Challenger Pt. – North Slopes

Date: July 22, 2007
Elevation: 14,081′
Rank: 35th
Route: North Slopes, Grade II, Class 2+, 9.2 miles, 5220ft vert.
GPS: N 37° 58.8′ W 105° 36.36′
Team: Matt Esser (Toid), Rick Esser

Pre-climb: After arriving home from Humboldt at 1am, I woke up at 10am and quickly decided I was well enough to go meet my dad down in Poncha Springs to go climb Challenger and Kit Carson, or at least hike in to Willow Lake. After a huge traffic jam in Colorado Springs I didn’t meet my dad until 3:30pm. I ate a quick bite at Subway and then we were on our way to the city of Crestone. The clouds looked like they were up to something and sure enough, when we arrived at the trailhead hikers who were coming down off the mountain said they got hailed on.

Climb: The “4×4″ road to the Willow Lake trailhead is hardly a 4-wheel drive road. We saw a couple sedans at the trailhead. Since it was so late in the day, my dad and I were deciding if we should camp at the trailhead and hike it all the following day or hike in at least a little ways and summit the next. After getting some information from some hikers we decided that if we could find the campsite along the side of the trail halfway to the lake that’s where we would stop.

This trail doesn’t waste anytime gaining elevation! The switchbacks at the beginning of the hike in are very smooth and enjoyable. The view when you get to the top of the first set of them makes it worth it. There’s this gorgeous meadow below and one can finally see a good portion of the route to the lake.

Our light started fading and we were hoping to find a campsite soon when we finally arrived at camp. We had been hiking for two hours and relieved to have finally found a flat space to pitch a tent…trust us, there aren’t many.

We settled down for bed and quickly arose at 4am for summit day. We were on the trail by headlamp by 4:30am. We had very little problems navigating in the dark until we got to the first river crossing (well, not counting the one at the VERY beginning), we missed the cairn on the other side of the crossing and made a left up a gully. At the top of the gully we realized we probably should have crossed the river and this was DEFINITELY not the route! We downclimbed all the way back to the crossing and by now the sun was starting to rise and we could easily see our mistake. Take the right across the river!

After crossing one begins another huge set of switchbacks up to the area where we though the lake would be. Turns out, after reaching that ledge, you have to still hike a ways back in to get to the lake. There were quite a few downed trees over the trail, but at least the angle of ascent had eased a bit.

By 7:15am we were at the lake filtering water for the rest of our hike. Everybody else was waking up out of their tents and the air was much cooler by the lake. The weather looked good and was actually clearing to blue sky for the first time all weekend so I was excited.

Hiking around the lake we again climbed too high and had to downclimb a little back to where the trial actually crosses above to the waterfall. After crossing the top of the waterfall one can finally see the rest of the route. While things look very close and easy, the steep hike up Challenger is very deceiving!

We decided to hike closer to the snow gully instead of the rock rib further to the climbers right. By 11:00am we were very tired of hiking and had passed 13,000′ in elevation. The weather was holding out but many groups were turning around and headed back down without summiting. We decided to take a long break in the sun and see how we felt. Well, 30 minutes later we were still in a quandary as to what to do. We were so close to the top of Challenger but were also aware that the hardest climbing lay above us.

After some convincing from my dad, I decided to give it a try to see how far I got before I ran out of gas. He soon decided to follow me as he noticed me making headway up the slopes. But soon the grassy slopes turned completely to loose scree and he decided to call it a day. He turned on his radio and I continued on. I don’t mind going up scree as much as I hate coming down. After careful negotiating around some of the ledges, I reached an easier trail as it took me to the summit ridge. I thought I was going to be very close to the top of Challenger. Turns out there’s still a quarter-mile to go! Ugg! Well, I had climbed this far, I decided to continue on.

Along the ridge there is a serious dropoff to the south and I could now see the weather was deteriorating faster than I had previously thought. I reached the summit of Challenger at 1pm and quickly turned around and started making my way back. The clouds were moving in and thankfully somebody tied a red ribbon on where to turn back down the south side of the ridge because it feels unnatural to want to go that direction when you can look alllllll the way down to the waterfall back at Willow Lake. Kit Carson looked so close, and the avenue was free of snow…sigh, if only I had another two hours of time to work with.

As I started to descend the loose scree my dad could radio me and I told him I was on my way just making sure not to do anything stupid. Eventually I reached him but it was evident what the final summit push had done…it had worn me out.

More than anything my feet hurt from the steep angle and I still think my toenails are embedded in my boot from the descent down to the lake. This descent takes a long time coming down due to the loose rock and the angle. Please allow time for this descent.

As we arrived back at the top of the waterfall we filtered some more water for the hike out. I took a quick nap on the rocks but the weather moved in. As we were walking back to the lower side of the lake it started to rain and lighting all around us. At least we were in the cover of the trees. We sat out a little spell of rain under a rock and then decided we could be waiting all evening and needed to get back to our tent, over 2 miles away.

After what seemed like an eternity we made it back across the river crossings and back to our tent where we plopped down and took a nap for a little over an hour. It felt so good to relax and take the weight off my feet. However, light was not on our side and it was now pushing 9pm. We had been moving all day but had to pack up camp and get going.

We began the day in headlamps and so would we end it. As we were hiking out we could see lightning all around us glowing off the clouds in the distance which was pretty cool to watch. More importantly thought we were wanting to make it down before our headlights went dead. My dad’s headlamp went dead at camp so I was the only one left with a working headlamp. Our moods turned a little south as we grumbled our way in the dark back to the car, but were relieved to finally make it at 11pm. Ouch.

The drive home was horrendous as we were both flicking ourselves to stay awake and try and make it back to Denver. There is nothing open late at night until you get to Canyon City. Eventually we made it home around 4:30, 24 hours after starting out day. It was a very long day, the longest I had ever hiked time-wise.

Looking back, if we had an earlier start the first day, we could have made it into the lake which would have made the second day 5 hours less hiking which would have made it possible to reach out and grab Kit. It’s a beautiful hike no doubt, but Challenger’s steepness needs addressed and it reminded me of Columbia’s horrible descent back to Horn Fork Basin. I’m sure someday I’ll be back to get Kit, but at least that time I will know what I’m getting myself into.

Drive: 5.5h
Ascent: 10h 30min
Summit: 5 min
Descent: 7h 30min
Drive: 6h