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 Ernie at the trail head (Click images for larger versions.) |
Hikers:
- Ernie Petrocine, Estes Park, Colorado
- Mike Molloy, Estes Park, Colorado
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It seems like after I did Longs Peak in August I couldn’t find the time to do very much hiking. With heavier business and life commitments, I also found little time for writing up trip reports for Mike’s Hikes, even when I did manage to find time to hike. My apologies to those who rely on Mike’s Hikes for their "fix" of RMNP hiking!
Ernie and I had only been out once this winter, up to Mills Lake with Dru. Ernie had just returned early from an attempt on the Boulder-Grand ski trip (2 nights, 3 days) and was ready to do a day trip. We decided on Sky Pond (we had attempted Sky Pond last year but ran out of daylight). Ernie had never been to Sky Pond in the winter.
 An excellent picture Ernie took. |
Ernie picked me up Sunday morning at 0800 and we headed into the Park to the Glacier Gorge Junction parking lot. We arrived a bit after 0830 and found the parking lot uncharacteristically empty. Though it was sunny and clear in Estes, at the trail head we had light partly sunny skies, light winds, snow flurries, and temps of about 27F. Pretty much ideal conditions!
 Going up the steep drainage/gorge just below the outlet of The Loch. |
It was almost 0900 by the time we got on the trail and we started up the familiar Drainage route. We paused briefly on the way up to open pit vents, drink water, and talk. Our initial pace was swift and we reached the top of the Drainage and the trail junctions back to Alberta Falls, Mills Lake, The Loch, and Lake Haiyaha.
We headed on up the trail to The Loch, ending up on the slightly higher summer trail instead of the Loch Vale drainage. Somewhere along the way, about the time the summer trail starts its switchbacks, we dropped down into the drainage as this is a more direct route in the winter.
 Ernie working his way up the drainage. |
The going got steeper and tougher, especially in the last quarter mile or so before you come up out of the dramatic little gorge below the Loch’s outlet. Snow conditions were excellent, with a couple of inches of new snow on the trail (although overall base is lower than normal for this time of year).
 Crossing The Loch. |
When we crested the gorge the winds picked up quite a bit. We took a water/snack break near the edge of the lake. During our break, we started talking about what we'd each give for the (hot) food of our choice. Ernie said something about $10 for a Big Mac, but I was hoping coffee was on his list since I had a Thermos of it in my pack I hadn't told him about. I said I'd give a dollar for a cup of chicken soup.
We then headed for the lake, but after going around a large drift, the wind really smacked us in the face. We went back to where we took a break and added another clothing layer, including wind pants. The temps had dropped to only about 22 degrees and the winds were probably 20-30mph.
We trudged across the frozen lake straight into the wind. It was blowing so hard we almost needed goggles in addition to the face masks we already had on. This was my first test of an Outdoor Research (OR) WindBloc-fleece face mask (covering the neck, chin, mouth and nose) and it worked amazingly well; highly recommended.
 On the trail just past The Loch. |
When we reached the other side of The Loch and got into the trees again, we were sheltered from the wind and it was much more comfortable. Now we were back on nice wide trails through the trees with occasional openings like the one on the picture at left. Very pretty. It was still another 2 miles or so to Timberline Falls, and the going was pretty steady climbing, but nothing difficult.
 Looking toward Timberline Falls. |
As we approached Timberline Falls, the going got very tough, partly because Ernie chose a more aggressive trail. At this point we were breaking our own trail, as almost no one had been up this far. Ernie did some impressive skiing on these difficult sections. Even with snowshoes, I was having trouble making it up and fell pretty far behind Ernie. At one point he backtracked to find me because I wasn't answering his yell (couldn't hear him over my own breathing and the winds).
 Looking back toward The Loch (center of picture). |
All day the weather and scenery combined to make dramatic viewing, but it just kept getting more and more awesome. Around every "corner" we had to stop to ooh, ahh, and wow.
 The extreme walls of the Loch Vale gorge were incredible. |
Soon, we reached Timberline Falls and it was difficult for me (but not for Ernie) to see what path we would take to get above it. The only person we'd seen on the trip, a guy coming down from spending two nights just below the Falls, told us he went up a chute to the right of the Falls, but that it was difficult enough that he removed (and left) his skis.
 This picture doesn't really convey the steepness and difficulty of the chute.
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Now, as we looked up the chute, I could see it would be very difficult. We paused for a break and a strategy session and took a few pictures, hoping to catch the icy blue color of the frozen falls. Just before we started up, Ernie said, "Mike, if I take my skis off here, would you slide them into the straps on my pack?" In all the winter trips with Ernie, I'd never seen him remove his skis (except to cross rocks once) because of difficult terrain, so I naively said, "You can ski that can't you?" He said he doubted it, but he'd try it, but he was sure no one had ever done it before (meaning no one was crazy enough to try it). The chute was just too rocky, steep and narrow to ski. Nevertheless, he sent me ahead and then started up on skis.
