There are a lot of trip reports about the Sawtooth Traverse; fewer about doing it while snow covered, and fewer still about doing it ridge proper in both directions while covered with snow. So this report is intended to help fill in some extra perspective on this classic route.

Included in this report will be:

• Some backstory with diabetic warnings and double-digit accomplishments
• Description of 2-way ridge proper partly snow covered Sawtooth Traverse
• Separate analysis of the Off-Ramp on the Evans side
• A few words on The Sawtooth summit and return
• The Legend of the Red Sweatshirt Lady
• My Times

Trailhead: Guanella Pass (road was still open to the summer trailhead)

Route: Bierstadt West Slopes - across traverse up to The Sawtooth (13,780ft unranked summit), back across the traverse, up Bierstadt, down to Guanella Pass.

Stats: ~9mi, ~4,200ft gain.* ~11.5hrs (includes extra time due to glucometer malfunctions - see backstory below)

Team: With HikesInGeologicTime for the Bierstadt summit then solo for the rest.

*GAIA recorded 3,771ft; the same track imported on 14ers shows 5,100ft; a rough map count of topo lines showed ~4,200ft so I went with that.

As you might guess from the above, this report will be a mix of my usual beta-driven style along with a few more story telling type elements - but keeping my traditional large font bolded section headers and plenty of pictures for those who want to jump quickly to relevant beta.

The Backstory:

I've gotten quite comfortable with short stretches of low 5th class climbing in summer but have been much more conservative on the terrain I tackle with snow/ice on it. Wanting to ease into the winter climbing season with a route that would help prepare me for potentially more interesting routes this winter I decided the Sawtooth Traverse would be a perfect warm-up route for winter scrambling since it was a route I've already done before when it's dry and one where I knew the standard route described barely breaks class 3 but there are some more challenging options nearby if you try to stay entirely ridge proper the whole way (which I mostly did on my summer 1-way crossing and did to a significant extent on this 2-way snowy November crossing).

Having done quite a few hikes together over the last few years with Geo (HikesInGeologicTime) we chatted in the week ahead of this about possible hiking options. Geo hasn't had much interest in class 3 or above since falling off Pyramid Peak in July 2021, even after returning for a successful summit a little over a year later, following extensive surgery and rehab. Meanwhile I've been falling in love with class 4/5 routes like Northeast Crestone and the Little Bear West Ridge Direct variation.

So what do you do when a good friend has a much lower spice preference than you? Well this route was an excellent compromise - the two of us were able to hike up Bierstadt together - a 14er that Geo actually likes climbing (well, at least in an after-the-fact, looking-back-on-it kind of way, if not necessarily so much during the actual event...). Then, as agreed beforehand, I went on for the 2-way Sawtooth solo while Geo descended and went home.

We had the normal amiable chitchat on the well known stroll up Bierstadt's standard route, across the semi-frozen stream - sticking to safe topics of conversation like sex, religion and politics and avoiding contentious topics like the weather. Then after going a ways up the easy but monotonous West Slopes of Bierstadt, Geo stopped for the typical blood sugar check - an essential part of managing type 1 diabetes. A plunge in blood sugar levels is pretty common when engaging in this type of exertion but the numbers this time were exceedingly low - as in "if this thing is reading correctly, I ought to be in the hospital" kind of low. So Geo slammed some overly ripe fruit snacks and checked the levels again after a bit - still super crazy low.

At this point Geo said "if you want to keep on going since you have a longer day ahead of you, that's fine." With a raised eyebrow I responded "so either your glucometer is malfunctioning or you're about to die... ok, well I'll pick up your body on the way back if it's still here. Just kidding, um, no - this is not a good time to split up." So I put on some extra layers and waited for a while longer. Having done all sort of hikes year round together I knew some of what to look for in terms of warning signs that my friend's blood sugar levels were way off but thankfully the more extreme symptoms indicating a major problem weren't really present.

So we eventually concluded that the glucometer was indeed malfunctioning - likely due to it being especially cold that day and kept going. Not too surprisingly Geo later had issues from having downed a few too many of those well-aged, half frozen fruit snacks.

However none of that stopped Geo from achieving:

**BRACE YOURSELVES FOR MELODRAMATIC PRONOUNCMENT**

Double Digit Glory!!! Yes, that's right - Geo completed a 10th summit of Bierstadt and thus has now joined the rare, underappreciated ranks of those who have a double digit peak count for this mighty mountain!

**END MELODRAMA**

So after the successful Bierstadt summit and making sure Geo was in good condition to get back down solo, I went onward to start my solo 2-way Sawtooth Traverse

The Sawtooth Traverse

Here's where the main reason for me to pick this outing kicks in. On the way up, and even upon the first glance from the summit of Bierstadt, it looked like there might be so little snow that it would hardly accomplish my goal of practicing some snowy scrambling.

