Climbers: hobo and tortoise
Location: Sawatch Range, CO, USA
Trailhead: Willis Gulch
Summit Objectives: Hope and Quail
Summit: Hope at 13933 ft
Starting Ele: 9200 ft
Ele. Gain: 4700 ft
Distance: 10.0 mile
Packed in via the Willis Gulch TH, Little Willis Gulch trail on Saturday, 16 May. Trail was dry and hot until past the Big/Little Willis trail junction. Knee- to hip-high drifts of soft, wet, sugar snow covered the trail at times beginning around 10,600ft (around the switchbacks in the trail) and increased in frequency and annoyingness to the lake at 11,800. The final 500-700 ft is a real slog.
Woke at 4:45am and climbing by 5:15am. The snow above the lake was nice and solid. We donned crampons above the rock bands and began our ascent of the couloir, which had great snow in it. We could see the remnants of the avy field referenced by a previous 14ers trip report, and the snow here seemed well consolidated. There wasn't much of a cornice above Hopeful. This was my first snow climb of this level of difficulty (rated "moderate" in most places I've seen) so I had a few moments of panic at the steepness. My wonderfully patient fiance helped me readjust my crampons and get into a rhythm with my ice axe technique to feel more comfortable. We decided to exit the main couloir above the first rock band and continue up the couloir just to the climber's left (NE), which seemed a bit less steep. By the time we gained the ridge at 8:30am, the snow was softening quite a bit. hobo on the ridge (with Belford and Oxford behind? Maybe?): Image #9 We then navigated a couple of talus blocks to gain Hope?s summit. The summit block is a surprisingly gentle walk up after all it took to get there! There is still a HUGE cornice hanging off of the main summit snow pack, with some awesomely scary icicles hanging down off of it.
We descended to Hope Pass, assessing each couloir for glissade-ability. Each one seemed a little too steep with not enough run out and a little too hard-packed snow for my (overdeveloped?) sense of safety. We got to the Pass at the saddle, and the snow field from there was great for a glissade, which we took all the way down to just above the lake. We then packed up camp and packed out. We were thinking of bagging Quail next door, but we had an appointment back in town we needed to be back for, and had run out of time. It gives us a great excuse to come back to this beautiful, pristine, quiet area!
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