Hesperus Lavender Traverse

[John Kirk]

I would really prefer to get Hesperus and Lavender via a traverse rather than two separate outings. I know Kirk Mallory has done it; I'm willing to add 4 extra miles and 2,000' of extra gain if necessary. I've included what by sight looks like the optimal traverse, but 40' contours have a way of being deceptive. Is this right or is there a better way? Also, what are the chances of tagging Centennial Peak from Lavender? :mrgreen:

[Layne Bracy]

Kirk has a TR on Hesperus/Lavender/Moss/Centennial/Sharkstooth. I believe it is on both cohp and 14erworld. When I did Lavender I thought it would be very mentally tedious to traverse over and back to Hesperus. Kirk's loop seemed preferable, though not necessarily easier!

[kirkmallory]

Actually, it was Teresa Gergen that posted the trip report on Fourteenerworld. Trip Report # 1626. We did this on August 28th of last year. It describes our loop over Hesperus, Lavender, Moss, Centennial, and Sharkstooth. Let me know if you need more info that what is in that trip report.

[John Kirk]

For a variety of reasons, including weather, I broke them up into two days. Layne's beta on summitpost for Lavender was excellent. Indeed, the traverse looked very tedious from the Babcock/Moss saddle - kudos to Kirk and Teresa on what looked to be beyond my ability.

[Layne Bracy]

Congratulations, John! So, which do you think is higher?

From Hesperus, I thought Lavender looked higher. From Lavender, I thought Hesperus looked the same height as Lavender.

My vote, with a low degree of confidence, goes to Lavender.

[John Kirk]

From Moss, Lavender definitely looked higher (obviously as it should given an upward angle to look at Lavender's higher summit). Not to make the case that this line of reasoning completely makes sense, but Lavender looked lower to me to a lesser degree from Hesperus than how low Hesperus looked from Lavender. Thus, I would agree that Lavender is higher. BTW - you were the last person to sign the register: