Displaying items by tag: Buena Vista

Some fun information about this great hike:

Mt. Massive - 14,421 ft. - 2nd highest in Colorado; third highest mountain in the contiguous U.S.

8 miles round-trip via Southwest slopes route

3,950 ft. elevation gain

More snow than I expected...

I thought that my climbing season had ended after being snowed on in mid-September on Grays and Torreys; however, I got the itch to climb again this weekend. Serendipitously, a fellow climber from Colorado Springs, Rob, posted on 14'ers.com that he was going to Mt. Massive on Saturday and that anyone from Colorado Springs was welcome to join him. I jumped all over the opportunity and we made plans to meet at 4:15 AM on the west-side of town to car pool. Rob had his friend Brad with him and we departed for Mt. Massive at around 4:30 AM.

Our route took us directly up the snowy south face of Massive.

On the way over we had good conversation, shared stories about our climbs and got to know each other. We arrived at the turn-off for Mt. Massive at 6:45 and met up with two other climbers from Denver. We reached the trail-head and began hiking at 7:40 AM. Right at the trail-head lies a memorial to the soldiers that died in a helicopter crash earlier this year on Mt. Massive. Here are some photos of the Memorial, notice a section of the helicopter is seen as well:

A memorial cross for the victims of the Blackhawk Helicopter crash on Mount Massive, 2009.

The forecast for the day was clear skies and a high of 60, and wow the weatherman did not disappoint! We swiftly hiked up the valley and reached the turn-off for Mt. Massive. Our view back down the valley was stunning:

The trail was covered in snow, making for a quite interesting hike. As we gained elevation, the trail became less and less apparent and eventually we just started hiking straight up towards Massive.

Looking back towards Elbert, you can see our footprints through the snow...

None of really expected to see so much snow, but it made for a very challenging hike. The snow was up to 3 ft. in depth in some spots, and it was quite slippery due to the 30-40 degree slopes were climbing on. We stopped several times to rest on the way up, and about halfway up I was able to take some shots, combined here into a smaller panoramic photo:

After approximately three hours, we were able to reach the saddle, which joined us with the standard route. By now I was pretty tired, partially due to the extra effort required by the snow, and partly due to the fact that I had not had much to eat. I made sure at this point to eat some snacks, and we headed back up. We found ourselves climbing up some pretty deep snow, as evidenced by this shot, looking up the ridge towards the summit, taken on our way back down:

After trudging through the snow, we were able to reach the summit at 12:40 PM, a full 5 hours after we started. The snow really took a lot out of us! I was just really glad I brought my gators and had tons of warm clothing... Here is my obligatory summit pose, with the Elk range behind me:

And of course my traditional 360 degree pano:

Before we left from the summit, I took some zoomed in shots of the Elk range, including the Maroon Bells. This stitched pano is one of my favorites from this 2009's shots:

We headed back down and had a good time rumbling down the snowy slopes. I took one last set of the valley, combined into a pano here:

All in all, I would highly recommend this route for Mount Massive. Even in October, the route is solid, and I could see this being feasible even through November or later.

The Sawatch Range of Colorado is known for its long, gentle giants such as Mount Elbert, Mount Massive, etc. It would also seem that most visitors to this area of the state are solely interested in climbing only the 14ers, due to the popular sport it has become to summit all of the 14ers in Colorado. I must admit that I have been caught up in this craze myself; however, one of my favorite climbing past-times is to spend time tackling some of the lesser-known 13ers, and that is just what Ethan Buete and I did this past weekend.

To start off, here is a break-down of relevant numbers from the trip:

Missouri Mountain: 14,067 ft (ranked 36th in Colorado)

Iowa Peak: 13,831 ft (soft-ranked)

Emerald Peak: 13,904 ft (ranked 71st in Colorado)

Total elevation gain: 5,612 ft.

Total distance hiked: 13.44 miles

Total time hiking: 10 hours, 10 minutes

Total photos taken: 554

Total wildlife sightings: 2 (marmot and beaver)

Total distance driven: 124 miles

Trip duration: 27 hours

Ethan and left his house at 5:30 PM on Friday evening and stopped in Buena Vista at the Eddyline Brewery for dinner. The selection of food was superb - Eddyline supports local agriculture and the green movement - a definite bonus. I ordered the "Mount Princeton Calzone," which seemed quite fitting. After chowing down at the brewery, Ethan and I departed for Chafee County Road 390, just a few minutes North of Buena Vista, and headed up past Clear Creek Reservoir to find a camp-site next to a beaver pond along-side the road. Upon arrival, we were greeted by a friendly and noisy beaver as we began un-packing. We quickly set-up camp, set our alarm for 4 AM, and drifted into the always welcome pre-summit slumber.

