Category Archives: Old Trip Reports, 2007

Pico de Orizaba: Our 2007 Finale

Ben December 31, 2007 No Comments

Stu and I climbed out of the taxi into the cultured alleys of Tlachichuca around 4pm on December 29, 2007. Stu handed the driver three thousand pesos and he was on his way, leaving the two of us to our own devices in yet another unfamiliar Mexican town. We had not spoken a lick of English to anyone except each other for five days now, and our money was running out. Stu and I carried one hundred and twenty pounds of clothing and mountaineering gear on our shoulders, and we made a point to never let it out of our sight. We dropped our bags on the curb to consider our options, a donkey toting a hay cart plodded past. Read more…

Longs Peak: Loft Route & Some Bonus 13ers

Ben July 29, 2007 No Comments

With my hiking partner Stu on a vacation in Yellowstone, I found myself sitting in Boulder, bored and anxious to do some hiking. I was flipping through the Longs Peak section of Roach‘s book and noticed the “Longs Grand Slam” which collects Longs and its four surrounding thirteeners. I have always wanted to summit Longs via the Loft route and I figured I could get some thirteeners along the way. I left Boulder at 3:00am on Sunday and arrived at the Longs Peak Ranger Station at 3:45, the parking lot was completely full as expected, I parked along the road and left the trailhead at 4:00am. The trail to the Chasm Lake turnoff was heavily populated, I passed probably fifty people along the three mile hike to the turnoff. Keep reading…

Little Bear/Blanca Traverse & Ellingwood

Ben July 16, 2007 1 Comment

Stu and I departed Boulder at 10:00pm on Sunday the 15th and reached the Lake Como Road at 3:00am. We were able to drive to an elevation of 9,500 ft. (thanks to the 4-Runner), our official start time was 4:00am. The hike up the road revealed why exactly this is one of the nation‘s worst. Pretty amazing stuff. The hike to the trail turnoff was approximately three miles, we arrived at the cairned junction at 5:30am and began the southward ascent up Little Bear‘s west ridge. From the top of the west ridge the route cuts east across the ridgeline to the bottom of the hourglass. We basically stayed on or near the ridge crest until we arrived at the hourglass. Keep reading…