14erGirl: Little Bear Peak 14,037'

I think my hubby said that Little Bear Peak is the second toughest 14er there is. And we did it!! It's actually a very dangerous hike if you do it in the summer, so Shawn said it would be safer to do in the "winter." So, with crampons, ice axe, helemt, and snow shoes, we set out. Here is a pic from the road of the all the mountains in the area. I'm not actually sure which is Little Bear, but there is also Blanca Peak, Ellingwood Point (we'll do those later this year), and Lindsey Peak which we did last year.

This is the start of Lake Como road that takes us to Lake Como and where the fun hiking begins. Straight in front of us is Blanca Peak. Blanca Peak is the tallest and all the mountain ridges connect to Blanca.

This is from the Lake Como Road looking back to the city of Alamosa, CO. You can only drive so far in and then you must get on foot. The road is known as Colorado's toughest road. We started hiking at about 8,800' feet. We still have a long way to go!

Finally, we have our next big task in our sights. See the notch in this mountain filled with snow... aka snow gully in the center of this pic. We have to go straight up that which is why we need crampons! Then, we climb the ridge to the left.

Another pic with the notch a little to the right of center with frozen Lake Como below it.

This pic is looking the other direction directly opposite from the notch. Little waterfalls are streaming down the side of this rock.

Here is Little Bear Peak. The notch is on the right (not in this picture), and the waterfalls on the left that I just mentioned.

Little Bear zoomed in.

Another good picture of the notch. I still can't believe we have to go up this thing! Then, we follow the ridge to the left, to only come to another snow gully called the "hourglass" to get to the top.

This is looking down that first snow gully down at Lake Como and the valley. Lake Como is in the center and still semi-frozen.

Another picture of Little Bear on the left and the notch on the right.

This picture is looking back across the ridge we just traversed (on the right). It actually wasn't that difficult. That was the easiest part all day!

And here we are at the start of the hourglass. This is the section that is dangerous in the summer because loose rock can fall and hit you.

Looking down the hourglass from above.

This is probably half-way up the hour glass. The peak is just over the snow ridge just left of center.

This picture is out of order. Sorry! But anyway, this is a picture after we finished the ridge getting ready to traverse across the snow to get to the hourglass that I showed in the previous pics. The hourglass starts just NW of center in this pic.

Alas, we made it to the top of Little Bear! Isn't this a great picture?! Blanca Peak is on the right, and Ellingwood Point on the left. So pretty!

This pic just has Blanca Peak behind us. Lindsey Peak is peaking out slightly in the distance on the right.

Here I am with Blanca Peak behind me. I love Blanca Peak. It reminds me of my Grandma Blanca who I dedicate this hike too - even though we haven't climbed it yet. Soon Grandma Blanca!!