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Looking for a short drive to bag a Fourteener, I set out for Guanella Pass to tackle Mount Evans. The road from Georgetown was about a short as I expected. In contrast to all of the other climbs I did this fall this was the only cloudy day I had. The weather was still remarkable, nonetheless. From the road near the trailhead, the West Ridge's route is visible as the only gully-like structure between Mount Spalding (13,842') and Bierstadt (Evans is not really visible from here). On the right is a view back towards Guanella Pass from up near Mount Spalding.
The Guanella Pass trail is well constructed and has many deck bridges built over the soggy terrain. Sadly, after about fifteen minutes from the trailhead, Evans' West Ridge route must leave this trail.
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 | There are some trail-like paths that lead through the willows, but they became indistinct after 100 yards or so. The ground became increasingly mushy, and although the routefinding wasn't difficult at all, there was a lot of bushwhacking involved to arrive at the base of the gully leading up to the Spalding/Evans saddle. There is a trail up the gully that starts to the south side, but I wasn't able to find its origin until I was returning back to the trailhead later (there is a trail across a small meadow that ascends a large boulder pile). It was a little steep and took a while to get to the saddle, upon which I got my first clear view of Mount Evans (picture on left).
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| The thing to do at the saddle was to head in the general direction of Mount Evans, because there is no trail as the terrain flattens out. Soon I came to the ridge connecting Mount Evans and Mount Bierstadt. Bierstadt is beautiful with Abyss Lake below its slopes (see photo on right). The Sawtooth ridge looks impressive as well. Knowing there were false summits, but not knowing beforehand the extent of difficulty of climbing the ridge, I went straight up it. I later discovered that the standard route involves a cairned trail to the south of the ridge. I continued on over each of the false summits, being disappointd each time. Finally, I saw the paved Mount Evans Road and realized how far off I was. So, On the last false summit, I descended 300' back down to where I saw a more reasonable approach to summit Mount Evans (the trail).
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Like Pikes Peak, there are a lot of people who decide it is either more fun or more suited for their level of ambition to drive up the peak. It makes you feel quite out of place. It is obvious why there aren't any summit registers on these peaks, given the volume of drivers who would readily sign it. I was intrigued to see someone who stepped out of their car with a day pack for the "arduous" 150' to the summit (No, they didn't go elsewhere after Evans). Somewhat satisified with my climb for the day, I returned down to Guanella Pass (the correct route this time).
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