| A good group came together in the planning stages of this hike and I got a chance to meet Mark Fisher, Steve Hoffmeyer, and Terri Horvath. Kurt, Dwight, Ryan, and Erin were part of the entourage as well. We were all on time at the Fourth of July trailhead and we began our hike at 6:15. The morning was to remain a little chilly, but a single layer sufficed for quite some time. We shared conversation as we meandered up the trail, with a lot of talk revolving around Culebra Peak, given the quantity of ABC'ers in our group (one peak shy of being half of us). It was prime time here for wildflowers - a very colorful display for the Front Range. This was my first trip into the Indian Peaks Wilderness - it is always great to explore new areas, especially areas as aesthetic as this. On the right, Jasper Peak prominently displays the morning sunhit.
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We managed a good pace and arrived at the switchbacks to begin our ascent to the saddle.
The wind was picking up a little and I was surprised at the temperature for the end of July. The trail ascends a good distance eastward before making any progress north. Sunshine finally occured but did not seem to warm things up much. Many of us stopped to add a layer before the trail started heading toward the saddle in earnest. On the left, South Arapaho is seen from the trail heading toward the saddle. The grass here was littered with small and large yellow flowers. The rest of the ascent to the saddle went by quickly, and I was very impressed with the view afforded from this vantage, including the lakes spanning a distance off toward the eastern horizon.
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On the right, South Arapaho rears above with North Arapaho in the bcakground. The ascent steepened from the saddle and followed the ridge's northeast side. I opted to file away my trekking poles along with Dwight at this point, though hands weren't required for some time to come. We arrived on the summit of South Arapaho at around 9 a.m., exploring the metal directional disc denoting peaks and distances, conversing in the wind shelter, eating, and toying with marmots. The weather was clear, but still windy and a little chilly. We got going again after not too long, and began the traverse over to North Arapaho. The traverse appeared straightforward and fun (photo below).
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We arrived at the first Class 3 section quickly, and it was over just as fast, ascending a short gully to re-attain the ridge crest. The painted arrows here are remarkably similar in appearance to lichen, unlike the painted bullseyes on Longs Peak. a slight descent led to the crux of the climb, a 10' slab that keyholes to the East side of the ridge and remains on the somewhat narrow (5'?) crest for a short stint. This was fun and very solid - not really any exposure though. The traverse remained nearly level for a hundred yards or so before we arrived at an interesting downclimbing section. Kurt opted to jump down an overhang instead. The rock here is the best I'd been on all year.
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Some fun scrambling persisted up through a notch below the huge face of North Arapaho. With Kurt slightly in front, I made a run for it to try to arrive first for a good bit of the last hundred yards, but conceded defeat for now as Kurt maintained the gap. We spent a lot of time on the summit relaxing and taking in the views. Mark Fisher is featured on the heaping summit cairn in the photo on the right. The traverse back over to South Arapaho was as fun as before; Kurt and Dwight entertained themselves ascending spires. Hordes of people were now inhabiting the summit of South Arapaho, and it was time to head over to "Old Baldy" - 13,038'. I managed to beat Kurt to this one. This summit was worth visiting for the view of North Arapaho alone. Our descent was swift, with the goal of arriving at Kathmandu in Nederland before the buffet closed. We achieved this end, arriving minutes before the buffet would have been dismantled. It was great to match more new faces with familiar names.
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