Mount Yale East Ridge
Okay after Monday Stu is down to 11 peaks remaining with 9 weeks of time before his permanent relocation. Since 6 of the 11 are located in the Sawatch, we decided to tick off another “easy” climb while these snow conditions persist: Mt. Yale. We decided to attack from the Avalanche Gulch side as the avy danger seemed to favor a wind-blown ridge, although turns out SarahT, Ken Nolan, and friends summited via the standard route the day before. I‘ve been on the lookout for my first 14er summit ski descent since December, and it turned out my disappointment would continue as we wound up making the last minute decision not to carry skis. Attempting the north-facing aspect of Silver Creek Bowl just didn’t seem prudent given the time of year and avy situation. I‘ll get one eventually though! Keep reading…
Well here we go . . . I‘m not even really sure where to start with this one. When we returned from South America two Sundays ago and I was driving home from DIA with my wife in the passenger seat, I remember thinking, “this will likely be the wildest story with my name it that I will ever tell.” From a myriad of logistical problems getting to the mountain, to losing my only partner two days into our climb, to joining a Brazilian expedition and then a rescue operation at 20,000‘, to being mugged in the streets of Mendoza and spending five days in a third-world hospital, to sitting and having coffee with a two time K2 summiter and veteran Himalayan guide, this one certainly had enough to write a short book about. 
A little sick of long drives to remote corners of Colorado, Ryan and I decided to continue our training on a mountain closer to Denver. Longs seemed perfect for the task. We decided on the North Face to mix up the climbing a bit and take another baby step towards Kieners (we‘re getting there). After a bit of research we discovered a gulley that starts at Chasm Lake and spits you out right at the base of the North Face; we thought it would make a great outing to link these routes together and descend the Keyhole, making for a full traverse of the mountain with Chasm Lake as the starting point. It turned out to be a great day, although very physically difficult. We departed from the TH at 6:00am on the dot, fully prepared for the -20 temps the weather service was calling for. We ascended above treeline as the sun was coming up, arriving at Chasm Junction roughly 2 hours after our departure.