Mt Antero 14,296 ft (My 36th CO 14er)

August 27-28th 2016

Climbing Party:  Kevin Macomber, Jeff Moriarty, Billy Stanford (3 of El Cinco Hombres)

This is in part a training climb to sleep at high altitude in preparation for Orizaba.  However, the weather forecast was a little suspect for the weekend.  We arrived at the Baldwin Gulch trailhead at 1330 hours and started our backpack up the 4-wheel drive road at 1400 hours.

The Upper Trailhead.

River crossing.

Many 4-wheeled vehicles and dirt bikes passed us.  We ran into a bunch of local miners camped out.  Some look like they spent the entire summer up there.  The weather began to turn on us from sun to clouds then rain.  We decided the weather looked too iffy to climb higher above treeline and camp.  So, we settled at treeline, 12,100ft, arriving at 1630 hours.  We erected the tent, organized gear and fired up the jet boil for dinner.

  Puff, Puff, breeeaaaath.

Camp.

Glimpse of Antero from our camp.

The temperature dropped drastically and everything was damp.  Billy was chilled and had issues with his hands.  His digit were white and painful.  He had no capillary refill.  I was glad I brought my OR high camp lobster mitts for him to use and he eventually improved.  A possible concern for higher altitude climbing.  I brought my pulse oximeter and at 12,100 ft my O2 saturation was 87%.  

As dusk approached the skies cleared somewhat.  Jeff and I climbed a few hundred feet above camp for spectacular sunset pictures.

We retired to bed around 2000 hours.  I had a decent sleep of 6 hours; not bad for that altitude.  We woke at 0330, gathered our gear and headed out for our summit bid by 0405.  There was a group of 2 ahead of us who we caught at 13,000 ft around 0500.  We stuck to the 4-wheel road the whole way to 13,800 ft with our headlamps lighting the way.  The occasional snow flake fell in our light.  My pace was slow and consistent, carrying a 25lbs pack.  Jeff sped up to summit at sunrise for pictures.  Billy and I stuck together as we left the road to ascend the ridge and final summit push.  The ridge was fun to negotiate in the dark.  For the last few hundred feet of talus scramble, we found the rock to be coated with a thin layer of ice, which made it difficult to ascend.  We had to use hands and feet most of the way.

 The final ridge and summit push.

Billy on the slick talus.

We made the summit at 0620.  It was cold and breezy.  It began to snow more on us.  It was a cloudy morning.  We had the summit to ourselves.  We spent about 20 minutes on top then descended carefully on the ankle breaking slick rock.  

Summit in foggy, damp conditions

 Walking back along the ridge.

 Snow!

Taking in the valley from the upper road.

We got back to camp at 0820, boiled up water for breakfast and hot drinks.  After packing up our gear we packed out shortly after 0900.  The weather started to deteriorate early this morning.  The hike down was grueling on my legs- IT bands were screaming.  We all were pretty much hobbling as we reached my vehicle at 1100 hours.  We headed next to Buena Vista for tasty sandwiches and shakes before the 2 hour drive home.

Trip Stats:

16 miles round trip.

5,200 ft total vertical gain.

50 lbs pack carry to 12,100 feet, 4.2 miles (round trip of 8.4 miles), 2700 ft gain.

Antero was my last 14er of the Sawatch Range to complete.  It feels good to have it done.   That is 3 of 6 CO ranges done for me!  

On Thursday September 22, El Cinco Hombres gathered at Ben Osborn's casa for further planning to Mexico and Pico de Orizaba (18,490 ft- 3rd highest mountain in North America and highest in Mexico).  We purchased our plane tickets to Mexico City for January 12-20th 2017.  It is official now.  We are finalizing our travel plans in Mexico with the Servimont.  I will keep the blog updated on our training over the next 3 months.

