heard people gasping for air. We set on a much slower pace after that since
I didn’t think the weather would be an issue for us. The first section of the hike weaves around
some old mining equipment of the Dauntless Mine then you work on gaining the
ridge. There was still some good chunks
of snow hanging onto the ridge, so we made our way around the snow on the
ascent. Now that we were on the ridge we
were half way there, 1,000ft to go but in a much more direct line.
Once on the ridge the wind had picked up which is a common
trait of ridges. I put on my light
jacket as did the others and we were off on the ridge. There is a good trail leading the entire
ridge. But, now the “ants” were out and
the mountain was well covered in numerous groups of people. A good reason to get a real early start is to
avoid a lot of this congestion. It was
nice on the ridge because it’s more of a route than the road leading to the
ridge, so now Chris and Angie were getting a feel of what 14ers were really
like. They did very well keeping up with
the pace the entire way. It is definitely
a different place with a lack of oxygen and they both adapted well to it.
After a few false humps along the ridge we finally made it
to the long summit ridge. I think
everyone was glad to see the mob of people at the summit since that meant we
were nearly there. The wind was quite
frigid along the ridge and clouds were building so we would lose the sun here
and there making it really chilly at times.
The view all around was pretty clear as long as you could dodge the other
humans. It was a bit after 10am and the
clouds were starting to build up so after some photos and a little fuel we
decided it was time to head back down.
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| Sheridan Covered in a Cloud |
We took our time heading down the route so nobody injured
themselves. With our group heading down
we had to step off the trail numerous times to give right of way to uphill
climbers, this gets pretty old after a bit and is probably one reason I enjoy
13ers or 14ers, since there is rarely anybody else on the trail. Brian and Craig were contemplating on adding
Sheridan as another mountain today, but the cloud build up sent us all down the
mountain as hoards of people continued upward.
One of the best skills in the high mountains is your ability to read the
weather and I fear that not many people on Sherman had that ability.
Now we were back the main ridge on the long saddle and had
to figure a way down or around the snow.
Some people were recklessly glissading, apparently a pile of rocks at
the end of the glissade doesn’t deter too many people. Well it deterred us; we hiked across one
section of snow till I deemed it was safe to slide down. I went first and it was a nice short slide
that was not dangerous so everyone followed.
On the photo album link you can view each person in the group making
their glissade. After getting over the
snow, it was a nice hike down the road to the car. I was amazed to see that people were still
heading up after 11am, but it really shouldn’t shock me.
Everyone did great, and I hope Chris and Angie got a bit of
a “bug” so they will come out and do this again. It’s always fun introducing people into the
high mountains, so let me know if you want to try something new, I’m always up
for a repeat. I’m off to Idaho this
week, but hope to get back and do a few 14ers in the next few weeks.
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| GPS Track |
Date: 6/30/2013
Starting Elevation: 11,903ft
Mount Sherman Summit: 14,009ft
Total Gained Elevation: 2,200ft
Distance: 5.53 miles
Time: 3:29 moving, 1:15 stopped.
Climbing Partner: Chris, Angie, Craig, Brian
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