MT. COLUMBIA
14,073 ft.
June 28, 1997
By Tim Briese
For many years I gazed at Mt. Columbia from the Arkansas River Valley on trips to the Buena Vista area, and now I was ready to climb it. Seven weeks before, in early May, I made an unsuccessful attempt to climb Columbia by making an adventurous bushwhack up the mountain’s southeast ridge from the Colorado Trail. I encountered extensive fields of soft snow above timberline and turned back at 13,300 feet due to a lack of time and energy, a mile and a half short of the summit. I was returning now determined to make the summit, this time from the standard west slopes approach.
I left the North Cottonwood Creek trailhead at about 7:30 a.m. and briskly hiked up the fine trail along the roaring creek into the Collegiate Peaks Wilderness Area. I was quite familiar with this portion of the route since I had gone this way to climb Mt. Harvard the year before. After a mile and a half I took a fork in the trail to the right which took me northward toward Horn Fork Basin. There were still a few banks of snow in shaded areas on the trail, but they were frozen hard in the early morning chill and were easy to walk right across.
When I neared timberline I could see the vast west slopes of Columbia through the trees and I watched for a trail that would take me in that direction. I couldn’t remember seeing one when I climbed Harvard, and I didn’t see one this time, either, so I presently left the main trail and simply headed off through the woods in the direction of Columbia’s south ridge. I bushwhacked across a rough drainage and picked my way across a boulder field on the other side before beginning to climb steeply up a long grassy slope above timberline. The panoramic view off to the west and south drew my attention as I paused for breaks to rest. There was quite a bit of snow remaining on the surrounding mountains, but the warm rays of the sun had melted away nearly every trace of it on this west-facing slope that I was on.
The 2000 foot ascent out of the valley was grueling, but I was motivated and climbed rapidly upward. It was an exhilarating feeling to finally reach the crest of Columbia’s south ridge at 13,600 feet. The summit was about a half mile away, and it was fun hiking along the crest of the easy ridge on rocks and snow to the top.
I reached the summit a little after 10:30 and gazed at the magnificent scenery around me on this lovely day. Mt. Harvard was particularly impressive about two miles to the northwest. I studied the route I had taken when I climbed it the year before, and I noted that a snow climb would be required now, for a large field of snow still remained on its south face.
A guy and a girl presently arrived on the summit, having come up a route from the east. A few minutes later two more climbers arrived, with ice axes in hand, after coming across the rough ridge from Mt. Harvard. There were now three parties on the summit, including myself, with each having come up by a different route. A variety of reasonable routes is one of the nice features about climbing these gentle giants in the Sawatch Range.
After about 30 minutes I began my descent and headed back down the south ridge in the bright sunshine. I left the ridge at a point a little lower than where I had come up, in an attempt to follow a slightly more direct line back down into the valley. I rapidly descended about 1500 feet down the grassy slope and came to the upper end of a steep gully that formed a rough gash on the lower part of the mountainside. I carefully climbed about 100 feet down a very steep slope of dirt and rocks to the bottom of the gully, and then bushwhacked through some willowy bushes before crossing a little stream that sang in the meadow below. I soon entered the woods at timberline and continued on down the valley. I didn’t know exactly where I was but knew I would reach the Horn Fork Trail sooner or later as I followed the course of the stream downhill. Sure enough, I soon reached the trail and hiked lightheartedly back to the trailhead in the pleasant warmth of the midday sun. At 1:30 I returned to the trailhead and left for home, reveling in the glow of achieving a climb of another 14er.
