Sierra

Sierra
Sierra

Thursday, July 19, 2012

Wednesday, 07/18/12 Mt. Bierstadt via Abyss Lake

17.51 miles/4,847 vert./8:40 (6:12 moving time) Garmin Data

We had an entire day to ourselves, so we got out for an awesome Tour de Bierstadt from the Abyss trailhead, up to Abyss Lake, to the summit of Bierstadt, then down the S. Ridge.  This was the first time the three of us have gotten out for a 14er in ~2.5 years, so it was like old times and we really had an amazing time.  Allison and Sierra did great on such a long day, especially considering neither of them had done anything like this in some time.

I'll let the pictures tell the rest of the story:









Abyss Lake

Black Hawk searching for an overdue climber.  Unfortunately, they found him on the West side of the ridge, as he had taken a fatal fall off the Sawtooth.











Our descent involved what I was sure would be an easy bushwhack (I had been through there before), but was severely complicated by a massive blowdown that happened over the Winter and affected much of Colorado.  Getting back to the trail in the valley involved a lot of zig zagging and tree hopping.