Over the last year and a half, I've looked longingly at the Mummy Range in hopes of climbing the peaks there. After debating whether I would climb something in the San Juans or climb one of the Mummy Range peaks in Rocky Mountain National Park, the choice was decided when I saw a post on 13ers.com from Mountainsnbluegrass enquiring about a climbing partner for the Mummy Range this weekend. After exchanging info, Josh and I decided to meet at 4:30 early Saturday morning and discuss which combo we would do. He talked two of his friends, Chad and Jake, into coming as well.
Our choices were to climb Chapin/Chaquita/Ypsilon from the Chapin Pass trailhead, or Fairchild/Hagues/Mummy from the Lawn Lake trailhead. I called a ranger at park headquarters to see if Old Fall River Road was open, and she said it was not, and didn't think it would be early Saturday. After being picked up in Loveland at 4:30, Josh and I were still undecided, but Chad felt we should do Chapin/Chaquita/Ypsilon since it would make for a shorter day. Thinking that the road to the trailhead was still closed, we headed to the Alpine Visitors Center to park and hike down to the Chapin Pass trailhead. On the way up, we took a pit stop and I took a few pictures.
Longs Before Sunrise
In the furthermost range, you can see the flat summit of Longs, and the slope down to Estes Cone.
Endovalley Before Sunrise
If we had decided to climb Fairchild/Hagues/Mummy, we would have climbed to the same elevation (and a bit higher) from the Lawn Lake trailhead, located in Endovalley. You can see Fall River snaking through the valley in the picture.
Mummy Range Before Sunrise
All three pre-sunrise pictures were taken from the restroom stop on Trail Ridge, but this last picture shows the Mummy Range we were about to climb.
As we approached the Alpine Visitors Center, it was about 6 am. A very large herd of elk was in the APC parking lot, blocking the entrance and road, and continuing down the side of the mountain. We needed to wait for them to clear enough for us to enter the parking lot. There was only one other vehicle parked in the APC parking lot when we parked and began the descent down Old Fall River Road. Looking for the Chapin Pass trailhead, we found a marker with the number 7 on it. Thinking this might be the trailhead, we traveled up the path until it dwindled away, forcing us to retreat back to the road and continue further down. While doing this, we lamented that we would have to climb back up the road we continued to descend.
Once we arrived at the trailhead, it was obvious since there was a large sign saying "Chapin Pass Trailhead". What surprised us were two vehicles parked nearby. This could only mean one thing: the road had opened and we were given false information about when the road would be open. One lady preparing to hike had Washington state plates, and quickly passed us as we ascended Mount Chapin. We would never see her again, and her car was still parked at the trailhead later in the afternoon.
The trail up Mount Chapin was in good condition and quickly climbed in elevation. Being the slowest of the four, my partners traded off being last and offered occasional encouragements of "push it" of which I was grateful for. At timberline, there was a sign that said the trail was unimproved from that point on. It split left and right. We took the right since it went up. The "unimproved" trail was covered by only one snow field, but it momentarily confused us, and may have led to us missing the crossroads that would have taken us to the Mount Chapin summit. In the saddle between Mount Chapin and Mount Chaquita, we brought out the map, and failed miserably in trying to determine where we were--even though we knew our GPS coordinates. I misled the group by saying I thought we were between the south (false) summit of Chapin and the true north summit--based on trip reports I had read. I think I need to take this class:
As we continued up, we realized we had missed Chapin, and could see the split in the trail that would have taken us in the right direction. Instead of going back, we decided we would keep going since Chapin is not a 13er anyway (12454 ft). In retrospect, I regret that, and hope to go back and tag Chapin's summit in the near future.
