12/12/13 "Lightning Peak" 10,567' #6

View of Hallett Peak and the Continental Divide

On the 12th of December I went out with Zach.  We drove up the Big Thompson Canyon.  Despite it being my third time up the canyon, the devastation of the fall floods was still impressive.  We parked at Lily Lake and began our hike.  We were trying to follow trail a ways and then leave the trail and get to the saddle between Estes Cone and "Lightning Peak" and then come back to the saddle and climb Estes Cone and take the trail back to the car.  Over the course of the day our plans changed a bit.

We carried our snowshoes but ended up putting them on after a short distance.  The trail was easy enough to follow and snowshoes made it a

Zach on the summit with Estes Cone in background

bit easier on the trail.  After some time we decided we were at the point we wanted to be to leave the trail and start an ascending traverse toward the Estes Cone/"Lightning" saddle. 

The snow off the trail was not as nice as the snow on the trail.  It was just too much to climb through without the snowshoes, yet it was just not enough snow to make wearing snowshoes worthwhile.  We wore them anyway as it seemed it would be more difficult to climb without them.

After some time off the trail we realized we had probably left the trail a bit too low and early.  We had to climb more than we should have and had more of a shoulder to traverse around.  It wasn't that big of a deal, but we probably created a bit more work than if we had stayed on the trail longer.  It was a beautiful day and we didn't worry about it for too long.  We slowly worked our way through the forest and snow to the saddle between Estes Cone and "Lightning Peak."  From there it was a fun climb up to the summit.

Twin Sisters with the fall flood damage on left

The summit was rocky, as some of the ridge had been too.  Along with the sun and rocks, we had wind and we descended down a bit and used part of the summit block to block the wind.  We sat in the sun and enjoyed great views out to the interior of Rocky Mountain National Park and the Continental Divide.  From where we sat and rested the summit of Estes Cone looked to be a long way.  We decided there that we would leave that part of the trip for another day when the snow was deeper or gone or when we had more time and energy.  We would retrace our steps back to the trailhead.

Twin Sisters in the evening light

Doing so turned out to not be too hard.  We decided that for the way down we would not use our snowshoes, figuring it might be easier.  It was.  The distance seemed longer than we had remembered, but traveling downhill through the too much or too little snow (depending on how we looked at it) was quick and easy without the cumbersome snowshoes.  Before too long we were back on the trail and we followed our tracks back down to Lily Lake in the setting sunlight.  It had been a great day in Rocky Mountain National Park climbing an unofficially named summit that not too many people climb.

Elevation gain:  1610'     Total gain:  9845'