Like this:

“Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take it’s place. If I quit, however, it lasts forever.” Lance Armstrong

• SUMMIT(s): Blanca Peak and Ellingwood Point
• SUMMIT ELEVATION(s): 14,345 feet and 14,042 feet
• TRAILHEAD: Como Lake
• ROUTE: Northwest Ridge
• ELEVATION GAIN: 6,400 feet
• ROUNDTRIP LENGTH: 15.6 miles (total)
• ROUNDTRIP TIME:  5 hours, 40 minutes (from Lake Como)
• CLIMBING PARTNER(S):  Charlie

I’m back… As I begin to write this entry I feel like it has been ages.  It has been a long time since my last hike and subsequently, my last write-up.  I guess I have taken an unplanned sabbatical due to winter.  Now that winter is technically over in the high country, although some of the mountains would still tell you differently, my climbing season has officially begun. To say I am stoked only mildly represents my excitement.  This excitement has been building up for months.

However, with my excitement comes a feeling of trepidation that begun to take hold a few weeks ago.  It is an odd sensation to feel enthusiasm and apprehension at the same time.  I was finding that as more time passed since I enjoyed my last hike of a 14er in Colorado, the more my confidence in myself decreased. I have found myself questioning if I was capable to overcome the challenge of hiking a 14er both physically and mentally. I was beginning to question if I was in good enough shape.  I wondered if I had the mental intensity necessary overcome the mountain and more importantly myself.  I have asked these questions of myself before as I stood at the base of an overpowering mountain, but here I was in my office asking them.  With the anxiety starting a few weeks ago, it really began to overpower the eagerness.  Deep down I believed I was capable, however, that didn’t seem to be enough.  If you have ever started to doubt yourself, you know exactly how I was feeling.  A big climb out of the starting gates just didn’t seem right. Hiking a familiar mountain that I had summited before seemed to be the logical choice in overcoming the self-doubt in my mind.  Therefore, I started with a proverbial peak that was easy and I could trust, Mount Bierstadt.  Successfully hiking it on June 25 reinvigorated the confidence I seemed to be lacking.  I considered this hike as my warm-up.  I learned that doubting myself may be a feeling I experience and the best way to overcome it is to fall upon a familiar experience of which I was successful before.

As you read this, this might not be how you expected me to start this entry.  It wasn’t how I anticipated starting it either. However, it is important to me to discuss my feelings prior to setting out on this journey.

With my confidence somewhat restored, I was invigorated to see Colorado from a new mountain peak; to experience a new area.  I became partial to the fact that the southern peaks of Colorado had much less snowpack than the remaining majority of Colorado; Blanca Peak and Ellingwood Point quickly became the chosen ones.  I have been drawn to them ever since my eyes observed the enormous Blanca Massif while on Kit Carson and Challenger Peak.  That experience was subsequently followed with Mount Lindsey, where I saw Blanca Peaks and Ellingwood Points impressive and formidable east face.  I also liked the idea of a hike that would allow me to reach two peaks in a single morning.  Finally, I enjoyed the idea of making this hike into a backpacking trip.  The detailed planning commenced.

Much of my detailed planning was focused on the hike in… the infamous Como Road.  Considered by many the most difficult 4WD road in Colorado, Como Road is intense. In my readings, I found at least one death on the road due to a 4-wheeling accident.  Along the road are the notorious locations referred to as “jaws”, which are wicked rock outcrops that only seasoned drivers with modified 4WD vehicles should navigate through.  For a hiker, Como Road requires a substantial amount of energy.  Many of the posts on 14ers.com spend a lot of time talking about this as a death march.  This was the part of the climb I was not looking forward too.

Blanca Peak is the fourth highest peak in Colorado and is the focal point of the Blanca Massif.  Its summit is situated at 14,345 feet and towers over the adjacent peaks of Ellingwood Point and Little Bear Peak.  The ridgeline connecting the peaks of the Blanca Massif to the Blanca Peak are impressive, which is an understatement for the beauty and awe of the connecting ridgelines.  At an elevation of 14,042 feet, Ellingwood Point is the 45 highest peak in Colorado.  It shyly sits north of the towering Blanca Peak, but this peak is not a cowardly peak. 

Charlie and I ventured towards the Blanca Massif on Friday, July 1^st.  We both took the day off from our respective jobs (especially since we both had earned it after putting in many hours leading up to this day) to beat the crowd, which is an inevitable part of the Colorado mountains on 4^th of  July that I am a culprit with. Taking the day off also provided us a casual start to our adventure in lieu of the typical 2:00 am start.   We left Denver at about 8:30 am.  This was a nice change of pace since the hikes we have completed in the past tended start ridiculously early.  The drive from Denver to the trailhead was easy and relaxing.  After a few stops and lunch at a small diner in Blanca, Colorado, we arrived at the start of Como Road at exactly 12:30 pm.  The journey really begins!

