MT. MAMMA
(13,646')August 12, 2008
By Tim Briese
4 miles, 1600' elevation gain, 7 hours roundtrip time
I picked up my daughter Emily at 4:30 a.m. and we headed for the mountains with our three dogs. It was interesting to see meteors from the Perseid meteor shower shooting across the sky in the early morning darkness on the first part of our drive. When we neared our destination we four-wheeled up the Baldwin Creek road to the familiar junction where I had previously parked for other climbs in the area. This time we took the right fork and continued up the Baldwin Creek drainage on a considerably rougher road. We parked a short distance northeast of Baldwin Lake, at an elevation of about 12,000 feet.
At 8:20 we left the truck and continued up an old mine road to the north. Soon we left the road, trading easy walking for adventure, and bushwhacked northwest across varied gentle terrain toward Mamma. The valley below was a scenic sight in the morning sunshine. We regained the road higher up and came to an old mine at 12,560 feet. Beyond the mine we angled northwest up a talus slope to get on grass, and then turned north and hiked up to Mamma=s east ridge at 13,100 feet.
This was Emily=s first mountain climb in a long time because of various health issues, so our objective today was to keep this climb easy and successful. She set the pace and led the way, which she thoroughly seemed to enjoy as she expertly selected our route. She is a veteran of nearly twenty 14er climbs in years past but a relative newcomer to the 13er experience. She remarked that she really enjoyed the routefinding and solitude of this 13er climb compared to the more structured climbing typical of 14ers. This was a great place for the dogs to run all over unfettered, too. It was more important to her to get out in the mountains and just have fun than to check another 14er off the list, an attitude which I admired.
We climbed on grass and moderate talus up the east ridge to Mamma=s summit, where we arrived at11:30. The summit is at the southern end of a lofty, mile-long ridge that runs north to south. It was sunny and beautiful on top with visibility so clear we could see all the way to the San Juans. While the dogs napped we gazed about and rested. It felt good to sign a summit register that included Gerry Roach=s name.
After half an hour we began our descent. For the sake of variety we headed down the south ridge, where we initially found the talus to be a bit rougher. Emily proceeded slowly because her knees were sore. We met an older gentleman coming up the ridge and we chatted with him for a few minutes. Emily remarked afterward that you meet such nice people on mountain climbs, with which I had to agree. At about 13,250 feet we left the ridge and bushwhacked down slopes of grass and a little scree into the basin back to the mine. We set a very leisurely pace and took frequent rests all day, for we were in no hurry. From the mine we took the old road back down. Mt. Antero stood majestically off to the east. We followed the road down into the valley to the truck, where we arrived at 3:20. After four-wheeling back to civilization we headed for home, on a clear and beautiful summer evening.
