The North Ridge of Democrat is one of Gerry Roach's "classic" climbs - a class 3 route on an otherwise ordinary peak. Democrat is usually climbed by the hordes from Kite Lake along with Lincoln and Bross. Like the West Ridge on Quandary, the best routes are often hidden.

I left Conifer at around 05:15 and drove to Alma and on to Park County 4 to Montgomery Reservoir. A chill was in the air, and it felt like a fall day. Fresh snow powdered Mount Silverheels, but I saw no other mountain in the area with any snow. I reached the other side of the reservoir and prepared to head up the 4x4 road with my Jeep.

I had heard this was a rough road but I didn't know just how rough. I figured I'd be able to manage it without airing down the tires or disconnecting the sway bars. I was wrong - almost right away, just before the buildings of Magnolia Mine, the challenge of the road met me head on. A sloped rock of smooth granite blocked easy passage on the road. The rock looked easy enough so I put it in 4 low, 1st gear, and hit the rock. No traction! Another try, different angle - same thing. And again, and again. All right, so this road is more serious than I thought. I aired down the tires to 20psi and disconnected the front sway bars, and climbed right up the rock. Squishy tires make all the difference! Disconnecting the front sway bars allows much more front suspension travel which helps keep all 4 wheels on the ground where they can provide traction.

I passed the mine buildings and within a half mile ran into another interesting obstacle, but cleared it with no problem. A mile past the reservoir and I encountered the crux of the road. A smooth granite step rising about 3' from the road had to be passed. An alternate route to the left looked just as bad, if not worse. This looked almost as bad as the obstacles on the Como Lake Road that I *hiked* over, having left the Jeep at a turnout. I didn't think there was any way I should try to get over something like that. I could have hiked the rest of the road but that would have added too much time to my trip, and I needed to get back home by early afternoon. What to do... I thought of turning back and heading over to Quandary and climbing the West Ridge. I turned around, then thought I should pose the Jeep by the obstacle that turned me back and get a picture. I backed up to the rock and let the Jeep crawl up a bit. It crawled so easily I thought maybe I should at least try it. I recently added a suspension lift to the Jeep and have yet to find its limits. I turned around, pointed the front at the rock and crawled right up! From this point the rest of the road was rough and rocky but I had passed the worst of it.

Just before the road crosses the creek from Wheeler Lake, I pulled off the road onto some rocks and started hiking at 07:40. This was 2.9 miles from the reservoir and about 11,680' in elevation. I guess 3000' rule purists can start farther down and enjoy the hike up the road... Roach's route crosses the creek then heads down a fainter 4x4 road toward an entry into the basin southeast of Traver Peak. The directions were right on, I found the road and made my way up toward the basin. One could drive part of this road but it would accomplish nothing much but to tear up the ground; in many places the road is overrun by lush grasses and flowers. Parking before the creek crossing is my recommendation.

As I did a climbing traverse into the basin, I saw a herd of 30-40 elk well below me and across the valley. Even though they were probably 1/4- 1/2 mile away I was evidently too close to them, and they started moving up valley. Unlike the mad goat of South Colony Lakes, these animals were wary of humans. Once in the basin, I wasn't sure how far to hike west before turning south and heading for the ridge, so I just started up just before an old shack. This worked okay, I followed the eastern crest of the ridge for a while before topping out at Point 13,460. I think the easier way would have been to continue west in the basin a bit longer before heading south.

Once on Point 13,460, Roach's directions worked pretty well. There are two deep notches separated by a shark fin tower. These notches can be seen from the basin below, and it's obvious they are the most difficult sections on the ridge. I dropped down from the ridge to the west and moved down to the level of the first notch. From here the route description says to scramble around the shark fin tower and climb into the second notch, which is capped by a chockstone. I saw that I could descend below the shark fin tower onto some scree and work my way around that way, but instead I climbed up above the level of the notch a little ways and traversed some interesting ledges. I think the climbing was more like class 4 here, or maybe even lower class 5. I distinguish class 5 from 4 by the need to use specialized climbing techniques, such as counterforce, stemming, etc. This was an exposed traverse and I was using some undercling holds to stay on the rock. Once around the shark fin I descended into the second notch and climbed up to the chockstone. I passed under the chockstone to the east side of the ridge, and squeezed through a hole onto the other side of the ridge above the chockstone. The exposure on the east side of the ridge is significant along this section.

Foto ©2002 by John C. Maki

Once on the ridge and past the two notches, most of the difficulties are over. I tried to stay glued to the ridge crest but at least once climbed up on an exposed 5th class tower and had to backtrack as there was no easy way down the south side. Easier terrain can almost always be found to the west of the ridge.

At about 13,700' I came across an old mine shack perched right below the ridge. The wrought nails used on the shack indicate that it is one of the older buildings in the area. I looked around at the goodies strewn on the rock below the shack and thought about the harsh conditions the miners of a hundred years ago had to face on a daily basis. From the shack an excellent "miner road" led up the slope below the ridge so I walked on that for a while.

Foto ©2002 by John C. Maki

I saw I was near the summit and figured my troubles were over - I could see a person maybe 100' feet away. Right below the summit the ridge becomes rough again, and this time the rock is not quite as solid as lower down. I had the option of climbing to the west and avoiding the towers but since this was the last difficult section I stuck to the ridge and climbed over the towers. Some of the granite was veined with quartzite, reminding me of the second part of the Kelso knife ridge. I scrambled up to the summit at 10:10.

Even though this was Tuesday the summit had 15-20 people on it. I think the recent re-opening of Pike National Forest brought them out in droves. About half of them were wearing jeans or cotton sweat pants, but the weather looked good for the time being. "It's a good day to be a Cottoneer", I mused to myself as I surveyed the clear skies to the west. Of course most of these people were just starting out on their trio of Democrat, Lincoln and Bross from Kite Lake, so that nice weather might not hold.

I sat on the summit for all of 5 minutes before jumping up and heading down toward the Democrat/Cameron saddle. I considered climbing up to Lincoln and back just for fun but then figured I would run out of water on the descent. When I reached the saddle I saw a scree trail run down into the basin to the north and headed down, leaving the crowds behind. When I reached the soft grassy slopes below the scree and talus I pulled off my boots to empty out the rocks and I lay there for a while, enjoying the beautiful surroundings and great weather. Of course, all good things must come to an end; dark clouds were moving in from the north, so I put my boots on and continued down the basin.

At the head of the basin was an outhouse, which was odd considering that the nearest miner shack was probably over 200 yards away. Guess that miner wanted to be able to take care of business in solitude. I hiked over to the miner shack down the basin, looked inside for a minute then traversed along on a faint path through the willows. I was hoping to hook up with that second road without too much willow-whacking. After some ups and downs and a little thrashing around, I made the road and reached the Jeep at 11:30. Another 40 minutes and I was off the rough road, after taking a couple pictures of the Jeep posing on the road crux.

          
Fotos ©2002 by John C. Maki

I ran through some hail on Kenosha Pass and heavy rain near Pine Junction, but it all cleared by the time I got home. The North Ridge of Democrat was all I hoped it would be: solid rock, exciting exposure, a nice short run that didn't take all day. If it weren't for the rough road I'd probably come back without hesitation.