5/23/04 – Pettingell Peak & "Hassell Peak" (UN 13,215') – East Slopes (descent via East Ridge), South Ridge

10.2 miles, 4030'


Pettingell Peak had stymied John Kirk and I back in December. We postholed all the way to Herman Lake, but nasty weather led us to turn back. Consequently, Pettingell had been atop our lists for a while, and it was time to have another go at it. This time Pettingell would grant us a fun snow climb, a great scramble down a ridge, another checkmark on the county highpoints list, and the chance to bag a bonus 13er.

John, Erin and I got started at 5:30 a.m., and after getting over some mishaps (I left my shell at home, John left his camera, my hydration pouch started to leak, and Erin slipped in an icy creek), we were on our way into Herman Gulch. The pink morning sky and great views of first light pouring over Mount Sniktau were early highlights. We dodged felled trees and other debris to pass the several notable avalanche chutes that have taken lives during the winter in recent years.

Our first look at Pettingell was breathtaking, and indeed, it was the first time any of us had laid eyes on it because poor visibility had denied John and I even one real view. We took the time to scope out our potential routes – the east slopes and the east ridge – before resuming our trek into the gulch. Views to our rear were just as captivating: here's one of Mount Bethel and one of Mount Edwards. The snow amidst the trees offered us no support and we were postholing already. It was nowhere near as bad as it was in December though, and we made good time to the lake. "The Citadel" commanded our attention for the entire approach. It'll be great to climb that peak someday!

From a small bench, we glissaded down to the icy lake's surface level. After a quick hike around to its north end, we were ready to begin the climb up Pettingell. We donned crampons for the initial climb out of the lake, and we enjoyed a great climb on easy snow. At the very end of our climb, we were starting to punch through the surface of the snow. This was happening at 7:30, so it's good to note the early exposure to the sun that this slope receives. We removed our crampons for the next few hundred feet which would be on talus. We came to a point where we couldn't decide whether to traverse west to the ridge crest or to make a more direct assault on the slopes under the peak. We opted for the direct approach. I had my ice axe out, so while I felt great kicking steps up the slope, John and Erin put their crampons back on for the climb. We topped out right next to a minor subsummit southwest of Pettingell. It took just a few more minutes to reach the top. Here's another picture of "The Citadel", this time from Pettingell's summit.

Now we had to decide whether to return down our ascent route or to attempt to descend Pettingell's east ridge, which we knew to be a third-class climb from Kane's SummitPost page. To have a chance at summitting neighboring "Hassell Peak", I knew we'd have to descend the east ridge. I convinced the others that we should at least check it out to see how it looks. The initial difficulty was negligible, and we made our way down a lot of the ridge without incident, passing a beautiful headwall along the way. We thought the hardest parts were behind us, but when the ridge stopped descending for the most part, things got more interesting, including a cool, snow knife-edge. I'm still cursing my camera for feeling to cold to take pictures during this section of the climb. After some hiking on the crest, we came upon a narrow section of the ridge. This portion of the climb is optional – it would be very easy to duck below it on the south side – but we were enjoying our scramble and stayed on the crest. Our ridge route culminated in a fun downclimb right before it mellowed out to a class 1 amble. We took a break atop Point 12,980 to eat, apply more sunblock, and enjoy the view back toward Pettingell.

The hike to "Hassell Peak" is about 2 miles, but only 550' round trip. You even get to use a section of the Continental Divide Trail, which goes right over its summit. Hassell's apex is the middle of the three points you can see from Pettingell's east ridge, even though the northernmost can appear to be higher (Erin and I ran over to this summit, from which it was clear that the middle one was higher). We made it to the summit at around 1:00 p.m. There was no register atop "Hassell" so I left behind a new one. Highlights from Hassell's summit include Bard Peak and the view back to Pettingell.

We hiked back to Point 12,980 and descended scree, talus, grass, and snow back to treeline. The postholing kind of sucked on the way back through the gulch, but it wasn't any worse than in the morning. We really liked going to a new area of Colorado. Even when it's right next to I-70, it can be amazing!