A failed attempt on Taylor Peak in RMNP followed by some skiing on Bierdstat

Taylor Peak
http://www.tetongravity.com/usergall...ics/taylor.jpg

The proposed route was the south ridge of Taylor, a 5.0 route which was supposedly better in snow conditions than when dry. In the picture the route follows from the summit down lookers left down the ridge to the first notch, then onto the east face following a series of snow benches coupled with short walls to the big snow ramp below the face. We would climb that route then descend Andrews Glacier, making a grand tour de taylor, that was the plan. The shuttle system at Bear Lake makes the alpine start impossible, 6:30am was the earliest we could go, but we figured we could do the route and at least be down Andrews by dark. 15 miles of hiking but only 2 or 3 pitches of actual climbing, sure we could do that in 12 hours.

We made it to Sky Pond in good time and after traversing a talus slope heading to the base of the snow field, we encounter a large boulder field covered with deep snow. Here the misery began in earnest. It was very difficult navigating through this as you would go from a rock to waist deep snow, my partner really struggled with this and fell quite a bit. We covered about 300 vertical feet and 1000 yards in what seemed to be at least an hour. Nevertheless we perserved and picked up a route through the snowfield, the snow field was covered with consistent snow that would bear your weight and you'd only sink up to about your calf. This was a welcome change and the views were beginning to get fantastic.

http://www.tetongravity.com/usergall...20vale%7E0.jpg

We aimed for a chute that would give us access to the ledge that would start our first rock pitch. The chute was narrow, but looked decent around 45 degrees with just one small vertical wall. Well the bottom of the chute was totally bottomless and was not yielding upward progress. I was able to dry tool out onto the side wall of the chute and pull my self up and over the powder snow and onto the ice step. The ice here was good and I was able to get a pick in and climb it without too much trouble. Howerver, about this rock step the pick of my axe was smacking into rock, the remainder of the chute was a featureless rock slab covered in about 12 inches of snow.

Above this section didn't look any better so it became apparent that we weren't going to get up to the ledge this way, but we had spotted an alternative route. So we decided to head back down this gully and try the other way. When we got back to the bottom and traversed around, my partner looked at me and said, "I'm done". Or something to that affect, that lower boulderfield had sapped all his strength. So we stopped for a while and weighed our options, we estimated it was about 1:30 now. If we started climbing the face, it would be probably 4 hours to the summit, then another 5 hours to descend Andrews Glacier, and that's if everything went smoothly. Not wanting to intentionally submit ourselves to an epic, we decided that this route would wait another day.

Thoroughly relieved that we wouldn't be tackling that face, we found a nice little 200 foot snow chute that lead to a ridge up and to the left, and climbed that.
http://www.tetongravity.com/usergall...%20couloir.jpg

At the top of the couloir there were some nice bouldering problems that we tackled for the fun of it.
http://www.tetongravity.com/usergall...th%20ridge.jpg

On the way down we encountered a cousin of the Yeti, the
Rocky Mountain mountaineering snowman.
http://www.tetongravity.com/usergall...snow%20man.jpg

We had greatly underestimated the time it would take to do this route, this was no 12 hour route, maybe in the summer time, but not under these circumstances. Nevertheless, it was an enjoyable day and any day spent in the mountains where you walk out in one piece is a success in my book. It would be a great route, but it needed either less or more snow, March could be a good month to head back.

So after failing a mountain climb because of too much snow on the approach, I decided to go skiing up on Bierdstat the following weekend and snapped these pics, nothing too exciting but not bad for Oct. 9th.

Looking down on the bowl...
http://www.tetongravity.com/usergall...the%20bowl.jpg

First turns of the season...
http://www.tetongravity.com/usergall...sesttracks.jpg

First run of the season...
http://www.tetongravity.com/usergall...losetracks.jpg

After doing that once, I hiked back up and did it again...
http://www.tetongravity.com/usergall...nicetracks.jpg

Great first day of the season!

Great stuff.

CAW! .

Nice read! First turns are good!

Nice report, glad to see you making turns already.

btw I have not been on here much lately, so did you ever do a TR on your radio tower climbing experience ???

Nice work Rob! Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that Taylor glacier and not Taylor Peak? I don't think there is a 'Taylor Peak' in RMNP :confused: . Either way, that's a nice long day. Great report and now I'm jealous I didn't join you last Saturday for turns on Bierstadt. The snow looks amazing up there.

Really enjoyed the TR of the failed summit. While not a technical (ropes/pro) climber, I've had a few failed attempts. Frustrating in one sense, but as you say, still a success to get out safely...and no question your outing was an adventure...as is often the case for the failed summit...usually there's some 'adventure' reason...

On Bierstadt...good looking stuff...trying to determine for sure where that was you skied. You said bowl...is that the bowl that opens to the north, basically off the north face of Bierstadt, that drops you to the SW basically of the sawtooth ridge? I guess in a way it makes sense that that bowl would have coverage. Have you skied there much before? My past experience has been a rather windscoured area in general, but can't recall I've explored that exact line (again, not sure of your exact line)

Hey board, I didn't post TR of that radio tower climbing experience, it was a trip for sure though, 400 feet is high. That's the highest I've ever climbed to change a lightbulb by about 392 feet.

iskibc - Taylor Peak is the peak in that first picture, Taylor Glacier is actually not in view in that picture, it's to the lookers' left, south of the peak. Taylor Glacier runs from Sky Pond up to the south ridge of Taylor Peak, quite a ways from the actual summit. That would be a great ski descent, it looked nice and steep.

spthompson - you are right the bowl opens to the north off of the northwest face of Bierdstat, so as you are skiing down the Sawtooth ridge is above you and to the right. I skied a line back there last March and realized that the bowl is great for skiing. While the west slopes of Bierdstat are windscoured and don't get a ton of snow generally, the snow has to go somewhere, so it eventually settles in that bowl. Couple that with a northerly exposure and easy access you have a recipie for some good skiing.