We woke up at 4 AM and made some quick oatmeal and broke-down our campsite. Shortly afterwards, we departed for the Missouri Gulch trailhead and began hiking at 5:15 AM.

This particular trailhead provides access for several fourteen-thousand foot mountains, including Mount Belford, Mount Oxford and Missouri Mountain. We were hopeful that most other hikers would be aiming for the ever-popular Belford-Oxford combo and that we would be provided with some solitutude. Our goal was to climb the standard route of Missouri and then follow the ridge over to Iowa Peak and then Emerald Peak. We were not sure on our route quite yet, but figured we would have it solidified upon getting a full view of the area from each peak. Our eventual route took us up Missouri, over to Iowa, up Emerald, down into the Missouri Basin, and finally over Elkhead Pass back to the trailead.

A topographical map with our route shown in purple. We began and ended near Vicksburg at the Missouri Gulch trailhead.

A vertical profile of our chosen route up Missouri, Iowa and Emerald.

The trail going up Missouri Gulch starts out very steep and does not relent until after treeline. Ethan and I made excellent progress up the trail and only stopped a few times before reaching treeline shortly before the sun began to rise.

The sun rises below over the Clear Creek valley.

Matt Payne hikes quickly up Missouri Gulch

 

Shortly after reaching treeline, some favorable campsites appear near some old mining cabins alongside the Missouri Gulch drainage. It is at this point that you can begin to see Mount Belford above and to the east. Ethan and I both stopped to take some pictures of Mount Belford and the surrounding area.

Matt Payne stops to take a few photos of the Missouri Gulch and Mount Belford.

Mount Belford is illuminated by sunlight near Missouri Gulch

After hiking a short was further up into the basin, our first views of our first objective for the day, Missouri Mountain, became available.

Missouri Mountain appears before us, basked in early sunlight.

At this point, we were closer to Mount Belford. Ethan explained to me that when he climbed it, he climbed up Elkhead Pass, where most other hikers chose to go straight up a muddy slope on the northwest slopes, making for a terrible climb. It appeared that others were attempting to do just that on this day as well.

Mount Belford with hikers on the northeast slope.

Climbers are seen going up the gentle northeast slope of Mount Belford.

As we climbed higher, Missouri became more and more impressive. The light also afforded somewhat better views of the mountain, and afforded us with some photo opportunities.

Missouri Mountain with a small water flow with alpine flowers

At this point, were were passed by a group of 4 hikers heading up Missouri. I hate to judge people that I don't know, but I could not help but wonder about this group. It was a friendly but fairly odd group, all wearing cotton sweat-shirts (cotton is often considered a very poor choice for any article of clothing worn during high-altitude hikes due to its inability to quickly dry). One gentleman was wearing flip-flops and playing music out of a small radio in his backpack. I was both perplexed and annoyed - I really don't want to hear your music when I'm hiking, and I won't feel pity if Search and Rescue are called because you obtained frostbite on your toes. We later learned it was his first 14er and he had switched into ascent shoes, which made me feel a little better.

Ethan and I continued up the trail and kept our eye on Missouri, hoping to catch a view of the trial heading up to the ridge.

The sun rises over Mount Belford with Missouri to its immediate right.

The extra light from the sun also revealed to us that there were many types of wildflowers in bloom, much to our surprise. The basin was covered in whites, purples, yellows, and blues.

Wildflowers cover the Missouri Gulch basin in late June.

The trail heading up towards Missouri was in great condition, often weaving through thick tundra grasses and around willow bushes.

Shortly before reaching the base of Missouri Mountain, the trail hits an intersection. Heading left takes you up Elkhead Pass and heading right takes you up the standard trail for Missouri Mountain. Ethan and I refueled with nuts/fruit/powerbars and began our ascent up the relatively steep trail for Missouri.

Elkhead Pass can be seen to the right of Mount Belford (left of center).

At this point, Ethan and I kicked it into high gear, heading up the rocky, but well-maintained trail up Missouri's long sweeping north ridge. The trail takes you up very quickly, and before we knew it, we were cresting the ridge.

After reaching the ridge, awesome views of Huron Peak, La Plata Peak, and the Three Apostles, including Ice Mountain and North Apostle were revealed.

