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by Theron

Peak “N” (13,021), Peak “O” (aka “Little Powell” 12,902)

September 22, 2001 in North

Originally, I had planned to take an aspen photo outing up to the area around West Booth Pass. But, the day before I was going to leave, George sent me an e-mail inviting me to come along with Jennifer and Gerry Roach and him for a climb of Peak

“N” in the Gores. So, without a hesitation, I changed my plans. Peak “N” was a very significant climb for Jennifer as it was the one remaining thirteeners that she hadn’t climbed. There are 638 thirteeners (I think) in Colorado. That’s a lot of mountains to climb and obviously a significant accomplishment. Up to this day, there were only eight people to have climbed all of the thirteeners.

So, I woke up at 3:30 on Saturday morning and met George along with two others, John and Lori, at Morrison. We drove up to Silverthorne and then on up the Brush Creek 4×4 road to the trailhead where Jennifer and Gerry were waiting. Surprisingly, there were many other 4x4s up there. But they were all up there for bow hunting. So we put on some bright clothing and started hiking just after 6:30.

We hiked for about a quarter mile or so before hitting the Gore Range trail, which we followed north about a mile to a western branch leading towards Lost Lake. From this trail junction it’s another 2 miles or so to Lost Lake. The lake is well below tree line. The trail runs along the eastern shore and this is a good place to take a short break, which we did. The other shores are practically inaccessible with lots of fallen trees and swampy ground. From here, we had good views of both Peaks “N” and “O”. They were both separated by a pair of nasty looking towers, supposedly not exceeding class 3 difficulty. The long broad ridge coming off of Peak “O” towards the lake was a long long talus field. At this point, there are no trail continuing on to the peaks and our plan was to head southwest and bushwack towards the wide cirque shared by Guyselman Mountain and Peak “N”. We had to ensure that Jennifer got to Peak “N” obviously!

The bushwack starts right at the lake and doesn’t let up for well over a mile. The forest is pretty dense so we had to wend and wind quite a bit. Sections of it are quite steep too. Eventually we emerged out onto some talus and had to climb over a series of talus slides to get around the steep and jagged rocky ridge coming directly off the eastern side of Peak “N”. After passing the ridge, we dropped down into a little grassy basin with a small lake that Gerry and Jennifer had previously named “Paradise Lake”. We took a short break here, right at the edge of treeline, then headed up more talus into the cirque. Guyselman Mountain (also known as Peak “M”) was right in front of us and looked quite impressive. It’s north face is quite steep and there are a couple of nice couloirs set in the face. I had originally thought maybe I’d go up ahead and climb Guyselman as well, but instead I wisely opted not to completely wear myself out and save this peak for later.

Once we got high enough into the basin, we turned towards Peak “N” and headed up. The peak has no form at all from this close up. Near the top though were long sections of smooth rock analogous to the Flatirons in Boulder. We split up here briefly: George, John, and I opted to scramble up the slabs while Gerry, Jennifer, and Lori climbed up a faint talus ridge to the left. As the three of us climbed up in parallel with the others, we had great views of them outlined on the ridge against the steep north face of Guyselman Mountain. I took a couple of pictures of them climbing up (left). Then we had to focus more on the slabs in front of us. The slabs were very solid and clean which was definitely welcome after some loose scree sections below. The climb was a bit exposed but the holds were so good that I always felt confident. The difficulty occasionally was 4th class but was a great way to finish the climb. The slabs ended a mere five vertical feet or so from the summit. We sauntered twenty feet to the summit and hollered for the others to join us. Jennifer and Gerry were on a small point about 100 feet below us as they began the final few feet to Jennifer’s last thirteener.

We took a nice long celebratory rest on top of Peak “N” and took in the expansive views. To the north and east, we could see miles and miles past Green Mountain Reservoir, the Indian Peaks and Longs Peak. To the west and south, we had great views of the main chain of peaks in the Gore Range. Over towards the northwestern side was the remote Black Creek drainage. I spent some time studying the various valleys in this huge drainage. There was no register on Peak “N” but Jennifer and Gerry brought one so we all signed it then left in near the small cairn built on the peak. We still hadn’t decided for sure if we were going to go on to do Peak “O”. We wandered over to take a look at it and it looked quite doable, but there would definitely be some scrambling involved. George, John, Lori, and I decided to try it and Jennifer and Gerry would retrace their steps back down to the lake.