But I would soon learn that there was actually plenty enough snow to make things more interesting than my last time on this traverse and I was quite glad in retrospect at the end of the day that it wasn't more snow covered than it was.

The route description for the Sawtooth Traverse suggests staying right of the ridge crest as you descend. But that region held a bit more snow than the ridge crest and, well, it's boring. Why do a ridge if you're not going to stay on the ridge?? Especially if you're re-climbing a familiar peak for the express purpose of getting wintery scrambling practice.

By staying on the tip top of the ridge crest I started hitting some class 3 very soon after dropping off Bierstadt and with patches of snow/ice sometimes effectively blocking off certain options I ended up occasionally having a few class 4 or higher moves thrown in to most effectively navigate the terrain.

I discovered very quickly that if I stepped on snow instead of exposed rock that the snow would sometimes be less than an inch deep and other times would give way to expose a large gaping hole between rocks.

But fortunately there were quite a few exposed rocks to choose from, especially as long as I stayed on the ridge crest where there was a little less snow.

Having already done this ridge before, and knowing that I was making a custom choose your own adventure variation to navigate between snow/ice, I didn't bother to document things to quite the level I often do.

The gendarme that's usually considered the crux of the standard route in summer was comparatively tame next to some of the moves I did coming ridge direct off Bierstadt. At first it looked like it had basically no snow, which was disappointing, but as I got closer and further up there were still enough pockets to add a little interest (I missed getting a photo of the snowiest part just above what's pictured).

One thing that was hard to capture in photos was just how treacherous the gaps between rocks could be. Sometimes you could easily see a deep hole between rocks - other times hardened snow covered over a large opening. On at least one occasion I intentionally lowered myself down into one covered over spot until I got waist deep in it and still couldn't touch bottom. So I was very glad that the snow coverage was overall light enough on the ridge crest to have exposed rocks that I could usually step between.

This route would be a LOT more sketchy with a few extra inches or so of snow to mask all the gaps between rocks.

The Off-Ramp

I'm breaking this out as a separate section since this was the section that concerned me the most beforehand and was indeed the only segment during the entire day where I bothered to put on microspikes.

There's nothing difficult in terms of climbing in this section - it's primarily just the psychological impact of going along narrow, slanted snow covered ledges with fatal exposure below you while walking on hard frozen slanted snow.

As the last few photos from above with route lines drawn in help give a feel for - it's not that there was a great deal of snow here that was the problem, but just that what was there was - due to being more fully in the shadows than some other spots on the ridge - much firmer than some of the other snow I had encountered and sometimes this firm snow was slanted at an angle just overtop some pretty epic exposure.

This section too could be significantly more intimidating and potentially dangerous with even a little more snow sticking on these ledges and covering the safe footholds. I could imagine the loose section near the end - under certain special conditions - possibly being able to hold just enough snow that you might sometimes be able to trigger a small little slide which, given the terrain, might be all that would be needed to send you over the edge.

The Sawtooth and Return Over the Traverse

There's not a lot to say about the actual summit of The Sawtooth - just come around the corner past the Off-Ramp and hoof it up to the high point. It wasn't completely obvious which exact point was the true high point so I just walked the edge until I had been overtop every candidate. I met one guy there who had come up from Guanella via the gully - that was the only person I saw the whole day besides those on Bierstadt.

It's a little bit tricky to find the Off-Ramp from above (though I guess I should say On-Ramp from this direction) but there are (as of the time of this writing) a few rock cairns to help mark the spot. It's good to pay attention to this spot when coming up it initially so as to more easily spot it on the way back.

Overall there are 3 main things to note about the return trip of doing the traverse back over to Bierstadt (as opposed to the standard descent down the gully to the willows):

• 1) As mentioned, the ramp is a little tricky to spot from above.
• 2) Downclimbing the gendarme can get notably more spicy than it was to climb up if you decide "oh whatever, I'll just drop down here..." (a moment later with all 4 limbs at max extension - 'uh, maybe that was a bad choice...')
• 3) There is approximately EIGTH HUNDRED FEET of elevation regain from the low point of the traverse to the summit of Bierstadt. Yes, 800ft! Might not sound like much but towards the end of the day it's greatly fatiguing.

The other thing I'll note is that I got the bright idea at one point to try to drop off the ridge crest to see if I could move more quickly across the rocks below where I wouldn't have to scramble.

BIG MISTAKE!

