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Mt Holy Cross June 2006 - Two weekends ago Jack put together a small group to backpack into Mt. Holy Cross and climb the Cross Couloir Sunday morning. Julie and Marie came along for the backpacking, and at least Julie was under the impression it was a straightforward walk to Lake Patricia, our camp for the night. I guess I'm not completely sure what Marie was expecting on the first day, but it was clearly a more difficult walk than she expected.
It was more difficult than any of us expected, and in hindsight we learned that the way to get from Half Moon Pass to Lake Patricia is to contour along the slope, following a slight trail and occasional cairns. Eventually this route will take you down a forested slope through the cliff band above Lake Patricia. We know all this now, but it's not the route we took in.
We dropped low to the creek and got lost plenty of times trying to find the route up the creek to Lake Patricia. When we actually were on route, the going was quite slow. Julie did not like the creek crossings or the snow crossings while Marie did not like the rock scrambling. We were happy and tired when we arrived at a good camping spot above Lake Patricia.
The next morning at 5 the pattern continued. We quickly got lost making our way from Lake Patricia to treeline. Above treeline things went more quickly, but we couldn't find the Cross Couloir. It's cliffy at the bottom, and we mistakenly went to the far side of Bowl of Tears like one of our guidebooks suggested. We weren't the only ones lost on the side of the Mt. Holy Cross that morning. Wandering around looking for the couloir I saw two other folks below me. I waited for them to ask where to go, but there were as clueless as we were. We actually led them to the coulior, but they weren't convinced it was the correct one!
For all our effort and being lost the climb went quickly. The snow isn't steep, and it was softer than we hoped for since we were later than planned. From the summit thankfully things went smoothly. The descent route was straightforward (though a bit slow). From the summit we scoped out a route back to Half Moon Pass and that proceeded without a hitch. Everyone was much happier with our route out than with our route in.
This weekend was definitely the kind of trip that would go much more smoothly with someone who knew where they were going.

Tags:   Jack id_node_id_55486 id_perms_bryan_public id_album_56236

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This photo appeared in the following ideotrope albums:

Mt Holy Cross June 2006 - Two weekends ago Jack put together a small group to backpack into Mt. Holy Cross and climb the Cross Couloir Sunday morning. Julie and Marie came along for the backpacking, and at least Julie was under the impression it was a straightforward walk to Lake Patricia, our camp for the night. I guess I'm not completely sure what Marie was expecting on the first day, but it was clearly a more difficult walk than she expected.
It was more difficult than any of us expected, and in hindsight we learned that the way to get from Half Moon Pass to Lake Patricia is to contour along the slope, following a slight trail and occasional cairns. Eventually this route will take you down a forested slope through the cliff band above Lake Patricia. We know all this now, but it's not the route we took in.
We dropped low to the creek and got lost plenty of times trying to find the route up the creek to Lake Patricia. When we actually were on route, the going was quite slow. Julie did not like the creek crossings or the snow crossings while Marie did not like the rock scrambling. We were happy and tired when we arrived at a good camping spot above Lake Patricia.
The next morning at 5 the pattern continued. We quickly got lost making our way from Lake Patricia to treeline. Above treeline things went more quickly, but we couldn't find the Cross Couloir. It's cliffy at the bottom, and we mistakenly went to the far side of Bowl of Tears like one of our guidebooks suggested. We weren't the only ones lost on the side of the Mt. Holy Cross that morning. Wandering around looking for the couloir I saw two other folks below me. I waited for them to ask where to go, but there were as clueless as we were. We actually led them to the coulior, but they weren't convinced it was the correct one!
For all our effort and being lost the climb went quickly. The snow isn't steep, and it was softer than we hoped for since we were later than planned. From the summit thankfully things went smoothly. The descent route was straightforward (though a bit slow). From the summit we scoped out a route back to Half Moon Pass and that proceeded without a hitch. Everyone was much happier with our route out than with our route in.
This weekend was definitely the kind of trip that would go much more smoothly with someone who knew where they were going.

Tags:   Jack Marie Seth Kristin Julie id_node_id_55487 id_perms_bryan_public id_album_56236

© All Rights Reserved

This photo appeared in the following ideotrope albums:

Mt Holy Cross June 2006 - Two weekends ago Jack put together a small group to backpack into Mt. Holy Cross and climb the Cross Couloir Sunday morning. Julie and Marie came along for the backpacking, and at least Julie was under the impression it was a straightforward walk to Lake Patricia, our camp for the night. I guess I'm not completely sure what Marie was expecting on the first day, but it was clearly a more difficult walk than she expected.
It was more difficult than any of us expected, and in hindsight we learned that the way to get from Half Moon Pass to Lake Patricia is to contour along the slope, following a slight trail and occasional cairns. Eventually this route will take you down a forested slope through the cliff band above Lake Patricia. We know all this now, but it's not the route we took in.
We dropped low to the creek and got lost plenty of times trying to find the route up the creek to Lake Patricia. When we actually were on route, the going was quite slow. Julie did not like the creek crossings or the snow crossings while Marie did not like the rock scrambling. We were happy and tired when we arrived at a good camping spot above Lake Patricia.
The next morning at 5 the pattern continued. We quickly got lost making our way from Lake Patricia to treeline. Above treeline things went more quickly, but we couldn't find the Cross Couloir. It's cliffy at the bottom, and we mistakenly went to the far side of Bowl of Tears like one of our guidebooks suggested. We weren't the only ones lost on the side of the Mt. Holy Cross that morning. Wandering around looking for the couloir I saw two other folks below me. I waited for them to ask where to go, but there were as clueless as we were. We actually led them to the coulior, but they weren't convinced it was the correct one!
For all our effort and being lost the climb went quickly. The snow isn't steep, and it was softer than we hoped for since we were later than planned. From the summit thankfully things went smoothly. The descent route was straightforward (though a bit slow). From the summit we scoped out a route back to Half Moon Pass and that proceeded without a hitch. Everyone was much happier with our route out than with our route in.
This weekend was definitely the kind of trip that would go much more smoothly with someone who knew where they were going.

