Blanca Peak: 14,345 feet

This is a photo of Blanca Peak taken from the summit of Ellingwood Point. 
Blanca Peak was our second climb of the trip.  It is ten miles from the trailhead to the summit.  We started from the Lake Como trailhead, with heavy packs. After over three hours of hiking, we stopped short of Lake Como, and camped near Hollbrook Creek at 10,700 feet.   The next day we moved up to Lake Como, and established a camp at 11,470 feet.  

We started from Blanca after noon.  The trail is double track up to the Crater Lake, and becomes single track as it switches back above the lake.  Blanca has cairns everywhere!  We ended up taking a far too direct route up, and an even more direct route down, sort of scree surfing.  The proper route would have gained the saddle between Blanca and Ellingwood, but we followed cairns that led a different way.

We summitted around 4:00 PM.  Blanca and Ellingwood are often climbed together, but since we were rather spent from our direct approach, and it was late in the day, we passed on Ellingwood this day. 

Next Mountain:  Ellingwood

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Last Update 02/05/2002