(Ryan, Erin and Layne enjoy the summit of Woods Mountain):
| Originally, the plan was to bag Woods, Parnassus, and Bard and return to the Herman Gulch Trailhead. Layne Bracy was willing to join this hike and suggested parking a car near the Berthoud Pass Road in order to bag Robeson and Engelmann additionally. Five Clear Creek County Named summits: how could I resist? Though Ryan and Erin had done Woods and Parnassus in February, they opted in on this hike as well for Engelmann and Bard . After discussion about the steep northern slopes of Engelmann, we agreed to start on the north side and hike up Engelmann first. We arrived and parked at a pullout at 10,200' on the Urad Mine road as described in Colorado Summits for Everyone, starting the steep bushwhack at 6:00 a.m. Everything went well in the slushy snow until we reached a point on the ridge just below treeline. A 40' section was waist-deep and steep enough to require crawling, digging and plunging, taking 20 minutes to overcome. Above the trees, we were happy to ascend the steep route ahead (photo on right shows Ryan, Erin and Layne ascending the north slopes of Engelmann). The wind really picked up once the ridge flattened out for the last quarter mile or so to Engelmann's summit. It was nice to see the final stretch to the summit so early in the morning (just before 9:00 a.m.) | |
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| The wind stopped temporarily on top of Engelmann's flat and expansive summit, and we started our 500' descent to the Engelmann/Robeson saddle. The descent was again quite windy and cold, though swift. We made quick work of Robeson, requiring 300' of elevation to regain. There was surprisingly a glass register atop this unranked bump. We took our time staying near the ground on Robeson's summit to avoid the wind. The sun was hiding for a while now, and looked like it would come out, which I was anxiously anticipating since I was cold in all layers I had with me. Eventually sunlight prevailed and we started on our way up Bard (photo on left). The 600' to Bard's summit didn't take us very long either, but I needed to change my breathing pattern a little (I hadn't been this high since September '04). We thus acquired # 118 of Colorado's Most Prominent Peaks. The wind was much less of a factor at this point in the day. We stayed on Bard for a few minutes and snacked (thanks to Erin and Layne for donating after I left all my food at the trailhead) before heading off to Parnassus. |
| We encountered a couple near the summit of Bard who mentioned nasty post-holing conditions getting up there from the Herman Gulch side, which influenced our decision somewhat on the final descent. They also mentioned there had been no traffic between Bard and Parnassus, which was surprising. In any case, it was good to be descending for a while vs. primarily ascending for the last hour or so. We made easy progress to the saddle, where difficulty slight increased due to snow and cornices. On the right, Parnassus is seen from the saddle at around 13,000'. The snow was for the most part very solid. The steadily ascending westward stroll eventually put us near the summit, at times on the right or left of the ridge crest and over obstructions. Generally this was quite easy, just more time consuming in proportion to our earlier summit ascents of the day. On Parnassus' summit, we were surprised to see familiar people and meet some affiliated new ones. | |
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On the left, Bard rises 600' from the saddle between Parnassus and itself. We stayed on Parnassus chatting and hanging out for a good half hour or so before heading down to the Parnassus/Woods saddle. The 400' of ascent up Woods Mountain (12,940') looked easy from the slopes of Parnassus and ordinarily would have been much easier than it ended up being for me, other than staying above 13,000' for the last four hours. Steadily plodding up the slope and taking short breathers enabled me to ascend the fifth and final summit of the day slightly behind the rest of our group. Our descent route avoided most of the fear-instilling post-holing we would have encountered in Watrous Gulch by contouring around to the southeast losing little elevation from the saddle of Woods and Parnassus. We made a direct route down once the slopes were dominated by talus. The sun was particularly strong and we suffered in the knee-deep slush for about ½ a mile. Once we were in the trees, the rest of the descent to Herman Gulch was dry and hotter. It was nice to get back up high for a while and hike with a great group. |
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Content on our last summit of the day (Ryan, Erin and Layne enjoy the summit of Woods Mountain): | |