"The Window on the West" Rocky Mountain NP

note: There are breathtaking pictures from this trip, but hotels and internet cafes almost never allow uploads, so they'll be up when they're up...

Finally on Trail!!!!
I loved Rocky Mtn National Park--I loathed the conditions!
(well, at times I did; see "post-holing," below...)

While I can't share pics now, here's a re-cap:

mileage, elevation +/-, pinnacle: 30-35 mi; +/- 15,500'; 12,700' -east of Sharkstooth

conditions: snow, and lots of it, starting @ 9,000' Depth from 1-12' consistent on trail, drifts up to 20' The snowpack was in various states of melt, so coverage, depth and consistency were variable based on altitude, exposure, etc. Many backcountry trails were obscured or the paths were unsafe, necessitating off-trail travel/bushwacking. Unstable slopes/cornices made ascent of Long's Peak and Andrews/Ptarmigan Glaciers unsafe.

weather: sunny and 60's every day, warming quickly from clear nights in the high 20's, and chilling just as quickly in the evenings.

highlights: no question, the ascent of "the Gash" in Andrew's Cirque, up to the Continental Divide @ 12,700' i wish i could post this video!! Also, the high alpine scenery, including Lakes Odessa, Fern, Haiyaha and the Loch.

lowlights: post-holing!!!! A cool name for a horrible experience in which you plunge into soft, deep snowpack with each step, sometimes to the knee, sometimes to the groin. Hiking like this is obscenely taxing and occasionally you will plunge onto something hard, like a rock or log. Which your shins are really not happy about...

the lowdown: A fantastic start to the adventure; stunning alpine scenery, wildlife and a good challenge to various skills. As you may have surmised, conditions made for tough going at times. Backcountry skiers/snowshoers had given up the trails a few weeks ago, when the snow began to soften, and hikers were waiting for melt out.
This meant that as soon as i ventured further than 2-3 miles from a trailhead (where day-hikers had trod a good path,) I was the 1st person to travel a lot of these trails in a while. Which certainly was exciting, but also necessitated a lot of route finding and way more off-trail travel than i had anticipated (or desired!)
At times I could follow the path of the trail under the snow, but it was unstable or unsafe due to drifting, slope, runoff, etc. Other times, it was impossible to make out the trail at all. At these times, i looked for broken/trimmed branches, cleared deadfall or any other sign of a maintained trail. If i still couldn't follow the path, or it was unsafe, i needed to go off-trail and orient with map and compass. Not as hard as it sounds, at least not the orienteering part; the bushwacking is very taxing physically...
To choose a route, i oriented my map to the landscape, then triangulated my position using 2 bearings and my altimeter. Knowing where i was on the map, i could then study it to look for a spot where I could pick up the trail again, such as where it crests a ridge at a known altitude. I could then study the land to pick a safe (and hopefully, straightforward) route. However, the safest was rarely the easiest or shortest, and since safe trumps the other two, this meant lots of small (50-100') ascents and descents to reach my destination. And lots of appeals to higher powers, which clearly found sympathetic ears...Anyway, I'm here writing so i was never really lost! And it was pretty cool to be the guy in the middle of it, blazing trails. And when I exited the trailhead, I was beyond eager to share a trail report and conditions update when the ranger asked. So the conditions were tougher than i had anticipated, but I loved it, and it made the experience all the richer, especially day 4...
So my planned ascent of Ptarmigan Glacier, traverse of the Divide and descent of Andrew's Glacier was unsafe and unwise, mainly due to the danger of climbing under the cornices on the east side of the Divide. A cornice is a lip of snow that builds up over the winter on ridges, in the direction on prevailing winds (west to east.) Imagine an enormous wave, frozen in mid-break overhanging the valley. In this case, they appeared to extend about 50-60' over the ridge, which is a lot of snow. And when it is warm enough, it collapses and you don't want to be climbing under it when it does!
So to ascend the Divide, i needed a route that was mostly rock and stable snow. I found such a route in the "Gash," a series of couloirs that allowed me to, strenuously, ascend to the Divide at 12,700' from the tarn at 10, 500' The climb consisted mainly of kicking steps into stable snow for the 1st 1,500' then scrambling up rocks and talus for the final 700' to the top.
Seriously, i need this video up. The views from the top were awe-inspiring, stunning and many other things that words don't describe adequately. The descent was a ton of fun; as soon as i got to snow, i could glissade down, which is just a 2$ word for sliding down on your butt, using trekking poles to steer and brake. Some of my runs were very long!
On day 5 my legs hadn't recovered, even after a long morning in camp; after a short day hike, i returned to camp, packed up and made the trailhead before dark. This has allowed for 2 days in Denver to write, eat, shower, and do laundry--though not in that order. It has also allowed me time to research conditions in Weminuche and adjust accordingly.
Off to the next adventure tomorrow!