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Ascent of Mount Bierstadt on 2012-08-19

Climber: Nicholas Harper-Johnston

Date:

Sunday, August 19, 2012

Ascent Type:

Successful Summit Attained

Peak:

Mount Bierstadt

Location:

USA-Colorado

Elevation:

14060 ft / 4285 m

Ascent Trip Report

Hiked Bierstadt with my Girlfriend, her first 14er. Left the trailhead at 6 AM with luckily only a couple cars in the lot. Immediately we saw a moose chilling at the lake near the trailhead. We sat and watched him drink and swim for nearly 15 minutes before continuing the hike, definitely my coolest wildlife encounter while hiking. We went at an easy pace and summitted around 8:30. We were the 6th and 7th people up for the day, and from the top we could see the ant-line of hikers coming. Despite this being an incredibly crowded and easy hike, this was by far my favorite 14er ascent. The views of the Sawtooth the whole way up were pretty unreal and the terrain wasnt too bad. The hike wasn't on much scree, mostly dirt and then a nice rock scramble at the finish. I will definitely do it again on a different route, or walk the ridge from Mt Evans via the Sawtooth. Anyways, after relaxing at the peak for a half hour, people started to come up by the dozens so we went back down. We passed 300-400 people on the way down. The weather was perfect so most of them probably made it up. We were back at the trailhead around 11.

Summary Total Data

Elevation Gain:

2590 ft / 789 m

Route Conditions:

Maintained Trail, Unmaintained Trail, Stream Ford, Scramble

Ascent Statistics

Elevation Gain:

2590 ft / 789 m

Trailhead:

11470 ft / 3496 m

Descent Statistics

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