This trip was certainly a learning experience and a test of all our skills! Mountain Forecast suggested partly cloudy skies on Sunday for our hike up to Lunch Counter, and then clear skies for an early morning summit push on Monday before thunderstorms were to roll in that afternoon. However, it rained/snowed/sleeted on us nearly the entire first day; visibility was low at times, and stopping for a break would quickly become painful as strong winds blew ice pellets in our faces. It took us 4.5 hours to make it up to Lunch Counter and find a suitable spot to camp. By the time we got there, the clouds started to burn off a bit and we got some sunny skies for an hour or two! The sheltered tent sites are easy to spot; we brought along a couple shovels to dig them out and to create a group kitchen. Beware that despite the ‘walls’ of the shelters, they do not provide much protection from strong winds, as we’d later find out. We had plenty of time to melt snow for everyone and eat dinner by 6:30, before a bedtime of 7PM. Before bed we went for a short stroll, and watched as the thick dark clouds we had watched form during dinner quickly rolled over us. By the time I fell asleep around 7:45, the winds had picked up and it was snowing/sleeting again. This would noisily continue throughout the night.
We woke up just after 2AM to find ourselves inside a cloud. Visibility wasn’t that great, but we could see enough, and we all had some form of GPS amongst the 7 climbers in our group, so felt confident in our ability to navigate our way up. We started up the mountain around 3:15AM, and it didn’t take long for us to climb out of the cloud hovering over the camps at Lunch Counter. There were partly cloudy skies and a bright moon to light our way up to Piker’s Peak, and a beautiful sunrise! The snow accumulation and wind the previous night made for some interesting surfaces on the steeper faces, with pockets of fresh powder interspersed with more crusty and icy patches. Very glad to have crampons and ice axes. The winds started to pick up as we crested over Piker’s Peak, and we only got a few glimpses of the true summit as clouds quickly blew over the mountain. At that time, the weather still looked pretty transient; we decided to make an attempt of the summit with a perceived window of decent visibility. Unfortunately, conditions worsened as we ascended, so we continued to check in as a group to see if we should continue on or turn around. We all felt confident in our navigation skills so chose to push on, despite the strong winds and declining visibility. Finally, after many pauses to check our GPS coordinates, we essentially made it to the summit (+/- 50 feet or so if you are going for the true highest point). It took us roughly 3.75 hours to make it to the top of Piker’s Peak, and 5 total to make it to the summit from Lunch Counter. On our descent, the winds really picked up, nearly blowing me over several times, and visibility was down to maybe 10 feet. We stuck close together and became even more conservative with our navigation. We passed a solo climber at the top of Piker’s Peak, who decided to continue on and follow our footprints to the summit, but nearly all other climbers we encountered on the descent were turning around. This was a good call, because I’ve never been in such poor visibility conditions. The white out was causing some strange vertigo feelings, and my mind kept playing tricks on me, thinking I was seeing cliffs or other formations, similar to how you ‘see’ things when deep inside a cave. I now completely understand how some people can walk right off a ridge and fall to their deaths during white-out conditions on a mountain. I’m very impressed and proud of how well our group navigated our way down!
We made it back down to Lunch Counter and our campsite in about 2.5 hours, only being able to do a couple glissades on the last section of the ridge up to Piker’s Peak. We saw a few other climbers glissading earlier, but we didn’t feel comfortable given the visibility conditions. Several skiers even downclimbed a bit before skiing back down to camp. When we arrived at our campsite, the wind had collapsed one of our tents, and was trying it’s hardest to do the same to the other 3 tents; packing up our gear was a little difficult in said conditions. We enjoyed lunch and celebratory snacks before heading back down to the trailhead. Lunch Counter back to the cars took us about another 2.25 hours; we were able to get a couple good glissades in on our way down :)
I’ve climbed this mountain twice before, once in July 2004, and again in August 2015. During those summer conditions, the climb up Piker’s Peak is very easy, as you essentially follow a well compacted boot ‘stair case’ to the summit. This climb was completely different, with no visible boot path and very icy conditions. I certainly would not attempt a summit of the mountain right now if you don’t have an ice axe, crampons, helmet, and good snow/ice travel and navigation skills. We did end up following the winter route up the mountain, and I think that way is safest for now. The trail is completely snow covered except maybe the first ¾ mile. The road is snow free, and just as gnarly as always. If you’ve never been on the road, drive slowly! There is really only room for one car at a time and it takes a bit of distance to navigate passing an oncoming car. The parking lot is almost completely snow free – there were a few small patches, some slush, and a lot of mud. Bathrooms were open and stocked with plenty of toilet paper, as were the bathrooms at Morrison Creek campground. Climb on!
PS - Check my Instagram story highlights for more pictures and some video of the conditions (link below)!
Trail: South Climb, Winter Route
Roundtrip: 13.4 miles as measured via Garmin
Start Time: 9:45AM, 5/26/2019
Moving Time: 14 hours, 20 minutes
Total Time: 29 hours
Finish Time: 2:45PM, 5/27/2019
Weather: 20-60F and a mixture of rain, sleet, snow, high winds, sun…you name it
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