Yesterday, Alan, Mark, and I decided to get up high and visit one of the classic Rocky Mountain National Park summits! Hallett Peak is one of my favorite mountains in the entire park and the one I have climbed the most times. I have lost count somewhere in the 30′s. Most likely pushing 40 summits of this great mountain! Maybe I’ll call this #35 just to be safe.

We started off at about 7:45 from the Bear Lake parking lot and set a nice easy pace up the trail. Alan and I were toting snowshoes on our packs and Mark was skiing. The trail wasn’t in great shape, so it took us a little while to get to the Dream Lake Overlook. Plus, I was feeling very sluggish at the start. From the overlook, the snow got deeper and I stopp to put on my snowshoes, making the going much more comfortable. As we were nearing tree line, we were all wondering how close the forcast was to being correct. It was supposed to be in the low to mid 20′s with 45 mile per hour winds. A pretty chilly day out, but not rediculous for RMNP standards in the winter. We could hear the wind howling overhead and were all not looking forward to getting above the protection of the trees.

I do have to admit, once we reached treeline, the views were definitely worth the added wind… it was a spectacular day. Spindrifts could be seen coming off of nearly all of the Mummy Range Peaks and the divide to the south was gorgeous! We were all in awe! We even got treated to a covey of ptarmigan, and a HUGE bighorn ram. The ram was just hanging out in the strong winds and bitter temperature like it was a summer day! What tough animals!

As we climbed above treeline the weather continued to deteriorate. The winds picked up and the temps were colder than predicted. We were soon on the summit of Flattop Mountain and on our way over to the final push up the summit cone of Hallett Peak. This is where the wind really got horrific, above Tyndall Glacier. At times it was hard to stand and the ground blizzard was pretty thick with snow blowing up from the lower slopes of the divide. But step by step we picked our way up the mountain. Alan blew up to the summit about 10 minutes ahead of me and hunkered down behind the wind blocks. As I neared the top the wind picked up even more and was truly impressive. It was like another world. Wind, blowing snow, rime ice on everything…an alien landscape for sure! Mark was a minute or two ahead of me, tagged the summit and turned around immediatley, is was pretty essential to get out of the wind and heading down was the only option. Right as I arrived, Alan was making his escape. He stayed with me for a minute while I took a few pictures, and pulled my gu out of my interior coat pocket (where I had to stash my gel flask because it was frozen solid) for a quick shot. About a minute later I was bulling my way through the intense wind trying to make my way down the rocky slope. I don’t know if Ihave ever felt a sustained wind as strong. I’m guessing 60-70 mph with some stronger gusts. It would blow you off balance with nearly every step, making the descent a little tricky.

We picked our way down to above the glacier where Alan remembered he had a thermometer on his pack… it read 10 degrees. The forecast was pretty off for the day. The windchill was approxamately -20F. That’s dang cold! Now we weren’t feeling too bad for being so cold…it was slightly justified. Back on the summit of Flattop, with our backs to the wind, it felt like we were on a beach! Wow, what a difference 500 verticle feet made! It was still windy, but not compared to just a half mile up the trail.

We made it back with relative ease. When we hit treeline, Mark put his skiis back on and raced to the bottom while Alan and I wallowed in the powder. Another great day out in the hills!

Here are all of the pics from the trip…

http://www.michael-hodges.com/galleries/2010-01-26-hallett/index.html

Until next time…