Trying to hop along the rocks below the ridge crest was 10 times worse that just staying on the ridge crest. The ridge crest was certainly harder scrambling - being class 3 with an occasional smattering or harder moves depending on where the snow/ice dictated, as opposed to just class 2 down below the ridge. But there was enough additional snow in the region below the ridge crest on the east side that it was notably harder to be able to consistently rock hop.

Also, while I was rock hopping below the ridge crest it seemed that I found notably more unstable rocks than up on the ridge proper and it was far more common to hit treacherous trap doors when I occasionally had to step on snow between rocks.

So it wasn't long before I gave up on that and went back to the top of the ridge, even though scrambling up was getting rather tiring at that point in the day. From the elevation plot it's easy to imagine coming back up the 'right ear' at the end of the day is not the highlight.

By the time I finally got back to Bierstadt and rested a bit it was almost sunset. Being aware of how quickly the temperature can drop this time of year once the sun goes down I decided to make haste down after snapping a few photos. But little did I know this trip would have a bizarre little twist at the end of the day...

The Legend of the Red Sweatshirt Lady

This is a long bizarre tale of a peculiar encounter on the mountain...

I fully expected to have this rather popular mountain to myself for the descent on this very chilly and increasingly breezy pre-winter evening where the sun was about to set as I started back down off the summit of Bierstadt towards Guanella Pass. But to my surprise, shortly after starting down I encountered a couple coming up to the summit.

At this point I had nothing but the tip of my nose exposed and the couple coming up were likewise so heavily shrouded in winter garb that I couldn't make out who they were. I paused briefly to remark that I was surprised to see anyone coming up this late in the day. They said that they were coming up especially to catch the sunset from the summit and also curiously remarked that they had seen someone else coming up the mountain behind them without any pack.

I made mental note of this "Sunset Couple" (who I was later to discover was Tornadoman and his partner) and then hurried on down, wanting to see if I could get back to the Jeep before needing to pull out my headlamp.

It was only a short while later that I again paused briefly, just a little ways below the ridgeline and only perhaps 15 minutes before sunset, to interact with someone else who was coming up the mountain. Only this was the most unlikely seeming character I could have imagined coming up a snow covered 14er in mid-November at sunset.

I didn't get a name or stay to talk very long but this middle-aged lady appeared in what seemed to be black cotton sweat pants, a red sweatshirt and small black beanie. No pack. No poles. No sign even of food or water or extra layers etc. In stark contrast to the sunset couple who appeared to have significantly increased the earnings of REI or some such similar outdoors store, this lady (no offense intended) appeared to have just raided the bargain bin at Walmart. Not that there's anything wrong with that - I confess much of my around-town wardrobe hails from there - it's just not the sort of outfit that I was at all expecting to see at sunset at 14,000ft on a snow covered mountain that was breezy enough that I had already added several high tech layers.

I think I opened our brief exchange with something to the effect - in a questioning tone - of: "you don't have any pack at all??" She replied in a soft, calm voice that she hadn't originally planned to come up here but then decided she was so close she might as well. I don't think my raised eyebrow was visible under all my layers...

I mean there are all sorts of people roaming these mountains and some of them - men and women alike - can do crazy feats that are way beyond me. So I'm reluctant to judge anyone by my abilities/preferences when it comes to what they take on. Yet still, this case was such an outlier that I felt compelled to at least say something. Trying to be polite but clear I said "just so you know, it's really cold up on the summit and as soon as you gain the ridge the breeze is going to hit you and then it gets a whole lot colder still. So just be aware of that."

She thanked me in that same soft, calm voice without the slightest hint of distress or concern. I figured that if she was determined to reach the summit that I would only endanger her more by delaying her so I passed on my warning and then resumed my descent.

As I scurried down the mountain I couldn't help but wonder about this lady who had seemingly never heard the old adage that cotton kills and who would impulse-hike a snowy 14er at sunset in a pair of sweats with seemingly nothing else with her. With not much else to occupy my mind, I starting pondering different scenarios. Maybe she had on some super warm base layers that I couldn't see? Perhaps heated underwear? Or maybe she was one of those folks I once read about who got struck by lightning and then never again felt or were significantly effected by the cold anymore (are those stories real or just legend?)

But then, as the sky darkened, so did my imagination. How is it that she was so very calm under the circumstances - that almost seemed too calm and composed. What if she's suicidal and came up here so lightly dressed because she intended to freeze herself to death? What a grim discovery that would be for someone... Or what if she had some mental illness and was wondering out without fully realizing the potential danger of the soon to be rapidly falling temperatures? Should I go back up and try to urge her more strongly about the danger and question her more about what's going on?

