We knew that Kyes would be a challenging scramble (7200 ft), so Shaun and I set out early in order to leave ourselves plenty of time to find our way up and down the mountain. We left the trailhead at 7 a.m., finding a geocache at Virgin Lake before continuing on to our first look at Blanca Lake. Once there we realized our gross oversight that the climber’s ridge trail for Keyes was back at Virgin Lake, we returned and began the cross-country ascent of the ridge.
The ridge route definitely presents the challenges of exposure and route finding. Also, having my climbing dog, Kona, was a mistake on this route. It is a challenging route in many respects, and it wasn’t until 1:30 p.m. that we found ourselves working our way up the heather slopes of Keyes.
The summit scramble of Keyes was a lot of fun – but again a bit dicey and requiring care and concentration. The views and weather were awesome. Of course we were the only one on the mountain that day. On the way down we decided to find a way to Columbia Glacier and make the loop to Blanca Lake and out.
What we discovered is that there a few (one?) safe ways to descend the western cliffs that separate the glacier from the more gentler slopes above. We started off too far south, gradually working our way north (up the glacier valley) before finding a good point to descend. By then we were tired and it was getting late.
The glacier walk was one of the highlights of our trip: The moon was bright and it provided pleasant and gentle terrain. Kona was hanging in there.
Once at the end of Columbia Glacier, darkness set in just in time for us to enter the maze of brush, waterfalls and trees. We didn’t realize how far it was between the end of the glacier and the tip of Blanca Lake. This terrain was very rugged, frustrating, and often a pure “bush-wack”. At this point the scale between a “fun adventure” and “torture” began to tip towards the torture side.
Eventually was made it to the lakeshore. We had occasionally considered bivying, but we persevered in route finding and made it to the lake. By then it was probably 10 p.m.
Skirting the lakeshore requires ascending above some cliffs with additional route finding which compounded our misery. The two stream crossings required wading with me carrying Kona, but at least it cleaned our wounds.
The hike out to the car was maddeningly long and we arrived at our car at 1 a.m.
I’m sure we didn’t set a record with an 18 hour loop, and a 22 hour long day.
The ridge route definitely presents the challenges of exposure and route finding. Also, having my climbing dog, Kona, was a mistake on this route. It is a challenging route in many respects, and it wasn’t until 1:30 p.m. that we found ourselves working our way up the heather slopes of Keyes.
The summit scramble of Keyes was a lot of fun – but again a bit dicey and requiring care and concentration. The views and weather were awesome. Of course we were the only one on the mountain that day. On the way down we decided to find a way to Columbia Glacier and make the loop to Blanca Lake and out.
What we discovered is that there a few (one?) safe ways to descend the western cliffs that separate the glacier from the more gentler slopes above. We started off too far south, gradually working our way north (up the glacier valley) before finding a good point to descend. By then we were tired and it was getting late.
The glacier walk was one of the highlights of our trip: The moon was bright and it provided pleasant and gentle terrain. Kona was hanging in there.
Once at the end of Columbia Glacier, darkness set in just in time for us to enter the maze of brush, waterfalls and trees. We didn’t realize how far it was between the end of the glacier and the tip of Blanca Lake. This terrain was very rugged, frustrating, and often a pure “bush-wack”. At this point the scale between a “fun adventure” and “torture” began to tip towards the torture side.
Eventually was made it to the lakeshore. We had occasionally considered bivying, but we persevered in route finding and made it to the lake. By then it was probably 10 p.m.
Skirting the lakeshore requires ascending above some cliffs with additional route finding which compounded our misery. The two stream crossings required wading with me carrying Kona, but at least it cleaned our wounds.
The hike out to the car was maddeningly long and we arrived at our car at 1 a.m.
I’m sure we didn’t set a record with an 18 hour loop, and a 22 hour long day.
View more of my photos from this trip HERE.
Video is HERE.
2 comments:
Man vs. Wild ! Do you ever have to eat like Bear Grylls? Raw animals and such? I'm impressed.
I thought about eating raw fish from Blanca Lake but it was too late. Usually I stick to blue berries. We did find lots of those.
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