Tags:   Julie id_node_id_55488 id_perms_bryan_public id_album_56236

© All Rights Reserved

This photo appeared in the following ideotrope albums:

Mt Holy Cross June 2006 - Two weekends ago Jack put together a small group to backpack into Mt. Holy Cross and climb the Cross Couloir Sunday morning. Julie and Marie came along for the backpacking, and at least Julie was under the impression it was a straightforward walk to Lake Patricia, our camp for the night. I guess I'm not completely sure what Marie was expecting on the first day, but it was clearly a more difficult walk than she expected.
It was more difficult than any of us expected, and in hindsight we learned that the way to get from Half Moon Pass to Lake Patricia is to contour along the slope, following a slight trail and occasional cairns. Eventually this route will take you down a forested slope through the cliff band above Lake Patricia. We know all this now, but it's not the route we took in.
We dropped low to the creek and got lost plenty of times trying to find the route up the creek to Lake Patricia. When we actually were on route, the going was quite slow. Julie did not like the creek crossings or the snow crossings while Marie did not like the rock scrambling. We were happy and tired when we arrived at a good camping spot above Lake Patricia.
The next morning at 5 the pattern continued. We quickly got lost making our way from Lake Patricia to treeline. Above treeline things went more quickly, but we couldn't find the Cross Couloir. It's cliffy at the bottom, and we mistakenly went to the far side of Bowl of Tears like one of our guidebooks suggested. We weren't the only ones lost on the side of the Mt. Holy Cross that morning. Wandering around looking for the couloir I saw two other folks below me. I waited for them to ask where to go, but there were as clueless as we were. We actually led them to the coulior, but they weren't convinced it was the correct one!
For all our effort and being lost the climb went quickly. The snow isn't steep, and it was softer than we hoped for since we were later than planned. From the summit thankfully things went smoothly. The descent route was straightforward (though a bit slow). From the summit we scoped out a route back to Half Moon Pass and that proceeded without a hitch. Everyone was much happier with our route out than with our route in.
This weekend was definitely the kind of trip that would go much more smoothly with someone who knew where they were going.

Tags:   Julie id_node_id_55489 id_perms_bryan_public id_album_56236

© All Rights Reserved

This photo appeared in the following ideotrope albums:

Mt Holy Cross June 2006 - Two weekends ago Jack put together a small group to backpack into Mt. Holy Cross and climb the Cross Couloir Sunday morning. Julie and Marie came along for the backpacking, and at least Julie was under the impression it was a straightforward walk to Lake Patricia, our camp for the night. I guess I'm not completely sure what Marie was expecting on the first day, but it was clearly a more difficult walk than she expected.
It was more difficult than any of us expected, and in hindsight we learned that the way to get from Half Moon Pass to Lake Patricia is to contour along the slope, following a slight trail and occasional cairns. Eventually this route will take you down a forested slope through the cliff band above Lake Patricia. We know all this now, but it's not the route we took in.
We dropped low to the creek and got lost plenty of times trying to find the route up the creek to Lake Patricia. When we actually were on route, the going was quite slow. Julie did not like the creek crossings or the snow crossings while Marie did not like the rock scrambling. We were happy and tired when we arrived at a good camping spot above Lake Patricia.
The next morning at 5 the pattern continued. We quickly got lost making our way from Lake Patricia to treeline. Above treeline things went more quickly, but we couldn't find the Cross Couloir. It's cliffy at the bottom, and we mistakenly went to the far side of Bowl of Tears like one of our guidebooks suggested. We weren't the only ones lost on the side of the Mt. Holy Cross that morning. Wandering around looking for the couloir I saw two other folks below me. I waited for them to ask where to go, but there were as clueless as we were. We actually led them to the coulior, but they weren't convinced it was the correct one!
For all our effort and being lost the climb went quickly. The snow isn't steep, and it was softer than we hoped for since we were later than planned. From the summit thankfully things went smoothly. The descent route was straightforward (though a bit slow). From the summit we scoped out a route back to Half Moon Pass and that proceeded without a hitch. Everyone was much happier with our route out than with our route in.
This weekend was definitely the kind of trip that would go much more smoothly with someone who knew where they were going.

Tags:   Mt. Holy Cross. id_node_id_55490 id_perms_bryan_public id_album_56236

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