Little Bear/Blanca Traverse & Ellingwood
For about three months now Stu and I have been seriously considering a Grand Slam attempt on the Little Bear Group. We decided a week prior to the climb that this point in the summer seemed like a good time to go for it and our conflicting schedules dictated that it would have to be Monday the 16th. We departed Boulder at 10:00pm on Sunday the 15th and reached the Lake Como Road at 3:00am. We were able to drive to an elevation of 9,500 ft. (thanks to the 4-Runner), our official start time was 4:00am. The hike up the road revealed why exactly this is one of the nation‘s worst. Pretty amazing stuff. The hike to the trail turnoff was approximately three miles, we arrived at the cairned junction at 5:30am and began the southward ascent up Little Bear‘s west ridge. From the top of the west ridge the route cuts east across the ridgeline to the bottom of the hourglass. We basically stayed on or near the ridgecrest until we arrived at the hourglass. Keep reading…