This was particularly exicting for me since I had just been on top of Huron Peak just a few short weeks previous to this trip.

Huron Peak comes into view upon gaining the north ridge of Missouri Mountain.

 

Huron Peak - zoomed in

 

Ethan Buete looks over towards La Plata Peak (ranked 5th highest in Colorado).

Missouri's Ridge is revealed.

After taking a lot of photos, Ethan and I headed up and along the long ridge towards Missouri. The second and third objectives for the day finally appeared as well, with Emerald peaking over the top of Iowa.

Iowa Peak mostly obscures the view of Emerald Peak to the south of Missouri Mountain.

From the ridge of Missouri, views of Emerald Peak, Iowa Peak, the Three Apostles, Huron Peak, and La Plata Peak (among many others) can be seen in great detail (click to see the full resolution version).

Ethan's photo of Missouri's Ridge with Emerald and Iowa in view (left) and Missouri's Ridge behind us (right)

The ridge to Missouri was nothing harder than class 2 the whole way, and was quite simple to navigate. I've read reports of people calling the ridge class 3, and I can assure you, it is not even close to class 3 unless you stay high at the jagged rocks (seen above). Those rocks are easily navigated around though...

After 3 hours of hiking, we reached the summit of Missouri Mountain at 9:15 AM. Naturally, the flip-flop guy had his music playing on top and he was enjoying a beer. Ethan and I exchanged summit photos, took some 360^o panoramic shots, ate some food, and quickly departed, knowing our day had really just begun. Later in the day, I was able to capture a nice view of the route we took up Missouri from the Missouri Gulch.

The route up Missouri Mountain.

Matt Payne on the summit of Missouri Mountain, his 38th 14er climb (37 total 14ers).

Ethan Beute on the summit of Missouri Mountain. Ethan was unsure of how many 14ers he has climbed, as he is not keeping track.

Iowa Peak (closest) and Emerald Peak (left and behind Iowa) drew our gaze.

Mount Harvard (left) rises high above the Missouri Basin (middle), with Emerald Peak and Iowa Peak sitting above pristine alpine lakes.

A zoomed in view of Emerald Peak from Missouri Mountain

The USGS marker for Missouri Mountain with Mount Harvard in the background.

Ethan Buete captured this great macro shot of the Missouri Mountain USGS marker.

 

Ethan and I decided to pack up and head on over to Iowa Peak, leaving the summit of Missouri Mountain.

Matt Payne descends towards Iowa Peak - photo by Ethan Buete

The climb down to the ridge and up Iowa was fairly straight forward on a primitive trail.

Matt Payne halfway up Iowa Peak.

A look back at Missouri Mountain from near the top of Iowa Peak.

It took us about 30 minutes to reach the top of Iowa Peak, where we stopped to take more photos and re-hydrate.

Matt Payne on top of Iowa Peak.

Ice Mountain and North Apostle sit above the valley just below Iowa Peak.

180^o view from the summit of Iowa Peak. Looking left to right - Missouri Mountain, Buffalo Peaks (in far distance), Mount Harvard (center), Mount Yale, Emerald Peak (above near snow).

Huron Peak rises high above Clohesy Lake as seen from the summit of Iowa Peak.

After a few minutes on top of Iowa Peak, we made an assessment on the weather. The cloud patterns had not changed since leaving Missouri Mountain and we were fairly confident that the weather would hold long enough to summit Emerald and make it down. So, we headed on down to the saddle between Iowa and Emerald.

Emerald Peak and its grassy slopes.

Ethan made it down to the saddle first, and promptly began photographing the area. He was able to capture some amazing photos, including the next one - one of my favorites from the trip. I love the images Ethan produced from this trip. The colors are astounding. I believe that Ethan uses the Olympus E-30 DSLR with a circular polarizer. I wrote a quick follow-up article about the use of circular polarizers here.

Wildflowers in bloom - photo by Ethan Buete.

After reaching the saddle, we began hiking up Emerald's steep face. It was a fairly straight-forward climb requiring a few breaks on the way up.

A look back at Iowa Peak and Missouri Peak from the base of Emerald Peak.

After reaching the summit of Emerald Peak at 10:30 AM, Ethan and I both agreed that the views from Emerald were the best of all three summits. Unabated views of Yale and Harvard and the surrounding basins made for a great resting spot. We probably spent about an hour on top, enjoying the views and taking photos while eating. I chowed down on some Reeses Peanut Butter Cups, which made for an even better experience

Matt and Ethan enjoy the views from Emerald Peak.

