MOUNT DEMOCRAT 8/3/84
MOUNT DEMOCRAT 14,148'
Mountain........Mount Democrat
Elevation.........14,148
Rank...............29th
Range..............Mosquito
Trail length......1.5 miles
Elevation gain..2200'
Difficulty..........*
Comments........Easy enough if you can find the trailhead
TRIP REPORT
8/3/84
We had taken the day off after Tabeguache & Shavano, and were ready to climb again. Our plan was to either climb Mt. Sherman or do Lincoln, Democrat, and Bross in one day. I forget which. But it was not to be. We took a road out of Alma toward the mountains and wound up at a small lake. There were no markers, but a trail led up to a configuration of peaks that appeared to match Democrat, Lincoln and Bross on our topo map. So we started climbing.
We reached the top of the ridge at about 13,400' and climbed the peak on the left, which should have been Democrat. However, from this vantage point it became apparent that we were in the wrong place. Scanning south, we spotted Mt. Sherman and Gemini Peak about two miles away. To the north we saw the Lincoln, Democrat, Bross trio, probably about six miles away. We decided to head south and spent a pleasant morning strolling the ridge. The high point was about 13,800'. I found some marine fossils (crinoids) atop the ridge. No mosquitoes - it must have been past their prime season.
After a couple of hours on the ridge we headed back to the car and attempted to return to Alma by a different route. The road we took dead-ended in a muddy alpine meadow. We turned around and tried to get the car back up to the lake, but it slid backwards and wouldn't go. We were very, very fortunate that a guy drove his truck down a few minutes later (he was just sightseeing) and pushed (more like rammed) us up the hill. We finally got back to Fairplay and studied the maps and guidebooks a bit more carefully.
We had climbed ten peaks in twelve days and had some adventures in between - we decided to go for numbers and knock off 13 peaks in 13 days, so on our last day we found the correct road out of Alma up to Kite Lake and climbed past some old mine shafts up to the Lincoln-Democrat saddle (another mine there). We switchbacked up the slope to the left until we reached the summit plateau, where we crossed a large snowfield by 'Uncle Tom's Cabin' (a wooden structure that I believe has since burned down). Then it was just a few steps up to the summit.
It was below freezing, misty and windy, and there was a glaze of ice on the rocks, so we had to be pretty careful how we stepped. Richard wanted to record his times for the climb (we were acclimated now and moving pretty fast) so he had me take summit pictures of him and his watch on all three (four if you count Cameron) peaks.
After a brief look around, we headed on to Lincoln.
TRIP REPORT
8/3/94
I've returned twice - Exactly ten years later I climbed Lincoln, Democrat, & Bross with Chuck Armatys, who had summited Everest a few years before and was one of our guides on Aconcagua. It was just a morning workout for him. We started at 8:00, had a long lunch on Cameron, and got back to the car at noon. There was a Jeep Cherokee parked at the summit of Bross. My climbing partner Carol was supposed to have met us at the trailhead at 7:00, but she never showed up - it turned out she had made the same mistake as Richard and I, and climbed 3 peaks near Mosquito Pass that she thought were Lincoln, Democrat, and Bross - when I caught up with her the next day in Dillon, I quickly disabused her of that notion.
TRIP REPORT
June 1996
Carol and I went up again in June 1996 when there was a lot of snow. We had to park two miles below Kite Lake where the road turned into a 12-foot high snow bank. It was a beautiful blue-sky day. We strapped on our crampons and climbed pretty directly up Democrat. In the middle of a vast snowfield, a marmot poked his head out of a small hole, looked around, saw nothing but white, and ducked back down, probably to sleep for another two weeks. As the snow softened, we had to do some post-holing and got pretty tired. The summit was cold and windy again, and when I sat down, I froze to the snow. We decided to stop with just the one summit this time, and headed back to the car.
Mountain........Mount Democrat
Elevation.........14,148
Rank...............29th
Range..............Mosquito
Trail length......1.5 miles
Elevation gain..2200'
Difficulty..........*
Comments........Easy enough if you can find the trailhead
TRIP REPORT
8/3/84
We had taken the day off after Tabeguache & Shavano, and were ready to climb again. Our plan was to either climb Mt. Sherman or do Lincoln, Democrat, and Bross in one day. I forget which. But it was not to be. We took a road out of Alma toward the mountains and wound up at a small lake. There were no markers, but a trail led up to a configuration of peaks that appeared to match Democrat, Lincoln and Bross on our topo map. So we started climbing.
We reached the top of the ridge at about 13,400' and climbed the peak on the left, which should have been Democrat. However, from this vantage point it became apparent that we were in the wrong place. Scanning south, we spotted Mt. Sherman and Gemini Peak about two miles away. To the north we saw the Lincoln, Democrat, Bross trio, probably about six miles away. We decided to head south and spent a pleasant morning strolling the ridge. The high point was about 13,800'. I found some marine fossils (crinoids) atop the ridge. No mosquitoes - it must have been past their prime season.
After a couple of hours on the ridge we headed back to the car and attempted to return to Alma by a different route. The road we took dead-ended in a muddy alpine meadow. We turned around and tried to get the car back up to the lake, but it slid backwards and wouldn't go. We were very, very fortunate that a guy drove his truck down a few minutes later (he was just sightseeing) and pushed (more like rammed) us up the hill. We finally got back to Fairplay and studied the maps and guidebooks a bit more carefully.
We had climbed ten peaks in twelve days and had some adventures in between - we decided to go for numbers and knock off 13 peaks in 13 days, so on our last day we found the correct road out of Alma up to Kite Lake and climbed past some old mine shafts up to the Lincoln-Democrat saddle (another mine there). We switchbacked up the slope to the left until we reached the summit plateau, where we crossed a large snowfield by 'Uncle Tom's Cabin' (a wooden structure that I believe has since burned down). Then it was just a few steps up to the summit.
It was below freezing, misty and windy, and there was a glaze of ice on the rocks, so we had to be pretty careful how we stepped. Richard wanted to record his times for the climb (we were acclimated now and moving pretty fast) so he had me take summit pictures of him and his watch on all three (four if you count Cameron) peaks.
After a brief look around, we headed on to Lincoln.
TRIP REPORT
8/3/94
I've returned twice - Exactly ten years later I climbed Lincoln, Democrat, & Bross with Chuck Armatys, who had summited Everest a few years before and was one of our guides on Aconcagua. It was just a morning workout for him. We started at 8:00, had a long lunch on Cameron, and got back to the car at noon. There was a Jeep Cherokee parked at the summit of Bross. My climbing partner Carol was supposed to have met us at the trailhead at 7:00, but she never showed up - it turned out she had made the same mistake as Richard and I, and climbed 3 peaks near Mosquito Pass that she thought were Lincoln, Democrat, and Bross - when I caught up with her the next day in Dillon, I quickly disabused her of that notion.
TRIP REPORT
June 1996
Carol and I went up again in June 1996 when there was a lot of snow. We had to park two miles below Kite Lake where the road turned into a 12-foot high snow bank. It was a beautiful blue-sky day. We strapped on our crampons and climbed pretty directly up Democrat. In the middle of a vast snowfield, a marmot poked his head out of a small hole, looked around, saw nothing but white, and ducked back down, probably to sleep for another two weeks. As the snow softened, we had to do some post-holing and got pretty tired. The summit was cold and windy again, and when I sat down, I froze to the snow. We decided to stop with just the one summit this time, and headed back to the car.
posted by JansStores at 11:43 AM
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