Icebreaker Tours 2017: An Introduction to Colorado

It is with great pleasure that I'm posting again to Ventures of Pluto!  In February of 2016, Noah and I took a week to explore mountains in the PNW, and we had such a blast that we decided to do it again this year.  This time we are taking two weeks, and we've started in Colorado.  Seeing as Noah is based in Denver at the moment, this was a convenient place to start.  This is also my first visit to Colorado, and thus quite a treat for me.

With our team name "Icebreaker Tours" in place, and with two weeks at our disposal this year, we decided to amp up the number of mountains to visit.  I wanted to try climbing a 14er, but dealing with altitude can be tricky for a guy coming from 200 feet above sea level in Maine.  I suggested that we try a mountain a bit shorter to perhaps give me a jump at getting used to altitude before jumping right into a 14er.

Noah's first 14er since moving to Colorado was Longs Peak, the highest mountain in Rocky Mountain NP, and I recall him sharing me the details of the upper route with great terror.  It's one of Colorado's hardest 14ers, and this immediately piqued my interest.  Noah and I agreed to climb Flattop Mountain (12,324'), and possibly Hallett Peak (12,713') if my lungs agreed.  This would be a bit more manageable than jumping right into Longs (14,259') the day after flying in.

We began from Bear Lake Trailhead in RMNP, elevation 9400', and caught the alpenglow from sunrise just as we were starting out.

The eastern flanks of Hallett Peak over Bear Lake

I certainly felt the elevation, even just driving up from Denver to the trailhead, which is 9000' above where I live.  I just took my time, remembered to breath frequently (this helps in normal situations as well), and to stay hydrated.

It wasn't long before the trees thinned and the views east appeared.

Shortly after, the trees on the eastern face of Flattop gave way to alpine scree, covered in snow and the occasional krummholz poking through.  Longs Peak dominated the southern view, shooting out of Glacier Gorge four thousand feet above.

Longs Peak (left) and Pagoda Mtn. (right)

The snowshoes came out for the alpine snowfield climb, as we followed some tracks upward.

Count Noah (Didgipelli) rocking the Rocky Mountains

I was beginning to notice that the hike to Flattop yields better and better views as you ascend, and there really aren't any boring parts of the climb.  We continued up the slope, the winds in our face.  I joked that this was actually helping my progress since it was forcing more oxygen into my lungs this way.  Forced induction, if you will.

Looking north

We spotted to snowboarders who had just climbed up a couloir from Emerald Lake (you'll see one of them headed back down in the photo below).  Looking around at the mountain features in this region shows just how steep and rugged they are here compared to in the northeast.

We passed 12,000', and the going was slow, but manageable if we took our breaks often enough.  Hallett Peak came into view as we rounded the back side of the ridge.  And to our surprise, we spotted a mountain goat just chilling on the rocks.

Hallett Peak and a mountain goat

Flattop Mountains and Hallett Peak are peaks along a cirque called Tyndall Gorge, and our hike brought us around the cirque from the north side around to Hallett on the south.  As the name indicated, Flattop is rather flat, and therefore hard to determine a "summit", but we figured we'd get to Tyndall Glacier and determine if I could make it further up to Hallett.

Noah approaching the edge of Tyndall Glacier

I had a case of summit fever, and with such a fantastic day, I decided I would go for the summit of Hallett, another 400' vertical, even if it took ten breaks to get there. We did it, and the view back toward Longs was spectacular.

Hillimanjaro on Hallett Peak!

At this point in time, it needs to be mentioned that I've now made it to a new highest mountain.  Hallett Peak takes the cake at 12,713', beating Humphrey's Peak AZ, the last record-holder at 12,635'.

Noah on Hallett Peak

The descent was initially great, knowing that the air is getting thicker with every step you take.  However, I think that the elevation was getting to me more than just having to take breaks to catch my breath all the time.  Headache and slight stomachache made the trek around the cirque less fun than it otherwise could have been.  At least the winds were to our back this time.

Noah brought me to the edge of the gorge to show me this sweet couloir that drops all the way down, framed by steep cliffs on either side.  You literally can't go wrong with views out in Colorado.  That's my one-day take on the area.

Noah's couloir show-and-tell

We descended quickly through the snowfield, though strong winds all day had left it all windswept and most new footprints were gone.  Some older ones stuck around, since they were compacted snow, the loose snow around it blows away, leaving the footprints pedestaled above the surface.

The slope was perfectly matched with the setting sun's angle, lighting up the blowing snow in a very cool way.

An early mountain sunset with blowing snow

Since we had deviated off trail a bit to take a more direct route up, and followed a different trajectory on the descent, we ended up a bit off course.  We had seen a few climbed further to the north and thought that we can exited the trees in that area.  We were mistaken, as we looked through pictures I had taken on the way up and determined we needed to be closer to the ridge near some rocky outcroppings. All was good and we found our old prints and shortly thereafter, the main trail back to Bear Lake.

Google Earth track and elevation profile

We made it back to the trailhead before sundown, albeit extremely hungry and our feet asking for mercy.

Hike Data
Miles hiked: 10.3

Time elapsed: 9.6 hours

Total ascent: 3430'