I had another day of PTO to burn and figured I’d keep up the yearly tradition of heading to the Sawatch for a big slog to sort of say goodbye to summer. I didn’t really have anything specific in mind, just something reasonably accessible that would get me and the dog some exercise up on a long ridge line. After a few minutes of research I found something that fit the bill perfectly – a few TRs exist out there detailing what is loosely called the “Emma Burr Grand Slam”. Read more…
For a few years now the Ripsaw Ridge has been high on my list of must-do routes in the Gores. This iconic ridge run collects the ranked summits of C and G, in addition to several unranked sub-peaks between them. But even more important than all of that, the Ripsaw is “one hell of a ridge run” smack dab in the middle of one of my favorite areas in the state. With a fresh coat of snow falling in the Elk Range over the weekend, Rick, Steve, and I diverted our original plans for the day to a range we knew would be dry (thanks to our Gore guru friend, Mr. Chalk). Once we made this shift, it took all of two seconds to land on the Ripsaw as our new plan. Keep reading…
It took me 3 tries, but I finally was able to stand atop my nemesis peaks in the Gore Range and nab another 12er in the process. Peak Q Attempt #1: The TR can be found here but, long story short, a side trip up Keller before packing into Slate Lake is not recommended. This trip was also before Cooper’s Scrambles Book increased the popularity of the basin so I couldn’t find any resemblance of a trail beyond Upper Slate Lake. It was Gore bushwhacking at its purest. Keep reading…
This trip was 5 years in the making. Last time I tried for the Grand, my friend Glen and I headed up with 50% chance of weather, and what we got was 4 straight days of constant rain and thunder storms. There was maybe 1 or 2 solid hours of reprieve for 96 hours straight. To top it off, we had a bear encounter in the national forest around Shadow Mountain. We heard an agitated growl outside the tent in a thunder storm – Glen had his Glock 40 cal locked and loaded, myself a measely bottle of spray. We exited the tent, guns blazing and heard/saw the silhouette of a massive figure run in to the woods, followed by the crunching of trees. We took an uncollapsed tent, tied to roof and drove back to Denver dejected. We never even made it to Lupine Meadows TH. Keep reading…
