Lake Como
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For Memorial Day weekend I thought I would try and climb Little Bear Peak. This is one, like several of my remaining peaks, that makes me pause and take a second look. The crux of this climb is an area known as the "Hourglass." This gully is very steep class 4 climbing up into a funnel that focuses any loose rocks from above directly at the climbers coming up. Even without climbers in the area you can hear rocks falling at any time.
I drove down to the Lake Como road which was very busy with weekend revealers. I didn't make it as far up the road as I had hoped and parked at 8,300 feet. That meant that I still had five miles and 3,500' of climb to get to the lake. That took me five hours, arriving a little after sunset but with plenty of light to locate a campsite and eat a quick dinner. There was one tent already at the lake, and another hiker arrived who came up to ski the snowfields. At the lake there were snow drifts everywhere. 
Most of it was soft, making it hard work to get through. Hopefully in the morning it would freeze up and provide a good walking surface.
In the morning I worked my way over toward the unknown tent next to the ruined cabin that I had slept in 33 years ago thinking that is where the trail started. Only I didn't find a trail. (Still can't figure out how those campers got their camp setup without leaving any tracks.) I then looked at my map (yeah, should have done that first) and realized the trail actually started just behind my campsite. As I worked my way up along the creek I came to a snowdrift blocking the way. I stepped away from the creek and started across when about four steps later I postholed through the snow and surprisingly landed in water.
I managed to roll off the snow without breaking through any more. I figured with having to be very careful of frostbite I wasn't going to be able to complete the climb, but I could at least explore a little. I found it easier to cross the creek, move upstream, then cross back to get past the offending snow drift. Which also brought me to the base of a long snow track through the trees. The snow here was solid, so I put on my microspikes and started ascending. I was pleasantly surprised how quickly I was able to climb up the snow to the base of the gully.
I continued up the gully feeling good, the effort keeping my foot active and warm. But when I reached about half way up where the gully narrows, I started postholing again. And when my foot was encased in the snow, the cold just intensified. Time to turn around and get dry. I glisaded down the snow, taking only minutes to descend what took an hour to climb.
Back at the lake I was sitting on the shoreline enjoying the view when I heard a massive rockslide. Lasting for 20-30 seconds, it sounded like half the mountain was coming down on me. I had time to get a good viewpoint but couldn't see anything. It sounded like it came from the area where I figured the "Hourglass" was on the other side of the ridge. If I hadn't fallen in the creek I might have been on the other side of the ridge when it came down.
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