Como Road begins on the west side of the Blanca Massif, east of Alamosa, and south of the Great Sand Dunes National Park.   At its intersection with Colorado Highway 160, Como Road begins at an elevation of 8,000 feet and traverses 7.5 miles to Lake Como to an elevation of 11,750 feet.  At the beginning, the road quickly reveals to one that you are in the desert and near the Great Sand Dunes.  It was smooth, and gentle to my vehicle.  Within a mile, the once delicate sand quickly turned to a cobble hell.  At this point, most passenger cars and some SUV’s parked.  We pushed my Toyota Tundra another 1.2 miles before we decided to begin 5.3 mile trek to Lake Como on foot.  At an elevation of 8,200, we parked the truck and mobilized ourselves with our gear and backpacks.

At 1:00 pm, our hiking began.  I prepared myself for what was hyped up to be a dreadful hike.  Como Road from the beginning of where my first boot hit the ground lived up to this hype.  The road consisted of a cobble runway and hiking on this type of terrain is miserable.  Your footing is always being adjusted under the weight of yourself and a 30 pound backpack.   You are constantly sliding and for someone like me who has very high arches on their feet, this surface is brutally tough on the knees because your knees absorb most of the impact. 

Added to the surface is the continuous, unrelenting vertical gain of Como Road.  Going into the hike I recognized there was a lot of vertical gain just to get into camp.  In fact, we had 3,700 vertical feet from where we started to Lake Como.  I envisioned steep sections that had segments of flat terrain that would provide a reprieve.  To my misfortune, I was wrong.  The road was a consistent vertical nightmare. 

To add injury to insult, it was hot.  MUY CALIENTE!!!  Como Road provides no amnesty to the heat.  Shade is extremely hard to come by along the majority of the hike.  If I had any recommendation, I would advise against hiking this road in the heat of the day.  I was sweating with a 30 pound backpack weighing me down.  If I had any doubts going into this trip about my physical condition, it was all thrown out the window.

Charlie and I took short breaks and added one extended break near the stream crossing of Holbrook Creek. Along the way, I did find myself in awe of the miserable terrain.  I looked at some of the short sections referred to as “jaws” (Jaws 1, Jaws 2, Jaws 2.5, etc. identify the specific locations along the trail) in disbelief that people seriously overcame such horrendous terrain in a vehicle.  We were occasionally passed by the modified vehicles, which included Jeeps, modified trucks and ATV’s.  Our interaction with these vehicles was never timed correctly so that I could actually see the vehicle attempt any of the jaw segments so it left me to imagine only. 

At one point along the trail, a man and wife were making their way slowly up the road in what appeared to be a brand new 4-door Jeep Wrangler Rubicon.  His driving skills and her encouragement to just keep pushing forward fully demonstrated why they refer to the segments as Jaws.   This portion of road, even though it was not a jaws segment, was chewing up the undercarriage of his brand new vehicle.   It also reaffirmed that no portion of this road is easy.  

To our welcomed eyes, we arrived at the beautiful Lake Como at 4:30 pm.  It literally was a surprise to us as we crested the final segment of Como Road to find the smooth water surface of Lake Como with Little Bear Peak sitting in the background.  As we arrived, Lake Como was also alive.  There was a mixture of hikers and 4-wheelers abutting the serene water body.  Charlie and I evaluated our options at this point.  We both love backpacking because you can feel isolated and removed.  Camping next to the lake today appeared to defeat that purpose.  Although it was the perfect setting, we decided to continue forward and even further up in the basin because the isolation would be more precious to us.

We hiked approximately another 0.2 miles beyond Lake Como and gained 200 additional vertical feet to find the ideal setting to call camp.  At the end of the day, we hiked approximately 5.5 miles, gained approximately 3,900 feet, and overcame Como Road.  To put this portion of hiking into perspective, I have hiked 36 fourteeners going into this climb.  Of the 36, 15 of the 14ers have required less vertical gain than 3,900 feet to acquire the summit.  The difficulty of hiking Como Road has been more difficult than quite a few of the 14ers I have climbed.  To me, I find this stat a little staggering.  I also realized we still had approximately 2,500 feet of vertical elevation gain prior to reaching the summit of Blanca Peak and Ellingwood Point.

With our temporary home located, I unpacked my backpack to begin setting up camp.  I was amazed in how much gear a backpacking trip requires that I had to take a picture of it all.   Camp didn’t take long to set up and we filtered water from the stream to replenish our depleted quantities from the hike in.  After a needed moment of relaxation, Charlie prepped his signature backpacking dish comprising of summer sausage, hummus, cheese and tortillas all wrapped together.  Dinner was delicious.

