13,822' "Lackawanna"

January 31, 2021

13,822' "Lackawanna"

Hiking on wind blown ridge

Laura and I left Colorado Springs to climb a winter route on a peak we thought would be avalanche safe and avoid the well established slide paths of "Lackawanna". We opted to ascend the southeast ridge and then traverse along the upper ridge to reach the peak safely. We drove past the open gate on Independence Pass and parked along the road just a mile past the usual closure. We were moving around 9 am and hoped we would be in for a mellow day but that would not be the case. The first 1/2 mile was very slow as Laura was not feeling well and needed to stop several times to eat, drink and adjust clothing layers. I did my best to break trail through the snow so she would not have to exert extra energy early in the day. As we approached the steeper slopes, avalanche and signs of instability were abundant. Whoomphing and shooting cracks were heard and seen several times so we discussed a line that we both knew would avoid any possible avalanche terrain traps. We headed across some low angle snow slopes and then ascended a steep scree filled slope to a wind blown ridge. 

Final push to the summit

Following the ridge, we ended up almost directly east of the summit so we traversed across, ascended a class 3 section, sticking to rock bands as much as possible and finally reached the false summit of "Lackawanna". From the false summit it was a short walk across a rock field to reach the true summit at 13,822'. It had taken us almost 5 hours and both of us were tired. We were lucky to have a perfect winter weather day with sunshine and no wind so we enjoyed the summit for a few minutes before heading down. We descended to the west side of the snow filled avalanche gullies until we reached treeline. When we got to treeline, we chose gentle slopes and slogged through the snow, even setting a small avalanche - 1 or 2 feet wide - on a slope that was not steep enough to slide. We cautiously made our way to the car 1 1/2 hours after leaving the summit and were pleased to have had a fun experience on a mountain most do not seem to enjoy. 

On the summit!

Descent route

Back at the car!