Who: Chad and Cydney Truby, Brad and Luke Hardin, Uncle Lu, Hannah and Myself
What: Climb Challenger and Kit Carson
When: June 10, 2018
Where: Sangre De Cristo Mountains, Rio Grande National Forest, Crestone, CO.
Why: "Because it's there"
Start time from Camp 5:10 a.m.
Summit Challenger via West Ridge. initially started up North Slopes (Standard) but could not comfortably cross Snow without gear...Look picture above...The Class 2 is the yellow line which we intended to climb. Instead we continued up the ridge to the right and found ourselves on Class 4 terrain.
Mileage to Challenger: 1.5 miles
Elevation Gain: 2550'
Summit at 9:30 a.m.
Took 45 minutes to Summit Kit Carson from Challenger.
Back down at camp by 2:30 p.m.
We descended the standard route down (yellow line)...it was a choss pile and the snow crossing made it very spicy without proper gear.
above the lake, making our way up the North Slope...Kit Carson is Peak ahead.
Ascending the scree fields of the North Slope. Total choss pile. Route finding is difficult and cairns were not obvious. We chose to avoid snow field on the ascent and we followed a different route by accident...
We continued up to the right and it put us on the West Ridge Variation...we had no idea what to expect. So our adventure quickly became a real adventure!
On the backside of the West Ridge...the terrain is class 4, with exposure. The rock is super solid. What made the climb more spicy were the strong wind gusts from below...
After scrambling class 4 terrain...it eases back up and regains the standard route at the notch.
We summited Challenger Point at 9:30 a.m.
Brad, Lu, and I decided to go bag Kit Carson next...the avenue was in great shape and we avoided the snow. What's mentally challenging about this route is you have to descend 200' to reach the avenue...regain the 200', drop down another several hundred feet to start on the backside of Kit Carson...
Here's a good pic of our route up Kit Carson...I will say, although Kit Carson is Class 3, it was much easier than the North Slopes of Challenger...
We summited Kit Carson 45 minutes later...
Just a little reminder if you will...
We chose to descend the standard route back down Challenger. In my opinion this made for the most difficulty today. The rock quality is terrible, we crossed a couple small snow sections that were not solid (some post holing), and the lurking fear of rock slides were ever present...In addition the wind was howling on this side and it made for an uncomfortable descent.
We were back down at camp by 2:30 pm. The day took longer than expected...with route finding, loose rock, wind, etc...it made the climb more difficult than I was expecting. I will admit, I underestimated this climb...
Back at camp, we ate lunch, packed up...and started hiking 4.5 miles back to the cars. We were back at the car by 6-7 p.m. For hose who climbed the 14ers, this day was a 14 hour day! Simply exhausting.
We stopped in Crestone Brewing for brews and dinner...we shared stories of the two days in the mountains, enjoyed each others company, and were grateful we were all down safely.
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