Snowshoeing in RMNP- Loch Vale

Snowshoeing in RMNP

Loch Vale and Mills Lake, from Glacier Gorge parking lot
7 miles RT, ~1,000' of elevation gain
24 January 2015

I wanted to take Scott and Kerry snowshoeing this winter, so we made it happen. I have been to this area before and it had great views, so I wanted to go again, taking them with me.

Our chosen day had some challenging weather. It was just below freezing, but the winds were whipping fiercly and it was overcast. The parking lot was nearly full just before 10 AM, and the initial weather was not encouraging. I later joked that the crux of the route was clearing the parking lot.

The trees helped up survive the wind

Looky cheery after the frozen start

This drainage is normally not accessible during the summertime, but it forms the winter trail

Heading up the drainage

The classic view

3-shot panorama

It was very windy

When I saw the lighting change, I had to stop and whip out my camera to get this shot

We only stayed at the Loch for about 5 minutes because of how cold and windy it was. We headed down. When we got back to the trees, it became much more bearable. We went down the drainage and turned off for the Mills Lake trail. It's only about 1/2 mile to Mills Lake from the turnoff. It's not that far uphill either.

The wind was really whipping

I love the log jam frozen in time

Mills Lake

Long's Peak, Keyboard of the winds, and Pagoda Mountain

More wind! It was so strong it was hard to make forward progress

Scott and Kerry

Time to head back to the car

The journey back down went as fast as we could manage. We didn't even really stop for a break, we just plugged away. Being hungry and cold kind of does that to you.

We stopped at Ed's Cantina in Estes Park and stuffed ourselves with Tex mex food. Then we drove to Left Hand Brewery in Longmont and sampled some beers. It was a good day.

Ice Lakes Basin - Part 2

EA2014 - Day 2

Golden Horn, Vermillion Peak, US Grant Peak.

First Reflections

The reward of an early rising

 

Old mining camp ruins from a prior era

Vermillion center, Golden Horn right

Vermillion peak at right

Vermillion Peak (L) and Golden Horn (R)

We are heading for the saddle in the middle.

 

The "crux" of Golden horn wasn't much of one.

Looking at the face of Vermillion Peak

Heading up Golden Horn. It was easier than it looks.

Pretty easy climbing to the summit.

(Camera a little foggy) Bypassing a spire on the ridge

US Grant Peak center-right

Looking over at Vermillion

The Summit of Golden Horn

Looking west from GH

Show me your horns!

A surprisingly pleasant trail up the back side of Vermillion

Now we just have to get on top of that

Ice Lake is distant left

The Mt. Wilson massif, featuring 2 1/2  14ers

It's goofy but I had to

Lake Hope from the summit of Vermillion

coming down Vermillion- not sure why the pic turned out this way

A hundred years ago someone was relying on these rocks for shelter from wind, ice and snow

Scott and Golden Horn

Fuller Lake

Ulysses S. Grant Peak (US Grant) center

Alpine marsh above Ice Lake

So photogenic though

We got back at our tent around 1030 AM. We decided that the weather looked OK and we were going to head for the Island Lake basin to bag more peaks. I ate some mountain house cajun beans and rice and then we got our water and packs ready for the next adventure. We left about 12:30 PM.

This is Island Lake

The climb to the saddle above Island lake was steep, and the top portion was quite unstable.

You can see the saddle center-right here. You climb steeply up to this saddle and then trun and climb the ridge.

Clouds are gathering

So I guess at this point I need to mention what happened. Scott and I had a disagreement about what to do here. I wanted to climb US Grant Peak, and he did not. I think between the possibly sketchy weather and the unknown route, he was not up for it. But I was. We had an argument, I went left, he went right. In hindsight what I did was pretty stupid. The route up this ridge is not that great: It's loose, pretty much unmarked and untraveled; and the crux was really crappy. Let me tell you about this crux; imagine if you will a narrow ledge, above this is outward sloping rock with no good handholds. Below this is a steep drop-off to the sloped side of the mountain. Covering this narrow ledge are pizza sized oddly shaped UNSTABLE rocks and dirt. It was the stuff of nightmares. I (and my family) am lucky I survived. Somehow taking pics of everything was not my top priority so I only have a few photos of the way up and down US Grant. I did reach the summit, but it was probably a fool's errand for me.

The initial route is not exactly encouraging

I just love the colors. Smooth and grassy on one side, loose and rocky on the other.

This is the crux. It's the worst thing I've ever done, although a fall might have been survivable

And we are skipping to the summit of US Grant Peak

Looking back to Ice Lake basin, Ice Lake is hidden behind the ridge at the bottom.

Since I was solo, this is a summit selfie

Island Lake from above

 Mt. Wilson, Gladstone Peak, and Wilson Peak (L to R)

A loose-looking sub-peak NW of US Grant

Relaxing, Colorado style at Island Lake

We got back to our tent and packed up as quickly as we could, drinking a beer as we hastily stuffed our gear. By this point we were quite tired, and we knew there was more stuff to come. We wanted to get down because we were so cold and tired the night before, and thought retreating to a lower altitude would be nice.

Relaxing, Colorado-Style at Ice Lake. Those puppies are barking.

Massive rocks and little waterfalls

Not too many pictures on the way down. We were tired and had been up since 4:30 AM. We hustled back to the car, drove to Montrose, ate some Qdoba, and then drove 6 hours home, getting back right at midnight. This was one of the most "action packed" days I've ever done! Scaling 3 13ers hiking and driving back all the way from the middle of the San Juans.