Matt Payne signs the summit register of Emerald Peak, one of the 100 highest mountains in Colorado.

Matt Payne scouts for more Reeses Peanut Butter Cups.

Views from Emerald Peak, west-to-east (left to right).

Ethan Buete gazes west from the summit of Emerald Peak, with La Plata Peak behind him.

Matt Payne on the summit of Emerald Peak, with Mount Yale in the distance (far left).

Views from Emerald Peak, looking east-to-north (left to right).

A view back at Iowa Peak and Missouri Mountain, with Mount Belford to it's right. Mount Harvard to the far right.

Ethan and I planned our route back to the trailhead from the summit. We decided that we would drop off of the east face of Emerald Peak and to the lakes below us. From there, we would aim for Elkhead Pass and head back down Missouri Gulch.

Matt Payne shooting some photos of flowers on Emerald Peak's east ridge.

And here is what I was photographing...

Wildflowers growing on Emerald Peak with Mount Harvard blurry in the distance.

We continued down the ridge from Emerald and through a small snow field. The snow was solid and we were able to walk right on the top of it. No need for the ice axe after-all!

Still plenty of snow melt on Emerald Peak's east ridge in June.

At this point, the hike became incredible. The lower lakes came into better view, and the alpine surroundings continued to amaze both of us. One of the lakes in particular had an island of snow still sitting in it, making for a very bright blue hue around it. It was fascinating and gorgeous.

Lakes sit at the base of Emerald Peak.

A zoomed in view of the odd and gorgeous blue lake.

Ethan captures the blue slight better than I through the use of a circular polarizer.

Ethan Buete captured this great photo of some small lakes.

We were able to connect with an old game trail and head down to the lakes.

The Missouri Basin.

Ethan hikes towards Mount Harvard.

Ethan and I were continually impressed with the views of Mount Harvard from this area - a much more impressive view than you get when you actually climb it.

Mount Harvard towers above Matt Payne

Ethan descends down into the basin towards the awesome blue lake.

A panoramic photo of the first of three lakes found in the Missouri Basin, with Missouri Mountain at center.

Ethan Buete checks out the snow melt coming out of the 1st of three lakes at the base of Emerald Peak.

We made our way across the long basin and found the 2nd of three lakes. This lake had some snow that had begun calving from the rock face, much like a glacier would.

A glacier-like calving on the 2nd of 3 lakes below Emerald and Iowa Peaks.

The water was quite still for this panoramic shot of a small lake below Missouri Mountain, Iowa Peak and Emerald Peak (right to left).

Ethan catches me in action at the 2nd of 3 lakes.

We headed on over to the 3rd lake, finding it to be the best of three due to its larger size and excellent views below Mount Harvard.

Matt Payne in front of a large apline lake and Mount Harvard.

Ethan Buete next to a large lake with Mount Harvard in the background.

The sheer size of the Missouri Basin makes it a wonderful place to hike. With alpine vistas in every direction, it was tough for Ethan and I to leave. However, with weather looming on the horizon, we decided to head towards Elkhead Pass. Once reaching the end of the basin, looking back at Emerald left a great feeling in us. We had traveled a great distance today, and it was hard to believe just how far away Emerald looked already.

Matt Payne boogies on out of the Missouri Basin

 

A look back across the Missouri Basin. Mount Harvard sits as the basin's monarch to the far left with Emerald Peak and Iowa Peak resting at the far right.

After hiking more or less straight across the back-side of Missouri Mountain, we were able to connect back up with the trail leading up Elkhead Pass.

Matt Payne with Mount Harvard behind him.

Matt Payne on the Elkhead Pass trail with Emerald Peak at far left.

Near the top of Elkhead Pass, I noticed a giant waterfall below Emerald Peak, so I took several fully zoomed in photos of the basin and waterfall and composed them into one giant zoomed in view of the basin.

A super-zoomed in view of the Missouri Basin, with a giant waterfall flowing at far left. Emerald Peak sits above the basin at far right.Click on the photo to see the full resolution version.

A short while later, Ethan and I managed to reach the top of Elkhead Pass and see down into Missouri Gulch where the whole day began.

Matt Payne at the summit of Elkhead Pass.

It was nice to hike downhill again and see the valley in the middle of the day with more light. We were also lucky to see the entire route up Missouri from slightly below the pass, as well as views of Missouri's class 4 northeast face.

Missouri Mountain's class 4 northeast face (far left).

A zoomed in view of Missouri Mountain's class 4 northeast face.

