GC3V7K6 The Crux
Type: Traditional | Size: Small | Difficulty: | Terrain:
By: Denali41 @ | Hide Date: 08/21/2012 | Status: Available
Country: United States | State: Colorado
Coordinates: N40° 50.030 W105° 31.089 | Last updated: 08/30/2019 | Fav points: 0
         

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By November 2007 Denali Queen (Carolyn Randall) and I were well along in our quest to climb all 255 of the Ranked Peaks in Larimer County. On a cold early-winter day we set out to climb Point 8300, a peak north of Red Feather Lakes and east of Lost Lake. Because the peak apparently had not been summitted by others before us, we had no “beta” on this climb; but our views of the peak from several distant vantages alerted us to expect a serious effort. Our approach involved some interesting scrambling and route finding, and once at the base of the summit projection most close views revealed sheer faces that would require roped climbing with harnesses and rock protection gear. We finally discovered a weakness in the cliffs that appeared climbable by non-technical means, and we started up this promising route. Eventually, an interesting crux presented itself. Carolyn was a fairly short woman and the length of her “reach” posed special problems for her to surmount this challenge. But Carolyn was Carolyn, and she refused to accept assistance. She finally made it up the crux, using her brute strength and focused determination. In a short while we were on top, feeling very good about what we’d just accomplished, and about life in general. The views were marvelous. Concerns about descending the crux floated through our heads as we sat at the very top and munched on our lunches. But as it turned out, these concerns were unwarranted and the descent went fairly easily.

Since Carolyn’s death 4 years ago on the Matterhorn, I’ve thought several times about the grit and determination she had shown on Point 8300; I vowed to return to the peak, rescale it, and hide a geocache. So I did that today, thinking as I was moving up and over the crux that it probably wasn’t a wise thing to be doing–you know, climbing this challenging peak solo, with no one close by. But things went according to plan, and fairly soon I stood at the very top and did a lot of thinking and remembering about some great experiences we had shared–and other cruxes we had moved through together on climbs around Colorado and North America and the world. Then I hid the cache. It’s placed for those of you who want an infusion of special adventure in your cache-finding activities. This cache will certainly oblige that desire. Don’t try for this one unless you are comfortable in scrambling on rock and in making a couple of serious Class 4 moves. Some climbers would rate this with a Class 5.decimal and would want to rope up. Whatever your decision is, be careful.

The cache is easily found once you are at GZ. Find it, sign its log, and then sit for awhile on this wonderful craggy summit and appreciate life and accomplishments. Approach over Roosevelt National Forest land from the west, parking along the Forest Service Road to Lost Lake. The cache is on USFS land. Private land is involved if eastern approaches are used from the Prairie Divide Road. Don’t trespass by attempting a shorter approach from this direction.

09/22/2013 By JoeRandonneur
A nice cache on one of the best peaks in the county. I came at the cache from the northeast, parking on USFS land along Prairie Divide Road. I discovered that the "crux" portion of the climb is a little easier with less exposure by going under the "crux", rather than over. Photos of my hike are at: http://joeandfrede.com/colorado/8300/8300.htm TFTGC!

07/14/2013 By Vadrox
The FSR 235 road to the Lost Lake is currently closed due to logging operations in the area. On approach I made a big mistake by hiking the road all the way to the Lost Lake and then scrambling east through the rugged terrain to the base of the mountain. It took me two and a half hours to get there. On my way back I headed straight NNW through the cute little pass in the ridge and after an easy hike down only occasionally interrupted by stepping over the dead trees I was back at the FSR 235 gate in only an hour.

I reached the summit but did not find "The Crux" itself. My ascent route was more difficult than it should have been because when I was already on the summit looking around and wondering how I will climb back down, I noticed nice class-3-looking route which is hidden from view if you look from the base of the mountain. Only the top part was visible from the summit and the lower portion might have been more difficult. Anyway, it seemed promising and I decided to try it. I thought that I can always retreat back to the summit if it got worse. The route happened to be good to the very end and presented no apparent problems. I don't know, maybe there is a Crux when you ascend it, but usually climbing down is more difficult than climbing up. You can actually see this route on Google Earth, so I should have done my homework better.

Locating cache on the summit was easy, but when I found it I realized that I left the pencil in the backpack at the base of the mountain. So, I had to improvise a calligraphy tool from a wooden stick and used some dark substance abundant on the rocks as an ink to inscribe the autograph into the brand new cache log.

Thank you Denali for sharing this remarkable and beautiful place and hiding cache there.

Highly recommended provided that you have read and completely understood all warnings in the cache description, signed and dated liability waver form, and so on .

08/22/2012 By HighCountryAdmin
Published