The only real problems on the ridge between these two peaks are two prominent gendarmes. The first one (going from “N” to “O”) is significantly smaller and looked to be easily passable on it’s right side. Since it was the first gendarme, we called it the “No” gendarme, the second therefore was christened the “On” gendarme. We scrambled easy 3rd class terrain down to the notch before the first gendarme. At the base, we headed down and around on the right side. “No” looked climbable on this side but we weren’t sure about the other side so we continued to traverse. You can actually go down maybe 50 feet to a prominent grassy ledge running back up to the notch between the two gendarmes. We didn’t drop quite that far and instead traversed on a 3rd class ledge directly below “No”. At the notch between the two, we looked back on the tower and it appeared to be climbable again. So, we climbed BACK over the top of the gendarme. This side was in shadow and had a decent amount of fall snow too. The climb was a bit exposed and was tough 3rd class at it’s easiest; there were a couple of 4th class moves. Once we got on the top, it looked too hard to come back down the same way so we dropped back over the back side and traversed again back to the notch.

That was a fun twenty minute little scrambling interlude. We headed on to the next gendarme. It featured a thin little ridge that was quite exposed with steep and smooth slabs on it south side. We easily downclimbed the back side of the gendarme and made our way up easy 3rd class terrain to the gentle summit of Peak “O”. Again, there was no summit register but I left mine, a little green Celestial Seasonings tin. John and Lori didn’t stay on top long at all but I wasn’t ready to head down. I wanted to take in the views as long as possible so George and I remained on top for another fifteen or twenty minutes before heading down. We strolled over the gentle grassy slopes and then made our way down the long long talus field. We had great views of Black Lake and Black Creek below it which was loaded with yellow aspens. Black Lake is on private property and there’s a giant lodge at the far end of the lake. That must be a really nice place. We also saw a small boat touring around on the lake.

The descent off Peak “O” seemed like forever. Descending is the most exhausting part of the trip for me and this was certainly a long descent. It reminded me more of an obscure side of Mount Princeton because there was so much more talus. The good news was that once we were down into the trees the lake wasn’t far away. We bushwacked our way through the forest and followed our noses back to the lake. The lake was our rendezvous point and we were the first to arrive. Ten minutes later, Gerry and Jennifer emerged out of the thick foliage. We took one last leisurely break at the lake then headed back the final three and a half miles to the trailhead. We arrived back at the trailhead exactly twelve hours after we departed. It was another successful and very enjoyable Gore Range trip.

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by Theron

“Piney Bristles” (12,080 ft) and ridge

September 10, 2001 in North

Mike and I had been planning a major Gore Range trip this weekend but our plans were dramatically changed when an early and very strong snowstorm moved through the state.  However, we decided to take a much easier trip on Sunday where we could do a bit of scouting on our postponed trip.  We decided to climb “Piney Bristles” which is a small, rocky point along the western ridge bordering Upper Piney Valley.  From the opposite side of the valley, “Piney Bristles” is a pretty impressive little peak and although it’s an easy peak to climb, that doesn’t degrade from enjoyment of climbing it and the amazing views that it affords.

We left Denver very late, around 9:30.  We drove down Red Sandstone Road and then took a right-hand turn on Lost Lake which is a bit bumpy but nevertheless a well-maintained road.  We drove maybe two or three miles to a sharp switchback in the road where we began our hike.  There was a faint logging road which we followed for a while, although we weren’t on it very long.  For the most part, we just used our routefinding and navigation noses to find our ways to an open meadow where we could see the ridge which we were heading for.
 
In some parts of the woods, we did see footprints so there surprisingly must have been another hiker up here today or at the earliest, yesterday afternoon.  After following through the meadow, we headed for hilly ridge coming off the main ridge which we headed up.  The climb was steep and we slogged up the slope for quite a while until the moment when we opened up onto an open talus area which lead to a 11,754 foot point along the ridge where we could see the rest of our route.  We could see Piney Bristles to the north, but we would have to head slightly south to connect with the main part of the ridge then head back north passing several points until attaining the summit.  We dropped down a short slope covered in deep snow then emerged onto a 3rd class ridge that was partially mixed with trees; we were still below treeline.  The ridge was 2nd class the rest of the way and was mostly a rock hop along talus, and avoiding dense trees.  There was a very pleasant hike through a high meadow before arriving at the base of the short rocky summit of “Piney Bristles”.

