On Saturday, May 17th, John, Mark and I "officially started" our alpine training in advance of Ranier. First real hike of any distance for us this season. Introductions left to right - Mark (Ranier trip), Sean (friend of ours and experienced backcountry guy who graciously agreed to lead the trip and teach us the basics of snow conditions, snow climbing and glissading), and John (Ranier fella too). It's 4:30AM at the park-n-ride meeting spot....so this is what they mean by an "alpine start". Ugghhh...
5:45AM at the winter closure of the Brainard Lake Rec Area. It is three miles up a paved road to the Mitchell Lake Trailhead. We brought our bikes to ride up to the trailhead and shave some much needed time. Locked and loaded for the ride.
Let the biking fun begin...three miles of pedaling and we'll be at the trailhead.
Well, perhaps we won't be biking to the trailhead after all! Yes, that is the road. Seems the record snowfall in Colorado this year, coupled with the lack of a plow, will make this bike attempt a bit of an adventure.
Our destination as seen from Brainard Lake-Mt. Audobon 13,223'
The road around Brainard Lake and to the Mitchell Lake Trailhead dives deeper into the trees. Based upon our consistent "hike-a-bike" trip up the road, it's time to ditch the bikes and start walking. The bikes are locked to the tree to keep the nefarious Brainard Lake bike thief from ruining an otherwise glorious day.
At the Mitchell Lake Trailhead. The IPW backcountry sign provides many a rule and admonishment on what one can and can't do. Once again, the MAN speaks. Those that know me, know how I feel about that! :-)
Time to don the snowshoes and begin the 2-3 mile trek to Blue Lake and the beginning of the ascent.
After approx 1 mile of stomping, we arrive at Mitchell Lake. Looking into the Blue Lake basin, you see Mt. Toll, 12,979' in the center of the shot, with Little Pawnee Peak, 12,466' in the left foreground. Mt. Audobon is in the right side of the cirque, but not visible in this picture.
Short break at Mitchell Lake. At left, Sean ponders the beauty of the cirque. At right, John ponders a direct route across the hopefully frozen solid lake. At center, Mark finds relief and ponders the "small things" in life.
Which way now? Heading into the Blue Lake Basin. Mt. Audobon visible in upper right hand corner of picture.
Mt. Toll rises prominently in the cirques west end. Notice the tons of snow that still remains in mid-May. Record runoff is anticipated and the paddlers are salivating at the thought. The foolish and inexperienced had better get their affairs in order now.
Onward and upward. Mark and John trudge on.
We arrive at Blue Lake. It's break time. Time to refuel, drop the snow shoes and reconfigure the gear for the boot pack up the Crooked Couloir.
Let the fun begin! Sean, Mark and John start the climb to the Crooked Couloir. From this point, we have only about 3/4 of a mile to go. HOWEVER, we still have approx 2000' of elevation to gain. Oooofff. The Crooked Couloir is visible at the far left of the picture. An unnamed couloir is seen at the right.
Quick break...this boot packing stuff is hard work. Notice the recent wet snow slide at the right of Sean and Mark. Hmmmmm..... At this point, we turned hard left and continued the climb up the couloir visible on the left. No more pictures of the climb...it was a methodical step up...repeat. The camera never left the pack at this point. :-) We alternated leading to conserve enery. At approx. 12,600', we were running out of time and the snow was softening considerably. Sean recommended that it might be a good time to turn around, and enjoy the glissade back to Blue Lake. The three winter backcountry neophytes gladly took the recommendation, looking forward to the childhood fun of sliding down the snow.
Now THIS is fun!!! John demonstrating fine glissading technique. After Sean gave us the finer points of sliding and most importantly self arrest, we slid down the approximately 1300' feet of couloir in no time. This is the way to travel! :-)
Enjoying post-glissade chow at Blue Lake. While we were sitting there, we heard a dull roar, which at first I attributed to an airplane. Instead, it was an avalanche on the south side of the cirque. We watched a group of skiers we leapfrogged with on the couloir descend from Audobon in fine fashion. Back on go the snowshoes and we headed down the trail, to the bikes, to the trucks and ultimately, to the beers. All told, the trip was about 12 miles from start to finish. Great day...great training...let's do it again in a couple of weeks. Hope you enjoyed the documentary and the climbing juices are starting to flow.
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