When I wrote my Ice Season wrapup post in late April this year, I commented that I probably wasn’t done climbing ice. And here we are, mid-June, still finding solid water ice in Colorado. I logged Day 47 of my ice season this past Sunday on Mount Evans (a.k.a. Mount Blue Sky), a 14er near Denver.

Evans boasts one unique feature: a road to the 14,267′ (4,350m) summit.

The benefits to this road are obvious:

• A shortcut to high-altitude climbing
• A much shorter approach than average for alpine climbs in the USA
• Less commitment if weather rolls in
• Sometimes you can see baby mountain goats

There is a fee to use the road and tourist crowds are an issue, but this venue still offers some of the most accessible alpinism in Colorado. After a Spring season spent doing long hiking or skiing approaches in Rocky Mountain National Park, this fossil-fueled day on Evans was a nice palate-cleanser.

The Climbs

On this climb I was joined by Marcos Mejia And Jay Thurston. Marcos had ferreted out that the routes were in condition and proposed the plan. We arrived at the Summit Lake parking lot around 6 a.m., and began our quick approach downhill towards upper Chicago Lake.

After a short delay to rescue an inexperienced hiker who had become lost and insecure on the snow and verglassed rock, we reached the base of a number of couloirs. We immediately spotted water ice in several, which set our spirits high, although the unsupportive snow leading up to the couloirs caused much grumbling as we frequently punched through the rain crust, postholing our way to the gullies.

First, we climbed Double Dragon (Right) (WI3, M3, Mod. snow), which sported a solid although too-brief section of water ice (WI3). We used the rope for two pitches, the ice section and a small mixed section above. This climb topped out on a ridge with a great view of the parking lot.

Following this, we downclimbed the adjacent couloir, the Double Dragon (Left) (M2, Mod. snow). This was steep enough to get your attention while unroped, but overall offered a direct way back down. There was a rock and ice step in the middle of this couloir which made for a somewhat spicy crux in reverse. A couple nice ice pillars were hanging out here.

After returning to the base of the couloirs, we worked our way climber’s left a couple gullies, and climbed another line in which we’d seen ice. This turned out to be Iration, which had really fun climbing with conditions around WI4, M3-M4. We used the rope for one longer pitch on this climb, and soloed the rest which was generally easy snow or very moderate mixed/ice. We left a fixed pin at the base of the ice pitch to facilitate a belay for future parties.

As we topped out on the third gully of the day, we heard thunder and were enveloped in clouds. Although getting caught in weather at this elevation would normally be a concern, we simply walked a few hundred meters to our car, and drove home.

~2,400′ vert at 12.5K elevation and we were back in time for lunch. A very civilized day.

Ambitious climbers could also connect any of these routes into the upper couloirs (such as The Snave or Crystal Couloir) on Evans for a full 14er summit.

Qualifiers

None of this climbing was exceptional – I would call these two-star routes on a four-star scale. We all had a great time climbing ice in Colorado in the middle of June, but for the most part these routes are snow couloirs with occasional ice or mixed steps. For a qualified climber who can handle this stuff solo, I think the area offers exceptional opportunity for high-volume training at altitude.

For gear, we brought 2x 10cm ice screw (red), half set of stoppers, half set of cams, two pins and six draws. A 50 meter rope was sufficient to belay the cruxes.

These routes are technically on Mount Spaulding. I say Mount Evans in the post for searchability and intelligibility because most people will refer to this area as Mount Evans.

The area offers some additional ice climbing, but much of it is ephemeral, forming only once every ten years or so, with access complicated by the closure of the road from October to June.