Jun 26, 2008
This trip report began as brief notes to be sure I remembered the details. Unfortunately, I didn't finish all my notes while the trip was still fresh in my mind. I will publish these notes with two future goals in mind: take the trip to conclusion and possibly expand these brief notes.

Picked up Randy and Wild Mike at DIA.

Stopped at REI for last-minute supplies.

Drove into Rocky Mtn National Park on Fall River Road.

Campgrounds full, so stayed at Fawn Valley Inn at 2760 Fall River Road, just outside park entrance.

Next day, drove across Trail Ridge Road, stopping high above treeline to practice self-arresting techniques on snow fields.

Mtn Mike lost liner glove, found skull cap he didn't know he lost.

Drove out west side of Rocky Mtn Nat'l Park, over Berthoud Pass, and down to I-70.

Took Bakerville exit 221 south to Grays Peak Trailhead.

Set up camp and took a short hike on trail to about 12,000 feet.

Next day, Randy didn't feel well in morning due to altitude, but took medication and soon recovered.

Acclimation hike became a summit attempt on Grays Peak.

Reached the summit via standard route.

Descended to Grays-Torreys saddle, then began standard descent route to reach the top of a snow-filled gully.

Glissaded about 1,000 feet or so in two separate glissades, then hiked a short distance to reach the standard route.

Due to the snow, Randy's boots were soaked and his feet squished in water, since he hadn't waterproofed his boots before the trip. Drying Randy's boots and figuring out his best options for foot ware on Snowmass Mountain became a problem to be solved later.

Graupel fell soon after we rejoined the standard trail.

Descended along trail until we stopped for a quick break to adjust equipment. Talked to someone who was descending with his kids. He told us while the graupel was falling, they were higher on the mountain, feeling the definite charge of electricity in the air. The hair on a woman's small, short-haired dog had stood on end. We didn't waste any time resuming our descent.

Got back to camp and broke camp. Soon after descending, Wild Mike started feeling very ill. He had a severe headache and a bit of nausea. He had felt fine on top of the mountain and during most of the descent, so we weren't sure what was going on.

We drove back down the dirt road to I-70 and headed west toward Glenwood Springs. Our destination was somewhere fairly close to the small town of Snowmass, which is essentially a dot on the map.

Wild Mike was very still during the entire ride, since he was feeling very sick. Randy used his Blackberry to check on motel accommodations, securing a reservation in Carbondale. Unfortunately, he soon discovered the room was in Carbondale, IL, so he canceled that reservation and secured one in Carbondale, CO, which is about half way between Glenwood Springs and Snowmass on Colorado Hwy 82.

We checked into a Comfort Inn and Suites in Carbondale. Wild Mike suffered in the room while Randy and I unloaded just about everything we owned and brought it into the motel room. We needed to repack from scratch to separate our car-camping gear from the basic requirements for a 3-night backpacking trip into the mountains.

At some point, Wild Mike and Randy concluded that Wild Mike was suffering from severe dehydration. Our goal became one of ensuring that Wild Mike took in plenty of fluids. Wild Mike began to recover. He regained his appetite enough to order several items off the menu at Bella Mia, which was several miles down the road at El Jebel. We also ensured that Wild Mike consumed a lot of water with his meal.

The next morning, we checked out of the motel and went just up the street to Independence Run & Hike. Randy picked up some Nikwax Fabric and Leather waterproofing treatment. We headed to the restroom to wash Randy's somewhat dirty boots and apply the treatment. We were briefly interrupted by someone who actually needed to use the restroom, but we soon completed our task and began driving to the town of Snowmass, then to the trailhead near Snowmass Creek.

The weather began to look somewhat threatening as we finalized our gear at the trailhead. Our plan did not call for an early start, since we were only going to hike to the Snowmass Creek stream crossing on the first day, which was about 6 miles up the trail. We hefted our loaded packs onto our backs and started up the trail at 1:15 PM.

We made average time during the times we were moving, but we stopped fairly often to rest, check out the stream, and search for snow bridges and other potential crossing opportunities. Plus, we paused often for photo opportunities.

We knew there had been a snow bridge about a mile or so below the logjam. However, we didn't know exactly where it was nor if it would be in plain sight. When we began to cross some snow fields during our approach, we dropped our packs and spent close to 30 minutes exploring the area. In the end, it turned out that we hadn't reached the snow bridge yet, which was easy to see from the trail without any searching. According to the GPS, the snow bridge was at 10,109 feet at coordinates 39.14255 degrees north and 107.01249 degrees west.

Trip notes end here...to be continued in the not-too-distant future.

Snowmass Mountain Main Page

Trip Reports