UN 10100 and UN 10013
5.4 miles RT, 1700' EVG 12/28
Joe Grim, David Johnson, Poudre and I set out to climb these two 10ers South of Barnes Meadow Reservoir by parking at the spillway and walking up the road to the closed Chambers Lake access point. Across the road was an old logging road that we followed to a long narrow meadow before cutting off to follow a small drainage at the head of the meadow. The next mile or so we followed in and above the drainage, which in a few places cut through rocky sidewalls. As we neared the saddle between peaks, the terrain flattened by some small meadows before we skirted around the rocky south side of 10100. The climb up to the southern subsummit wasn't bad, and the face had a lot less snow than anywhere else on the peak. Climbing up we started to see good views up the Poudre River gorge to the frosty backside of the Mummy Range. Though the LOJ highpoint is the northern subsummit, the southern subsummit had better views across to the Medicine Bow Range and towards 10013. We dropped down to the saddle between summits and tagged the drifted highpoint.
Dropping back to the saddle between subsummits, we then dropped down the steep and snowy west face of 10100 to the saddle between 10100 and 10013 where we found a small frozen pond. Climbing up the sheltered east face of 10013 was difficult, but eventually we found the cairned highpoint with great views of the Medicine Bows and the reservoirs in the area. To drop to the reservoir, we followed down the west ridge that led from the peak and dropped into a surprisingly steep drainage. In several sections the descent became so steep that we had no better choice than to slide down and stop ourselves with a tree. When the slope became more gentle, the deadfall was much worse and the slog through thigh deep snow and downed trees became much more tiring. Finally we came out to the frozen reservoir and headed straight back towards the spillway and car.
Additional photos at Joe's site, joeandfrede.com
Joe Grim, David Johnson, Poudre and I set out to climb these two 10ers South of Barnes Meadow Reservoir by parking at the spillway and walking up the road to the closed Chambers Lake access point. Across the road was an old logging road that we followed to a long narrow meadow before cutting off to follow a small drainage at the head of the meadow. The next mile or so we followed in and above the drainage, which in a few places cut through rocky sidewalls. As we neared the saddle between peaks, the terrain flattened by some small meadows before we skirted around the rocky south side of 10100. The climb up to the southern subsummit wasn't bad, and the face had a lot less snow than anywhere else on the peak. Climbing up we started to see good views up the Poudre River gorge to the frosty backside of the Mummy Range. Though the LOJ highpoint is the northern subsummit, the southern subsummit had better views across to the Medicine Bow Range and towards 10013. We dropped down to the saddle between summits and tagged the drifted highpoint.
Dropping back to the saddle between subsummits, we then dropped down the steep and snowy west face of 10100 to the saddle between 10100 and 10013 where we found a small frozen pond. Climbing up the sheltered east face of 10013 was difficult, but eventually we found the cairned highpoint with great views of the Medicine Bows and the reservoirs in the area. To drop to the reservoir, we followed down the west ridge that led from the peak and dropped into a surprisingly steep drainage. In several sections the descent became so steep that we had no better choice than to slide down and stop ourselves with a tree. When the slope became more gentle, the deadfall was much worse and the slog through thigh deep snow and downed trees became much more tiring. Finally we came out to the frozen reservoir and headed straight back towards the spillway and car.
Additional photos at Joe's site, joeandfrede.com
