Date: September 1, 2002
Elevation: 14,073'
Rank: 35th
Route: Rabbit Ridge, Grade II, Class 2, 13.5 miles, 5900ft vert.
GPS: N 38° 54.233' W 106° 17.816'
Team: Matt Esser (Toid), John, Daniel
Mt. Columbia Trip Report:
Pre-climb: A week ago I did the Decalibron, and my knee was still a little tired from the scree slope descent of Bross. However, it's not often that you get a three day weekend I guess, so I had to take advantage of it. After reading through Roach's guidebook, I chose Harvard and Columbia because it sounded like a pleasant hike and I had time to spare. So on Saturday, I took my time and headed west.
Climb: It was a wonderful afternoon hike in to Horn Fork Basin. I hadn't done an afternoon hike before, and I must say I really enjoyed it. I had a full pack on because my plan was to camp in the basin and then go for Harvard and Columbia the following day. I crossed the creek after 45 minutes, and then made it into camp a little after 2 hours. From my tent, I heard constant rockfall from Columbia, so I sat out and watched the hikers go down the scree most of the evening.
I woke up around 6:30am, and was ready to go by 6:45. I think this had to do with my lack of food. It suddenly dawned on me that 6 poptarts, 2 cliff bars and one snickers bar, was going to have to last me 2-3 days. At least I had plenty of water.
The entire way up Harvard, I kept thinking I saw the summit. First it's the two peaks that stick up behind Bear Lake, then you see the ridge which appears higher. No wonder back in the day some people who were trying to make Harvard the highest mountain in Colorado got the wrong peak! At about 13,700ft, I ran into four guys from Waco, Texas. These guys were a riot! Here's there story. They drove all the way up from Waco, then thought they could bag Harvard that NIGHT! They made it to where camping is at around 11,600ft before they decided to bunker down. The only thing is, they didn't have any shelter! They said they spent the night huddled together trying to stay warm, woke up 80 times a night to get up and walk around to warm up while they waited for the sun to rise. I know my thermometer showed about 40F out. That must have been a long night.
I continued with them up the last little bit to the summit of Harvard. It starts to get pretty steep towards the top, with the last little bit requiring a little hands on scrambling. We were taking breaks every 75ft of elevation gain, I could tell that I was getting up there in elevation. We were the only ones on the summit for a while, but since the guys didn't sleep, they thought now would be a good time. I truely enjoyed their company, and even though I wanted to give Columbia a go, I stayed with the Waco guys while they joked about everything from the trailhead being higher than anypoint in Texas, to their fear of being attacked by a bear while they slept. A little past an hour after we got to the summit, it started to become a pretty busy place. People who were doing it in one day were now making it to the top. They felt better and we decided that we all wanted to try the traverse across Rabbit Ridge to Columbia.
Remind me again that whenever Gerry Roach says the word "arduous" that he means every bit of it. He didn't waste space on paper with that word concerning this traverse. The traverse is over 2 miles and if you follow the ridge, you do some lower fifth class moves. About 30 minutes into the traverse the boys from Waco started noticing the effects of being above 14,000ft for the amount of time that they have been. I will leave out the details of what ensued for the next hour or so, but I will say that two of them dropped out halfway across. We started along the ridge, because it looked fun, but we got to the point where Roach points out that if you want to descend off the ridge before it gets really tough, now is the time to do it. We swallowed our pride and descended into the boulder filled gully. We got down to about 12,900ft when we found some cairns. This was tough work going down. The loose rock was not compatible for hiking. If I were to do the traverse again I would suck it up and stay on the ridge. Once we made it to the bottom we knew that at least we could go up now and not farther down. However the tricky part was traversing along the loose rock to gain the other ridge that leads up Columbia. Eventually we made our way to the Ridge more to the North of Rabbit Ridge. If you want more details about this traverse, email me and I will gladly explain, my feet get blisters just thinking about it.
After a long 5 hour traverse, we were on top of Columbia. The clouds looked heavy, and it was now afternoon, and we knew we could get hit at any moment. We didn't spend long on top, we ate the last of our food, drank the last of our water and headed down the newest worst scree slope ever. I don't even know how this thing is a route. It's more of "a way down". It's pure agony on your feet and knees after hiking all day long. Not fun at all. Frenchman Creek looked a million times better than what we were on. Ugg. I hate to not be happy when I'm in the mountains, but I have to admit this wasn't my idea of a good time. The traverse, while tiring, was at least enjoyable with the views and the effort it took. I don't mind a little hard work, I enjoy it, otherwise I wouldn't go climb, but that scree slope has me wondering what it's going to look like in a few years.
Back at camp, I quickly took off my shoes to access the damage. Not too bad, but not good either. I decided to sit it out another night instead of humping it all the way back to my car at the trailhead. I filtered some water from the creek, and went to bed early again. The next morning I felt all of the 5 hour traverse. It was hard for me to hike back down the trail with a full pack on. I made it back to my car and it was hard for me to push the pedals to drive home. Don't even get me started about how much it hurt to work the clutch in the traffic on I-70.
So you're probably wondering about whatever happened to those boys from Waco? Well, truth is, I'm not for sure. As we were going down the scree slope on Columbia, we were all at different paces. John, who was ahead of me, I told him how to get to my tent and meet me there whenever Daniel made it down (who was behind me). They never showed up. After checking the register at the bottom, it looks like they all signed out, and the two that cut out halfway across the ridge went to go sleep in the car so that when the other two got done, they would be ready to drive back to Texas.
Cliff Notes Version: The hike in to Horn Fork Basin was really pretty and relaxing. Not much elevation gain and on a nice trail. Heading up Harvard from the basin is misleading, Harvard doesn't rise up until you're almost there. The traverse is well-earned. Stay on the ridge if you can, otherwise you are going to be dropping down quite a bit, however both are doable. I'd say the ridge would almost be quicker. The descent off Columbia is a nightmare, and the hike out is once again enjoyable.
Pictures: (Click on picture for caption)
Time:
| Drive |
Ascent |
On Summit |
Traverse |
On Summit |
Descent |
Drive |
Total |
| 3.5 h |
5 h |
1.25 h |
5 h |
30 min |
3.25 h |
3.5 h |
15 h |
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