| Receiving a day off from work on Tuesday, I thought a climb in the Mosquito
Range might do me some good. Having turned around on Mt. Shavano due to inclement weather, the previous
Saturday, I was ready to bag a peak. I had enjoyed climbing from Montgomery
Reservoir before when I climbed Mount Lincoln via the amptiheater. I was originally
planning a class 3 ascent on the North Ridge, but windy conditions changed my mind.
From the start on the trailhead, I could tell I was going to be dealing with a lot
of snow this day. There were drifts across the old road averaging 4-5', and luckily they were solid.
The trail hardly gains elevation for the first few miles. After heading west to the
point to abandon the trail, a nice view of Democrat appeared (picture on right). For the
most part, all hiking to the saddle would be on consolidated snow slopes. |
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After an hour or so from the start of the climb, I reached the last point where
I could still attempt a class 3 ascent. It looked and sounded pretty whispy on the
ridge, so I continued into the basin, slowly angling to the east a bit to reach the
talus slope below the saddle of Mt. Cameron and Mt. Democrat. The route to the saddle
wasn't as pleasant as I thought it would be. The scree scramble to come was a reprieve from the
snow, but it wasn't welcome. I was able to ascend on talus for a good
portion, though eventually had to interface with ball bearing-like scree (photo to left). I remembered
encountering similar scree on the Lincoln Ampitheater- when each step taken loses 3/4 of
a step due to sliding. In any case, It didn't take too long to reach the saddle at 13,380.
Mt. Cameron looks pretty impressive from this vantage point in comparison to views
from the east. Taking a short break, I viewed the rest of the route from the saddle. |
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The route had been pretty straight-forward and continued to be so. There were
only a few areas where trail could visibly be made out (photo on right), but there was plenty of
firm snow to climb up. Up above the saddle was the first encounter with the wind I had
been hearing all day. At this point it wasn't too hard, though as I gained elevation
it intensified. Topping out on the ridge, I was happy to see that the summit was
close. From the basin, it looks like the summit is a good distance from the saddle,
which isn't really the case. The flattened area above the ridge all the way to the
summit was packed with really good snow. I peaked down the North face at one point to
assess the viability of a glissade to shorten the descent- kind of sketchy. The final 100'
to the summit was fun, tip-toeing up the snow almost like stairs. |
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On the summit, the wind was pretty intense, and I correctly judged that routes from the
West Face or North ridge would have been quite unpleasant. Signing the register, I noticed
a red, white, and blue ribbon attached to the cable- some sort of significance with the
namesake for the peak. I was amazed to see by reading how many people traversed to Democrat or were going
to traverse to others. Everyone has different standards I suppose. I enjoyed a few glissades down the ridge and saddle. The trip back, while wind-free
involved a lot of unpleasant postholing across the basin, and well near the trailhead. Nevertheless, overall, it was
a great day for climbing. |