A Hard Won Summit

[Scott P]

Introduction

Kessler (my nine year old son) and I decided to make an attempt of Homestake Peak, a 13,209 feet (4025 meters) peak in the Northern Sawatch Range. It was going to be a practice trip for the Himalayas later this year, but due to poor snow conditions, the trip turned out to be more challenging than expected.




Slide Lake and Homestake Peak (left) on April 7 2012. Homestake Peak was a hard won summit!
April 6 2012

Since there were a few spaces left, we made a last minute reservation for the 10th Mountain Division Hut near Slide Lake and drove to the Tennessee Pass, starting up the trail at 2:30 PM. Due to the extreme drought conditions, snow conditions were terrible with much bare ground, mud, ice and crusty snow along with some weak sugar snow in some places (especially around the willows).

We had to take off and put back on our snowshoes on many occasions, which was a hindrance and the going was very slow where I would punch through the weak layer sugar snow and the ice was a struggle with snowshoes as well. It was very windy, but much of the route was protected by trees. We struggled for four hard hours to cover the 5.7 miles (9.2 kms) to the hut and were very glad when we first got sight of the hut.

The hut was supposed to be nearly full tonight (14 people), but it appeared that everyone else whom attempted to reach the hut had given up. We ended up having the hut all to ourselves. We cooked a dinner of salmon pasta and headed off to bed shortly after.




Kessler on the approach to the 10th Mountain Hut. Snow conditions were OK where the photo was taken, but dismal in other places.
April 7 2012

After a mostly windy night, we awoke to calmer conditions and a rather cool 0F (-18C). The cold front must have just gone through. The cold morning was actually a real blessing and the snow conditions were much better with the frozen snow. We could walk on top of it without snowshoes so there was no constantly switching between snowshoes and no snowshoes.

We set off to explore the Slide Lake Basin before climbing the peak. Slide Lake was a neat area and was interesting when frozen over. We found it easier to walk around the lake on the ice rather than in the willows with the sugar snow.




Exploring around Slide Lake.

After exploring the Slide Lake Basin (wandering around checking out various places), we headed to the Southeast Ridge of Homestake Peak for our attempt. We decided to make a steep and direct climb up to the ridge for some checking out of the snow conditions. I also wanted Kessler to practice some rope work on steep snow.




Kessler above Slide Lake.




Approaching the base of the steep climb up to the Southeast Ridge.

We found a steep and direct route and climbed up it to the ridgetop. The steepest section was 40 degrees, but I had to cut steps in places due to the hard snow. In other places the snow was perfect for climbing and kick stepping and we were glad to find out that it would have been fine for glissading as well.




Kessler nearing the Southeast Ridge crest.




View south from high on the Southeast Ridge of Homestake Peak. Mt Elbert, Colorado's highest peak is in the center background.

Once we were on the ridge, it was more or less a straight shot to the summit. We put on our snowshoes, but Kessler

[bowjunkie]

awesome Scott .....

[powderglut]

Nice job Scott and Kessler! Your son must have an amazing attitude to do these climbs at this age.

I've been very lucky to have some great snow conditions in this bowl. We've skied quite a few lines around Homestake.