Longs From Chaquita Summit
Eventually, we attained the summit. I took a picture of Longs. I don't hide the fact that The Matron of RMNP is my favorite mountain. I've driven back and forth in front it on my way to and from work/school for the last ten years, and can see the summit from my bedroom window--not to mention that I try to climb parts of it every year. I tend to take a lot of pictures of Longs. :)
On Chaquita Summit
One of my hiking partners took a picture of me standing on the summit block of Mount Chaquita. You can see the knee brace I'm wearing. I think this will be the last hike I take with a knee brace on. I had my last meniscectomy two years ago after tearing my meniscus (for the third time) postholing in deep snow on a slope behind Green Mountain above Boulder. On my last several hikes, the knee braces restrict my circulation resulting in cramps when taking off the brace, probably due to the blood rushing back in. The cramps happened again this day after taking off the brace, and I don't think I need it for support since my muscles have grown to compensate for the loss of meniscus (due to surgery) behind my knee cap.
Hagues and Mummy
I took some pictures of Hagues Peak and what I think is Mummy Mountain behind it. I could be wrong about Mummy Mountain being behind it. I'll have to climb up there someday to verify what I'm looking at.
Fairchild and Hagues
We entertained the idea of hiking to Fairchild since we skipped Chapin, but one look at the ridge separating Ypsilon and Fairchild with its steep down climb and up climb convinced us otherwise. It will have to wait for another day.
Snow On Donner Ridge Below Ypsilon
When looking at the Mummy Range from Loveland, or from where I work in Westminster, you can see a lot of snow on the Mummy Range peaks. This picture captures some of that snow. There are two main ridges from Ypsilon: Blizter and Donner. I'm not quite sure which is which, so I called this the Donner Ridge and took a picture of it. On our hike along the ridge from Chaquita to Ypsilon, we could almost touch the snow that makes up the Y-couloir from which Ypsilon derives its name.
Ypsilon From False Summit
As we were approaching what we thought was the Ypsilon summit, I mentioned that I would believe it was the summit when we got there, since I have encountered many false summits in my day to make me sceptical until I reach the true summit. Sure enough, when we got to this point, it was a false summit, but provided a photo op for the real summit.
Ypsilon Summit
At the summit, we took our first long break of the day and ate our lunches. I took a picture of my climbing partners: Josh, Chad, and Jake. Jake, being from Ohio, had never climbed above timberline before and ended up being one of the strongest climbers of the day. The other guy you see in the distance was from a group of three climbers that had summited Desolate Peaks from Pingree Park and had continued on to this point.
Spectacle Lakes
From reading trip reports, I really, really wanted to get a high-altitude view of the Spectacle Lakes. This picture captures that view. The picture does not do justice to the wonderful blue-green hues in the water we could see from on high. The lakes do seem like 1960s style glasses with their horn-rimmed frames. I was upset at first at capturing my hiking boot in the picture, but now feel that it gives a sense of perspective from peak to cirque.
One of the reasons why I wanted to climb this particular set of mountains was to explore the reasons for why Ranger Jeff Christensen died when climbing them in 2005, nearly six years prior to the day when we did. When descending, we crossed the tundra back to the split we missed on Mount Chapin. The whole slope was imbued with brightly colored alpine flowers, and it was quite the challenge to keep from stepping on them and stick to stepping on the bands of rocks threading down the mountain. Ranger Christensen most likely died in the saddle between Chaquita and Ypsilon after falling and hitting his head on one of the rock bands. This hike was not nearly as challenging as similar territory on the Indian Peaks when climbing South Arapahoe Peak last summer, and so I still don't understand how he could have fallen and died. Nevertheless, I feel for his family and the loss they suffered when he perished between the same peaks we climbed this day.
When we arrived back at the Chapin Pass trailhead, there were tons of cars. We felt robbed for having to hike down to the trailhead from the Alpine Visitors Center when there were so many cars parked around the trailhead. As we hiked up to the APC, we tried to see who would pick us up, hoping for someone with an empty truck bed. One group got half a karma point for stopping to make sure we were ok (but could not take us since they did not have room--hence half a point). Eventually, a newlywed couple from North Dakota stopped to let us jump in the back of their pickup bed, and even shared a party tray of fruit they did not want--scoring major karma points in the process! All in all, the weather was perfect, and we had an epic day for an epic climb of two thirteeners in Rocky Mountain National Park.
