TR: Blanca Peak, CO.
Larry Chapman
Trip Report
Blanca Peak, CO.
03/02-04/1997
Destination:
Blanca Peak, CO. (14,345')
4th Highest Peak in CO.
Climbers:
Rich Carr
Larry Chapman (me)
Ten years ago (gawd, could it have been that long?) Rich Carr and I did a
successful late winter ascent of the Crestone Needle in the Sangre De
Cristo mountains of southern Colorado. Now older (un-sure about wiser), we
went back to the Sangres to attempt Blanca Peak. The Blanca massif is
quite impressive as it rises out of the San Luis Valley. The summer
trailhead is the lowest of all the 14ers in Colorado (8000'). A very tough
4WD road is "driveable" to around 12,000' in the summer if you want to go
that route.
Without knowing the snow conditions we had to plan for flexibility. We
figured, worst case, the ski in could be all the way from highway 150 (the
road to the Great Sand Dunes) through multiple feet of fresh snow. Given
conditions like that it could easily take two days just to get to a high
camp around 12,000'. On the other hand . . . the low trailhead could be
melted out and we might be walking carrying our skis for awhile. We opted
to plan on a sled that we'd share between us. We figured we could drive at
least high enough for a sled to work. Worst comes to worse we could load
all the sled cargo (tent, food, stove; ~40lbs total) into our packs. We
pre-packed 5 days of food.
SATURDAY.
We're off! We leave Fort Collins around 11:00 for the 5ish hour drive
south. The roads are dry and we arrive in the Alamosa area around 4pm.
The first order of business is to check-out the trailhead! Snow
conditions are drier than we expected. In Rich's 4WD we can actually
drive past the summer trailhead. However, there is enough snow for a
sled. Whew! I was not looking forward to lugging a 90lb pack to
12,000'.
We nab a room at the Holiday Inn in Alamosa where we get to banter with a
bridal party along with a very vocal Euro-born shop keeper who basically
had nothing good to say about America. I was gonna ask her if she had
any "Welcome to Colorful Colorado - Now go home!" bumper stickers in her
store, but opted not to.
SUNDAY
The famous "Carr-Chapman weather charm" is holding! The skies are clear
and the wind is calm. Well, er, at least calm down low. As we gaze to
the high peaks we clearly see spindrift blowing off the summits and
ridges. We drive to about 8,700' where the chances of getting stuck get
too high. We figure the chances of it now taking two days to get in are
nil. We leave one day of food in the truck. By 9:30am we're on the
trail. The snow coverage on the road/trail was pretty thin for the first
couple miles. In sections we did drag the sled across rocks. We
traded-off pulling the sled in about 1-hour (800 vertical feet) shifts.
About 1/2-way in the going slowed as the wet snow started sticking to our
climbing skins. Ugh.
About 6 hours after starting out we arrived at Como Lake (11,750'). Rich
would have been quite happy to rest his genetically-gifted-but-untrained
body right here. However, I saw "tent nirvana" on some cliffs
over-looking the lake. We trudge on-ward. At 4:30pm we pick a spot for
camp at about 11,900'. It's a 'bute! Look west from the site all the
way down to Alamosa and the San Luis Valley. Look east from the site and
the 14ers Ellingwood (14,042'), Little Bear (14,037), and Blanca
(14,345') loom just a few miles and less than 2500' above.
MONDAY
Alpine start? We don't need no stinking alpine start! We awake around
7am and decide to try and start our climb of Blanca by 10:00am. The suns
hits the tent at 8:45. I'm thinkin 4 hours up and two hours back down.
The weather is still clear BUT it's pretty windy. At our camp it's
blowing in the 20s. Rich is watching the high clouds and watching the
spindrift on the peaks. He estimates 60mph. Yuch. We hope that, like
yesterday, the wind abates as the day progresses. By 9:30am we're skiing
toward the summit. As we climb, so does the wind. Rich doesn't like it.
I don't either, but he seems more pensive. At around 13,200' we discuss
whether or not to continue. Rich wants to ski down. I suggest we take
our skis off and try climbing on the rock for awhile. He agrees. We
stash the skis and break out our ice axes. I'm climbing ahead of Rich
but keeping him in sight. The wind is strong enough now to really affect
my balance. The spindrift is getting into everything, my glasses, my
camera case etc. We're now clearly above the low point on the
Ellingwood-Blanca ridge. We figured (after the fact) that we were at
about 13,850'). I stop and wait for Rich. It's nearly impossible to
talk to each other given the wind. I give a thumbs-up/thumbs-down signal
to Rich. He replies with only a thumbs-down. I nod. We descend back to
our skis and are back in camp by about 1:30pm.
We spent the rest of the day reading in the tent and listening to the
wind. We decided to give the peak a shot again tomorrow if the weather
cooperates. Around dusk the wind is clearly abating. By 8:00pm it is
perfectly clear and dead calm! Yahoo!
By 11:00pm the wind starts up again. Ugh. I slam in my ear plugs and go
back to sleep.
TUESDAY
I awake again around 7:00am. I saunter out for my "morning
constitutional" to find wind just as bad as yesterday AND the peaks are
now shrouded in clouds instead of being clear like they were in previous
days.
What to do? What to do? We decide that sitting around reading for
another day isn't in the cards. We've both climbed the peak before (in
summer) and we've already had the experience of being in this beautiful
winter spot for a couple days. We take a slow and easy time packing up
camp and head-out for the truck around 11:00am. Rich wrangles the sled
on the initial sections. Much snow has melted since we skied in! With
about two miles to go I put my skis on my pack and walk with the sled.
It was dragged over a lot more rock than on the way up! We're back to
the truck by 1:45. Seven hours up and less than 3 hours back down.
SUMMARY
Rich was more bummed about not summiting than I was. In retrospect I do
think we could have summited on Monday. Would it have been smart? Only
if we both returned healthy. In good weather we were only about 45
minutes away from the summit at our high point. However, there were only
two of us on this trip. That leaves little room for "assistance" if
anything goes wrong. As Rich mentioned to me - Ok, you were
"comfortable" at the point we decided (it was "we", I didn't argue) to
turn around. That could have changed in an instant with one "slip on an
icy rock". Without a larger group to aid an injured climber we could
have quickly been in a life threatening situation. BTW, we did have a
cell phone with us and it did work from our location.
Rich and I decided to "run the peak" this summer from the trailhead as
"punishment" for our lack of success on this trip. ;-)
-- LSC