4/16/05 – Powell Peak, Taylor Peak & Otis Peak – West Slopes, South Slopes, West Slopes

14.7 miles, 5065'


A trip to climb Taylor Peak was something that's been on my mind since February. I reread Andy's SummitPost page and was intrigued by two things. First, the prospect of climbing the Andrews Glacier was enticing. Gerry Roach considers it to be the second easiest route to gain the Continental Divide (second to the Flattop Mountain Trail), and its steepness tops out somewhere around 20 degrees. I was envisioning some good practice with crampons and ice axe, considering Erin's and my very novice skill level on snow. Second was the attractive idea of climbing the peak that reigns over Sky Pond. A hike up Loch Vale to Sky Pond was one of the first I ever took in Colorado, and that day I never even dreamed I'd one day climb Taylor Peak, towering more than 2000' above the basin. We talked to Kurt Traskos about this climb back in February, and we set plans to go. Not even a day had passed before Erin injured her back, which kept us out of the high country for a couple months. Kurt was gracious enough to postpone climbing Taylor until she was feeling better again.

Fast-forwarding to April, while talking with Kurt about the coming weekend, he mentioned that because he's getting ready for the Rim-to-Rim-to-Rim at the Grand Canyon, he'd prefer to stay nearer to Denver. Taylor Peak immediately came to mind. Kurt needed a little convincing Friday night because a Wednesday afternoon 25-mile training hike for his trip had left his body aching. Kurt told me that hiking 25 miles on flat land was actually harder on his body than a 25-mile hike with elevation gain and loss. This seems counterintuitive, but he explained that by climbing and descending, you're using different muscles at different times, thus giving parts of your body a break. But a hike on flat land means that you're using the same muscles the entire time. Another thing to consider is that we climbers have our bodies well tuned for the rigors of gaining and losing elevation but not for hiking on flat land. I have to experience this for myself someday!

Kurt met us at our place at 4:30 Saturday morning. Erin drove us to the Bear Lake Trailhead where we loaded up our packs with snowshoes, crampons, and an ice axe. While we were getting ready, a car rolled up, and Kurt said he recognized Chris Junda's SUV. We went over to chat with him and his climbing partners for the day, Jerry Shustrin and Jon Frohlich. The three of them were climbing up Flattop Mountain and Hallett Peak. Once they went on their way, I realized that we were at the wrong trailhead and that we should have stopped at the Glacier Gorge junction a couple miles back. Happy to keep an extra mile off our feet, Erin drove us down to the correct trailhead, and we got started at around 7:00 with a view of Glacier Knobs and Thatchtop ahead.

We walked by the still tranquil Alberta Falls before entering Loch Vale. A few places on the trail were familiar to me, but on the whole, I was surprised at how little I remembered from Erin's and my hike to Sky Pond in the summer of 2000, such as the small canyon below The Loch. My best theory for this is that I had spent very little time in the mountains back then. With nothing in my history with which to compare these awesome sights, my memory apparently didn't retain them well. We reached The Loch and walked straight across on the ice, picking up the trail again on the other side. We kept our eyes open for the signs marking the turnoff for Andrews Glacier, but we never saw one, probably because we weren't technically on the trail. Fortunately, the broken track we were following veered north toward Andrews Creek and our route. Apparently the glacier is a more popular spring destination than Sky Pond and the upper Loch Vale.

We passed below the Zowie/Wham group of spires on Otis Peak's east ridge before we caught our first view of The Sharkstooth, an impressive spire of a 12er on a ridge protruding east from Taylor Peak (and yet another formation that I don't remember seeing in 2000!). We had reached the steep slope below Andrews Glacier, but the snow was perfect for kicking steps. We needed neither our snowshoes nor our crampons as I led the charge up the slope. After that, we quickly passed Andrews Tarn and started the climb up the glacier.

Andrews Glacier, as it turned out, would be too easy for the practice I had been hoping for. The slope is mellow, even more than the preceding slope, so we just hiked on up the snow, following a hump in the glacier for the 650' to the pass. We turned south here and started making our way up Taylor. We knew Taylor had a false summit, so we steered to the west to avoid it. Ironically, it was during this stretch that the postholing became tiresome, and we finally needed our snowshoes (and to think that without Erin's and Kurt's discouragement, I would have left my pair back at Andrews Tarn!). I had fallen behind Kurt and Erin's pace as they hiked toward the skyline. I didn't agree with their line, and I shouted, "Hey, you guys should start heading to the left!" They kept on in that direction while I contoured toward what I thought would be the saddle between Taylor and its false summit. I reached the skyline ridge while Erin and Kurt were reaching the same ridge a few hundred yards to the west. As we did, the view that opened to Ptarmigan Mountain and its trademark Ptarmigan Towers grabbed our attention.

