SQUARE TOP MOUNTAIN
13,794 ft.
March 8, 2004
By Tim Briese
I left home at 6 a.m. with my two labs and headed up I-70 west of Denver into the mountains. It felt good to get out on a climbing expedition once again after being away from it for a couple of months. The road from Georgetown up to Guanella Pass was plowed but its steep grades were slippery and icy on the final mile or two before the pass so I was glad to have a four wheel drive vehicle. There were three other vehicles parked at the pass when I arrived, most likely belonging to climbers who were going up Mt. Bierstadt today, which loomed above to the east. I turned my gaze to the west and studied the route I would take to Square Top.
At 8:30 I struck off to the west across a grassy slope west of the pass, and soon dropped down into a little valley filled with willows that were covered with deep snow. I began to break through the snow and sank up to my thighs so I found it necessary to unstrap my snowshoes from my pack and put them on in order to continue. The dogs presented a comical sight as they, too, broke through the deep snow but enthusiastically wallowed forward through it. The snow became more solid as I climbed up out of the willows on the other side of the valley. I ascended a gentle snow-covered slope to the crest of a broad ridge to the west. The crest of the ridge was mostly free of snow so I gladly packed my snowshoes away.
It was a beautiful day for early March. There was not a single cloud in the deep blue sky, and only a light breeze blew out of the northwest. I ascended the crest of the easy ridge on grassy slopes, pausing occasionally to look back at Guanella Pass and Mt. Bierstadt. At 12,700 feet I rounded a minor point on the broad, curving ridge, and looked ahead at a gentle mile-long stretch and a steep ridge beyond. I clipped along on this easy grassy stretch while studying the steep ridge ahead, observing that it looked harder than accounts of it that I had read about in trip reports on this climb. The ridge turned out to be easier than it looked, though, for I found a route up on grass and talus that was largely free of snow, and rapidly climbed 600 feet up to a point where the angle eased, at about 13,500 feet.
At the top of the steep ridge I was greeted by a broad, sloping field of snow and found it necessary to put my snowshoes back on for a few hundred feet in order to maintain adequate traction. A few old footprints told me that others had been here in recent weeks. At 13,700 feet I reached the east end of Square Top=s long summit plateau. The plateau, perhaps more accurately called a wide, gentle ridge, runs from east to west about a half mile, with the terrain dropping sharply away to the north and sloping gradually away to the south. I hiked about four tenths of a mile to the west before I reached what I determined to be the highest point on the plateau. I arrived there at about 11:30, for a three hour ascent from Guanella Pass.
I relaxed on the sunny summit for over 45 minutes, enjoying the fine views of the snowy mountains around me. Grays and Torreys presented a fine appearance to the northwest, and the Mosquito and Sawatch Ranges lay off to the west. The snow-covered runs of the Breckenridge Ski Area looked like a spidery white web on the mountain slopes about 20 miles away. Occasionally I heard a low boom reverberating through the air, most likely from avalanche control blasting at A-Basin or elsewhere. The temperature was 26 degrees and a chilly breeze blew softly out of the north but the bright sunshine made it feel quite pleasant. It felt so good to be sitting on a mountaintop again!
At 12:20 I left the top and began my descent. It was easy going back down the ridge, and I stopped for a while at 10,600 feet to stretch out and rest in the sunshine on a pleasant grassy slope. By the time I returned to the willows the afternoon sun had softened up the snow so much that I sank in above my knees even with my snowshoes on! This stretch would have been a disaster without them! The dogs learned quickly that it was much easier to follow in the path I broke through the snow.
At 2:45 I returned to my truck at the trailhead. I estimated that I hiked about six and a half miles and climbed 2400 feet of elevation gain on this outing. The climb was rather easy and quite enjoyable, and I would rate it as just slightly harder than the popular climb of nearby Mt. Bierstadt. Square Top offers an excellent winter climb because the trailhead is easily accessible and the route along the ridge is snow-free most of the way.
