Little Matterhorn 7/10
Due to the nature of my new job, it's practically impossible to know when I'll have days off, and dependent on how I expect to feel the next day makes it somewhat difficult to pick a peak to climb. Of the climbs I have randomly floating through my head, Little Matterhorn wasn't one of them until the night before. I hadn't done much scrambling earlier in the year, so this one fit that criteria with a class 3+/4 ridge while also being a relatively short day. I did a little research and found this TR from 2008, along with a little satellite scoping before hitting the sheets early.
I woke at 4:45 and made it to the Bear Lake trailhead a bit after 6, where a good summer crowd of climbers were gearing up in the parking lot. I hiked the trail to Lake Helene in about an hour, passing only a group of three backpackers on the way(I had heard a loud noise around the corner, and with trees obscuring the dark colored backpackers, I took a few steps backwards expecting an elk or bear to meet me on the trail). Near Lake Helene I climbed up an outcropping to survey the route, which looked easy enough. The first step was to pass by Grace Falls, which was more difficult than expected due to the gnarly spruce krummholz and random cliff bands. The falls is quite pretty and not as far from the lake as I expected, because the NatGeo map has it farther down the stream than it actually is. I crossed over a snowfield following in a helpful elk's footsteps, and passed under the seeping cliff terrace that sent down a light rain upon me. The whole area is snowfield fed, and the plants and flowers are lush. I enjoyed watching single drops fly off of the edge and drift down 75' to my feet.
Climbing up the green hillside was tricky at times but much better than the loose gravel of the avalanche gully(?) that paralleled it. At this point I became aware of the hordes of mosquitoes that followed me up from the wet marshlands below the cliffs. The mosquitoes were persistent, I've never had them follow me above treeline at 11000' but they found a way. Stopping for my first major break I noticed marmots peeking over the boulders above me, and soon I was surrounded. When I'd scouted out the route I'd planned to traverse to the north side of the cirque and avoid as much of the loose scree as possible, but the mosquitoes pushed me upward to the point where I had to climb through the steep gravelly slope to more stable ground. Around 11100' the slope levels out, and I crossed over to the other side sending a few rocks down. Though I avoided triggering anything notable, there were a few places where it felt like the whole mountain was going to slide out from under me.
Back on solid granite, I headed up the side of the Little Matterhorn to the ridge crest and the Dune Worm looking spire. I followed the ridge for less than a minute before encountering a major obstacle, the ridge dropped into a steep notch where a couloir met the crest. I sorta looked over the north face for routes around it, but settled on a 150' downclimb on the familiar south face. The downclimb dropped me to a place where I could drop into and climb out of the 'vertical canyon' that complicated my ascent. Due to a huge chockstone in the upper section, I was forced to ascent the slabby face back to the ridge. I made more difficult moves climbing back to the ridge than on the ridge crest itself. Back on the crest, the summit wasn't far but a few tricky sections remained. The major one was a large boulder that had to be straddled, leaving you on an exposed corner ledge that went from 16" to 5" with nothing but air below you. After that was a short catwalk to the summit. A large cairn sits at the very end of the ridge, but when I tried to reach it the route became obviously technical with a deep, featureless gap between me and the cairn. I don't know for certain if I just missed an easy way to get there, but I'd guess that someone rappelled down the gap and built the cairn for fun.
I'd hoped to drop down into Tourmaline Gorge and climb The Gable next, which would avoid the sketchy downclimb on the slab. Looking down the north face everything looked feasible, mostly tundra ledges halfway down. Dropping down this was easy, but from there the best way to the bottom of the gorge was unclear. I chose more grassy but steep ledges to the east since I could see what looked like an OK route down. This wasn't the right choice in hindsight, heading west from the point in question would have been a whole lot easier and faster. My way worked, but it wasn't for the faint of heart. As I approached the base of the face I began hearing thunder from the clouds I'd monitored throughout the morning...this was one of those days with clear skies at 9 and rain at 12. Tourmaline Lake was the last lake in the Odessa Gorge area I had left to investigate, and it was certainly worth the wait. Though shallow and small, the lake is beautiful and too far for the masses of tourists downstream at Odessa Lake. I heard voices and met a few climbers who'd planned to climb Gabletop, but they sounded like they weren't interested in climbing through the rain. Again the mosquitoes swarmed, and I found the small climbers trail back to Odessa.