The Timberline Falls Chute Ernie starts up the chute.
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I got about 15 feet up and knew there was no way I could do this on snowshoes. I decided to take them off, strap them to my pack, and then toe-kick-step the rest of the way up. To make matters worse, there was ice underneath some of the snow in the chute. I figured Ernie would be removing his skis any second, but he kept working his way up, using brute strength and every technique he knew -- actually, he said he was inventing new ones!
I wish I'd had my video camera because these still photos really don't do his ascent up the chute justice. I stopped climbing just so I could watch. Ernie was grunting, stretching, panting, and contorting, but he was making progress.
He stopped once and said, "Mike, if I make it up on skis and you write a trip report, you've got to make it clear that I've got to be the first person of any color to ever ski up the Timberline Falls chute!" (The "any color" comment refers to the fact that Indians who lived in this area often were the first known humans to discover and climb the Park's mountains.)
Anyway, Ernie just continued to horse his way up the chute and I continue to watch and be amazed. After a lot of struggling we finally cleared the chute only to be battered with more snow-bearing wind and cold. The temps were back to about 20F and the winds were above 20mph. I put my snowshoes back on and a few steps later we reached Lake of Glass. We didn't pause much, just continued on across. I was kind of wishing I had some goggles with me. It's on my list now.
 On the other side of Lake of Glass looking back. |
The trail from Lake of Glass to Sky Pond wasn't difficult or far, except for the winds and visibility. The last little bit was steep and I went straight up it while Ernie traversed back and forth. I reached Sky Pond first, and Ernie joined me shortly. It was a little before 1430.
We stopped for a couple of pictures, realizing that the surrounding cliff walls were so dramatic they wouldn't come across well in our photos. There was some congratulating going on between us, but we were most interested in getting out of the wind and sitting down for a lunch break. We decided to head over to the far side (southwest) of the Pond and try to find a spot to rest.
| Sky Pond
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We found a spot in the snow and out of the wind so we unloaded our packs. Ernie got out his snow shovel and started digging a small trench so we could sit on kind of a bench on our pads.
After we got settled down, Ernie went back to his pack and pulled out a stove!! He'd hauled his old, but trusty Svea stove up the whole way. He got out fuel and began to fill/prime it. I got out the Colibri windproof lighter I'd gotten for Christmas. I tried to light it, but it wouldn't light. I had just about concluded the altitude (10,900ft) had rendered it useless and was about to put it away, totally disgusted with it. Then I remembered that I'd turned the flame adjustment all the way down. I turned it back up and it lit the first time. Not only lit, but stayed lit even in the wind. Ernie took it and seconds later I saw/heard a whoosh as he primed the stove.
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Once the stove was going, Ernie put a pot of snow on it to boil. I started to eat a Clif bar, but found it was frozen solid, something I hadn't seen before. The water in our bottles was getting pretty icy, too. Ernie fiddled around more with the stove and stuff from his pack and suddenly he handed me a cup of Lipton's (low-fat) Cup-of-Soup Cream of Chicken soup! I was amazed. I owed him a dollar now. Though cream of chicken isn't my favorite, it sure tasted good today, and made the coffee pale in comparison (although just having hot fluids was a treat). After he'd melted all the snow, we poured the warm water into his bottle so we'd have water to finish the trip.
Despite the hot soup, I was still getting a little cold from not moving, so I got up and stomped around for a bit. Not far from where we sat, I stepped in some slushy snow and Ernie noticed that we must be very near the inlet of Sky Pond. He'd also run into slush at the bottom of the trench he'd just dug.
A few minutes later we decided to head back down. We were running out of daylight and knew we would be cutting it close beating the darkness before reaching the car (sunset was at 1649). No big deal, we'd both packed headlamps, but I felt bad because I was obviously going to bust my 1600 return time.
 The Loch, as seen from Timberline Falls. |
We crossed Sky Pond, then reached Lake of Glass. At the top of the chute, we removed skis and snowshoes. Ernie told me just to hook my shoes over the tops of his skis, and we then carefully descended the chute. At the bottom, our gear went back on and after taking one more picture, we continued on down the trail.
We picked up the fresh trail of a snowshoer and followed that down. Before long we caught up to him and stopped to talk and then hiked down together to The Loch. I took his picture with my camera and with his. He was a friendly guy named Shawn (Sean?) from Tennessee, now living in Denver. We crossed The Loch and Ernie and I took a water break while Shawn continued on.
I was getting really tired. This was definitely the most strenuous winter trek I'd done. We headed on down with the light fading rapidly and the temps at about 20F. Even though we had less than a half-moon in the partly clear sky, it was enough to cast a faint shadow.
Finally, we reached the car in darkness at almost 1800. Since I hadn't brought a cell phone, we went up to Bear Lake and I used the emergency phone to ask the Park dispatcher to call home to say we were OK.
This was definitely the most awesome winter trip I've done so far. I slept like a rock that night!
