Mt. Sherman - December 21st, 2001
I had climbed Grays and Torreys with April in September with a group of CU freshman from Libby Hall where we were both RAs. April was interested in a fourteener which was not simply a very long, hard walk, so I suggest we give one a try in winter.
I was still a novice as far as fourteeners were concerned, but had been winter camping and snowshoing before, so we headed off to Mt. Sherman's western side to camp in Iowa Gulch. I had hoped the western slopes of Mt. Sherman would be blown free of snow, and we would have a straightforward ascent.
We were able to drive a few hundred yards beyond where the snow is plowed, but mostly it was not worth the effor to try. We headed off up the road, which had about a foot of snow. The views west towards Mt. Elbert were incredible.
After a few hours, we found ourselves leaving treeline. Since I only owned a three season tent, we planned to camp in the last stand of trees available. We left the main road and followed a spur road at about 11,800'. There was a good pile of snow in the leeward section of the road cut, so we walked on the small flat portion of ground along the edge of the road. The snow above us shifted significantly and slid a few inches. It was very scary, and although I had a bit of experience in winter in the backcountry, including an avalanche safety course, I had never seen snow actually collapse or move before.
This set off warning bells, but the snow was on a different aspect than we would be climbing, so we headed off into the flat valley. As we neared the bottom, we saw shotting cracks and some collapsing. We were on flat terrain, so there was no actual danger, but this was obviously unstable snow, so I called off the summit attempt.
We headed back the way we had come in, and found a good, very sheltered spot in the trees to setup camp. We flattend the slope with my shovel, and hunkered down for the night. It was pretty cold, but not unbearable. April did not seem very interested in winter camping again, however.
After a quick two hour showshoe back to the car, we scarfed a sandwich together and headed off, defeated. I definetely learned a lot on this trip about planning and route selection. Looking back upon this trip now, I should have selected the route by historical avalanche danger, not simply aspect. The route from fourmile creek is known to be much better in this regard for a winter ascent.