Update on Chasm Lake Trail Conditions, May 2014

Mount Meeker & Longs Peak. RMNP, Colorado, 2014

This is one of my favorite places near Boulder and I have always wanted to get up there in the early spring with winter conditions still evident on Chasm Lake, Mount Meeker, Longs Peak and the famous Diamond.

Yesterday (May 23), I finally made it happen, and here are the highlights…

An excruciating 1a.m. wakeup and on the trail, by headlamp, at 2:30a.m. A crescent Moon rising slowly in the east. I whistled and sang “Hi ho, hi ho, it’s off to work we go!”–gotta keep the bears alert, dontcha know.

The trail started out merely very wet and with intermittent snow patches for the first mile. After that, you were nearly constantly walking atop 2-3′ of snow–luckily packed down a bit by other hikers and fairly solid in the early morning coldness. It has certainly been a good snowfall winter!

Above treeline, the wind had blown much of the snow away so it was nice to walk on actual trail for long stretches.

Not long after first light, I arrived at the saddle where the Chasm Lake Trail and the trail up to the Longs summit via Boulder Field/Keyhole diverge.

Nice view out toward Denver by the light of a fingernail Moon. Strange to be so far way from humanity, yet so close. And speaking of humanity…The headlamps I had glimpsed earlier down below come by me at the saddle–two climbers heading quickly for Dreamweaver, a classic mixed snow/ice/rock climb up a long couloir on Mount Meeker.

The Denver view:

Pre-Dawn Moon Over Denver. Chasm Lake – Longs Peak Trail split, RMNP, Colorado, 2014

The next section of the walk to Chasm Lake can be treacherous in bad conditions as the trail cuts across a fairly steep slope. It’s no biggie in the summer as you simply follow the nice, secure trail cut into the rock and talus. In winter conditions, though, the slope can be avalanche-prone (after a heavy, fresh snow), or a slope you don’t want to tumble down (in hard snow). In the latter case, with no effective self-arrest, you would fall a very unhealthy distance onto the rocks of the Peacock Pool cirque hundreds of feet below.

Luckily, since the last big snowfall, enough people had already hiked up the trail before me as to create a very narrow, but fairly secure footpath across the now stable snowfield (even with no traction devices). Just put your boots in the slots left by the previous boots…and don’t look down.

Pre-dawn, the two Dreamweaver climbers crossing the snowfield:

Snowfield Traverse to Chasm Lake. RMNP, Colorado, 2014

Arriving just a few minutes after sunrise (scheduled by the Universe for for 5:41a.m.), I had Chasm Lake to myself for awhile…not a breath of wind (rare!)…an absolutely spectacular hidden glacial valley…lake still frozen, but showing signs of spring thaw.

Then two nut cases looking for a high altitude ski challenge approached and went by on the opposite side of the lake. Headed for Lamb’s Slide, perhaps? A lot of work for one run!

Skiers crossing the high traverse to Chasm Lake:

Upper Traverse to Chasm Lake. RMNP, Colorado, 2014

On skis, headed for Lamb’s Slide (see the two dots on the far side of the lake):

Chasm Lake #6 (Two Skiers). RMNP, Colorado, 2014 (Tough to see them with a small image on a small screen.)

Meanwhile…the two climbers were well up the lower slopes of Dreamweaver, on Mount Meeker:

Climbers on Dreamweaver #2. RMNP, Colorado, 2014 (Two more dots!)

Climbers on Dreamweaver #2. RMNP, Colorado, 2014 (Center couloir, two more dots!)

As I left Chasm Lake and headed back down the trail, the clouds began to form…precursors to the thunderstorm that will surely brew up later in the day. Hopefully, all will make it back down before then.