On to Mt Adams…

5/18/16

Billy and I had a restful evening at the Timberline Lodge.  We woke to a surprising sunny morning.  We were lazy in getting going and departed at 11:30 am for Hood River.  The drive was incredibly scenic, getting views from the Southside to the Northside of Mt. Hood.  Clouds had begun to overtake the summit making the mountain appear as an active volcano pluming smoke.  Our summit bid weather couldn’t have been more perfect!

Mt Hood from the North

Mt. Adams

We stopped for lunch in Hood River before crossing the Columbia River onward to Trout Lake, WA.  We had glimpses of Adams along the way.  The driving was enjoyable through the countryside.  In Trout Lake, we stopped at the USFS ranger station to get beta on climbing/access conditions.  The road to the South Climb trailhead was almost melted out.  We drove up the Mt. Adams Rd to FS rd 8040.  The road was well maintained for the first 6 miles before it hit dirt.  We passed the Wicky Shelter and stopped at the Morrison Creek Camp ground to scope out a campsite.  The grounds were deserted.  A few wildfires had ravaged the area in 2008, 2012 and 2014.  The burn scars made it look uninhabitable.  We moved on up the steeper and rough road in our front wheel drive rental- Hyundai Santa Fe.  We reached the impassible part of the road blocked with snow.  A ranger was cleaning up the area and chatted with us a while.  The start of the #183 South Climb trail was a few hundred feet up the remaining road.  With the weather looking unsettled and our bodies still a bit beat up, we decided not to attempt a summit bid on Adams.  We will have to come back for it, and climb St. Helens too (if it doesn’t blow up).  

We did geared up for a couple hours hike to treeline of the #183 approach.  Most of the trail was on slushy snow, but no post-holing occurred.  We made it to treeline in an hour, just over a mile and 1,000ft of elevation gain.  We were the only ones up there.  The weather was looking grim.  A lenticular cloud had formed a cap over the summit, which is a sign of bad weather conditions.  Billy and I felt good of our decision not to ascend.  We could see the route up to the Lunch Counter, our proposed high camp.  We snapped some pictures and mentally detailed our route up for the future.  We headed down to the parking area in 35 minutes and chatted with a guy who was from Minnesota.  He had taken 5 months to travel the west coast by himself and climb; Shasta, Whitney, Helens, Hood, Baker, Glacier peak, Washington, The Sisters, Bugaboos and he still was going to climb Adams and Rainier(he had already trekked up to Muir).  Pretty impressive trip.  

The #183

Spying the upper mountain on the South Side Route

Mt St. Helens to the West

Mt Adams capped with a lenticular cloud

The Wicky Shelter was to be our camp for the night.  We had the spacious wooded primitive camp to ourselves and only had 2 vehicles pass through in the 24 hours we occupied it; one being the guy from Minnesota.  A deer wanted to befriend us, or maybe she just wanted food, nevertheless hung around well into the night.  The surrounding trees were enormous and covered in moss.  The rainforest is a cool place.  We stoked up a fire, ate some dinner and had a good night sleep.  Can you believe that all that threatening weather cleared out?  Well it did!  It could have given us a window to summit Adams.  Oh well, next time...

The morning was again lazy and we broke camp around 11 am planning to go on a day hike that the rangers recommend.  It was a drive back into Trout Lake and up another forest road.  There was no sign marking the trailhead so we continued to drive until the road was narrow and blocked by blowdown trees.  I bet our rental vehicle has not had such an adventure.  Frustrated, we drove back to the ranger station and exchanged information with the rangers.   They admitted that there is normally a turn of sign on a spur road which marks the trailhead, but obviously had been absent.  We returned up the road and were able to find the trailhead to the Sleeping Beauty Trail.  

Summit of Sleeping Beauty

The valley to the North

This hike was steep right out of the gate.  It switched up through thick wood.  We had no map or expectations of the hike.  My calves were on fire!  The trail took us up the rock to a bald and dramatic summit.  It was super windy and cold.  We had some views of the valley below, but the volcanos were buried in clouds.  The hike was 1.4 miles and 1400 ft gain.  We made the top in 44 minutes.  We descended in 25 minutes!

