Pete, Jason and I left the Glacier Gorge trailhead about 6:30 am, just light enough not to need headlamps. While heading up to The Loch we had a few views of the #1 peak in Rocky Mountain National Park.
Since I hadn’t been up here in winter before, I navigated us onto the summer trailhead where we had the pleasure of breaking new trail. Note to self – follow the beaten path in the creek bottom next time.
The sun was illuminating the rocks above us at The Loch, but on the frozen lake it was still cold and windy.
We followed an old snowshoe track out of The Loch and towards Andrews Glacier but it quickly ended. The effort in laying a new track through knee-to-crotch deep snow was exhausting and a couple “whompfs” of the snow pack convinced us that heading towards higher-angle terrain was a bad idea.
On our retreat back to The Loch we discussed alternate plans including moving to the Bear Lake trailhead and attempting Flattop. Once we reached the frozen lake we spent some time looking at the towers and gullies on Thatchtop’s north side and decided to find a way up that peak via the broad north ridge.
“Skating” across the ice in our snowshoes we made for Thatchtop and what looked like a low-angle and snow-free route through the cliff band.
As we climbed up a bit a view of Taylor Peak (one of our original objectives) emerged.
After fighting through some loose rock fields we reached our gully.
A quick scramble got us into the gully proper.
I found myself wishing for more snow, as the gully was composed of very loose rock which we could only partially avoid by scrambling on the left side rocks a bit.
The gully faded into a broad slope that was no-less loose but at least not as steep.
Eventually we emerged onto more solid ground and reached the sun’s warmth.
The summit was still about 1,600 feet above us, and the terrain was maddeningly the same – uneven rocks (some loose) and patches of snow (some a supportive wind crust, others dry powder). At least the winds were mild for a winter day near the continental divide (gusts about 30mph).
While we were rewarded with views of Longs Peak occasionally, all of us were suffering a bit. I hadn’t been this high since maybe August was was certainly feeling the elevation. Jason was operating on a hour of sleep. Pete was probably doing the best of all of us, having been to the summit of South America (Aconcagua – almost 23,000 feet) last month.
Around 12:30 we finally reached the summit and were rewarded with some magnificent views. I’m often reminded that the best views aren’t found on the highest peaks.
After enjoying the somewhat cold and windy (but for winter time not too bad) summit we returned the same way, somewhat quicker but still feeling beaten up by all the uneven terrain. A little help from our GPS and we found our snowshoes and other extra weight we’d cached above the cliffs then made our way back through the steep and loose.
Once we made it back to The Loch, we took the easier and more packed trail down the creek valley and returned to the trailhead after a 9 hour day. Food and beer were eagerly consumed after a 90 minute drive back to Boulder where we helped celebrate “Stout Month” at Mountain Sun.
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The Journey Is Home 