|
After a weekend off from fourteeners, I was ready to check the last of the Crestone group off my list. Things went awry less than 30 minutes out the door Friday afternoon, as a pile-up resulting in igniting vehicles on 285 halted traffic for an hour-and-a-half. My hike up to Willow Lake wasn't looking too feasible at this point. I arrived at the trailhead at 10:30 p.m. and hiked up until I could find ground flat enough to set up a tent. I finally found a spot at 10,500' after two hours of lugging the pack up. I set up the tent and was asleep before 1 a.m. I woke to the sound of chirping birds at 5:00 a.m., and amalgamated the gear and garb for the day. I set out on the trail at 5:30 and chewed on a tangerine, catching up to a fellow named Chris from Albuquerque. We ended up hiking a good portion of the day together. Arriving at the lake at 6:45, the sun was peering out and I was feeling a lot more confident about the weather (hitherto I thought chances were close to nil on the drive down).
|
 |
 |
I stopped to pump some water and began the traverse around the lake. Above the lake, the irritating slopes of Challenger Point loomed above. I had regretted the thought of returning to this basin because of this slope - a steep knee-taxing ball-bearing scree slog. The alternative, taking the East Ridge, had been a plan for some time, but showing up at the trailhead three times in bad weather had me convinced that the western approach was wiser. Escape from that route would be more problematic in bad weather, which seems to be a given this time of year. The slog up the slopes can be reduced to putting one foot in front of the other conceptually, and really isn't that bad on the ascent. The descent is not so easily digested mentally. After a little over an hour from being above the lake, the last scree gave way to talus, and eventually the scree-covered trail that gains the West Ridge of Challenger Point.
|
| On the right, Challenger Point and Kit Carson are seen from the southern-most portion of the West Ridge.
Even though I had done Challenger before, I was apprehensive about the traverse on the South side of the ridge as I had been reading recent reports about exposure here. Was I repressing my memory of how horrifying it was? I couldn't find any exposure though, and I think you'd have to take a running jump or two to find a way to fall any significant distance. The summit of Challenger was reached at 9:00 a.m. and the weather was still outstanding. There were some whisps of clouds that passed by Kit Carson's West Face, but very thin at that. Finally I was making new progress toward the summit of Kit Carson as I descended toward the Avenvue, which was completely snow-free. I knew the return over Challenger and the ascending traverse back up the Avenue would be taxing. A short hike down the talus on spotty trail put me on the beginning of the Avenue.
|  |
 |
On the left, Kit Carson Avenue is seen from the saddle of Challenger Point and Kit Carson.
I don't recall using my hands to foster upward momentum, so I have to consider the entire Avenue and Kit Carson itself class 2. The hike across this broad break in the face was enjoyable, and went by quickly. I ran into Dan Hadlich, who was with Jason Halladay & Co. climbing the Prow. One look at that beast of a route convinced me I'll never be a sustained-pitch climber. After a brief descent, the last gully before the Kit Carson - Columbia Point saddle appeared. I marked a GPS waypoint here in case clouds obscured the route on the descent (which was superfluous since the GPS already has tracks, and because the area is fairly obvious to discern). The gully was easy hiking, and the ascent is actually on trail for the majority of the way.
|
|
The whisps were starting to collaborate with increasing frequency as I reached the summit at 10:05 a.m., the first visit of the day. And so began the descent all the way back to the truck. The slog down Challenger was worse than I'd remembered. I stopped at the lake again to pump water, hiked down to camp, packed out, and reached the truck at 3:50 p.m. Thunder started to roll at around 1:45 p.m., and I was glad I was well below the lake at that point. One interesting note: the milage on my GPS from the summit of Kit Carson hiking to the trailhead was 8.25 miles, not 5.8 miles as the guidebook says. I noticed something was fishy about this last year, when milage markers on the trail didn't jibe with books either. In effect, the hike is 16.5 miles round-trip.
|  |