Missouri Mountain - 14,067 ft

Date:  6-2-2005

Climbers: George Barnes and Doug Shaw (a.k.a. the Snail Brothers)

Route:  North Face Couloirs II, Class 3, Moderate Snow

RT distance:  ~9.0 miles

RT time: 9 hours 50 minutes

Elevation gain:  4,450 feet

Coordinates of TH:  38.9984°N, 106.3759°W

Coordinates of summit:  38.9476°N, 106.3785°W

USGS Quadrangles:  Winfield
 

Trip Report:

Doug and I drove to Winfield Wednesday night to camp and get an early start on Missouri.  We were planning a snow climb of one of the north facing couloirs, so we knew we needed an early start.  Four AM came entirely too fast, so Doug and I postponed our start time.  By 5:40 AM we were finally leaving the trailhead.

The trail to the cabin is snow free, but we didn't let that prevent us from living up to our reputation as the Snail Brothers.  We passed a group of sleeping backpackers on the way to the cabin, and found more sleeping in the old cabin.

Once above the cabin we encountered a fair amount of snow on the trail.  The snow was still frozen from the night before, but we worried about what we'd find on our return trip.  The stream crossings were a little interesting, as the rocks across the streams were coated in ice.

Route shown in orange dots

We reached the snowfield below of our intended couloir in about 4 hours and 30 minutes ("Not that I'm bragging or anything").  We opted to put our helmets and crampons on here, even though the slope steepness didn't require it (yet).  Dark clouds began appearing in the west, and we wondered what we'd find at the top.  The building cloud cover was appreciated, as it kept temperatures in the couloir reasonable.  Some interesting lenticular clouds formed near Belford, and stayed there for most of our climb.  Apparently lenticular clouds form when strong wind blows over a mountain, and strong winds were not in short supply today!  Doug and I took turns leading to share the harder work of kicking steps.

Once out of the couloir we could see that the clouds we'd been watching weren't immediately threatening, so we made our way up the 3rd class ridge to Missouri's summit.  The ridge was snow-free, with only a couple tricky moves. 

On the summit we decided to save centennials Iowa and Emerald for another day, mainly due to the weather and our rather leisurely pace.  Iowa Peak isn't much to look at, but maybe that's fitting. 

We opted to downclimb the easy couloir right below the summit for our descent, what Roach calls the "C Couloir".  After a couple hundred feet we're willing to try a glissade and soon reach the snowfield below Missouri.

The trek out was pretty uneventful.  Our decision to not carry snow shoes wasn't a big mistake, as most of the snow is still solid enough to walk across.  Doug's fighting some blisters on his feet, and I don't envy him walking 9 miles in plastic boots.  The switchbacks seem to go on forever, but we soon reach the car.  Ice cream cones in Buena Vista hit the spot as we begin the exciting drive down 285 back to Denver.