Our travels now took us back to Hood River and along the Columbia River to Portland.  Rain had set in and made the drive a bit white knuckled at times.  On the way we booked a room at the downtown Hilton for some plush comforts.  We strolled downtown Portland in a down pour and found my favorite Rogue Brewery Public House for good food and beer!  

Sleeping in a comfy bed again was nice.  Our final morning started with a Starbucks sit down and people watch, another stroll through the city before packing up the vehicle.  We did have time to stop at the Portland Flagship REI on the way to the airport.

Our flight back to Denver was uneventful.  I ended sitting next to a young, free spirited gal who never stopped talking, Oi!  She was however very nice.  Here ends another excellent, adventurous and successful Pacific Northwest trip!

Next up Volcanos of Mexico…

The Mighty Mount Hood!

5/16/16

Here's our story...I got up early to call and wish my oldest son, Dawson a happy 15th birthday before he headed off to school.  I decided to go for a casual 40 minute walk around Tualatin in the damp overcast morning.  I had a hearty breakfast and set off the airport.  I picked up Billy at 10:45a at PDX.  We were glad that his flight was on time.  We promptly loaded his gear and set off for Mt. Hood.  The weather was still overcast.

We arrived at Government Camp in a thick fog around noon.  It is six miles up the road to the base of the mountain from here.  We pulled into the parking area and the clouds were heavy at the Timberline ski area base, our staging point for the climb.  We ran into a group of climbers who had summited that morning.  They said it was raining sideways on their climb up until they got around 8500ft, where it cleared.  The upper climbing route, Pearly Gates, had knee to thigh deep snow drifts.  This would make the climb more physically challenging and potential for avalanche.

By mid afternoon the clouds started to lift and move in and out, giving us picturesque views of the summit.

The skies were completely clear by evening.  We prepped our gear and filled out our climbing permits at the Wy'east climber's cave.  We headed back to Government Camp for some pizza at the Ratskeller. We over hydrated and you know what that means...many trips to the bathroom!  Our sleeping arrangement initially was to find a camp spot in the forest.  We did find a site down low, but it was damp, wet and soggy.  So we put plan B into effect- sleep in the car at the Timberline parking lot.  We tucked ourselves in to the front seats at 6:30p and set the alarm for 12a.  We had a beautiful clear sunset over the mountain through our windshield.  With cars pulling in and out of the parking lot and snow cats moving up and down the mountain, we had 5.5 hours of sleepless rest.

5/17/16

Alarm sounds at midnight and we gear up.  We were on the trail at 12:52a under a 3/4 moon.  The moonlight was bright enough that we were able to hike without our headlamps on.  We followed the groomed cat track all the way to the top of the palmer lift.  Technically, we were suppose to stay to the right of the ski resort.  We broke the rules and so did the other climbers we saw heading up.  We passed the overnight ski area crew manicuring the slopestyle course and half pipe.  We had to dodge the snow being thrown out of the pipe.  The hike up the palmer snow field felt endless.  We made it to the top of the lift in 2:30 hours.  I was getting a little tired at this point.

We continued straight up toward the Triangle Moraine.  The moon turned a deep red before setting.  We had about 45 minutes of dark where we turned our headlamps on.  The route steepened and the snow was firm.  We stayed with trekking poles and I didn't put crampons on and take out my ice axe until just below Crater Rock.  My pace had significantly slowed and Billy was being a fast mountain goat.  The smell of sulphur was in the air from the fumaroles on the mountain.

Hood's shadow over the Cascades at sunrise.

