Thursday, 12/04/08 Bear Peak/S. Boulder Peak

7 miles
3,500 vertical

The Pikes Peak Ascent in August prepared me for this day and winter in general....

For some reason, I thought this would be fun in the snow. Fun?.... maybe, but difficult, slow and tedious would be better descriptions. The snow that fell/is falling during this storm is super light and fluffy and it was surprisingly deep at the Cragmoor TH and only got deeper as I went higher, ankle to shin deep most of the way.

I was only able to run the smoother section of Shanahan Trail, but aside from that, this outing was a careful hike. There were some faint footprints as I went up Fern, which helped marginally at times. Near the summit I bumped into Scott E's friend Kevin and we chatted for a bit, mostly about foot traction and what Scott might be up to. Kevin's tracks ended at the summit signpost, so I forged past to the summit. What seemed slippery yesterday, required full on undivided attention today as there was so much pillowy snow covering everything and I was on all 4 most of the time, a touch exciting I must say as I cleared snow to expose steps and ledges that I knew were hiding beneath.

The trip over to SBP was tedious to say the least, as the deep fluffy snow was always providing surprises. I just never knew whether or not I was going to step on solid ground, glance off a rock, or drop off a step. Crabwalking/crawling were frequent means of locomotion, along with some minor galumphing at the summit of SBP. Sierra hung in there like a trooper, she was even having an absolute blast. I took things very cautious on the way out, as the descent off Bear was very difficult, literally every step to every other step resulted in a stumble, slide, twist or near fall as all footprints were now long obliterated. The snow at the base of the slab was chest deep from all the mini spindrift avys collecting at the bottom, very interesting to walk through.

1:07 up Bear
1:29 SBP
2:38 total