After climbing in Eldo, we headed back toward the Columbia/Harvard area, to give the Circumflex route another shot. Not before stopping in Leadville for coffee and a game of cribbage. Stakes: 10 summit burpees. Dierker won. (Dani won a round later, to even things out.)
When we got to camp (incidentally same campsite as used a few weeks ago), a quick and windy storm rolled through. We napped, and then set up the kitchen under the tarp.
CIRCUMFLEX (i.e Columbia/Harvard), TAKE 2
Since a lesson learned from our last attempt was that we didn't need to leave at 2 AM, we decided to leave at 3:30 AM instead. A little bit more sleep. So, we headed up from the Harvard Lakes TH again, just as before, this time settling into an easier pace so as not to sweat as much as last time. Our packs were a bit more loaded down with many more layers and more food. The stars were out, and we could see a few stray clouds against the dim light from a halfish moon. This time, we followed the cairns much more easily, which made the way up far less steep (somehow) than when we had done it a few weeks ago. The cooler temperatures helped too, and we easily cruised up for an hour. We were just starting to feel confident right at treeline when we suddenly noticed a slight...drizzle. And a huge cloud bank to the west!!! What?!? So we immediately scraped our way under some stunted pines and hunkered down to stay dry. De ja vu?
This time though, we had lots of layers, and within about 15-20 minutes, we noticed the rain had stopped. Still noting the now decreasing stars and increasing clouds, we decided to keep moving upward, hoping maybe it would just blow through or dissipate. Working our way up the now treeless ridge, we took GPS points in case we ended up in a whiteout and needed help navigating the broad ridge back to treeline. We pushed through a short burst of wind and rain, and ended up at sunrise right where we had turned around a few weeks ago. This time, we could see where we were going.
Columbia, the highest point in the back and center, with little Dierker and the ridge stretching out in front of him.
With the clouds breaking and the sun rising, we felt good about continuing forward, knowing that there was a quick route down to treeline from the summit of Columbia, should we need to descend instead of continuing to Harvard. The wind had immediately dried our damp rain jackets, and we hiked along the ridge enjoying an incredible, crisp sunrise.
However, despite our hopes, the clouds actually began to build again. We reached a turn from south to west in the ridge to Columbia, where suddenly we were straddling two incredible valleys that kept reappearing from behind shrouds of low, fast moving clouds right at our elevation.
Sometimes, still-frames don't totally do justice.
Finally, we got to the summit, just as it started to snow.
But we both owed each other 10 summit burpees, so we got down to business. Unsurprisingly difficult at 14k ft in talus.
We then quickly agreed that we would not be doing Circumflex today, and that we should get the hell off of the now slippery, snowy, and windy ridge as quickly as possible.
A ridge divided.
We headed down the steep, loose, standard route just as a full on winter-like storm really started to rage, driving graupel and snow sideways and into our eyes. And just as quickly as it blew in, the storm blew out and it went back to being confusingly beautiful and calm. A rainbow even appeared right across the valley from us.
There was some talk (now that the weather was temptingly seeming to clear up) of regaining all of the lost elevation and heading up Harvard, but motivation for pizza stoked us to head down-valley instead. So, we ran down the trail back to the North Cottonwood TH, and then booked it 3 mi down the road back to the Prius. Clocked in at 11 AM. Considering the shenanigans, not too shabby.
Stay tuned for Circumflex, Take 3.
MASSIVE (attempt)
We headed back to Leadville, since we like their coffee and pizza. Enjoyed both of previously mentioned food groups, and agreed that we could not do Mt. of the Holy Cross the next day (Monday) as planned due to a very wet and cold-looking forecast. Mt. Massive's forecast somehow looked much more promising, so we camped at the Mt. Massive TH with the plan of heading up the road to the N. Halfmoon TH, going up the SW slopes of Massive, and down the standard East Slopes route to the Colorado Trail and back to the car.
Wanted to beat the traffic back home later, we headed up the road at 4:30 AM. The skies were clear, but we both were a bit unsettled at the numerous heat-lightning flashes off in the distance to the west. Nonetheless, we cruised up the road, finally reaching the N. Halfmoon TH. We were just getting stoked when, around 5:30 AM (and still below treeline), we noticed...a drizzle. Ok, what is going on. Wasn't it just clear?! So, we put on the rain jackets, and continued on. But then, the drizzle didn't stop as it had the previous day. It turned to rain-- a cold rain. So we clambered through thick, clawing branches and leaned against the fir and waited for the rain to stop. But 30 minutes later, it still hadn't. The dark turned to grayscale, and then slowly a bit of color began to show in the landscape, but not much. It was just very gray. We got out from our tree branch cave to find a LOT of water in the trail, a thick skiff of snow on the mountains around us (maybe down to 12k ft in elevation), and the fact that we were pretty wet and very cold. Quick mention of a burrito and coffee in Leadville, and we headed back down the trail and road, and back in to Leadville for yes, coffee and breakfast burritos. Still put in about 7-8 miles before 7 AM.
A beautiful few days in the mountains during the change in seasons...