Jake and I climbed Mount Evans today. We started from Guanella Pass at 06:30, and the first part of the trip went well, I thought. For the first 14er of the year and the first major climb in months, I felt pretty good. I hiked slower than usual, but I expected that. The weather was excellent all the way to the summit: clear skies, no wind, warm temperature.

There is a cliff band you need to get past in order to reach the west ridge of Evans from Guanella Pass. You have the choice of skirting around to the left and bypassing the cliffs, or using a large couloir that splits the cliffs. This makes for a moderate snow climb. In debating whether to bring crampons or not, I decided the night before that I wouldn't attempt the snow climb, and just take the easier but longer route. At the decision point on the climb, I started up left to navigate around and above the start of the cliffs. I looked over at the couloir and decided it didn't look bad at all, so I decided to try it after all. I traversed over toward the couloir, not wanting to lose elevation even though I was above the start of the couloir. I put my trekking poles away and got out my ice axe, and put on my snow pants and gloves. When I was about 20' away from an easy path down to the couloir, I faced a slope at about 45 degrees that I would have to cross. The snow was hard and I couldn't really kick steps in, nor could the spike of my axe make purchase. I was thinking I wish I had those crampons, that maybe I should chip steps in the slope with the axe, when...

My boot slipped out from under me. I remember four things: Thinking "oops, I slipped". Hearing the ziiippp of nylon on snow as I accelerated. Thinking "I can do this (self-arrest)", then "Where's that pick?". I managed to jam the pick into the snow and came to a stop. I slid a total of 40-50', the last 20' I was dragging the pick to stop, the last 10' I was dragging my boot toes, which I don't remember doing. Good thing that two weeks before, I learned how to self-arrest with the CMC. The whole thing happened in a second or two, you don't get any time to think, so make sure you're competent with self-arrest before hitting the snow slopes.

Once I descended into the couloir the snow climb itself was easy. I made it to the top, where I had to cross a relatively flat area to reach Evans' west ridge. The ridge was as I remembered, a fun scramble across large granite boulders to the top. I only passed one climber returning from the summit, I didn't see anyone else on this route. It was a nice change to be alone on the summit of Mt Evans... We summited at 11:30, making for a 5 hour ascent. I felt pretty good all the way up, even though I took my time. We spent 20 minutes on the summit, then clouds were moving in from the East, so we headed back down.

Foto ©2000 by John C. Maki

On the descent I thought it might be best to get down into the valley soon, because storm clouds were developing. We reversed our climb, descending the same couloir we climbed up. I was able to glissade down much of the way, the snow was really soft and it was easy to control my speed. Once we bottomed out at the valley floor, we had to cross the huge willow swamp to reach the Bierstadt trail back to the parking area. This was much harder on the way out then on the way in, because the snow crust had softened and I postholed through a lot, into 2-3' of snow. I couldn't find any sign of a trail because it would have been buried under 3' of snow, and the only tracks I could follow were those made by snowshoers. I followed a set of these tracks across the swamp, breaking through the snow crust every 5 steps or so, bushwhacking through willows, stepping into 6" deep water under the snow. Even the snowshoers broke through the crust on occasion, so although I missed having snowshoes, the crossing would still have been less than enjoyable. A thoroughly heinous experience. The Mt Bierstadt trail has been improved a lot, and once I reached the trail the going was much better. Any climbers who tackle Bierstadt this summer shouldn't have too much trouble navigating across these accursed plants. Anyone who uses this trail and proclaims "the willows are nothing" should go off trail for a mile or so, then they too can develop the proper hatred of the willow.

We made it out of the swamp, then had to climb a few hundred feet to make it to the parking lot. It started to snow a little, and the view back toward Bierstadt and the Sawtooth looked ugly. We made it to the Jeep, and drove back out just as the rain started. It stopped before we left the Guanella Pass Rd, so I took the top down for the rest of the trip home. Next climb will be the Angel route on Mt Shavano, if I can get there before the snow melts out too much.