So on Saturday May 20th, my climbing compatriot Chris and I set off for Mount Yale. Leaving Denver around 5am, we drove down US 285 to Johnson Village and then north on US 24 a couple miles into Buena Vista. Turning west at the only traffic light in town, we drove another 12 miles up the Cottonwood Pass road to the Denny Creek trailhead, which is very well signed. This is certainly one of the more convenient trailheads to get to, since it's right off a paved, maintained (and in the winter, plowed) Cottonwood Pass road.

We reached the trailhead at right about 7:30, and packed up our gear for the trek. This early in the season, we anticipated needed snowshoes and fairly heavy clothes, and Chris also brought along his tele skis in case the opportunity to carve a few turns presented itself. Right about 8:00 we sighed the register and were off.

The Denny Creek - Delaney Gulch trail is currently the preferred climber's trail for Mount Yale. The old route up Denny Gulch (not to be confused with Denny Creek) suffers from sever overuse and erosion, and the forest service has closed it to general use. However, the new route is well marked and easy to follow. That said, it's also pretty darned steep. The distance from the trailhead (at 9900 ft) to the summit (14,196 ft) is about 3.6 miles, and the route wastes no time in making you gain that altitude. The first 0.9 miles climbs steadily through the forest , roughly parallel to the rushing runoff waters of Denny Creek. After crossing the creek, there is a well-marked trail junction, with the route to Mount Yale taking the right fork. The trail continues to wind upwards. through the forest, ultimately switchbacking up the ridge separating Denny Creek from Denny Gulch. Upon reaching the top of this ridge (~12,100 ft.), Yale was prominently visible to the east. We picked a snow-filled gully as the easiest route, and began the steep climb. The snow was fairly hard, but not so bad that we actually needed the snowshoes...simple kick-stepping was doing the job just fine.

From the top of this gully, we had to pick and choose the best route to the summit. In the summer, the trail switchbacks up the slope we were on to the saddle point northwest of Yale at 13,500. However, there was substantial snowpack at this altitude, and the trail was very well buried. So we spend a good hour and a half boulder-hopping our way up the slope. This was a pretty time-consuming task, since the snowpack made it difficult to know if there way a rock 2 inches under the snow, or you were going to sink down past your knees. We did our best to navigate along on the rocks that were visible above the snow, but it was tough at times.

Finally, we made the ridge top at about 13,900 feet...somewhat above the low saddle point, but from here the summit was just a couple hundred yards to the southeast. We finally hit the summit right at 1:00pm, under cloudy skies and blustery winds. As Chris broke out the celebratory animal crackers (a summit tradition for us), I surveyed the surrounding mountains. Columbia, Harvard, and the whole Horn Fork Basin were just north, and the impressive summit of Princeton was directly opposite, to the south. Weatherwise, there had been small storms moving in and out of the mountains all day long, and we could see small thundershowers marching across the expansive Arkansas River Valley, to the east.

While on the summit, we were joined by one other guy who had followed us up Denny Creek, and trio who had climbed Avalanche Gulch, a route up Yale's east ridge. After a small snack and some snapshots, we gingerly made our way down from the summit, navigating the boulder-tops until we found some good solid snowfields at about 13,500 ft. While I glissaded down to treeline on my butt, Chris tele-skied down right behind me. That's another great thing about these late spring climbs...when the snow conditions are good, descending doesn't take nearly as long as the climb up!

After the enjoyable descent to treeline, we stopped long enough to stow skis and ice axes. We were able to pick up the trail without too much trouble, and ambled back to the trailhead and, after a brief stop in Buena Vista, home. Another great day in the Sawatch!