Little Bear Peak

Route: Little Bear - Blanca Traverse
Posted On: 1/31/2011, By: mountainmicah83
Info: On Saturday we, like many other 14ers members, decided to take advantage of quite possibly the nicest day of this winter and Tackle the Little Bear to Blanca Traverse. This is just a quick taste tester to provide current conditions. Full TR to come soon. On como road, we made it to the standard 8,800‘ and a decent 4WD with short wheel base could make it maybe another half mile or less. There is intermittent snow to about the halfway point to the lake at 10,200‘ish and then pretty much solid snow from there to the lake. 6.5 hours Cabin at Como Lake to LB summit 4.5 Hours traverse time LB to Blanca 3.5 Hours descent time from Blanca to cabin at lake w/no snow shoes.  

Route: West Ridge and Hourglass
Posted On: 7/14/2020, By: cragar
Info: My 2 sons and I climbed Little Bear on 7/13. The hike up the gully was brutal and steep. This area was the worst rockfall on the entire climb. Microspikes helped. The traverse took us about an hour but there are plenty of cairns and the route is easy to follow. We ascended to the bottom of the hour glass chute. It was almost completely dry. I recommend that climbers check the weather the day before the summit climb to verify that it did not rain on the mountain. In dry conditions the gully was not overly difficult and there were plenty of holds. At the rope anchor, we ascended to the left. The rock climbing is a 3 and there was hardly any rock fall because we were careful. We coordinated our ascent up the gully and top section with another group of 3 climbers and did not have any problems. Going left at the anchor point causes a longer climb to the summit but avoids the sea of talus going right presents(even though the right route is shorter). We descended the same way we went up. We used the rope as a guide through the chute as we walked down carefully. If this area were wet, it would be much riskier. We crossed the traverse and descended the gully. Rockfall in the gully was bad but if you descend carefully you should not have a problem. It is one of the few fourteeners we have climbed where the descent takes as long as the ascent - three hours each way. My final remarks: the gully was worse than expected, the hourglass was easier and can be done with climbers who have some experience on the harder fourteeners.