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Heading out of town at 9:00 p.m., Erin took the wheel to our destination at the Lake Como road to meet with Rex and Amy, Jeff, and Jay. We arrived around 1:15 a.m. and we tried to get some shut-eye before the long day ahead. At 3:15, Rex and Amy showed up and we began the bumpy ride up the diagonal county road to attempt the less traveled approach to the Southwest Ridge. We finally spotted Jeff and Jay near a North fork in the road at around 8,800' and began putting our gear together. We headed out at 4:40 a.m. in an already uncomfortably warm temperature. We made our way north to about 9,200' before heading east and crossing Tobin Creek, involving a steep descent down a dirt slope. The bushwhacking to this point had been enough to usher curses, grunts and other castigations directed at deaf vegetation. We followed the gently sloping yet thick terrain toward the ridge along the creekside and finally started gaining elevation in earnest on a steep slope (photo on right).
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I do not remember sweating this much on any hike, and I knew hydration was going to be a problem later. We finally made our way onto the ridge, well below treeline. It took an hour or so to whack through this section to treeline, in a little more sparse flora. For a short spell, the temperature was cooler. On the left is a view of the unending talus slope leading up to 12,900' after we broke through the trees. Open space was quite welcome, though the talus was relishing its opportunity to demoralize us by the time of our return. About this point, Jeff went from 1st gear to overdrive and was at least 700' above us in 20 minutes. We crept up the slope (photo on left) before the sun broke over the ridge to the point below 13,133', our next objective. We decided to skirt the south side of the point, which was not necessary because there was practically no drop on the other (east) side. We took a short break to eat on the slope and watched Jeff nearly on the summit of South Little Bear.
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On the right, Little Bear appears from above point 13,133'. We began the slog once again after our break below 13,133' and were treated with some of our first full views of the final objective. The ridge was enjoyable for about 20 minutes, before the gentle ridge gave way to steeper Class 2+ terrain. Some of us were feeling slightly exhausted upon beginning the initial scrambling sections due to all of the elevation gain behind us so far. From here the steepness of route stayed constant for about 300' to our next stop at 13,600'. We noticed a good couloir leading down to Little Bear Lake that could be used as another alternate route to Little Bear's summit that avoids the hourglass (i.e. one could hike over Little Bear's West Ridge down low and ascend the couloir from Little Bear Lake basin). It quickly warmed up on the ascent and I was sweating quite a bit again. We donned helmets, and I left trekking poles behind at a final notch below a long talus scramble ahead.
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Easy but tiring scrambling led up to South Little Bear for 400+' (photo of talus on left). A few final moves and we all made the South Summit. We had a short respite here before continuing on. From here, the traverse looked like a piece of cake; I just wanted to avoid the 2,000' drop a slip on the East Face would involve. The first knife-edge was not much of a problem, traversed on the left side. The next knife-edge was traversed on the right, however, ball-bearing scree abounded this slanted diversion on the brink of oblivion - I did not feel very comfortable with this. A longer section of the ridge traversed below the crest on the left side for a while, about a foot wide in places. After this section, the crest itself is the obvious route. After reaching what appeared to be a negotiable section of the ridge crest, a large piece of talus went with my right foot over the East Face. After regaining my footing and examining what was under the talus, I realized this section of ridge was held together with dirt and scree. There was more stable terrain on the left side of the crest, which I didn't hesitate to use on the return.
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Once again, the route descended on the left side to avoid a knife edge. There was a fourth class chimney we each descended before reaching the notch above the hourglass. Thinking the worst was over, I was dismayed to find myself between the full weight of a network printer-sized rock and the hourglass. Instinctively I pushed myself to the side with my left hand as the rock dislodged from its former larger self. Its first impacts conjured odors of iminent death - a pungent metallic spark aftermath. Careening down the hourglass at an alarming rate, it is unlikely anyone would have survived below. This event did not do much to make us feel comfortable about hanging out for much longer, and we decided to make our way up and out expeditiously. I took great care on the remaining scramble to the summit (as I had been already), but still managed to cause rocks to funnel down. It was evident that we were on an overbearing monstrosity of heaping trash. We made the summit at 10:40 a.m. and did not stay more than 10 minutes, anxious to get back across to South Little Bear. It was difficult to appreciate the beauty of the views with the rollercoaster of events.
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We took great care on the traverse back over; I was much more concerned with holds and rotten rock than I ever had been on a 14er. We were all relieved to be off the traverse, and thus began our horrible revisit of talus-hopping. We tried to make quick time, which we did, though I could not keep up with Jeff, Erin or Ryan after an hour or so. Almost out of fluids, I took advantage of a snowfield and packed a bottle with snow. Eventually, the trees appeared again, and I was hoping talus would be only a memory (I didn't seem to remember as much talus during the bushwhack as confronted us in the afternoon). The bushwhack was absolutely miserable - hot and exhausting. We took a slightly different route down over talus instead of brush and cacti for the most part to follow Jeff, Ryan and Erin who were a fair distance down. Rex and Amy saved me from just about giving up and lying down by donating half a quart of Gatorade. After the creek crossing, the hike out was easier to handle, and we arrived at the vehicles six hours after departing Little Bear's summit for twelve hours total. This is the peak I am happiest to be done with. |
Back down to 13,100':
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