Charlie and I enjoyed our isolation and moment of relaxation.  I spent some time teaching Charlie about my camera and how to adjust settings to obtain the creative shot one might envision but might not be able to acquire.  I could see his enthusiasm in learning photography and I was excited because it would be great to have another friend who not only loves to hike and climb but as well as a photographer.  Near sunset, we traveled back down to Lake Como where I was able to capture some incredible shots of Little Bear Peak reflected off of the still lake.  At this time we also met Mike and Sarah.  They climbed Little Bear earlier that day.  After exchanging pleasantries, I learned they hiked Mt. Bierstadt last year when I did.  The reason we knew was they described dressing up in crazy outfits and hiking Bierstadt with a keg for one of their friends finishing 14er.  I hiked the mountain with my future father-in-law that day and shared a Fat Tire with one of the hikers who had an empty cup on his way up.

Charlie and I retired at about 9:00 pm.

I woke up at 5:00 am on Saturday morning to begin brewing my necessary cup of coffee.  The beautiful crisp clean air of yesterday changed overnight to a hazy glow that smelled of a smoldering campfire. The winds shifted overnight causing the smoke from the ongoing fires in New Mexico to enter southern Colorado.  After resting a little longer, Charlie awoke and we were ready to begin the ascent at 6:15 am.  Our plan for the ascent was to summit Blanca Peak first followed by Ellingwood Point.  Our ascent up Blanca Peak would be the standard Northwest Route.  It is difficult Class II ascent along the ridgeline. From Blanca Peak, our plan was to traverse the ridgeline along the Class III route to Ellingwood Point.  We would then descend the standard route of Ellingwood Point back to camp.

From our start it didn’t take long before we were above treeline and staring at the formidable Little Beak Peak from its base.  It is a beautiful mountain.  I was now up close and personal with a mountain that truly intimidates me.  As we passed it, I kept finding myself looking up at it in wonder.  I would find myself admiring Little Bear Peak from every perspective throughout this entire hike.  There is something about that mountain that I respect like no other one that I have seen thus far.

From the base of Little Bear at approximately 12,000 feet, the trail passed Blue Lakes, which consisted of several small alpine lakes.  The trail through this portion was kind and a nice change from the consistently rigid Como Road of the day before.  Then at an elevation of 12,200 feet we stood at the base of a pristine waterfall that was vertically braided into the mountain.  From here, the trail continued to be defined but was more along a combination of talus and gravel.  We paralleled the waterfall on the hikers left and after approximately 300 vertical feet we stood on top of it.  Once on top of the waterfall, the terrain was again gradual as we passed a couple more small alpine lakes until we reached Crater Lake at 12,800 feet. 

Above Crater Lake and at approximately 13,000 feet lied a small headwall consisting of a series of fun ledges that we traversed.  We followed the trail in areas and made our own way up the mountain in others. Most of route was a Difficult Class II designation but we found a couple of locations where it was Class III.  Some of the ledges also acted as cascading waterfalls due to the summer melt that was actively occurring.

Once on top of the ledge, the view back down the valley was hindered with haze and smoke.  The view looking up the mountain was a talus minefield.  From here, we would try to follow cairns up the talus to the ridge.  This was one of those times where you kept your eyes on the destination, which was the ridge, and we just worked our way up the mountain since a trail was difficult to find.

We acquired the ridge at approximately 13,600 feet, a little lower than the standard route.  For the first time today, we could see Mount Lindsey to the east.  Her beauty was shrouded by the haze.  However, her silhouette was still beautiful.  From here, we would stay on the ridge the entire way to the summit, which I would highly recommend.  This portion of hiking typically involved Difficult Class II hiking on solid rock with a small segment of Class III climbing.  You can avoid the small segment of Class III by following the standard route that leaves the ridge near the summit.  However, staying on the ridge provided a little more excitement.

We arrived at the summit of Blanca Peak at 8:25 am.  The summit was quiet and alone.  She stands high.  I was amazed how it looked down upon the surrounding mountains including Ellingwood Point and Little Bear Peak.  The three ridges, which included the infamous Gash Ridge to the east, leading up to Blanca Peak were all mighty in their own way.  Charlie and I enjoyed the summit to ourselves. I was quite surprised that we would have the summit to ourselves considering it was 4^th of July weekend and a Saturday. I cherished the moment though.  However, to my disappointment, my view of the Crestones was essentially nonexistent due to the haze.

