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After a successful Algmagre Mountain outing a couple weeks previous, Ryan and Erin were ready for a 13er to add to their list. Kurt and Dwight joined in as well, and we had an interesting time finding the Trailhead, mostly due to my faulty assumptions about map accuracy. We got started a little after sunrise, arriving near the end of the road at an ice flow. I managed to slip after less than 20 feet of hiking. We followed shallow snow on the trail (photo on right) to its end at a nose leading to Hunts' East Ridge. Bushwhacking and sidehilling kept us out of the deeper packed snow.
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We reached our turn to the south on the ridge without too much trouble. A hundred yards or so of postholing was the extent of the difficulty prior to the scoured slopes above. THe views on the ascent were incredible - Bennett Peak to the south all the way to Holy Crossand Mount Evans to the north. Mount Ouray was a dominant feature to the west. The lack of snow was much appreciated on the arduous 1,000' gain ahead of us to the summit ridge. For a while, I was able to keep a good pace, but that started to deteriorate as Dwight cruised on ahead, perhaps gaining a 400' vertical advantage at one point. To the left, Kurt is plodding along up Hunts' east ridge, followed by Ryan and Erin.
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The wind began to pick up near the summit, and my gloves were not fulfilling their purpose very well. I tipped a glass register with my foot while taking of my pack and sent it sprawling on the talus. I packed out what we could find. The descent was quick, and the snow was actually an adavantage returning on the bushwhack. We arrived back at the trailhead at 1:00 pm. Despite the ease of the hike, I was definitely feeling it, not having done much at altitude in quite some time. We had a nice lunch in Salida before heading home.
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