Ascent of Cerro Grande on 2023-01-28| Others in Party: | Christina Anthony
| | Date: | Saturday, January 28, 2023 | | Ascent Type: | Successful Summit Attained | | Motorized Transport to Trailhead: | Car | | Peak: | Cerro Grande | | Location: | USA-New Mexico | | Elevation: | 10160 ft / 3096 m |
Ascent Trip ReportGot on the road from Albuquerque at around 7:45 on Saturday. Nice quiet ride up NM-4, got quiche's at NM-4 Bakery and then rented snow shoes at the Valles Caldera Visitor Center.
Trail was already broken and it looked packed enough that I thought I could get away without snowshoes. 0.1 miles in, I reconsidered. Went back to the car and grabbed them - glad I did!
Christina led. First half mile is easy and pretty flat. The next 0.75 miles start climbing through the trees and at around 1.3 miles gains a ridge overlooking the Caldera. Here, the going gets steeper and the trail became less packed. It looked like maybe 3-4 sets of tracks since the snow 5 days ago on Monday. This would have been miserable without snowshoes. Extreme post-holing for sure, the likes of which I haven't seen since my 2017 Decent of Eagle Peak.
The final summit push was quite windy as was the summit. Fantastic views of the Caldera and the snow covered peaks in the Santa Fe and Pecos Mountains including Santa Fe Baldy, East Pecos Baldy, and the Truchas. The Jemez Mountains were majestic and snow covered to the South with decent views of the Ortiz Mountains and Sandias in the distance.
Descent was much easier than the ascent and we were able to practically run/moonwalk down the steep ridge in snow shoes.
Great hike. One of my first true successful winter ascents and Christina did a great job! |
| Summary Total Data | | Total Elevation Gain: | 1245 ft / 379 m | | Total Elevation Loss: | 1245 ft / 379 m | | Round-Trip Distance: | 3.9 mi / 6.3 km | | Grade/Class: | Class 1 | | Quality: | 6 (on a subjective 1-10 scale) | | Route Conditions: | Snow on Ground | | Gear Used: | Snowshoes | | Weather: | Cool, Windy, Clear | | Ascent Statistics | | Gain on way in: | 1225 ft / 373 m | | Gain Breakdown: | Net: 1205 ft / 367 m; Extra: 20 ft / 6m | | Loss on way in: | 20 ft / 6 m | | Distance: | 2 mi / 3.2 km | | Route: | Cerro Grande Trail | | Start Trailhead: | Cerro Grande Trail (NM - 4) 8955 ft / 2729 m | | Time: | 1 Hours 33 Minutes | | Descent Statistics | | Loss on way out: | 1225 ft / 373 m | | Loss Breakdown: | Net: 1205 ft / 367 m; Extra: 20 ft / 6m | | Gain on way out: | 20 ft / 6 m | | Distance: | 1.9 mi / 3.1 km | | Route: | Cerro Grande Trail | | End Trailhead: | Cerro Grande Trail (NM - 4) 8955 ft / 2729 m | | Time: | 52 Minutes |
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