HAGERMAN PEAK
13,841 ft.
July 11, 2004
By Tim Briese
Hagerman Peak lies in the heart of the scenic Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness Area, surrounded by spectacular grandeur. I visited the same portion of this wilderness area when I climbed nearby Snowmass Mountain in 2000, and I looked forward to this chance to return there.
I met Brian for dinner in Carbondale the evening before the climb. It was good to get together for another climbing trip again, our first since the summer before. After dinner we drove to Marble where we left his car and four-wheeled in my truck up to the Lead King Basin Trailhead. We took the northerly section of Forest Road 315 to get there, rather than the rougher four wheel drive route via Crystal. There was a fine view of Snowmass and Hagerman off to the northeast as we descended numerous switchbacks in the road down to the trailhead. We camped at the trailhead that night under a clear sky that blazed with glittering stars.
We rose early the next morning and hit the trail just after 4:30 a.m., employing our headlamps for the first hour or so. There is a choice of two good routes on the approach to the mountain from this trailhead, either up to Geneva Lake and continuing up the Trail Rider Pass Trail, or up the Fravert Basin Trail and then up a cutoff trail to join Trail Rider. Both are similar in distance, but we chose the latter to go up and the former to come down, in the belief that the stream crossing on the Fravert Basin Trail would be easier to negotiate in the early morning darkness than the one above Geneva Lake. This indeed turned out to be the case.
We fumbled around in the dark at the trailhead for a few minutes sorting out some minor side trails while searching for the correct trail. Unfortunately I had neglected to follow my usual procedure of scouting the beginning of the trail the evening before. We were soon on our way, though, and hiked a half mile up the Geneva Lake Trail before turning off to the right on the signed Fravert Basin Trail. Shortly thereafter we came to a large stream crossing and successfully managed to scoot across the torrent by stepping on slightly submerged rocks. We continued on the trail up the valley along the North Fork of the Crystal River for another mile and a half before reaching the junction for the cutoff trail, just as the first light of dawn appeared. After a short break we headed up the cutoff trail and briskly climbed a thousand feet in a mile up to the Trail Rider Pass Trail, where we arrived about 7 a.m. Along the way we saw a wild turkey and a deer in the early morning light. Upon reaching the Trail Rider Pass Trail we followed it northeast for a quarter of a mile then left it and took a faint trail to the left along the left side of a tiny creek. We followed this drainage northeast and then north, past a big talus slope on the east side of the drainage. We continued north on a left branch of the drainage up a nice grassy slope and reached a pleasant basin at 12,100 feet. Here we were treated to a scenic view of Fravert Basin and the Maroon Bells off to the southeast. From this point we headed northeast up grassy benches in search of a route through a cliff band above. Roach talks of a short climb up a steep Class 2+ gully through the cliff band, but we were not able to positively identify this route. Instead we continued to the north and crossed a snowfield and found a lightly cairned and rather easy route up a rocky drainage that took us up to the base of scree slopes that lie below Hagerman=s south face, at about 12,600 feet.
Hagerman=s south face consists of a giant rubble slope covered with broken rock, with three or four broad, shallow gullies running down it. Each of these gullies still held some patches of snow. We had previewed the face on our approach up the valley below and selected the gully furthest toward the right as the one which appeared to offer the easiest ascent route. From 12,600 feet we angled eastward across a scree and rubble slope to reach the base of the desired gully at 12,800 feet. At this point our work was clearly cut out for us, with a steep thousand foot climb waiting above. We began the climb up the gully by carefully skirting around the edge of a steep snowfield, since neither of us had an ice ax along. Much of the gully was filled with loose rock and scree, but we were able to pick out a route on generally solid footing most of the way which minimized the misery of this grueling Class 2+ climb. We paused occasionally to admire the grand view of Fravert Basin and the Maroon Bells to the southeast.
We finally topped out on the crest of Hagerman=s east ridge and were greeted by a stunning view of Snowmass Mountain on the other side, as well as Snowmass Lake in the basin far below to the east. We scampered west 200 yards along the crest of the rocky ridge, passing over a minor false summit along the way, and reached the summit at 10 a.m.
Hagerman=s summit was a spectacular place to be. Incredibly rugged and colorful vistas surrounded us in every direction. The exposure on the tiny summit kept the adrenalin flowing, too. Brian and I were hard pressed to think of another Colorado summit we had been on that was as small and airy as this one. A sheer face dropped away to the north, and it was almost dizzying, if not unnerving, to look nearly straight down a thousand feet. There were steep dropoffs to the west and south, too. The views were among the finest I had seen from a mountaintop in quite some time. Snowmass Mountain was a spectacular sight a half mile away to the northwest, and the rugged sawtooth-like ridge between the two mountains was a chillingly awesome sight. Roach says that this ridge is Aseldom done@, and we were not about to buck the trend and try it. Snowmass Lake glimmered like a jewel in the basin below to the east, and Geneva Lake and Lead King Basin lay below to the southwest. The Maroon Bells off to the southeast completed the grand panorama surrounding us. The weather was holding out splendidly, with only a few harmless white clouds floating in the azure sky. According to the summit register, Hagerman had been climbed by only a handful of people so far this year, so we were a bit surprised to see two other climbers coming up the rough southwest ridge as we relaxed on the summit. It turned out to be a young man followed by his kid brother, and we visited pleasantly for a few minutes when they arrived.
After a glorious hour on the fine summit Brian and I left at 11 and began our descent. I stopped for a moment to enjoy the incredible view of Trail Rider Pass and the Maroon Bells from Hagerman=s east ridge. We rapidly scooted back down the same route we had come up on the loose slopes of the south face. It took only an hour to descend to 12,000 feet in the gentle valley below. We spotted a couple of ptarmigans in the grass nearby as we hiked along and paused to watch them for a little bit. Upon returning to the Trail Rider Pass Trail we did not take the cutoff trail this time, but continued on the main trail down toward Geneva Lake in order to explore more of the scenic grandeur of this beautiful place. We were not disappointed either, for we were treated to splendid views of the Maroon Bells at the head of the North Fork Crystal River Valley, as well as Siberia Peak (13,420') standing impressively to the north of Geneva Lake. Upon reaching Geneva Lake we encountered a tricky stream crossing on a partially-submerged beaver dam, which made us glad we had not come this way in the morning darkness. After resting on the shore of beautiful Geneva Lake for a while we continued down the trail back into Lead King Basin, passing alongside a thundering cascade in the stream which tumbled over cliffs below the lake. We hiked on down the valley through lush, flowery vegetation that glowed colorfully in the afternoon sunshine, and returned to the trailhead a little after 3 p.m. We four-wheeled back to Brian=s car in Marble, and he took off for the San Juans while I headed for home. I looked forward to meeting him again for more climbs later in the week.
I estimated that we hiked just over ten miles and climbed 4400 feet of elevation gain on our ten and a half hour climb of Hagerman. This climb was one of my favorites of the year, and certainly one of the most scenic as well!