At last we all caught our bearings. We were now due west of Taylor's summit, so all three of us had been confused by Taylor's gently undulating northwest slopes. Our error turned out to be a blessing in disguise, however. Because we had already effectively skirted Taylor's summit, Kurt and Erin had the bright idea that we should just continue straight on to Powell Peak. We knew that Powell, the 13er that lies on the Divide between Taylor and McHenrys Peak, was a possibility, but I wasn't counting on us making the traverse there and back, a 2.5-mile round-trip. Hiking to Powell first would certainly ensure we wouldn't wimp out and miss bagging two 13ers that afternoon! We picked a spot on Taylor's south ridge to drop our packs, and then we started the traverse. Along the way we were treated to some beautiful cornices that hung over precipitous drops, and we could now see Taylor Peak's full majesty. I relished the view down to Sky Pond, looking nothing like the crowded summer destination that I recalled. We agreed that it's been easy for us to forget just what a jewel we have in Rocky Mountain National Park, right in our backyards.

After a half-mile stretch of sidehilling, we started hiking directly up Powell Peak's west slopes. We ended up on the summit ridge a couple hundred yards north of the true summit, but I was glad we did, because our initial position provided a better perspective on magnificent McHenrys Peak and Chiefs Head Peak. The view of Longs from here was equally astonishing, giving us a good feel for the peak's massive summit block and also a look at the upper portions of the Cables Route in profile. Another pleasant surprise was the sheer southeast face of the Powell/Thatchtop ridge. We made the short traverse to the cairned summit, where we spent some time resting and enjoying the great views and fantastic weather.

We followed our track from Powell back to Taylor and watched ravens divebomb to eat the numerous dead butterflies that strangely littered the snow. We laughed at one raven who dove a little too forcefully and ended up with his head in the snow! Again we passed the corniced edge of the Powell/Taylor ridge, giving us glimpses across the void to The Sharkstooth. We took a short break when we picked up our packs. It would have been funny if someone had come across us! We were all lying down, flat on our backs, soaking up some rays. Adding to the heavenly moment was hearing the wind just inches from our heads but not feeling a lick of it. We reluctantly got up and made the 400' ascent up Taylor's south slopes, where we spent a relaxing twenty minutes. Mount Alice was another peak that we gazed upon that day, but we needed the map before we could identify it. I don't think any of us were aware that Alice has not just the distinctive face we can see from the Denver area, but another spectacular face, its northwest. We talked excitedly about the possibility of climbing Roach's 'Triple Crown' route that collects McHenry's, Chiefs Head, and Alice in a strenuous 18-mile/7000' day. While we made our way back down to the pass, I called Erin and Kurt toward me to check out the view from the saddle between Taylor and its north summit. Longs was framed by cliffs lining a huge gouge of a couloir. It's too bad it was impossible to take it all in with the camera!

Back at Andrews Pass we debated whether or not to climb Otis Peak. Certainly a loop hike – ascending the Flattop Mountain trail, summitting Hallett and Otis, and then glissading down Andrews Glacier – would be a blast, but we decided to make today a three-peak day. Again we dropped our packs, and because this route was south-facing, we ditched our snowshoes. The round-trip for Otis, including the summit stay, took us an hour. From Otis' summit we savored the views of The Sharkstooth, ever-present Longs, and Hallett.

At the pass once again, we hitched our gear to our packs and retrieved our ice axes for our descent. Erin and I hadn't been on a glissade for some time now, so it was a real kick to tear down Andrews Glacier and the steep slope below Andrews Tarn for a combined 1000'. After that, we were back in our snowshoes for the remainder of the hike. We watched the cliffs all around us with the afternoon sun painting them with yellows and oranges. Clouds had finally built up late in the day as we neared the trailhead, casting an eerie backdrop for the Hallett Peak's silhouette. We arrived back at the trailhead at 7:00, finishing the 12-hour day. Along the drive out of the Park, we passed great scores of elk in Moraine Park, and that got Erin in the mood to eat some! We stopped at The Grubsteak where she picked up an elkburger, and Kurt and I ate some passable pasta dishes. Erin's and my longest hike since October left us sore on Sunday, but it was the good kind, following one of those days you're going to remember for some time. Thanks to the Park for giving us such a nice spring day in the hills!