The climb to the summit is a short, perhaps only 100 foot, 3rd class scramble.  Once on top, Mike took out his binoculars and we surveyed Ripsaw Ridge, opposite of the valley.  I also took several pictures of the surrounding peaks and the valley (below).
 
Ripsaw Ridge towers three thousand feet over Upper Piney Valley.  The ridge’s highpoints (Peaks “C”, “D”, “E”, “F”, “G”, and “H”) are at about 13,200 feet and the valley is at about 10,200.  The ridge does indeed look like an impenetrable wall.  The valley is very gentle and rises very slowly over about three miles.  All the views we had were perfect.  The weather was perfect – very little wind, lots of sun, and zero haze.

After spending about an hour on the top and studying various parts of the ridge and access points, we headed down.  We climbed back over the ridge and climbed up the short snow slope to the point where we accessed the main part of the ridge (below).  However, instead of heading back towards Point 11,754, we headed further south.  By heading this way we would be able to descend a wide grassy gentle bowl and, at the same time, hook back up with the creek that we used to help us navigate in the opposite direction.
 
Because we started hiking so late, it was getting pretty late (about 5:30) in the afternoon and the sun was already starting to set some.  However, we thought about climbing an unnamed 12er on the opposite side of the bowl.  Mike decided that he wanted to just enjoy the basin beneath the peak but suggested I run up it real quick and take some pictures.  So, I headed up.  So I headed back up and got back on the ridge and the remainder of the climb consisted of talus covered in slick fall snow.  Normally, these sorts of conditions make for much slipping and sliding but in reality, it wasn’t bad at all.  I zoomed up the 700 feet to the summit and arrived up at the top in only 24 minutes.  From here I had great views of the southern part of “Ripsaw Ridge” as well as excellent, up-close views of “The Spider”.
 
(Right) Here’s the nice view of the ridge from the top of the summit.  The relief of the ridge is much more obvious from this side.  The setting sun helps out a lot too.

I took several shots from the top of this summit.  To the west was another summit.  I couldn’t really tell if it was any higher than the one I was standing on.  It looked a tad higher so I strolled along a wide talus ridge covered in new snow to the second summit which indeed appeared to be higher.  There was a third summit even further to the west but it was shorter and wouldn’t afford better views AND it was getting late in the day so I didn’t bother going.  Since the views weren’t as good from this summit, I headed back to the first.
 
I didn’t stay on top much longer.  The sun was starting to go down and we didn’t have the luxury of a trail to hike out on so I headed back down to the bowl where Mike was waiting (left).  We headed back out this different drainage.  Before we entered the forest, I paused and took this picture looking back on the little peak I climbed.  We bushwacked through a comfortable forest.  Eventually we ran into something that looked like a rough blazing of a trail.  We followed it for a good while and eventually ended up in the wide meadow with the faint logging road.  We actually found a way to follow the road back all the way to the car.  On the way in, we obviously took a right-hand turn instead of a left-hand turn and that road eventually faded into nothingness but we were still able to make it to the meadow.

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by Theron

Eagles Nest (13,397), Dora Mountain (12,292), Point 13,091

September 3, 2001 in North

In a way, I was doubting whether I should attempt a climb of Eagles Nest solo.  Eagles Nest, while a long hike, is not really that long but I generally like going with other people.  But, after playing a gig on Friday, I was ready to get out of town and I knew that if I just got in the car and went, I wouldn’t regret it.  I certainly didn’t, but unfortunately, I didn’t leave Denver until a little after 1:30pm.  It took me about two hours to get to the Suprise Trailhead which is at the far north end of the Gore Range.  This is a fee-collecting area ($5) and, along with the Lower Cataract Lake trail, is easily the most popular trailhead in the Eagles Nest wilderness.  The ample parking lot was jam-packed with maybe thirty cars.  I got my stuff ready, paid the fee, signed the register and headed out around 3:30.  On the register, I noted a group of twenty who were at Upper Cataract Lake.  I had originally though I’d climb Eagles Nest from Upper Cataract, but had decided earlier in the day to camp on Dora Mountain.  Seeing a group of this size cemented the idea in my head.  I thought maybe that was some other group’s strategy to ensure that they were alone at the lake!  No matter, Dora Mountain would be awesome, I was sure.