As its predecessors before, I celebrated on top of this 14er with my signature Fat Tire.  This mountain felt a little different than the others. I think the main reason was it has been several months since my last summit of a new 14er.  The time that passed made me savor the moment.  I was grateful for it.

Excited to reach another summit, Charlie and I left Blanca Peak a little after 8:40 am to begin our journey to Ellingwood Point.  The descent provided some great downward shots of the ridge and valley below.  We quickly descended and found ourselves nearing the saddle when the trail begins to descend below.  From our research, we knew that the trail would leave the ridge due to a large gully that would require Class V climbing if you remained on the ridge.  We downclimbed along a fairly well cairned trail.  At some point we lost the trail and were traversing above the actual route.  When we reached the gully we found ourselves needing to do some Class IV downclimbing.  I definitely need to get more comfortable with Class IV downclimbing as I found myself struggling with it and nervous. 

With the Class IV climbing completed, we were back on the route and below the gully.  From here, we would begin our ascent up to Ellingwood Point. Similar to Blanca Peak, we ascended along an undefined path up the southeast face to acquire the ridge once again.  This involved some easy Class III scrambling. 

We arrived back to the ridge north of the gully to begin our final push towards the summit.  On the ridge, we were now overlooking the intimidating east wall of Ellingwood Point.  This wall is at least a 1000 foot straight fall but it felt more like 2000 feet.  It made my stomach turn looking over the edge.  Once on the ridge, it was smooth hiking along a stable rock to the false summit.  Since we stayed on the ridge, we ended up having to downclimb from the false summit to then ascend to the actual summit. 

Charlie and I arrived on top of Ellingwood Point at 9:50 am.  Once again, we had the summit to ourselves.  At this point, the haze was beginning to decrease and we could see a defined outline of the Crestone’s, Humboldt, Kit Carson and Challenger Point in the far distance.  

Charlie and I relaxed on this summit.  We enjoyed a meal and the beautiful weather.  There was only a slight breeze on the summit, which cooled us down from the fairly intense sun.  I also enjoyed taking some photographs and my Fat Tire.

 

As I reflect on the summits I have visited, I realize that I spend very little time resting.  I get so excited that it is usually filled with taking everything in.  I love to document the summit so I take numerous photographs and some brief videos.  I am truly overcome with joy.  I would not change what I do on the summit because it has become invaluable to me. But I guess why I am writing this is that I realize I need to spend a little time just sitting there not doing anything.  That would be valuable to me as well.  If I don’t just sit, listen, and rid myself of “doing” things, then I might just miss something.  That is life for me right now.  I feel so busy doing things that I may be missing some vitally important lessons or I may be neglecting some vitally important relationships.  Sometimes being busy, such as with work, distracts me from more important things.  I am committing myself to making sure to find balance of getting things done while not neglecting the very important relationships in my life.

Charlie and I left the summit at approximately 10:25 am.  It was all downhill from here, although I and my knees really weren’t looking forward to over 6,000 feet of downhill hiking.  Coming down the standard route of Ellingwood Point was somewhat tedious due to the loose talus on its southern face.  We actually found ourselves reconnecting with the standard trail much further to the west than we anticipated.  Once reconnected with the shared trail, the hiking back down to camp was uneventful and quick.  We arrived back at our camp at just before noon.

It didn’t take long before we had broken down camp and were ready to make the long trek down Como Road.  At 1:00 pm, we left our camp to begin this trek.

In my opinion, the hike down Como Road was worse than its ascent.  On the descent, I was tried and worn from the ascent the day before and the climb during the morning.  The only reprieve was that we had shade due to the afternoon clouds that had begun to engulf the hazy blue sky.  Without overemphasizing the hike, on the way in I told Charlie that the hike along Como Road is often referred to as a death march.  On the way in, Charlie felt that those were some strong words to describe it.  As we took a short break about half way down our descent, I told Charlie that if someone were to give me an ultimatum of whether to reclimb this road today or death, I might likely choose death.  He agreed.  I guess that is the best way I can summarize it.  It is nasty.

We arrived back to my Tundra at 3:45 pm.   To both of us, seeing the truck was as beautiful as the view from the summit.  We were finished.  I actually forgot to take our finishing group shot outside of the truck when we arrived.  We decided we were too sore and tired to get out of the vehicle, so this was the first time I took this shot inside of a car.

In summary, the hike was perfect.  It was agonizing, yet rewarding.  It was scenic, yet nasty as you walked along Como Road.  It was invigorating, yet depleted me of the majority of my strength.  It was a great way to start the hiking and climbing season.

All Photographs property of Josh Duncan
copyright 2009-2011
All Rights Reserved
The unauthorized reproduction and usage of any image is strictly prohibited.

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