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| Hiking | 6.00 Miles |
2,800 AEG |
| | Hiking | 6.00 Miles | | | |
| 2,800 ft AEG | | | | |
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| partners | | It's hard to believe we did this a week ago! We met Vagabond Jeff at Ridgway State Park in Colorado after our Vestal Basin Backpack. We planned to do a couple peaks, but we figured out that we needed a bit off time to transition from backpack to car camp. So we checked out Silverton and Ouray on our way north.
We went for dinner the night before to make plans for our day in Yankee Boy Basin. Jeff had been having some sciatic nerve problems so he just planned to do as much as he could and would turn around before he caused himself any problems.
We left camp at 5:45 and was at the trailhead a bit before 7. We parked at the lower trailhead instead of the 4x4 trailhead and walked the road. It was a bit grey when we started. I pittled around taking photos as the wildflowers were out in force. As we walked the road a storm blowed in and it rained briefly. We could hear thunder in the distance. At one point we turned around and headed back to the cars. But things changed quickly and we turned back to heading up.
We reached the 4x4 TH and the weather was still questionable. So we sat around and ate some snacks. We kept seeing patches of blue followed by patches of grey/black. At some point the patches of blue were more than the patches of grey so we decided to go for it. Jeff decided he would go back to the cars since he didn't want to injure himself - wise man!
We headed up the standard route which lead to the Lavendar Col. On the way up we made a point to stay in the bigger rocks as most of them were more stable. From there we hiked up the gully which had some snow in it but we were able to climb it without any props. We watched another group use a rope to descend and we questioned whether or not we could get down. We decided we could if we downclimbed it. After the snow we had to climb through a notch that had a lot of exposure. I had Joel plug the hole for me.
From there we scrambled to the top. The views were amazing. Peaks all around. We could even see Vestal and Arrow Peaks that we did a few days ago! We also could see the ski routes at Telluride! We were so glad we didn't turn around.
On the way down we were given a tip about another way down so we went for it with a couple other pairs. During the trip down we had a bit of snow pellets but it didn't last long.
It was easy to follow the cairns and then all of a sudden not so easy. We started to down climb a gully and it turned into a class 5 wall. I even found an old rusty piton. So, we climbed back up and found the proper route.
We joined the regular route at the Col and then we headed down. The others stayed in the big stuff but we headed over to where it was mostly a scree slope and "skied" down. I was happy that we had had the experience on Vestal Peak with the landslide feeling so I was a lot more comfortable.
I was so happy we didn't turn around. It was a risk but it really paid off! |
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Wildflowers Observation Extreme
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