It’s a lot more strenuous and difficult hike to get to Dora Mountain.  From the trailhead, it’s about a 3700 foot climb and you have to bushwack to get to the mountain.  I wasn’t quite sure where I’d leave the trail to begin my bushwack but it looked like the best route was somewhere after Surprise Lake.

The parking lot was really hot and I was anxious to get moving fast and get up to cooler ground.  My overnight pack has gotten much smaller over time and I moved very fast up the moderately steep trail.  Everyone I passed had much bigger packs than I did, so I guess I’m getting pretty good at this.  Anyway, my map unfortunately didn’t have this part of the trail and it felt like I hiked too far southwest.  I started to think that maybe I missed the trail turnoff.  I really wasn’t that worried because the trails are really well documented with signs in this area.  Sure enough, I arrived at the Gore Range trail and turned right and headed for Surprise Lake which is only a couple of minutes past the turnoff.  The lake has lots of lily pads and logs floating in it.  In the distance, you can see Dora Mountain.  I continued on then arrived at the Upper Cataract trail and turned left there.  I thought maybe I could follow one of the creeks to the slopes of Dora Mountain.  I decided not to do that because the forest was quite thick.  I went maybe a half mile more and spotted a very faint trail heading south.  I followed it a bit just to see if it really was a trail.  It wasn’t, but the forest wasn’t quite as thick here.  So, I decided to start bushwacking.  Fortunately, the route was pretty easy for me.  I first found a fairly open, moist area, that lead to a really dense area with a lot of fallen trees.  I was able to see the open slopes of Dora Mountain in front of me.  It didn’t look like much more bushwacking.  I was able to walk along the fallen trunks and make pretty good time.  I then climbed up some very steep slopes for about 200 feet.  The slope began to lessen and I broke out of the trees and had a good view back on the Blue River valley (top picture).  After a while, I was beyond all the trees and hiking along the flat slopes of Dora Mountain.  In the distance, I could make out the two permanent snowfields that are notated on the map.  As I passed above the second snowfield on talus, the most amazing view opened up.  I had arrived at Dora Lake and had unobstructed views of the northern Gore Range peaks.

December 2007 Addition: I just reread my Dora Mountain report and I can’t believe I left out the most satisfying part of this trip: When I first moved to Colorado, I had browsed through a Fielder photo book and was awestruck at one of the pictures of the Gore Range. It didn’t say where, just something like “Sunrise in The Gore Range”. After I climbed Peak “C”, and realized that the Gore Range was the place for me, I looked forward to the day that I would find that view. I studied maps quite a bit and had some ideas where that view was, but Dora Lake wasn’t one of them. Unfortunately, I never found it, until I went on that solo trip. And, I wasn’t even thinking of finding it then. When I crested over that snowfield and small ridge and saw it, I simply dropped my pack in silence and just stared for minutes on end. I think that qualifies as my favorite moment in the Gores. I hope I will return there one day. Perhaps on the trip to Black Peak. After all, I’ve made the climb from the top of the Black Drainage to the slopes along Dora Lake. End December 2007 Addition
 
Once I regained my senses, I was sort of mad at myself for not leaving earlier so I could enjoy the view for a few hours before the sun went down.  As it was, I had maybe an hour or an hour and a half of sunlight.  I set up my camp at the southern end of Dora Lake looking over the vast expanse of the Black Creek valleys.  There were, of course, mountain goats up here.  They were interested in me but never came any closer than about 15 feet or so.  I could easily spook them by moving quickly and I had to run back up to my camp while pumping water and chase them off because they started messing with my stuff.  A month earlier, some goats had chewed through my canvas stove bag and I didn’t want that to happen again.  Fortunately, they didn’t bother my camp me after that.

As the sun went down, I relaxed and read a new screen play written by one of my best friends.  It was a good setting actually; the amazing vistas and glowing eyes of the goats really set the mood for the screenplay.  Anyway, I enjoyed reading for about an hour.  The full moon had begun rising over Peak “O” and illuminated the surface of the Dora Mountain so much that I didn’t need a headlamp (except for reading).  I went to bed fairly early, around 9:30 or 10:00.  I set my alarm for 5:50 because I wanted to take some sunrise shots.  I slept really well but woke up occasionally to the weird noises made by the goats.  They must have wandered all around me all night long.  My alarm went off but it was still dark so I snoozed for another fifteen minutes.  Once I saw daylight, I jumped up and witnessed an amazing sunrise and setting moon.  I took lots of good pictures.   As I took pictures, I ate breakfast and then got ready for my climb of Eagles Nest.  In a way, I didn’t want to go; I could have just stayed here and enjoyed the stunning views.  I headed out around 7:30 and followed broad gentle slopes for maybe a half a mile before beginning the climb up to point 13,099 along Eagles Nest east ridge.

