Carbonate Mtn (13,663), Cyclone Mtn (13,596), "Lo Carb" (13,591), Grizzly Mtn (13,708), Mt White (13,667), & UN 13712
July 24- July 27, 2007 by Brian Schultz
July 24: Backpack to Browns Lake
I departed from the Brown's Lake trailhead at 3:45 PM after driving straight in from Lexington, Nebraska. Hoping to beat the rains on the six mile backpack to the lake, good fortune was with me as the Colorado monsoon held off until I made the camp sites at 7:55. The rain began just after I set up camp. After eating and turning in, the effects of going from the flatlands and immediately overnighting at high elevation couldn't be avoided. From 10:00 PM to 2:00 AM, I was restless, nauseous, and light-headed but I did recover to get a few hours sleep.
My climbing itinerary for the morning would include four ranked bicentennials: Carbonate, Cyclone, Grizzly, Mamma, and unranked "Lo Carb". This was a pretty ambitious undertaking considering thunderstorms were in the forecast and Mamma would be a challenge even if the weather cooperated because of its additional distance.
July 25: Carbonate Mountain, Cyclone Mountain, "Lo Carb", Grizzly Mountain
I was awake at 5:45 AM and ready to go at 6:10. The morning was sunny and clear and I walked up the road just a short distance before crossing the creek and heading into the basin on Carbonate's east side. A manageable bushwhack through the willows commenced and I kept a contour below the unnamed point along Tabeguache's ridge. This turned out to be a slow process for my unacclimatized body and other than a few animal paths there was no trail. I lagged until reaching the 12,100 foot saddle between Carbonate and Tabeguache's unnamed point and from there plodded along up the ridge, finally arriving on Carbonate's summit at 9:35, nearly three and a half hours from camp.
With my slow pace and clouds beginning to fill the skies, I felt I'd be lucky to get Cyclone's summit today let alone Grizzly's. Mt Mamma was definitely out of the question. Warm wind-free weather made for a pleasant ten minute stay before I headed down Carbonate to Cyclone and as I arrived on Cyclone at 10:15, true to the predicted forecast, storm clouds were swirling. But my legs were feeling stronger and after a 25 minute fuel break I decided to continue along the ridge to unranked "Lo Carb" (elev 13,591), where I'd make the decision to either proceed to Grizzly or return to camp.
By the time I reached "Lo Carb", the clouds were less threatening, although still dark behind Grizzly. I went down the steep ridge staying mostly on the rough ridge top and being extra careful as the rocks were sharp. The route's difficulty was class 3 with one class 4 move but eased significantly upon reaching the saddle. The first rumble of thunder at 12:20 made me nervous but I continued on because I was close to the summit and there wasn't any lightning flashing. I arrived on Grizzly's summit at 12:35 but departed ten minutes later because the storm clouds were coming in fast.
At 1:50, high on the ridge above the saddle, I heard the rocks buzzing, something I'd never experienced before but knew exactly what it meant. I hit the deck. Hail began to pummel the entire area and I tossed my metal poles away from me, expecting lightning to crack at any second. I waited 25 minutes for the storm to move on while huddled on the exposed and unprotected ridge, wondering if lightning would strike, but I got lucky. It never even flashed.
With wet rock to contend with up the remainder of the ridge, I had to check all holds carefully, and once at "Low Carb", I descended into the basin on a contour that mostly avoided the willows all the way to the road. Arrival time back to camp, with several breaks along the way, was 5:15.
Climbing these bicentennial peaks from Browns Lake worked out well. The route I took can also pick up Cronin Peak, formerly North Carbonate, if one is inclined to add a centennial peak to the climb. There were seven entries in Carbonate's summit register, six in Cyclone's, and four in Grizzly's when I signed in.
Camp to Carbonate Mtn- 3 hours 25 minutes
Carbonate to Cyclone- 30 minutes
Cyclone to Grizzly- 1 hour 55 minutes
Grizzly to camp- 4 hours 30 minutes
Start to finish- 11 hours 5 minutes. Distance was about 9.5 miles to all three peaks and back.
July 26: Mt White
With just a short distance to Mt White from camp, I didn't feel the need to begin until 6:45 AM. The straightforward route follows the road to White's west slopes and once I reached the slopes, I simply picked my way up to the west summit, arriving at 9:45 under clear and sunny skies. This was an easy hike. The eastern summit wasn't far away so I headed over and to my surprise found a plastic mayo jar that Gerry and Jennifer Roach had placed on May 13, 2007. Gerry wrote in a small notebook that the eastern summit was higher according to his GPS, although just slightly. I went back and forth to both summits and interestingly, my GPS came up with the same results but I recommend anyone climbing White to tag both to make sure. With Gerry and Jennifer climbing Mt White and seeing their names in the other registers yesterday, I had to wonder if they're collaborating on another book, perhaps on the bicentennials.
I departed Mt White at 11:05 with storm clouds rapidly rolling in. I descended the same scree gully that my group used in 2001, when we climbed Mt Antero, and made a speedy boot ski descent to timberline. Thunder was rumbling at 12:10 and five minutes later it was hailing just like yesterday, but this time I felt much safer in the trees. Until I noticed that many of them were barren and perhaps had been struck by lightning in the past. Maybe it wasn't such a safe spot after all. Anyway, no lightning flashed, and in fifteen minutes I headed down under still threatening weather and arrived back to camp at 12:50.
I washed up by the creek and barely made it back to the tent before a storm poured rain for the next four hours. I spent most of that time trying to stay warm in my sleeping bag but after the rain quit I ventured out to talk to a fellow camper who'd climbed Mt Shavano with his church group. All eighteen in their group made the summit but the downpour obliged them to give up an attempt on Tabeguache.
Camp to Mt White- 3 hours
Mt White to camp- 1 hour 45 minutes
Start to finish- 6 hours 5 minutes
July 27: UN 13712
I began at 6:00 AM and took the same gully for Shavano and Tabeguache that I used in 2001. There's now a good use trail in the gully but it's still wickedly steep and loose. I didn't go all the way to the Tabeguache- UN 13712 saddle, instead I cut over to the UN 13712 slopes, started up its rocky ridge, and arrived on the summit at 8:45. Clear skies were welcome at the early hour and nice views abounded in all directions, and it was very cool to look directly down at my campsite and over to the peaks I'd climbed over the last two days. The summit register was completely shattered, probably by a lightning strike, and for the third straight day I had the summit to myself. Thirty minutes later I began my descent and had great fun boot-skiing the scree gully. I was back at camp at 10:45, and an hour later was packed and ready to leave Browns Lake.
I could really feel the strain of my overloaded backpack as I began the long trek out and, par for the course, when I reached the trail junction with the Colorado Trail I took the wrong turn and ended up at the Little Browns Creek trailhead. The cock-eyed sign at the junction threw me off but I should've been paying better attention. The extra mileage was all uphill and no fun with the heavy pack, and naturally, it started raining when I reached the Little Browns Creek trailhead. I cursed myself out loud for being so stupid, turned around, and was totally soaked when I arrived at my car at 3:15. A change into dry clothes and a late lunch at the Coyote Cantina in Johnson Village did wonders for me.
The skies stayed dark and rain continued into the afternoon. I was glad to get as many peaks in as I did under the monsoon conditions and looked forward to my upcoming day hikes.
Camp to UN 13712- 2 hours 45 minutes
UN 13712 to camp- 1 hour 45 minutes
Start to finish- 4 hours 45 minutes
Backpack from Browns Lake to Browns Lake trailhead- 4 hours 30 minutes