We hit Devil's Kitchen at 5:30a.  We snacked and hydrated before climbing to the Hogsback.  The snow was perfect for cramponing.  The Hogsback delivered great veiws of the Pearly Gates, Old Chute, Steel Cliff, Hot Rocks and the large fumarole to the right.  You could see the steam rising out of it and the smells were strong.  We reached the Bergschrund and took a look into its bottomless depths before stepping over it.  There was a thin snowbridge that looked a little suspect.  The upper part of the Hogsback steepened and I took out my second ice axe.  We traversed the rime ice covered rocks to the base of the Pearly Gates.  We took the left gate.  The right gate also was in and climbable.

Devil's Kitchen with Pearly Gates above.

The Hogsback leading up to the Gates.

Large fumarole to our left.

Crater Rock

Billy on the Hogsback.

The climb in the Gate was fun!  I used a double ice axe pick technique.  There was a mix of snow and ice.  Everything was solid and the snow from the day before had consolidated.  There was some snow to wade through at the exit of the Gate to the summit.  I reached the summit at 7:45a.  It was clear, sunny and calm- NO WIND!  We took photos, grabbed some food and hydrated.  There were 4 others sharing the summit with us.  Two of which has previously lived in CO.

Summit!  11,240ft

Mt St. Helens

Mt. Rainier and Mt. Adams

Mt. Jefferson

My descent was slow and careful.  No fall needed on the upper challenges of the mountain.  We cleared the obstacles cleanly, made it over the Bergshrund again and took a break at Devil's Kitchen.  The down climb from here was long and slow.  My left ankle began to hurt from pressure in my boot.  This worsened as I went and made it difficult to walk.  I had to stop and rest every few hundred feet.  The sun was blazing which added to my fatigue.  It also made the snow very slushy.  You could clearly see the base of the ski area and the parking lot, but it never seemed to get closer.  Oh how I wish I had my skis!  I finally made it to the car at 12:15p.  What a great and long climb!  Glad to be down safely.

We were exhausted.  We dried out our gear in the parking lot.  We were so non-motivated to leave that we ended up staying the night at the historic Timberline Lodge.  We grabbed a great, juicy burger and I had an Ice Axe IPA beer at Mt. Hood Brewing Co in Government Camp.  What a great day!

I'll be posting some videos eventually on Facebook.

Now on to the next adventure...

Gearing up for the count down to Mt. Hood and Mt. Adams

5/7/16  Final on snow training in CO.

Billy, Derrill and I headed up to Berhoud Pass for our final on snow practice.  The weather didn’t look too promising so we thought Berthoud to be a better option than St. Mary’s due to a quicker escape plan.  We were able to get 400 ft of a 35-40 degree snow climb, even though the snow was soft and hadn’t hit a freeze overnight.  We topped out after each getting a chance to lead kicking steps in.  Our next intention was to summit Russell Peak, 12,300 ft.   We hit the base of Russell and the weather rolled in causing the peak to disappear in the clouds.  The wind had intensified.  We made the decision to turn around and head down.  A good thing, because not too much later we heard thunder.  We got down to the car just as lightening flashed and graupel pelted us.  Here are some pics from the day:

5/13/16  Departing day!

I am not very superstitious, however flying on Friday the 13th doesn’t sound so appealing.  I departed DIA early this morning with two checked bags loaded with gear and a carry-on expedition backpack.  The flying was smooth and on time.  

Mt Hood on descent into Portland

Billy is to join me on Monday morning, where I will pick him up at PDX.  I am in debate of what I should do on this down day.  I can hang out in Portland, visit one or many of the fine breweries in town, drive to the mountains and scope out our climb or head to the Pacific and take in the ocean scene.  What do you think is best?  The Portland weather is sunny and hot, 90 degrees.   I chose to head to the beach, Cannon Beach that is, where Goonies Never Die!

It was a misty maritime day.  Quite the contrast to hot Portland.  After some beach strolling, I returned inland to my hotel and to explore the southern suburbia during rush hour.  The next two days will be spent in class for some Mckenzie training.  I will have the opportunity for rest as well.  Next up date in a couple days.  Wish us good weather!