From: ajs@hpfcdc.HP.COM (Alan Silverstein)
Date: Mon, 8 Aug 88 20:43:01 GMT
Subject: Trip report: Mount of the Holy Cross, 14005'
Newsgroups: hpnc.general

Saturday, August 6: Mount of the Holy Cross, 14005'

Chuck Reese and I left Fort Collins Friday morning and drove to the trailhead via Dillon and Vail in about four hours. The dirt road up from US 24, S of Minturn, is in pretty good condition. It still takes a while to drive the ~8.4 miles to Half Moon campground at the end (10400'). From here you can see Notch Mountain SW through trees, but you must hike almost three miles around its flank to first get a glimpse of Holy Cross.

We attached ourselves to backpacks and departed up the trail at 1410. It's a fine route, though getting rather worn. We had superb afternoon weather with small, non-threatening cumulus shade clouds. We dared hope that the high moving in from the N would continue this condition. (Alas, the next two days the clockwise flow around that high apparently dragged up Gulf moisture. It was overcast and rainy...)

In just over an hour from the trailhead we gained 1200' to reach Half Moon Pass (11600'). It's a pretty place, with patches of trees, but would be an obstacle to cross during an afternoon thunderstorm. From this vantage point on the N ridge of Notch Mountain one can see the road to Leadville and the Climax mine below the Mosquito Range Fourteeners.

From the pass there's a distant panorama of peaks beyond Cross Creek. The trail drops gently for a while. Just as it turns left and descends sharply, one receives the first tremendous look at the side valley of East Cross Creek, much nearer, with the pinnacle of Mount of the Holy Cross looming beyond it. There was little snow on the mountain and none in the cross.

We reached East Cross Creek, 900' lower (10680'), at 1620. There are a myriad of camp sites scattered around, connected by innumerable trails through lush forest under tall trees deep in the valley. After some exploring we settled on a nice site near the main trail.

Saturday morning we were on our way at 0610, just about at sunrise. The skies were dreary and the morning was grey and ominous. After crossing the creek, the trail goes way W up to the N ridge of Holy Cross, a glacial moraine, before cutting suddenly left into forest. We encountered a large porcupine right next to the trail, a novel sight. He sat still, with his brown and white back and tail bristles exposed, for as long as we studied him.

The trail took us steeply through forest to timberline high on the W side of the ridge. A ways beyond this it finally joined the ridgetop at about 12400', where there's a memorable view down into the valley. By this time we were being drizzled on. We sat for an hour enjoying the scenery, getting cold, and debating whether to continue, as clouds began to swirl slowly around and obscure the summit.

Eventually we continued up the ridge. Dunno why, but the weather didn't concern me and I wanted to revisit the peak. Chuck felt more conservative, but on we went anyway. We gained about 1000' more, in and out of cool wet fog. Then HPites Larry Chapman and Shaw Moldauer caught up with us, to our surprise. They dayhiked the peak from the trailhead!

The N ridge abruptly joins the summit cone. We picked our way up braided trails to the top at 0955 (3:45 for 3325', not bad with the long break). It's smaller than I recall, rather flat and very rocky. We were in clouds the whole twenty minutes we loitered but two short, tantalizing breaks under the cloud deck.

I planned and hoped to continue S, to circumnavigate the whole valley of East Cross Creek on high ridges to Notch Mountain. The weather put this idea on ice. Chuck and I left the summit at 1015. Below, clouds swirled below and E of the N ridge, quite pretty.

On reaching the turn to the ridge, we took an adventurous route off the mountain. There's a steep gully filled with everything from sand to boulders, and snow on top, which leads down directly towards Lake Patricia from ~13400'. It's a little firm for "screeing" but still a great way down. (I would NOT recommend it for climbing UP, though.) Earlier in the year an ice axe would be required.

From there to camp was the highlight of the outing. I like "living" clouds, and we were in and out of them. Notch Mountain across the valley was hidden much of the time, but occasionally visible, wreathed in fog. We had to carefully descend mud and gravel on top of ice for a time, but soon reached a small saddle in a N ridgelet from the peak (12200'). Here we ate lunch looking down on Lake Patricia and N to Bowl of Tears.

Dropping from this point brought us to delightful timberline alpine forest above the lake. We explored our way back along the lakeshore through a veritable Garden of Eden, hardly minding the intermittent rain. The trail from there to camp winds down precipitously at points, "unimproved" to say the least, but quite fun to follow. We were back at our tents by 1420 with a whole afternoon left to nap, read, and stroll the area.

I like to wear zoris (flip flops) around camp. I spent over an hour studying, photographing, and climbing around on rocks in the middle of a long, gentle, ice-cold waterfall nearby. Wow.

Near midnight it rained hard. Outside was as dark as I've ever seen it, moonless and overcast. I could barely distinguish the sky from the treetops. Sunday morning it continued cloudy and wet as we packed up and hiked out from 0900 to 1100. We were back home by 1600.