Quandary Peak after we turned onto the dirt road leading to the dam (left). Most
people hike the skyline ridge but we ascended the slopes to the left and below the
summit.
Quandary Peak Elevation: 4348 m (14,265 ft) Although we wanted to ascend a few fourteeners, we also wanted to avoid the crowds that come with popular mountains and ascent routes. Quandary Peak was both unpopular and offered a fast, quiet route. Most people hike the long east ridge, but we scrambled up the south slope. The trailhead starts at Blue Lake and is higher than Alberta's Mount Temple. The route follows a gully. Although it's possible to hike up either side of the gully, we took the gully and were able to do some scrambling. Mindful of the debilitating headaches we had two days earlier, we took our time. On reaching the top we met people relaxing in the windbreak. They, like others coming up, hiked the east ridge. On the descent, we followed a trail. A park ranger warned us that people had been rescued on the descent using this route when they ran into cliff bands, a fact that confounds me. We could see our car from the summit and on either side of the gully stretched broad scree slopes. |
Quandary Peak after we turned onto the dirt road leading to the dam (left).
Most
people hike the skyline ridge but we ascended the slopes to the left and below
the
summit.
Just before the dam at Blue Lake we startled some mountain goats (mouse
over).
At first I thought I came across some golf balls, but they were puffball
mushrooms.
What looked like a gully to me, was called a "couloir" in the book.
Some scrambling if one looks for it.
Easier terrain on either side of the gully
As interesting as it gets
The solid rock near the bottom gives way to loose rock higher up.
Below, you can see the parking lot next to the dam.
Dinah (right and halfway down, mouse over) ascended the left side of the gully.
I stayed in the gully (centre, mouse over)
Multi-colored rock
Mica in the rock glittered like silver everywhere.
On the summit
All the summit registers we saw were made of PVC pipe and were attached
to a
rock by wire cable. Inside, instead of a booklet, were assorted pages,
including
printouts of the route (mouse over).
Panorama from the top. The Lincoln Group is left of centre.
Breckenridge