Stardate 2018.710

29 August 2018
Do I Have Enough Derailleur For Life's New Gearing? Why Yes, I Do!

Mid-afternoon August 29th, my life changed course forever—I was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease. Things could have been much, much worse!! As such, I'll continue living out a good life. Things will just be slower. My days of aggressive cycling and mountain climbing are most likely on the decline.

Take note, Parkinson's, I make a good enemy! I'll post more on my new "adventure" as I learn and experience more. Fall colors are appearing; how ironic. Stay tuned!



13,809 ft Dallas Peak

Wow, it's been almost a year since I last posted. I'll try to change that. I need to get back into writing anyway. Snowcatcher and I didn't get into the high country this year as much as we usually do. Nonetheless following are some July pics from the north San Juan Mountains.



L to R: 13,819 ft Teakettle Mountain, 13,686 ft Cirque Mountain, and 14,150 ft Mount Sneffels

The East Fork Dallas Creek is a jewel. However, the area has been discovered and can be quite busy. Pre-1990 only 2 or 3 impromptu parking spots were available. Room via forest clearing has been created for at least 50 vehicles.


Three climbers enjoying the summit of Mount Sneffels before weather moved in.

I've summited Mount Sneffels on several outings. I've climbed the standard southern route as well as the deeply inset Snake Couloir snow route on the north face.



An old zig-zag sheep fence along East Dallas Creek brings in some southwest nostalgia.

Later gator!

Adios

Stardate 2015.633

Yankee Boy Basin Part II

Welcome back. We're still on wildflower patrol high in the northern San Juan Mountains of southwest Colorado. We couldn't get enough of scenic Yankee Boy Basin. Colorado's state flower, the Blue Columbine, was prolific, as was the Larkspur.

Blue Columbine
Aquilegia caerulea
Hellebore family



Larkspur
Delphinium nelsonii
Crowfoot family



13,694-foot Gilpin Peak stands watch over upper Yankee Boy Basin.



The final 3/4 mile of 4x4-access to upper Yankee Boy Basin is not a difficult drive. However, it is slow, steep and narrow; it is very eroded and washed-out in places; it requires descent ground clearance in areas. Longer vehicles may drag their hitches while navigating water bars and stream crossings. Lastly, people tend to park their non-clearance vehicles in small passing pullouts (common sense no longer exists).





The jagged, crumbly Saint Sophia Ridge tickles the sky's belly. I've been told mountain gods reside here and the Jabberwock provides their protection.



Saint Sophia Ridge rises above Governor Basin, as seen from lower Yankee Boy Basin.



From lower Yankee Boy, see ya next time, Kismet (13,694 ft) and Cirque Mountain (13,686 ft). The rain started about 30 minutes later.



More mountains on the docket; they'll be up soon.

Adios

Stardate 2015.627

Yankee Boy Basin

Day Three of our wildflower fest found us in four-wheel drive wrou, wrou, wrouing up to phenomenal Yankee Boy Basin. The only downfall: it's a very busy basin full of 4x4s crawling toward thinner atmosphere. Words don't really describe the flowers here. This is one of the few alpine regions capable of giving the wildflowers of the Crested Butte area a run for their money. When Yankee Boy Basin flowers are at peak, it's amazing. We hit it very close to peak

The alpine tundra and sentinel peaks are not bad on the eyes either. I think the San Juan Mountains are Colorado's finest alpine peaks; Yankee Boy Basin touches only a tip of them. Enjoy the pics.

The scenery kicks into high gear in lower Yankee Boy Basin.



As we inched up the mountain side, views began to open up. In the far upper left, the summit block of Mount Sneffels (14,150 ft, rank #27) is just visible. The peak in the upper left is Kismet (13,694 ft, no rank). The upper right peak is Cirque Mountain (13,686 ft, rank #155). Cirque actually has two summits. Note: Kismet is not ranked because its connecting saddle with Mount Sneffels has less than 300-foot drop in elevation. Kismet has what is known as a soft rank.



Larkspur
Delphinium nelsonii
Crowfoot family



Rock Groundsel (I think)
Packera werneriifolia
Aster family



During the late 1800s, some regions of the San Juan Mountains underwent a fair amount of mining. Access into the many areas is the result of mining. However, the mountain range is vast, and much of the San Juans remain primitive, especially the South San Juan Mountains.



Clouds swirling about Kismet predicted afternoon monsoonal rain.



The high saddle between Teakettle Mountain (13,819 ft, rank #98) and Potosi Peak (13,786 ft, rank #113) is more difficult to reach than it looks. The rock up high is loose and often resting at the angle of repose. However, sometimes the rock is worth the care required to navigate. Teakettle is one of the finer alpine climbs I've done. Its coffee table-sized summit was a hoot.



The following pics are from previous trips and used to present Teakettle Mountain and Potosi Peak. The spout succumbed to gravity and snow during the 1998/1999 winter. The second picture is of the tiny summit.





Upper Yankee Boy Basin is home to 13,694-foot Gilpin Peak (rank #149). Crossing the saddle between Gilpin and Sneffels will deposit you into the spectacular Blue Lakes Basin.



Potosi Peak touches the clouds at 13,786 feet (rank #113).




More Yankee Boy to come. Check back.

