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.:Getting to the trailhead:. Accessing the west face of Democrat is actually pretty straightforward. From Denver, take I-70 west to CO 91 (the Copper Mountain exit) and drive 9 miles south. This will take you over the summit of Fremont Pass and the Climax mine. The turnoff is 0.7 miles below the summit of the pass, right at the big sweeping switchback. In the wintertime, you can park just off CO 91. If conditions allow, there is a publicly accessible road (be sure to mind the private property warning for the mining company) that will take you about 1.4 miles along a good dirt road to a closure gate. .:The trail:. From whereever you were able to park, continue south into the valley beneath Democrat's west face. If you parked just off CO 91, hike/snowshoe the road 1.4 miles to the closure gate (along the right side of the valley). If you were able to get this far driving, continue past the closure gate on foot for just about a half-mile, to 11,500'. This puts you below Democrat's summit and the gully to climb should be obvious. Cross the valley floor and start climbing! The prominent gully climbs nearly 2,500' and tops out on Democrat's north ridge, in a small saddle. Follow the ridgeline to the summit. .:Trip Report:. This is a route I'd wanted to try for a long time -- I often drive the stretch of CO 91 where the trailhead is (usually on my way from Leadville or a climb in the Sawatch), and it's a very inviting-looking route. Both the Roach and Dawson guides caution that this route is best climbed in spring conditions, we figured we'd give it a try here in Janaury and see what happened. Upon reaching the switchback on CO 91, it was pretty obvious that we wouldn't be driving down the valley -- drifts several feet high marked the side of the road as cleared off by the highway crews, so we parked it right at the switchback, being sure to be out of the way of the mining company's gates -- remember, a lot of this area is owned by the huge mining operation on Fremont Pass, so be aware of where you are! After bundling up in the early morning chill (clear skies and 7 degrees!), we quickly had to don snowshoes. The snowpack was anywhere from a foot to three feet deep, and ranged from hardpack to crusty to dry and powdery. The slog through the valley took almost two hours, and was exhausting. One step would be on top of the pack, and within two steps we'd be sinking down to above the knees. After finally reaching the base of the west face of Democrat, it was more then obvious that the snowpack wasn't going to be nearly stable enough for us to attempt the steep climb. However, there was still a lot of exposed rock along the route, so caching our snowshoes and trekking poles, we decided to attempt a scramble up the rocks. An inspection of the route led us to try the rocks and outcroppings to the right (south) of the gully. After a few hundred yards of mellow rock hopping, we started climbing steadily, trending mostly to the right. Much to our surprise, the rock conditions very quickly went from solid to rotten! Having done a lot of climbing around the Mosquito Range, we were both surpised to find conditional closer to what we'd expect in the Elks -- loose, rotten rock that did not lend itself well to climbing. By the time we'd reached 13,000', we were both getting pretty tired from the effort, and based on the rotten rock potential and the fact we weren't really equipped to be on a rock climb (no ropes, no protection), we decided that we'd had enough for the day. After picking our way gingerly down to our cached gear, we once again donned snowshoes for the trek back to our parking spot, made only marginally easier by the trail we had blazed on the way in. So, definitely not optimal conditions for this route. Perhaps we'll give it another shot somewhere in April or early May, when the snow should be much more solid, and we can avoid the crappy rock over there altogether! |
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