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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Topic Author's Reply - Dec 29, 2009 - 12:53pm PT
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I was following tracks from skiers who clearly had fat skis and full skins,
As they had taken the rise up to Jasper Lake, I cut southwest staying low in the wonderful U-shaped valley.
Having it all to myself, and basking in luxuriant solitude, I began the real work:
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Topic Author's Reply - Dec 29, 2009 - 12:54pm PT
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At 3:30 p.m. under windless clear skies, I managed my high point just before the sun dipped below the horizon:
I scurried a little bit higher along my aerie for a better portrait of Devils Thumb, 12,080+ feet:
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Topic Author's Reply - Dec 29, 2009 - 12:55pm PT
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Then hooked west and south,
Through the chilly environs overlooking Devils Thumb Pass, 11,747’:
Swinging through a short loop up there in single-digit temperatures:
Looking straight south toward skyscraper glacier:
A line Lisa and I climbed a few years back, in order to arrive at Skyscraper Peak on the left:
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Topic Author's Reply - Dec 29, 2009 - 12:57pm PT
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The return home … soft, cool and quiet:
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Peter Haan
Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
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Dec 29, 2009 - 01:16pm PT
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Tarfather, What With? I was expecting this tale to be illustrated... it is completely unclear what actually happened and there aren't any visuals. Please advise. This is one very confusing Western.
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Topic Author's Reply - Dec 29, 2009 - 01:19pm PT
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As I do not carry pencil and paper, the actual poems melt with the snows in springtime.
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perswig
climber
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Dec 29, 2009 - 07:56pm PT
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"As I do not carry pencil and paper, the actual poems melt with the snows in springtime."
That's very nice, Tar.
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 6, 2010 - 10:44pm PT
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Okay, back to it.
For my next trick, I’m going to spurt out pictures from 4 tours notable for their views.
These views overlook the kind of moderate alpine type stuff one might actually seek to climb.
Oriented on the map below, from left to right (south to north), are these Front Range tours:
1 Research Station/Niwot Ridge to Green Lakes Valley & Shoshoni Overlooks
2 Waldrop/CMC North to Blue Lake Cirque
3 St. Vrain Glacier Trail to Elk Tooth/Ogallala Cirque
4 Wild Basin to Mt Alice Cirque
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 6, 2010 - 10:45pm PT
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1) Research Station/Niwot Ridge to Green Lakes Valley & Shoshoni Overlooks
The first part, to look into Green Lakes Valley and those peaks, I accomplished on 02 01 2009.
The second bit, achieving the Niwot crest & Shoshone Overlook (my own name for it), I did a couple years ago.
 Starting Elevation, 9, 400 feet
Net Elevation Gain, 1, 800 feet
Round-Trip Mileage, 7.4 miles
Round-Trip Time, 4 hours
(Add another 1.5 miles, another thousand feet or so and another hour plus to get to the Shoshone Overlook)
Green arrows indicate sightlines:
The green dots separate the two vantage points,
The first one, overlooking Green Lakes Valley, is quite a bit more over the edge in fact....
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 6, 2010 - 10:46pm PT
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This tour starts not far from the Peak To Peak Highway,
Directly in front of the University of Colorado Mountain Research Station.
(one may alternately begin a bit earlier on the Sourdough Trail, just consult the map to figure out where/when to climb out of the sourdough to link them up; they don’t actually join)
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 6, 2010 - 10:46pm PT
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A lot of the elevation gain happens on the road,
But it’s nice that there are touring trails which detour from the road in three spots (first on the left, then twice on the right).
In any event, to really look in to Green Lakes Valley, you need to break below Niwot Ridge and contour…..
You can see the fence line demarcating the City of Boulder Silver Lake Watershed.
Don't cross over that...
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 6, 2010 - 10:47pm PT
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Getting a good view over the long ridge of Mount Albion,
And beyond into the Silver Lakes Valley, and the shoulder of South Arapaho Peak:
Mt Albion, 12,609 feet:
(illegal to approach or summit that pup)
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 6, 2010 - 10:48pm PT
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Starting to peer around the corner,
With Kiowa Peak dead ahead, and the crook'd crown of Navajo Peak up the drainage:
Kiowa, 13,276 feet:
(forbidden summit)
A little better positioning (and much colder hands) begin to reveal Navajo peak, on the left:
Navajo peak, 13,409 feet, catching a shimmer:
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SteveW
Trad climber
The state of confusion
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BEEUTIFULLLL!!!!!!!
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 6, 2010 - 11:09pm PT
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Thanks dude.
Glad you're enjoying the perspective!
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 6, 2010 - 11:10pm PT
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Here's what happens visually, on the right kind of day, if you head higher up onto the Niwot Ridge.
Parts of this are closed so consult the map accordingly....
Following the high points in that last pano,
from left to right,
Are Arikaree, Niwot Ridge proper occluding Navajo, then Apache, & Shoshoni peaks.
The magical Arikaree Pk, 13,150 feet:
Apache peak, 13,441 feet:
And finally, Shoshoni's southeast buttress:
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 6, 2010 - 11:13pm PT
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On another thread, Jello put in these lines and comment about Shoshoni’s buttress:
“On the left is a route I did with Steve Dieckoff. And on the right is the approximate line of a solo. Because we're looking obliquely, the lines are not very accurate”
Bobcat tracks out there, up there:
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 7, 2010 - 12:38pm PT
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2) Waldrop/CMC North to Blue Lake Cirque:
(number two out of a group of four, from the larger baker's dozen)
Destination Elevation, 11, 300 feet
Elevation Gain, 900 feet
Round-Trip Mileage, 10 miles
Round-Trip Time, 5+ hours
The relationship of the Niwot Ridge tour and the Blue Lake tour:
And the line of a handy summer cirque tour, encompassing a number of fine peaks:
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(those neato 3D illustrations are from Latitude 40 Maps: http://www.latitude40maps.com/);
(For a good look at the view afforded while scrambling along that entire ridge line in summer, go here):
http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.php?topic_id=481291
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The ski tour line into Blue Lake, primarily the summer trail, showing the three major peaks in the Blue Lake Cirque:
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 7, 2010 - 12:45pm PT
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The first half of these pictures, up to Mitchell Lake, were taken with Goat Boy on 01 04 2009.
The others, depicting Little Pawnee Pk’s rock faces, and the Blue Lake Cirque, were from a prior year with Tim Stich.
Open meadows along the Waldrop Trail:
Characteristic weather accosting the Continental Divide:
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