Climbing Mount Yale

Posted on September 18, 2021September 20, 2021 by jim

Mount Yale makes number 22 checked off the 14er list.
I was going to hit some peaks south of here, but a late drive down on Friday night meant I wouldn’t have time to hike the 6 miles up the trailhead to a campsite before nightfall, and I wanted plenty of daylight. I had planned on Yale, Harvard, and Columbia for the following weekend, so flip-flop-hike.
Found a spot just west of the Silver Creek trailhead Friday night, then got a 4am start up the Colorado Trail to the East Ridge of Mount Yale.
I like this part of the East Ridge description from 14ers.com: This route is longer and more difficult than the standard route from Denny Creek. It has some loose rock and steep hiking, without a trail.
This was the loosest rock I’ve had on any of my 14ers so far, so much so that I skipped my planned ascent of 13er Mascot Peak because I was moving so slowly.
Amazing views of Mount Harvard and Mount Columbia, I had planned on hitting these tomorrow but with the loose rock and new Lowa boots my feet told me this wasn’t happening. I’m toying with doing these two and Mount Princeton instead of Antero/Shavano/Tabegauche next weekend, but we shall see.
Since I had an extra weekend day to spare, I tried to find some dispersed camping on the route between Buena Vista and Copper, but nothing available that I could get the Audi to. Oh, the good old days of the go-anywhere Jeep!