June 2,3, 2001 via the North Couloir, East Ridge Traverse to North Apostle
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Trail to Ice Mountain (Ice Mountain in center, with the route following the couloir that forms the cleft in the center of the peak) |
Ken and I headed out on Saturday June 2nd for our first overnight of the season.
Ken had been talking about doing Ice Mountain for a long time. Ice Mountain has a long, steep couloir on it's north side that was to be our route.
We were wondering if we would be able to drive all the way up to the Huron Peak trailhead.
It had been so warm lately that we were both pretty sure we'd be able to.
Sure enough, we drove up the entire way without even a hint of snow.
The meltoff was really speedy this year apparently.
We arrived fairly early at the trailhead when I realized that I had typically forgotten something this trip although this time it was a little more serious. I'd forgotten our dinner which we were planning to cook before heading to our campsite. Ken said he'd stuffed himself at Wendy's recently so he was fine with it but I hadn't eaten hardly anything all day. So, this was to be a study in lack of food for me. Oh well, that was my punishment. I also had mysteriously forgotten to bring my harness. Now that was a much more serious error. To this day I have no idea how that didn't even dawn on me. Fortunately, we solved that problem with a piece of webbing that made an excellent makeshift harness. |
| After eating what was to be my lunch for tomorrow, we headed out. I started getting really excited about this trip as we approached the Three Apostles group which loomed ahead of us. These three towers were quite different from the other Sawatch Peaks; they were rugged and craggy on all sides and certainly looked out of the ordinary for this range of gentle giants. They were indeed beautiful and imposing. We were wondering if we should camp in Hamilton but because it was so early in the day, we opted for a small basin just below treeline beneath at the peaks. Near Hamilton, the trail branches off at a sign. The right and better maintained fork headed for Lake Ann and the left headed for Apostle Basin. |
Shaky log over the rushing creek |
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Room with a mega view: |
The Apostle Basin trail was a bit faint in spots but we didn't have much trouble following it. At one point, the trail crossed a creek on a spooky log (above) and then started climbing steeply up. The trail was on the top of a neat ridge that had small gorges on either side. We could look over either side and see raging creeks. After another hour we arrived at our stunning campsite. The ground was soaked from the spring meltoff but we were able to find a great campsite on the edge of a precipice with great views of the Three Apostles. From here we had a pretty good view of the entrance of the north couloir. It looked steep from here. |
| We ended up staying up until 10, enjoying a comfortable fire, and watching the full moon rise between North Apostle and Ice Mountain. We woke up at 5am, if my memory serves me correctly. Our first job was to cross the swift creek. We found a snowbridge not far from camp and crossed there. We had to wander through willows and around more inlets and small tarns. Eventually we came upon a steep grassy incline that lead to a talus field just above treeline. After the tedious talus, we arrived in the Ice Mountain basin and were in snow. We put on our crampons immediately and started up to the couloir. The hike to the couloir was pretty steep itself. Very oddly enough, we spotted dead moths every few feet...we probably stopped counting around 30 or 40. I have no explanation for that weird mystery. |
The beginning of the couloir |
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The couloir starts rather wide and is steep from the onset. It's about 50-55 degrees consistently and the entire couloir is never gentler than 50 degrees. As the couloir narrowed we saw our first landmark: an offshoot couloir to the left. The correct couloir to continue on is to the right and it's pretty obvious. Past this branch, the couloir becomes very narrow. You can virtually spread your arms and touch either wall. The steepest consistent section is through here, pushing just above 55 degrees. I had not really looked back until we took a break in this section. When I did, I realized how steep this couloir really was. This climb was a lot different from some of the couloir climbs last year; I wasn't nervous or uncomfortable at all. I guess all those steep climbs culminating in Cotopaxi paid off. Anyway, there was no denying the steepness of this couloir and this would probably have been a lot scarier last year. |
| Eventually we were able to see the top of the couloir and it appeared to be blocked by a cornice. I was up for trying to bust through, I'd never done that before. It turned out, however, that the couloir turned hard to the left as another obstacle appeared - a steep section of snow that had formed due to the angle of the couloir. Ken started up the steepest section of this snow wall which was 70 degrees. I opted for an easier section and climbed higher and ascended a 60 degree section. After getting on top of this snow wall, we were on very gentle ground about 20 feet below the notch where the couloir topped out. We could easily bypass the cornice on the left. The notch is very small, thin, and feels very alpine. It was pretty exciting. From here, we could see the top of the peak. It lay about 100 feet away along a 3rd class ridge. |
Above the steepest section, just below the top |
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Ridge on Ice Mountain |
The ridge was fun and not too hard at all. The summit
of Ice Mountain is really small and is a tiny bump along a fairly short
ridge. We rested here for a good amount of time and charged up for
the tough downclimb to the North Apostle/Ice Mountain saddle and the
impending climb up North Apostle.
The downclimb to the saddle is very tricky and requires good routefinding. The difficulties never exceeded easy 4th class though. I've read several trip reports that talked about people running into class 5 and not being able to find their way around. I don't really see how this is possible; with a decent amount of care and directional sense, you can find a safe route through this complex mountain. We basically stayed on the north face immediately after descending from the summit then traversed over to the ridge proper after about 300 vertical feet.
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| After Ice Mountain, there certainly doesn't seem to be much to North Apostle. It's a climb very similar to many of Colorado's fourteeners although there's not much of a trail. Basically, we just picked the slopes that looked the most solid. It didn't take us long to arrive on the top of North Apostle. After a long hike back down to camp (and an awesome glissade), we rested for a long time and saw the first people we'd seen on this trip. They were hiking along the trail and passed by our campsite. I'm not sure if they saw us. The hike back to the car felt really really long. Although, the hike out was painful, this was a great hike and a great climb. |
Just below the top of North Apostle Peak |