Ethan poses in front of Missouri Mountain.

We headed on down the pass and noticed a large waterfall coming down Missouri as well.

A large watefall flows down the face of Missouri Mountain's ridge.

After a short time, we reached the trail turn-off for going back up Missouri Mountain. We had made a full circle at 1:30 PM, a full six hours after we first encountered this split in the trail.

The trail forks - heading back up Missouri Mountain or down to the start of Missouri Gulch.

Matt Payne hikes down the Missouri Gulch trail.

A look back at Missouri Mountain and the Elkhead Pass trail.

Ethan and I made excellent progress down the trail and made it back to a large stream crossing. Ethan took this time to train me on photographing water flows.

Water flows down Missouri Gulch.

Ethan and I made excellent time back down the trail and to the trailhead. We made a quick stop at a small gravesite in the Vicksburg cemetary. The grave marker reads: "Vicksburg Cemetary. William Huffman, Born 1884. Died of Pnemonia. One Month Old.Father was a miner and mother ran a boarding house in Vicksburg."

We crossed Clear Creek over the bridge and made it to Ethan's car. All in all a very successful and aesthetically pleasing trip.

Clear Creek was still running fast near the end of June.

I hope you enjoyed this trip report. If you are interested in any of the photos, please contact me. If one of the photos belongs to Ethan Beute, I will forward your message to him.

Stay safe!

My goal for my first 14'er of 2010 was to summit Mount Shavano (14,229 ft) and then traverse over to Tabeguache Peak (14,155 ft). I had made this attempt last year at the end of May and was able to make it to the top of Shavano but was pushed off the summit by weather, subsequently postponing my summit of Tabeguache. Last year, I climbed the standard route of Shavano, which was a good adventure; however, I wanted to attempt the Angel route this time. Having watched several people ascent via this route last year, I was both intrigued and puzzled as to why someone would put themselves through this much torture. Then after a summer of climbing harder climbs, I figured out why - the challenge and diversity of a new route and the fun of going up a snowfield with an ice axe! Here are two photos from last year's climb, looking down at the Angel route:

My adventure began by driving from Colorado Springs to the Trailhead on Friday, May 21st, 2010. First, let me apologize, I believe that my camera's sensor needs to be cleaned, as many of my images have a slight smudge that is in the middle near the top. Having created this website since last year, I decided that on my way over that I would get a few photos of the Sawatch and Mosquito/Tenmile range from the top of Wilkerson Pass. Fortunately, the weather did cooperate for a few great photo opportunities:

After a quick drive through South Park, I made it to the turn-off for the Trailhead near Salida. Near the beginning of the road, I took the time to take some photos of Shavano. The Angel was looking great!

I even played around a little with some bracketing on my camera for this so-so HDR product:

The road was in great shape and it seemed as if there were far less cars this time around. Heck, there were even some deer hanging out!

I decided to drive up the road a-ways to check-out the camping areas. I was pleasantly surprised to find quite a few spots to camp and decided on a spot at the end of a huge meadow. Here is my sad attempt at an HDR photo of that meadow. I really like the way the tree turned out. You can see my vehicle in the far distance on the right:

Since I had some time to kill, I decided to take a few photos of the surrounding area. Hunts Peak:

Hunts Peak and surrounding area:

Mount Ouray HDR's:

Mount Shavano is the little bump in the middle:

I decided to hit the sack early and sleep with the rainfly off of the tent. This proved to be a great idea because the sky was clear and the stars were bright and numerous! I set the alarm for 4 AM, since I wanted to get up, cook breakfast, and pack my tent before hitting the trail. The alarm sounded and I woke up and fired up some water and ate some pretty decent oatmeal from Costco. I packed up and drove the very short distance back to the trailhead and was on the trail by 5:15 AM. The parking lot was still surprisingly empty except for two other vehicles. I soon was feeling the negative effects of packing so heavily - I had brought my snowshoes, ice axe, trekking poles, crampons, water, lots of food, and warmer clothes. The trail was as steep as I remembered and the snow was showing up on the trail far sooner than my trip last year. Before long, snow drifts blocked the trail in several places. Fortunately, the snow had hardened from the previous day and was passable without the use of snowshoes. I followed the trail until it began to become harder and harder to follow. I made sure to follow other climbers up the valley and towards what I knew was the Angel. Instead of heading North along the standard trail, I kept South and ended up at the start of the large boulder field before the Angel begins. As I climbed to the top of the boulder field, the Angel came into view and I was able to really see the challenge for the day. The Angel route takes you directly up the center of the Angel and then up the right arm or straight up, depending on the snow and your preference.

