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A weekend after finishing the fourteeners, what could be better than finishing off an entire mountain range in one day? This traverse picks up three tricentennials, a county highpoint, and Colorado's 45th most prominent peak. The undulation of this range is daunting, with three saddles requiring 1,000' of elevation gain. I packed some aspirin for the inevitable pain in store for me, along with 3 lbs of grapes, ½ a pound of habañero jack cheese, beef jerky, an apple, gatorade and two quarts of water. Arriving at the trailhead at 4:00 a.m., we waited for Andy and Georg to show up for the carpool up to Chapin Pass. We got started on the trail a little after 5:00 a.m. with a brisk breeze that would later turn cold. In a little under an hour we arrived at the western false summit before dawn of Chapin and soon thereafter learned that we weren't on Chapin yet. The sun was coming out a little as we descended Chapin. On the right, sunlight spills onto the east face of Chapin with Longs Peak in the background.
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We made our way up Chiquita quickly, and the Rawah's popped into view as we ascended. Richthofen and Clark are quite prominent from these slopes. The shadow cast to the west by the Mummy range in the early morning reveals its namesake. The wind was not welcome on the summit, and we huddled in the rock shelter for a while. I was somewhat surprised at the steep east faces of the range, especially Chapin, Chiquita, and Ypsilon. The descent to the saddle connecting Ypsilon did not take long, and soon we had about 800' to gain again. On the left, Ypsilon rears above the saddle with Fairchild in the background. So far, energy reserves were good, and this was feeling like any other easy hike.
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Soon we reached the gentle expanse of Ypsilon's upper reaches and eyed the Y couloir from both tops. The eastern face and ribs of this peak are very impressive. It was my favorite of the day other than Hagues, though if it were stacked 47 feet higher I might change my mind. We didn't waste a whole lot of time on the summit and began the next, more serious obstacle - the traverse to Fairchild. The saddle here is at 12,500, so 1k descent and reascent would need to transpire, involving a little scrambling. The descent of Ypsilon was quick and uneventful, and we had a nice preview of the ridge and Hagues far to the north (photo on right). At the saddle, Erin tweaked her knee a bit, so the going was slow for a while over talus much like the boulderfield on Longs Peak - tedious and annoying. Ypsilon's north side is quite unique also as we saw from the saddle.
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At the grass below the talus slope up Fairchild, we debated a little about our ascent route. We ended up picking a line west of the minor gully on the south slope, scrambling somewhat near the southwest ridge and topping out through an interesting keyhole to the north side. This was a fun bit of maneuvering, and soon we were headed northeast toward the gently sloping summit of Fairchild. I was starting to feel the effects of the day slightly at this point, and knew the next two summits would not be as forgiving. On the summit, the aspirin came out along with cheese and summer sausage Erin packed. Red grapes were a good compliment to this, though still before 11:00 a.m. was not the most agreeable combination. The day had finally warmed up, and the wind was not really present anymore. We took in some fascinating views of the Spearhead over by Longs and Pagoda. The view of distant Hagues was not overly intimidating as we began our descent after a fairly long break.
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| The trip down to the grassy saddle was gentle and the views were increasingly dramatic. Lawn Lake and Mummy Mountain were quite a sight, though overshadowed by the intense south ridge of Hagues. We decided to take the ascent a chunk at a time, which didn't really happen. Andy and I decided to keep a pace without stopping, which worked for about the first 600 of the 1,100' to ascend. We were overtaken by Erin, Georg, and soon Ryan. I was really starting to feel the strain of the day now, but the fun factor was coming back into play. Too bad my fatigued mind played a soundtrack of electronic baby music (been around the baby's pacifying apparatuses too much lately) as I reached for holds and attempted to concentrate. On the right, the subsummit's blocks are impressive to behold. The last move through a chimney was a tight squeeze, and I was glad to see the flat terrain of the summit a few dozen yards away.
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At this point, I was pleased to know Larimer County would be in the bag. We stopped briefly here as clouds were building to the west. From left to right, Andy, Georg, Erin and Ryan enjoy the summit of Hagues. We took in the view of Rowe Glacier and started heading over to Mummy Mountain. There is a really good view of Fairchild Mountain from this traverse, with the cirque and huge slabs northeast of the peak. The traverse before Mummy's slope, while actually losing elevation, took a long time because of the talus-strewn nature of this ridge. It took a lot of patient huffing and puffing to get up to the summit (another 500' to gain). Below Mummy Mountain's west ridge is the last bit of ascending we'd do other than a bushwhack to get to the Lawn Lake trail that Georg joined me for. I was running late to get home as we summitted Mummy at 3:00 p.m. Georg offered me a ride to my truck at Ryan and Erin's place, so we high-tailed it to the Fall River Road from the Lawn Lake Trail, descending a nasty break in some cliffs to get there. It was a good feeling to get back to the parking lot, 13 hours later than our departure, though with 5 new 13ers under our belts.
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