Winter Ascent of Mount Colvin

December 30, 2012

Katharina, Andy, Claudia, Steve, and I drove from the Rooster Comb Inn to the AMR parking lot a few minutes down the road in the early morning light. We hiked through the golf course carrying skis in our hands to the Lake Road gate where we strapped on our skis and started gliding up the road. At first we passed a couple groups of snowshoers, but while skiing is faster than walking, a group of skiers spends way too much time firkling so the snowshoers later passed us. We skied on to the end of the road and as far as we could up the last trail towards Fish Hawk Cliffs. When it got too steep, we switched to snowshoes and stashed our skis behind trees, except for Steve who left his twenty year old boards beside the trail in plain view as a decoy. We now climbed up the steep switchbacks towards Indian Head. The trail had been broken out with only a couple of inches of fresh snow filling in the tracks so the going was fairly easy. We passed Indian Head without stopping and then had to break trail towards the cliffs. On the descent we managed to lose the trail. Realizing this when we were stopped by thick brush, we back tracked and with a bit of scouting, regained the correct route. We stopped at Fish Hawk Cliffs to enjoy the view and take some photos. We continued on towards Nippletop trail, breaking the whole way. Fortunately this trail was broken and we quickly ascended to the Colvin junction where we took a lunch break. Now we had to break trail through fairly deep snow. It was quickly apparent from our rate of travel that Blake Peak, our original plan, was not going to be in the cards today. We slogged along, setting up a paceline taking 2-3 minute turns up front. Katja began to get very tired so for the last few hundred meters Andy and I ended up doing most of the trail breaking. The final scramble up to the summit was a rising traverse where a slip would carry you down a nasty chute so we unsheathed the axes for a couple moves and finally arrived on top of Mount Colvin. It was very blustery and cold we we spent only a few minutes enjoying the view and then descended to a more sheltered spot for a break. At the traverse I planted my axe, down climbed, and left it in for Katharina to use. She grabbed the axe, started down climbing, and had her snowshoes blow out. She also slid off the axe and as she slid towards the chute I braced my pole across chasm and caught her. Without further mishap we continued continued our descent. The going was much easier now thanks to the broken trail and gravity being on our side, so we motored along. We only met one other person who was climbing up in our track. Had another break at the Nippletop junction and then decided to go back via Fish Hawk Cliffs since we knew this trail was now broken and we wanted to get back to the skis before dark. Got to the cliffs just before sunset and then raced over to Indian head to catch it just in time. The wind was howling so we did not stay long and continued down to our skis. The coast back along lake road was in the dark but was a lot of fun as it was mostly downhill on an easy grade. In very little time we arrived back at the gatehouse, signed out, and then slogged our gear down the road back to the parking area. We switched off our headlamps along here and walked along under the starry sky. Finished the hike in just under ten hours. Will have to return for a winter ascent of Blake another day.

Skiing along Lake Road.