Mt Democrat (14,148), Mt Lincoln (14,286), Mt Bross (14,172) by Brian Schultz Tuesday September 17, 1996
I stayed at the Fairplay Hotel last night after a fine day on Mt Bierstadt and woke early to a dark, cold morning. Light snow was falling as I drove up to Alma and the Kite Lake road. The road was decent for driving a regular car but not wanting to take a chance with the stream crossing, I parked right before it and sat in the dark watching the snow fall and wondering if I should even go for the trio of peaks today. I hadn't seen anyone else on the road and it felt eerie out here in the boonies. Finally as daylight broke, the skies revealed a heavily overcast cloud cover. The snow tapered off somewhat and then a Jeep with three occupants came up behind me- I wouldn't be alone after all.
My mind made up to hike, I threw on the pack and walked up the road to the lake. The three guys were eyeing the skies but indicated they were going for all three depending on the weather. At 6:30 I left the lake and followed the worn ruts to the mine above the lake, hoping to make Democrat first. The route avoided having to hike to the saddle and I went up to the ridge thinking I was close to the summit but was fooled. As I topped out here the summit could now be seen but it required a moderate jaunt to get there. Finally at 8:15 I stood on Democrat's summit. Although lighter, the sky was still very much overcast and the top of Lincoln was shrouded in cloud cover. At least it quit snowing.
Looking at the route to Cameron I figured I better get going. Getting to the saddle was easy enough on the way down but what a chore going up. At 9:30 I grunted to the top of Cameron and in very limited visibility kept to a good trail in the direction of Lincoln. Getting to Lincoln's summit was fun with a bit of climbing to get to the top. I couldn't see a thing when I got there at 10:00 so I left for Bross, worried about the dark clouds. When I descended to the other side of Cameron the sky started clearing and it was simply an easy walk to get to Bross, getting there at 11:00. The huge summit reminded me of Sherman and I took shelter in the combination windbreak-cairn to rest and eat. The wind was howling and I was now freezing as I sat there trying to make lunch.
I wanted to stay but it was just too cold so I departed on the West Slopes route and got back to the lake at 12:40. That seemed like good timing for the three and when I got back to the car the sun came out. Wouldn't you know it!
My itinerary included La Plata and Massive after these but a snowstorm in Leadville convinced me to call it quits and wait until next summer to resume. My peak count is 17.
Total hike time from lake to summits and back to lake- 6 hours 10 minutes