But I was pretty exhausted at that point - not having got as many climbs in lately as usual and not having been exercising hardly at all either - plus I knew the Sunset Couple was up there still and hoped they would spot her and could maybe talk her through any issues she might be having and perhaps have a spare layer or two to loan her for the hike down.

So I zipped on down the mountain. Making my own slightly foolish choices I declined to put on my microspikes, even after taking one fall on a small patch of ice, and also opted not to stop even to pull out my headlamp despite it getting steadily darker and darker, reasoning that I had just barely enough lingering light to zip back to the Jeep without needing artificial light - a feat which I just barely pulled off.

By the time I had reached my Jeep and unloaded my gear I noticed 3 headlamps coming quickly down the mountain and was surprised at how far down they already were. I surmised that the Sunset Couple must have given the Red Sweatshirt Lady a spare headlamp and perhaps an extra layer or two and were making haste to get down out of the cold

How cold was it? Well my key fob wouldn't unlock the door so I had to pull out the embedded emergency key. Then I couldn't start the engine until heating the fob up in my hands. I took a little time to swap footwear, stretch a little, fetch my wallet out of my pack, etc. The headlamps got closer and closer but I couldn't always spot 3 of them anymore. When I stepped out of the Jeep it was wicked cold and I got to thinking that the Red Sweatshirt Lady was likely to arrive in a near hypothermic state so I got the heat on my Jeep blasting in case she needed a quick thaw.

After some time, one headlamp finally emerged and went to the vehicle across the lot from me and quickly started it up. I waited a moment to see what would happen next and I think I maybe made a quick note or two on my phone. I was about to then get out and go over to inquire if everything was ok when I caught a glimpse of someone stepping into one of the other remaining vehicles. In the limited light inside the vehicle I could just make out that it was the Red Sweatshirt Lady - with no sign of extra layers.

I watched for a second to see if the now two people at the vehicle across the lot from me (I presumed they must have been the Sunset Couple) would go between their vehicle and hers to retrieve gear or such but there was no sign of such an exchange and in short order, before I could go over to make inquiry, the Red Sweatshirt Lady drove off. There was only one other vehicle left in the lot and there was now another pair of headlamps approaching that.

Since I had been waiting there for a while already, and seeing that the mysterious lady I was concerned about was driving off, I decided to go ahead and leave myself and follow at a distance just to make sure she was truly ok. I didn't really take note the make or model of the vehicle. She drove completely normal all the way to Georgetown where we went different directions.

The next day, after posting a conditions report that included a sunset photo, Tornadoman PMed and identified himself and his partner as the "Sunset Couple." To deepen the mystery, he added they they had leapfrogged with the Red Sweatshirt Lady for a while before staying ahead on the way up. As Tornadoman and his partner started down they noticed that she had apparently turned back just a little ways below the summit. She was moving slowly on that section and they passed her - she said little besides that she was running out of time. He and his partner then paused shortly after to pull out their headlamps at which point she passed them now moving quite fast. They never saw the Red Sweatshirt Lady pull out a light, nor did they ever see her again on the descent, despite keeping their eyes open on and around the the trail for any signs of someone struggling to get down.

Given that I didn't really hang out at the trailhead all that long and that I had been hauling pretty good on the way down she must have set an impressive descent pace indeed and seems to have done the entire spur of the moment journey - turning around just below the summit at sunset - with no pack, no gear, no food or water - nothing but a pair of cotton sweats and a black beanie!

I've seen some peculiar things over the years out in the mountains but this is one of the more bizarre seeming episodes. I'm curious now if this same mysterious lady might show up similarly underdressed on other peaks this winter. Maybe I'll meet her again someday. Perhaps she might even come across this trip report and be puzzled what the big deal was: "I was just going for an evening stroll - what's so strange about that?" Maybe I'll hear the backstory explaining how she was better equipped or more experienced than I assumed.

But for now I'm left simply telling people The Legend of the Red Sweatshirt Lady!

My Times

~6:15-6:30am start from Guanella Pass summer trailhead (uncharacteristically forgot to either record the time or start my GPS tracks until we were at the stream crossing

~10am Geo makes historic double digit summit of Bierstadt (there's my melodrama again - plenty of folks have done way more summits but as I've done 295 summits without yet hitting double digits on any one peak, I still think it's a cool little stat...)

10:15am Geo heads down as I start the Traverse solo

1:05pm at the far side of the Off-Ramp, just before the walkup to the summit

1:25pm finished walking back and forth across all the potential high points

1:35pm begin return trip across the traverse

4pm back on Bierstadt summit

~5:45pm back in my Jeep at Guanella pass

~6:25pm Caught a glimpse of the Red Sweatshirt Lady stepping into her car and driving off.