Apache Peak
Via Apache Couloir
In previous years, it seemed that the Indian Peaks were crowd-free for the most part. At least the high peaks were fairly solitary; the lake trails were always very crowded with enthusiasts admiring the beauty. That seemed to change in the year 2000. The climbs which I thought would not be too populated felt like fourteener climbs somtimes. Apache couloir was super popular on Saturday, June 17th. Probably because the road to Brainard Lake had just opened and all the snow-climbing enthusiasts wanted a chance at the east-facing Apache Couloir before it melted out.
Apache couloir is a moderate snow climb. It feels like a fairly consistent 40-45 degree climb the whole way. Since I’d been snow-climbing since the middle of Spring, I’d already experienced some pretty scary climbs (most notably Skywalker Couloir on South Arapaho Peak) so I was a little more accustomed to steep couloirs and this wasn’t to frightening to me at all. However, I wouldn’t recommend Apache Couloir as an intro into snow climbing; it’s a little too advanced for that.
Ken and I left Denver around 4:30 am and began the hike just after 5:30. The hike begins at the Long Lake trailhead, however, the road to the two lake trailheads were closed so most hikers were hiking up the road to get to the trailhead. Fortunately, from taking various people up to Lake Isabel, I knew of a “back way”, the Niwot cutoff trail. We parked next to the trail, hiked up it, and arrived at Long Lake after a little more than ten minutes. Along Long Lake, we ran into a few hikers and discovered that each of them was heading for the couloir as well!
The trail branches at beautiful Lake Isabel and the main trail heads up to Pawnee Pass while the trail to the Isabel Glacier and the Apache couloir. It’s approximately 4 miles to the base of the couloir and, as a result from taking pictures and our leisurly pace, we arrived fairly late, around 8am.
To our surprise, there were already about 5-7 people in the couloir. This was the popular climb of the day! After putting on our crampons, we began heading up the couloir at a really fast pace. I like to move fast in couloirs mainly because, due to the nature of the climbing, it’s very tiring on the legs and calfs. Also, on the east facing couloirs, the sun quickly softens up the snow making it very soft slick. Despite our quick pace, we took one rest stop halfway up. The climb was actually very straightforward. The angle never exceeded 45 degrees and the climb ended with the couloir fanning out into a wide 300 foot snowfield to climb to the ridge about 75 feet beneath the summit. On the summit, we ate, sunbathed, identified other peaks, and, with a clear view of the Fair Glacier Cirque, planned our climb of Lone Eagle, which we’ll tackle possibly in late summer.
We also hiked part way along the ridge to Shoshoni, stopping on a rock pinnacle just before it got real scary. The ridge to Shoshoni is unbelievably difficult looking. It looks super-exposed and I’d imagine that it would have to be done as a technical climb, due to the consistently steep pinnacles.
We decided to attempt a glissade down the Queen’s Way couloir. Queen’s Way is the less demanding couloir on Apache Peak. It’s only about 35 degrees, but it’s a very symmetrical and aesthetic couloir with nice views of the Isabel Glacier and Shoshoni Peak. There were some other climbers gathered at the top of the couloir who looked like they were waiting for someone else to go first. That was Ken’s job. Being the braver one when it comes to slick surfaces, he hopped on the snow and whizzed down. I followed after him doing a lot of braking. Whenever I removed my ice axe from dragging in the snow, I picked up speed really fast. So, I kept in there pretty hard near the top part, but as the angle eased, we both released the brakes and flew down. Queen’s way is a stellar glissade. It’s really fast and very long, about 900 feet. We had climbed Castle Peak during the first weekend of May. Castle Peak is reputed as having one of the best glissades, but Queen’s Way couloir, along with Buffalo Mountain in the Gore Range, was much better!
