| 5-20-2006 West Slopes from Baldwin Gulch 4WD Parking Trip Report |
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| 5-20-2006 West Slopes from Baldwin Gulch 4WD Parking   | 
| Page Type: Trip Report Location: Colorado, United States, North America Date Climbed/Hiked: May 20, 2006 Activities: Mountaineering Season: Spring | Page By: altitude14er Created/Edited: May 21, 2006 / May 23, 2006 Object ID: 195216 Hits: 680 Loading... Page Score: 86.47% - 2 Votes Loading... Vote: Log in to vote |
What Happened to the Snow?5-20-2006 – Antero, 14,269ft.
Baldwin Gulch 4WD Trailhead
3,429ft. Elevation Gain
West Slopes Route
After reading the Antero & Cronin trip report on S.P. it was sounding as if all of the snow was fading fast on Antero’s west slopes. In fact, recent trip reports are revealing the southern Sawatch doesn’t have much snow at all. Myself, Mark and Lil were to meet at 3:30am and speed down to the trailhead. I ended up being 15 minutes late but we managed to reach Buena Vista in a little over two hours. The Antero road leading into Baldwin Gulch was beautiful (when trees weren’t blocking the view). We decided to park right after crossing Baldwin Creek in the vicinity of the 4WD parking area. The weather was looking excellent (then).
We started hiking the road at approximately 7:10am and had a decent pace going. I was pleased that the road was melted out as we reached treeline. Yet we were hopeful that we’d be able to find a patch of snow that we could ascend to the roads end. We had ice axes and were ready to go. We decided to leave the road and climb a small snow chute several hundred feet above treeline. We successfully walked on the top of the snow for a few minutes. Then me and Lil broke through the snow. It was wet and completely unsavory. I wiggled out of the snow with some trouble. Thrashing around like a beached whale. Anyone who has post-holed in waist deep snow understands. Mark stood on solid ground watching. Lil was completely cemented into the snow. It was so wet and heavy that Mark had to help dig her legs out. It was impossible for her to get out otherwise. After this little fiasco we all realized that we probably wouldn’t be climbing any snow to the summit nor would we have any good glissading opportunities for the way down. I guess the good news is that we were able to leave our snowshoes in the car.
We got back on the road and gained the ridge leading to the summit (point 13,089ft). The wind had begun to really kick up and it was getting chilly. We dawned pants, winter jackets, etc. and had a quick bite. We had gotten this high without having to cross any snowfields with post hole potential (excluding the slush couloir we tried earlier). As we neared the last stretch to the summit the clouds were really beginning to look nasty. They had progressively been getting darker on the bottoms and larger. Typical of Colorado, things changed so quick that I thought we might get driven off by lightning. (It was 88 degrees in Denver on 5-20-06!) We and several other climbers quickly scrambled to the summit. By the time myself, Lil and Mark reached the summit it was time to go. We ate a quick bite and watched the peaks to North (Princeton, Harvard, Yale, etc.) get shrouded in clouds. In a matter of minutes we too were covered in storm and it began to snow. We got the hell off of the top and descended back to the car uneventfully. We attempted to shorten our descent by shooting directly down one the western gullies/couiloirs – I’m not good with geology! I wouldn’t advise this as it ended up taking more time than the road would have.
In summation; what a great day in the Rockies! thank god for Lil’s Toyota 4Runner and the great company of my two climbing partners.
Pictures
Shavano & "Tab" |
Asphazell on the S.West Ridge |
Images
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Sawatch Range
