(I'm using Bob's report from 14erworld for now...)

John and I had wanted to knock off this loop again, and yesterday provided a good opportunity. This is my 4th-annual Tour D'Abyss, and I enjoy it immensely every time. This is John's second time.

This has been called the "Tour D'Abyss" simply because it does a loop around Abyss Lake at the top of the Scott Gomer valley.

The route is described in Roach's 14er book as "minimizing walking and mazimizing excitement", and that is a good description. The route begins at a switchback-parking lot at roughtly 13,300' elevation on the Evans road. It descends to the nearby saddle, then down a couloir to the valley below, up the east ridge of Bierstadt, follows this ridge to the summit, crosses the Sawtooth traverse to the Evans ridge, summits Evans, then back down to the car.

Every time I do this, I seem to follow a different route up the East ridge of Bierstadt. This time was no exception! The route in Roach follows the ridge initially, then drops off to the North side, avoiding a the last and highest prominent sub-peak along the ridge. This route keeps the climbing to class 3, with a bit of exposure here and there.

Whe I first did this ridge with a pal 3 years ago, we tried to follow the East ridge the entire way, but reached a low-5th class spot, backed off, and wound up following Roache's route after all.

This time, we dropped off the ridge to the North initially, but almost immediately regained the ridge, and found ourselves at that same low-5th class move. This time, we simply pushed through this move, and followed the ridge essentially the entire way.

NEXT time (next year) I do this, I will simply stay on the ridge the entire time. The single low-5th (or high 4th) class move IS a bit exposed, in the form of a long steep ramp run-out. For those uncomfortable with a single low-5th move, I recommend following Roache's route. Another alternative would be to haul up a short (maybe 20 meter) rope, harnesses, and a few pieces of pro, to protect this move. The 20m rope SHOULD be long enough to even protect the steep ramp leading up to the move. Once above this crux, the rest of the ridge never exceeds class 3, but is exposed in places.

Anyway, we had left the car at 6:20am, summitted Bierstadt at 9am, traversed the Sawtooth and summitted Evans by just after 11. some serious looking dark clouds were forming, so we boogied off the summit, leaving the gaggle of tourists behind, and made it back to the car around noon or so. John, bless his heart, had brought along some beer, which tasted SO good after the hike. A stop in the Echo Lake lodge restaurant topped off a fine day!

This is an excellent little 6-hour workout/climb, with tons of fun scrambling, including the Sawtooth. The East ridge of Bierstadt, however, is the most fun section of this loop. I will continue to enjoy it regularly.