The ridge began to get pretty thin near the top but never too bad.  I had a good straight down to Upper Cataract and Cat lakes.  I didn’t take a picture though because the were both still in shadow.  I arrived at the top of the point and noted that the benchmark read 13,091…so the map was off by 8 feet.
 
The rest of the climb up Eagles Nest was a series of pinnacles.  There was a giant drop between the third and the fourth pinnacle which was the crux of the climb.  I think it pushed 4th class on the 3rd pinnacle.  It’s definitely wise to drop sooner rather than later on this pinnacle.  The north side of the point is entirely 5th class.  

At the notch, I continued staying fairly low on the south side of the Eagles Nest ridge.  I regained the ridge right before the fifth point and enjoyed scrambling up more solid blocks along the ridge.  At first, as I was topping out on the 5th pinnacle, I thought I was on the summit but then I saw I had yet another pinnacle to climb up that was the true summit.
 
I arrived on the top of Eagles Nest a little less than two and a half hours.  It seemed a bit longer though – the climb had it’s moments but a lot of the ridge was tedious.  The views from the top were great, of course.  I found the summit register.  It was completely full so I replaced it with a small pad of paper and even supplied a small pencil.  I ate some food and then headed down to the seventh point which looked to be almost as high as the true summit and took some pictures.  

I wasn’t really looking forward to following this long ridge back to my camp.  I got the idea to drop down into the Black Creek basin and visit Cliff Lake and some of the other tarns that I saw from the top.  It looked like a fairly easy descent into the basin.  I headed down and mostly skidded and slipped down the scree and arrived in this super-remote basin (below).
 
The first thing I did was head down to Cliff Lake to take a short break.  Cliff Lake is absolutely awesome.  There’s a nice grassy shore and the bottom is sandy and very deep.  I hung around Cliff Lake for a while and even took a short swim.  It was so cold when I jumped in that I couldn’t have stayed in for more than a minute.  It felt good drying out in the sun though.  I spent some time taking pictures of various peaks from the lake.  I then decided to drop down a little more and head for some tarns that I spotted from above.  

I had to negotiate a small set of cliffs then arrived at the tarns, where I took more pictures and rested a bit more.  There was absolutely no evidence of any human activity anywhere down in this basin.  I wonder how many people have actually been up in here.  Not many, that’s for sure.
 
After hanging out at the small tarns for a while, I finally headed back up to Dora Mountain.  I spotted my route from below and began the climb back up.  I got up pretty high and wanted to cut over to some more gentle ground but I was cut off by a couloir that was deeply inset with 30 to 40 foot sheer cliffs.  So, I had to continue climbing up.  I ended up climbing straight up to the base of Point 13,099 and then finally was able to walk tundra back to my campsite.  The goats were still hanging out in their spot.  I took a bit of time to walk over to the lake and pump some more water, then headed out for the summit of Dora Mountain.

Dora Mountain is nothing more than a 100 foot rise of talus on the eastern part of the mountain.  From here I had great views of the entire Black Creek drainage and started making mental plans for a backpack to that region.  I also finally took a picture of myself on the summit.  The summit register had been there since 1986 and was maybe signed by fifteen people.  I recognized three Colorado guidebook authors and a CMC member.
 
After about thirty minutes of more relaxing, I headed back to camp.  I sat back down in my little makeshift chair and read some more of the screenplay while finishing up the last morsels of my food supply.  I still had a 6-mile hike out.  I took in some final views, packed up, and went.  

The hike off of Dora Mountain was really pleasant.  I spotted a large group of deer running across the tundra.  I found the spot that I had emerged from the forest and was able to retrace my steps pretty close.  I ended up coming out on the trail at the exact spot that I left it and then really picked up the pace and zoomed out.  I saw no one else on the hike out.  In fact, I hadn’t see a soul since passing Surprise Lake the day before.  Back at the parking lot, there were only three cars.  The sun was just starting to go down; I’d stayed up there longer than I had originally planned because I was enjoying it so much.  I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to beat that campsite (right).

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