Mt. Yale - 14,196 ft

Date:  5-24-2005

Climbers: George Barnes and MarkDB

Route:  Southwest Slopes II - Class 2

RT distance: ~8.0 miles

RT time: 6 hours 25 minutes

Time to summit:   4 hours

Time on summit:  5 minutes

Time to trailhead: 2 hours 20 minutes

Elevation gain:  4,300 feet

Coordinates of TH:  38,59.954,-106,22.632

Coordinates of summit:  48.904,-106,20.083

USGS Quadrangles:  Mount Yale
 

Trip Report:

Mark and I were looking to do a climb that wouldn't involve large amounts of snow.  Yale turned out to be a pretty good choice, we only needed our snow shoes for a short portion of the descent.

After leaving the trailhead at 6 AM we made good time up the snow free trail, covering the first 1,000 vertical feet in 26 minutes.  Progress slowed above 11,000 feet as we encountered more snow on the trail.  Enough people had postholed and packed the trail that we didn't need to put our snowshoes on.

By around 13,000 feet we reached a snow free slope to the summit and I cached my snowshoes.  The trail up Yale is among the less inspired I've hiked... switchbacks are almost non-existent and at times the "trail" is a 20 foot swath of loose dirt straight up the slope.

At the saddle I know it's a short run to the summit, so I step up the pace and make the summit in exactly four hours.  Mark and I trade pictures, identify the neighboring peaks, and get ready to go down.

There aren't any stellar glissade slopes available down, but we try a few anyway.  Reaching flatter ground we strap on snow shoes for the sun warmed snow.  The trail out passes quickly and we reach the truck in time to watch darker clouds roll in from the west.