Storm Mountain 1/26
1500' EVG 5.15mi RT
This was the second time I've climbed Storm, the first being in late December of 2010. Since the forecast was for 70's along the Front Range and it hadn't snowed much lately I thought it would probably be pretty easy to climb to the nearly 10000' summit, plus there is a road all the way to the top to eliminate bushwhacking. I parked at the gate and followed FS 128 into Galuchie Park, then up FS 153(?) to the crest of the ridge. There were plenty of ATV tracks to follow and at least one set of footprints, I believe that one of the landowners who I met in 2010 likes to drive the road. At Foggy Park I followed the steep road as it wrapped around towards the summit. There are two outcrops, I believe the NW one is slightly taller and gives better views to the north through the trees.
I dropped down to the road and followed it down to an old mine below the summit on the NE face, I am unsure of the exact name due to confusion on map and lack of information elsewhere. The mine is a massive cut angled up the slope along a pegmatite containing beryl among other trace minerals with some very steep tailing piles across from it. The shady forest had several feet of drifted snow so I couldn't explore much, but I did find a few broken lime green/blue pieces of beryl where the snow had been blown off. It was quite amazing how much work was done at this mine, the steep trench was at least 100' in elevation from top to bottom and 30-40' wide. On the way back I followed the trees along the east edge of Foggy Park to look for signs of cabins, supposedly the miners used to live in the meadow. It was a pretty clear day and when I returned to Galuchie Park I noticed something I'd never seen before from so far away, the skyscrapers in Denver.
This was the second time I've climbed Storm, the first being in late December of 2010. Since the forecast was for 70's along the Front Range and it hadn't snowed much lately I thought it would probably be pretty easy to climb to the nearly 10000' summit, plus there is a road all the way to the top to eliminate bushwhacking. I parked at the gate and followed FS 128 into Galuchie Park, then up FS 153(?) to the crest of the ridge. There were plenty of ATV tracks to follow and at least one set of footprints, I believe that one of the landowners who I met in 2010 likes to drive the road. At Foggy Park I followed the steep road as it wrapped around towards the summit. There are two outcrops, I believe the NW one is slightly taller and gives better views to the north through the trees.
I dropped down to the road and followed it down to an old mine below the summit on the NE face, I am unsure of the exact name due to confusion on map and lack of information elsewhere. The mine is a massive cut angled up the slope along a pegmatite containing beryl among other trace minerals with some very steep tailing piles across from it. The shady forest had several feet of drifted snow so I couldn't explore much, but I did find a few broken lime green/blue pieces of beryl where the snow had been blown off. It was quite amazing how much work was done at this mine, the steep trench was at least 100' in elevation from top to bottom and 30-40' wide. On the way back I followed the trees along the east edge of Foggy Park to look for signs of cabins, supposedly the miners used to live in the meadow. It was a pretty clear day and when I returned to Galuchie Park I noticed something I'd never seen before from so far away, the skyscrapers in Denver.