Adios

Stardate 2014.688

Snaefell

Mount Sneffels is my favorite 14,000 foot mountain – 14er if you will. It pierces the sky at 14,150 feet, calling home the northern edge of the sprawling San Juan Mountains of southwest Colorado. It is a monarch over a subgroup of the San Juan Mountains often referred to as the Sneffels Range. Except for the Needles – Grenadiers, a stone's throw to the south, the Sneffels Range has the largest concentration of high rugged peaks in the San Juan Mountains. Mount Sneffels is the 27th highest peak in Colorado.



If you've ever traveled in the vicinity of Montrose, Ridgway (no e in Ridgway), Ouray or Telluride, you've most likely seen it. If you've travelled State Route 62 over Dallas Divide, it towered over you a good portion of the route.



The first recorded ascent of Sneffels was September 10, 1874, by members of the Hayden Survey. Frederick Chapin, author of "Mountaineering in Colorado," wrote the following in "Appalachia," December 1890. It is an account from Franklin Rhoda of the Hayden Survey of 1874.



"Dr. Endlich was standing in the abyss (to the north of Sneffels) with one companion, who compared it to the great hole described by Jules Verne in 'Journey to the Centre of the Earth.' Endlich agreed with him, and pointing to the great peak above, exclaimed, 'There's Snaefell!' Thus the peak got its name, though it is pronounced by the people as Sneffels and is so written on the maps, and in the tables of the Coast Survey. So it will be the effort of this paper to put on record the true designation, named after the Icelandic mountain, 'Snaefell,' lest erelong the grand summit be called Sniffles."



Climbing literature is about gaining the summit and what it took to get there – the-me-myself-and-I conquering mentality. Yes, I'm guilty of this. On the other hand, I like to visualize what writers saw while on their climb. What did the landscape look like? Did they encounter any critters? Some writers are good about this and some are not. It appears Franklin Rhoda had a thing for grizzly bears. Since grizzlies no longer exist in Colorado, it's fun to read about when they did.



John L. Jerome Hart's "Fourteen Thousand Feet," 1931, quotes Franklin Rhoda after Rhoda's ascent of Mount Sneffels. "The claw marks on the rocks on either side of the summit, showed that the grizzly had been before us. We gave up all hope of ever beating the bear climbing mountains. Several time before, when, after terribly difficult and dangerous climbs, we had secretly chuckled over our having outwitted Bruin at last, some of the tribe had suddenly jumped up not far from us and taken to their heels over the loosed rocks. Mountain sheep we had beaten in fair competition, but the bear was 'one too many for us.'" Rhoda also mentions stumbling upon grizzly bears well above treeline on Uncompahgre Peak, Mount Oso (Spanish for bear) and Trinchera Peak.



I just got back from Yellowstone, so I guess I have bear on the brain too.

The above shot is from Lavender Col along Sneffels' southeast couloir. Dallas Peak (13,809 ft, rank 100) is to the right, the Wilson Group rises in the background and Lizard Head (13,113 ft, rank 556) can be seen in the extreme left far background. Lizard Head is more of a rotting tower and is considered by many the hardest high peak in the state to climb. The lower pic is from the summit of Sneffels looking south/southeast, across a portion of the San Juan Range.



The first recorded ascent of a peak in the Sneffels Range other than Sneffels was in August 1929 when Charles Rolfe and Alonzo Hartman climbed Teakettle. Yes, Teakettle looked like a teakettle, until the winter of 1998-'99 when the spout succumbed to gravity and possibly snow. I've summited Teakettle and have pictures prior the peak losing its spout. Sounds like a future blog post to me.



Climbing routes can be found on the southeast couloir (standard route), the southwest ridge, the north face (several technical rock, snow and mixed routes) and northwest ridge (technical). So far, I've summited Sneffels via the southeast couloir and the deeply inset snake couloir of the north face. The above pic of Sneffel's southerly face is from Cirque Mountain (13,686 ft, rank 155). If you follow the top of the Col to the right, continuing up the snow, you will enter the southeast couloir, which can't be discerned from this pic very well.



Somewhat isolated and only visited after a stiff hike, usually with climbing gear, Blaine Basin is the staging area for many of the routes on the north face. A short description of the snake couloir follows.



The snake couloir can be a classic day on spring snow. My climbing partner Todd and I had almost perfect conditions.



The catch is you need to summit early because the snow on the upper end of the couloir starts getting soft with first light, rendering crampons worthless. The above photo shows the upper portion of the snake couloir beginning to pick up sun. The summit block is already getting sun hit. Can you spot two climbers just below the summit block? They're right on the sun/shade line.



We began at roughly 3:30 a.m., climbing easy snow under spectacular star light, entering the lower portion of the couloir just prior to the sky lightening. It gets steep from here on. About half-way up, the snake couloir makes a sharp left turn. The above pic is looking down at the turn in the couloir right after turning and heading up the upper portion. Once at the top of the couloir, it's a short climb up loose rock and boulder to the small summit. We descended the southeast couloir route to Lavender Col. From the Col, we dropped north down snow and easy to navigate scree fields to Blaine Basin.



The lower segment of the Snake Couloir as seen from Blain Basin. The couloir makes a sharp left about half-way up.



Our Tour de Snaefell.

Adios