Odessa Lake is popular to say the least, I saw at least 12 people at the lake(they were all huddling under a rain canopy some one strung up right over the trail) and more just down the spur trail. A huge Greenback Cutthroat can be found in the logjam outlet; he is the rightful owner of the lake, not the NPS as they seem to think. Heading back up to Lake Helene and down to Bear Lake was uneventful besides the intermittent rain. All together, 3300' EVG and 8.9 miles.
I woke at 4:45 and made it to the Bear Lake trailhead a bit after 6, where a good summer crowd of climbers were gearing up in the parking lot. I hiked the trail to Lake Helene in about an hour, passing only a group of three backpackers on the way(I had heard a loud noise around the corner, and with trees obscuring the dark colored backpackers, I took a few steps backwards expecting an elk or bear to meet me on the trail). Near Lake Helene I climbed up an outcropping to survey the route, which looked easy enough. The first step was to pass by Grace Falls, which was more difficult than expected due to the gnarly spruce krummholz and random cliff bands. The falls is quite pretty and not as far from the lake as I expected, because the NatGeo map has it farther down the stream than it actually is. I crossed over a snowfield following in a helpful elk's footsteps, and passed under the seeping cliff terrace that sent down a light rain upon me. The whole area is snowfield fed, and the plants and flowers are lush. I enjoyed watching single drops fly off of the edge and drift down 75' to my feet.
Climbing up the green hillside was tricky at times but much better than the loose gravel of the avalanche gully(?) that paralleled it. At this point I became aware of the hordes of mosquitoes that followed me up from the wet marshlands below the cliffs. The mosquitoes were persistent, I've never had them follow me above treeline at 11000' but they found a way. Stopping for my first major break I noticed marmots peeking over the boulders above me, and soon I was surrounded. When I'd scouted out the route I'd planned to traverse to the north side of the cirque and avoid as much of the loose scree as possible, but the mosquitoes pushed me upward to the point where I had to climb through the steep gravelly slope to more stable ground. Around 11100' the slope levels out, and I crossed over to the other side sending a few rocks down. Though I avoided triggering anything notable, there were a few places where it felt like the whole mountain was going to slide out from under me.
Back on solid granite, I headed up the side of the Little Matterhorn to the ridge crest and the Dune Worm looking spire. I followed the ridge for less than a minute before encountering a major obstacle, the ridge dropped into a steep notch where a couloir met the crest. I sorta looked over the north face for routes around it, but settled on a 150' downclimb on the familiar south face. The downclimb dropped me to a place where I could drop into and climb out of the 'vertical canyon' that complicated my ascent. Due to a huge chockstone in the upper section, I was forced to ascent the slabby face back to the ridge. I made more difficult moves climbing back to the ridge than on the ridge crest itself. Back on the crest, the summit wasn't far but a few tricky sections remained. The major one was a large boulder that had to be straddled, leaving you on an exposed corner ledge that went from 16" to 5" with nothing but air below you. After that was a short catwalk to the summit. A large cairn sits at the very end of the ridge, but when I tried to reach it the route became obviously technical with a deep, featureless gap between me and the cairn. I don't know for certain if I just missed an easy way to get there, but I'd guess that someone rappelled down the gap and built the cairn for fun.
I'd hoped to drop down into Tourmaline Gorge and climb The Gable next, which would avoid the sketchy downclimb on the slab. Looking down the north face everything looked feasible, mostly tundra ledges halfway down. Dropping down this was easy, but from there the best way to the bottom of the gorge was unclear. I chose more grassy but steep ledges to the east since I could see what looked like an OK route down. This wasn't the right choice in hindsight, heading west from the point in question would have been a whole lot easier and faster. My way worked, but it wasn't for the faint of heart. As I approached the base of the face I began hearing thunder from the clouds I'd monitored throughout the morning...this was one of those days with clear skies at 9 and rain at 12. Tourmaline Lake was the last lake in the Odessa Gorge area I had left to investigate, and it was certainly worth the wait. Though shallow and small, the lake is beautiful and too far for the masses of tourists downstream at Odessa Lake. I heard voices and met a few climbers who'd planned to climb Gabletop, but they sounded like they weren't interested in climbing through the rain. Again the mosquitoes swarmed, and I found the small climbers trail back to Odessa.
Odessa Lake is popular to say the least, I saw at least 12 people at the lake(they were all huddling under a rain canopy some one strung up right over the trail) and more just down the spur trail. A huge Greenback Cutthroat can be found in the logjam outlet; he is the rightful owner of the lake, not the NPS as they seem to think. Heading back up to Lake Helene and down to Bear Lake was uneventful besides the intermittent rain. All together, 3300' EVG and 8.9 miles.