I kept heading up and soon was greeted by the nasty wind that was forecast for this weekend - up to 60 MPH gusts of wind. Oh joy! As I continued up the boulders and snow fields, I was finally able to reach the base of the Angel, where I decided to put away the trekking poles and get out the ice axe. I use an old Chouinard ice axe that was passed down to me by my dad (Old Climber on this site). The reasoning for the use of an axe while going up the Angel is two-fold: 1) For self-arrest if I were to slip and 2) Aid in climbing. A few skiers and snowboarders were ahead of me, making it somewhat easier to follow their footsteps instead of creating my own steps in the snow.

I quickly discovered that crampons were not needed, so that was somewhat of a bummer realizing that I had lugged them up there for no reason. I was beginning to think the same about my snowshoes, but they actually proved quite useful later on. The Angel of Shavano was not a terribly difficult climb, but it was taxxing on my legs and lungs. I was quite aware that this was my first climb of the season. I persevered up the Angel and decided to stay in the middle of the Angel, despite all other groups going to the right or left on the arms of the Angel. What can I say - I'm a rebel. The snow in this part was pretty good and traction was easily gained with my La Sportiva Trango boots. The hardest part of this climb was my lack of stamina and the wind. The wind really took a toll on my strength and took every opportunity to sap me of any will I had to continue past Shavano. After hiking for 6 hours, I finally gained the summit and celebrated with two outstanding gentlemen that had skied up and were planning to ski down. One skier identified himself as 'steventraylor' from 14ers.com. They were both very friendly and it was a pleasure sharing the mighty summit of Shavano with them. I explained to both of them about my website and am hopeful that more and more people can take advantage of this platform to post thier reports and photos. The wind had really caused quite a bit of dust to fill the air around the state, and visibility was not as great as I prefer for photography; however, it was still great getting to see all those white-capped mountains! I was able to get Steven to take this summit shot of me, with Mount Antero and the rest of the mighty Sawatch range behind me:

I took a few looks over at Tabeguache and declared that I would not have the energy to make it over. This was quite demoralizing for me since Tabegauche was the whole reason I had done this climb. Tabegauche is now my nemesis and will be conquered in 2011! Here is a shot of Tab:

The Sangres shrouded in dust:

And of course I did some fun pano photos:

Here is a zoomed in look of Antero (far right), with Columbia and Harvard to its left:

Since I had decided that I was not going to head over to Tabeguache, I spent some time enjoying the views and snacking on some chocolate covered espresso beans. I took a couple more "artsy" photos using my ice axe as a prop:

After about an hour, I decided to bug-out and head down. The descent was pretty straight forward; however, being in boots and not skis, the snow proved slippery and was soft, making for some interesting post-holing. I quickly decided that this was a perfect opportunity to test my skills in glissading. I sat on my butt and ensured that my ice axe was securely attached to my wrist. I placed the axe to my right side like a parking break and used it to control my speed going down. I made a quick detour over to the top of Point 13,617 just to say I was on top of it. The wind over there was outrageous! I was only able to take a few photos from there. The first photo is Shavano and the second is Antero:

I began glissading again, but the snow was more like ice on the North arm of the Angel, so I foolishly decided to scurry over to the standard trail once I crossed it. The trail looked really clear but this proved false. As I continued on the trail for about 200 yards, the snow fields became un-crossable. The snow had covered the snow and was so soft that it was a post-holing nightmare and a safely concern. I decided that I might as well make use of the snowshoes I had carried all this way and put them on. I wore them and used them to safely cross Shavano's shoulder down to some snow-free areas. I took off the snowshoes and went straight down the mountainside and down into the valley near where the Angel route begins. I followed some tracks back down the valley until I was able to meet up with the main trail again. I would highly recommend that if you ascent via the Angel, you also descent the same way. The snow on the trail coming down was very soft and post-holing was common past your knees. It was not enjoyable to say the least. I concluded my adventure and drove back to Colorado Springs, and hope to tackle Mount Huron in two weeks!

The Sawatch Range is by far one of the largest mountain ranges in Colorado, spanning over 100 miles from north to south. This range contains some of the highest mountains in the whole continent, including Mount Elbert, Mount Massive, Mount Harvard, Mount Princeton, and Mount Yale. The Sawatch Range is known for some of the best views in all of Colorado, due to the huge number of high elevation peaks there.