Gary Fallesen, Jesse Fallesen and Jim Doenges, left to right, descend behind two other climbers as a ground blizzard sweeps across the west slopes of Bierstadt. (Photo by Shawn Dowd)
Mount Bierstadt
By Gary Fallesen
The lowlanders arrived in the Mile High City the evening of Thursday, Nov. 9 for a three-day weekend of training. They flew in from the shores of the Great Lakes for a Fourteener workout.
Welcome to Colorado's Front Range.
Five hours of snowshoeing in winter conditions at 10,000 feet in Rocky Mountain National Park on Friday, Nov. 10 helped them acclimatize for Mount Bierstadt.
But even a mid-October snowstorm in Buffalo and much of Western New York couldn't get them in a Rocky Mountain state of mind.
The easist way up 14,060-foot Bierstadt is the West Slopes Route starting at Guanella Pass. The trailhead is at about 11,500 feet, but climbers must descend to Scott Gomer Creek before beginning a 2,640-foot ascent in a little more than two miles.
There is a boardwalk now where the infamous “Bierstadt Willows” once ate up and spit out hikers and mountaineers alike. “Before the trail appeared, hardened mountaineers took the direct line toward the summit and bashed through the heart of the willows,” Gerry Roach wrote in his guidebook Colorado's Fourteeners. “Clever mountaineers attempted to find a lost trail through the south end of the willows and spent even more time thrashing around. ... People without a mission went a little way into the willows and returned to the pass!
“The willows are even bad in winter. Snow appears to cover them, but it is generally not consolidated and sets you up for a big letdown. Snowshoes help, but they do not solve the problem and often lead to some hysterical tableaux. Remember it is poor etiquette to laugh at the leader — your turn is next!”
There was no futile postholing for the lowlanders and their Colorado host on Saturday, Nov. 11. But there were 20-to-30-mph winds and a gust of 63 mph that previewed the blasts to come.
The group climbed about 1½ miles up Bierstadt's broad western slope to just below the shoulder to the south of the summit. The shoulder at 13,780 feet is only one-quarter mile from the top of Bierstadt. In summer, this is a stroll.
But, as Roach points out in his guidebook, “On winter climbs, keep the following facts in mind. Winters' strong west winds blow freely across Guanella Pass. ... Many parties become disoriented in whiteouts when returning across the flats near Scott Gomer Creek.”
Wrong turns often occur.
When the lowlanders turned around they were greeted by suddenly increasing winds, which blew consistently at 40 to 50 mph and gusted into the 70s causing a ground blizzard.
“At 13,600 feet a front, that was forcast to move in late in the day, arrived bringing with it winds over 70 mph and subzero temps creating a crazy ground blizzard,” photographer and first-time high-altitude mountaineer Shawn Dowd wrote on his blog site. “Time to get off the hill.”
Dowd had never been higher than the summit of another windy place, New Hampshire's 6,288-foot Mount Washington, before this quick western trip. His intro to thinner air was a breezy one that he and his fellow travelers thoroughly enjoyed.
Even with a mile-long, gradual climb out of the flats and back to the trailhead.
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