Alrightttt so here goes on all of the details that I can remember from my trip to do the NW Face of Little Bear, then the traverse to Blanca. I didn't end up doing Ellingwood Point as planned, but that decision has left open the opportunity to do Gash Ridge, which I am looking forward to.
After reading a ton and asking a few questions here, which I received a lot of helpful feedback from thank you, I decided Saturday was the day. Potential afternoon thunderstorms but I normally start early and move fast, so weather wasn't much of a concern. I came home from work Friday, ate some dinner and passed out on the couch around 8pm. My girlfriend woke me up at 1030. I got my stuff together, grabbed a shower and headed out by 11:15.
After a relatively uneventful drive, I arrived at the beginning of the Lake Como road right about 3am. I was looking forward to the road a bit because I just got my Tacoma in the fall and this was the first opportunity I had to do some actual offroading. It is a stock 2006 model. I threw it in 4 low and started up. I don't know if it was being in the dark or what, but I ended up going farrrrr past where most people recommend stopping. Not intentionally, it just seemed like the road wasn't that bad. HUGE mistake. I ended up inside of 2 miles (I think) left to the lake. If looking at a map of the road, I made it a significant distance past the last extreme switchback that is a 180, but not quite to the last 2 switchbacks that are not as extreme. I parked in a tiny pullout on the right, just before the big pullout on the left side that is part of the second to last switchback if you are looking at the map. As I found upon return the next day, going up is much easier than coming down. It only took me about 30-35 minutes to get up to that spot in my truck. It took me a very long, stressful and angry (at my own stupidity) hour and a half to get back down without destroying my truck. The beating did eventually take its toll, as I blew a brake line Sunday morning while descending the Mt Princeton road. Fun times, I will write about it in my TR for that.
So, I was fully parked and wheels chocked at about 345. Geared up and headed out by 4. I was just under/over(?) 2 miles to the Lake. I arrived at Lake Como by about 450am. I continued cruising up past all of the campsites and then slowed down a bit as I was waiting for daylight to break before hitting the NW Face. As the light trickled over Blanca the black hand came into view, I could immediately see that the left side of the black hand was not going to go. There was still quite a bit of snow at the bottom and a good amount of water coming down that side as well. I started up towards the right side of the black hand, following the moraine that I am assuming is from the snowfield that moves down the NW face every year.
I hit the face about 100(ish?) feet right of the black hand, maybe a bit further. I think I started at 545. The climbing was immediately solid Class 3, with a touch of Class 4 here and there. I started trending left immediately. The fall danger becomes apparent right away. I continued up and left over bulges and through small gullies, wondering if I was on the right route. I knew that the large gully constituting the NW Face route was to my left somewhere, but the terrain was so ambiguous that it was difficult to distinguish where. Then, suddenly, a cairn, perched up high on a point, reaffirming my sanity. It was the only cairn I saw on the entire route, and it was placed perfectly to guide you to the NW Face gully. From that point, I crossed into the main gully. I did not do a ton of zigging and zagging. I kept mostly to the right side, wandering back and forth a bit but staying as direct as possible. It was mostly Class 3, with a bit of Class 2 and some Class 4 when I wanted it. Make no mistake, even on Class 2 terrain, any fall in the gully is likely to be fatal. If you were not able to stop yourself within 10 feet, a fall may continue all the way to the bottom of the gully, or maybe just above the black hand.
A trend that I noticed as I ascended; the lighter the rock, the chossier it was. The darker the rock, the more solid it seemed. That being said, climbing in the gully requires extreme diligence and focus 100% of the time. There were some loose blocks that were huge, and tons of loose handholds. My experience climbing in the Elks has taught me to only use handholds more for balance as compared to yarding on everything in sight, and I stuck to that method the whole way up. Find solid feet, pull lightly on handholds and depend on stemming or push off hands.
I eventually came to a big, dark/greenish from lichens, overhanging block on the right side. I scooted under and around the left side, then trended right towards the final section to the ridge. The climbing went from sustained Class 3 to sustained Class 4 that required very meticulous route finding. With one small backtrack I reached the ridge without too much fanfare. For the repeated warnings that gaining the ridge would be the most difficult part of the day, I did not find it too bad. I came to the ridge right of the "down climb" spine that gets so much attention. From everyone else's trip reports, it appears that I came up much further right than others. Maybe I am wrong but just the way it appeared to me. Anyways, I hopped up the ridge and was on the summit of Little Bear just before 730am, for a total time of about 1hr 45 min on the NW Face. With familiarity, it could be done much quicker, I think. In terms of overall difficulty, I didn't find it quite as tough as I thought it would be. Do not let that lead you to believe it is not serious, because it is. As I said before, once the climbing starts, any fall would almost certainly be fatal.
I hung out for 10 minutes on the summit of Little Bear and then headed to the traverse. My adrenaline started surging right away as I looked ahead. It all looked like there was no way that I was going to be able to cross to Blanca. This type of thinking was probably the biggest mistake I made all day. I psyched myself out far too much in the beginning by looking further ahead rather than focusing on the obstacles in front of me. The "down climb" was not too bad, in my opinion. After the down climb, it was just one obstacle after another. The key, for me, was to focus on what was in front of me. The exposure is extreme, and it is constant. Everything that is more difficult would be fatal if you were to fall. There are loose pieces, you have to be vigilant and be aware of the fact that it is the Rockies, you are not climbing nice solid granite. The traverse never surpassed my abilities, or was even close. It was just a mental game of staying focused. My adrenaline and overthought was the reason that I struggled a bit in the beginning, but I settled as time went on. I did quite a few bypasses to the left, maybe one or two on the right before reaching the "saddle." The part that I loved, after hating it at first, was that everything looked impossible until you got close. The reality of it is, if you have real climbing experience, none of the moves on the traverse are difficult.
Once I reached the "saddle," it was pretty easy cruising. There is a handful of cairns slightly guiding you along the right side when off of the ridge proper. They are not always visible, but if your route finding skills are decent, it shouldn't be too difficult. All Class 3 in that section, some Class 2. I flanked the first tower on the right, and headed left up the gully towards the second. I ascended the second tower thinking about what lay ahead. I thought that the "catwalk" would be challenging, as most TRs claim that the end of the traverse is as difficult as the beginning. Without even realizing it, I crossed the catwalk and all of a sudden was descending the last tower to Blanca's main ridge. The traverse ended up taking me 2hr 45 minutes, a lot of which was me staring ahead thinking it was impossible in the first part. I could easily come in under 2 hours if I were to do it again.
Success! And it felt good. I have done a lot of exposed, risky high Class 4, low Class 5 previous to this, but the sustained nature of the entire ridge, along with going it alone, definitely made it the most difficult (risk-wise) objective that I have achieved. It opens the door to doing pretty much anything 14er-wise, and makes me excited to try to push my limits even more. I am looking at Lindsey -> Gash Ridge -> Blanca -> Ellingwood Point -> California loop for another trip soon.
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