Short and Sweet: East Ridge of North Star Mountain

 I swilled the beer at the bottom of my can while watching the clouds form into a large mass in the sky outside the hotel room window. Sarah and I had spent the past four days puttering around Moab, and the forecast for the following day was to be entirely rain. The climbing we’d done the days before was fantastic, but I wasn’t terribly interested in spending the last day of our trip sightseeing. The end of winter was on the horizon, but the uncomfortably cold and icy grip it had on the Central Colorado Rockies hadn’t yet loosened. We made a judgment call. There was a period of bluebird days forecasted for home and we weren’t going to waste them. I had a couple ideas for what to do with a free day but one just wouldn’t stop coming up in the back of my mind. I’d never been to the top of North Star Mountain before. Another tick off of the list for the “Summit 62” project wouldn’t hurt either.


An undisputed Tenmile-Mosquito Range classic, the East Ridge (3rd II) of North Star mountain needeth no introduction. A moderately short approach paired with engaging yet enjoyable easy scrambling on a less-than-often snow covered route come together to form an enjoyable outing for midwinter. Featured in Dave Cooper’s “Colorado Snow Climbs,” the route comes highly recommended for a winter ascent as it features very little instances of avalanche danger. That’s not to say that one couldn’t still find themselves in an area of immediate avy danger, but with careful route-finding, a lot of the “danger areas” could be easily avoided. Sarah wished to spend the morning taking care of chores and I have a tendency of getting in the way, so I figured-why not a solo mission?


I kept my pack light, the route was short and the technical difficulties, if any, warranted only a single ax and crampons. I was banking on the high wind clearing much of the recent snow off of the upper flanks of the mountain while utilizing the well-trodden path off of Hoosier Pass, so floatation wasn’t a concern in my mind. It would just be me and my boots. I conceded to getting up reasonably early as getting off the mountain before noon would be a good idea as well, if not just to avoid wallowing in any unconsolidated snow. I set my alarm for 6:00AM the next day and tried to sleep. The morning came quicker than it normally does and my legs were still a bit stiff from the past couple days shenanigans in Moab. No soreness necessarily, but I was certainly a bit tired. I rose slowly and tried to choke down some eggs, bread, and coffee. I was out the door by 6:45AM.


I drove carefully through Breckenridge and to the top of Hoosier Pass. It was a Wednesday and Breck was slower than it had been the past couple weeks. I figured there would still be some residual “spring breakers,” but it looked like most of them opted for the beach this year. The ice on the road lingered in the developing shade. It was still nice and very cold. That would keep me from post-holing in spots. I pulled into the packed snow of the Hoosier Pass trailhead, tied my boots, and beat it quickly past a group of snowboarders snowshoeing some shorter side-hits. No one seemed to give any interest in where I was going. I gave them a quick nod. The packed tracks of the social trail went about as far as the attention span of the hordes of tourists that stop for a moment at the top of the pass. From the end of the well-trodden section I could make out one single line of fresh tracks. Whoever was in front of me was wearing an old-style pair of snowshoes. In the distance beyond my chosen ridgeline I could make out the developing mass of clouds that harkened the predicted afternoon snow showers


I followed the tracks until their path no longer made sense. A good rule of thumb with snow-laden travel in the mountains I’ve noticed is sticking to the highest terrain. In an area as windy as the Central Colorado Rockies, the snow has a tendency to not stick as much to the peak of the ridge like it does to the other aspects. I rose quickly from the tracks following the flanks of the beginning of the ridgeline and started to follow the crown directly. The snow was easy to walk through there and required little effort. I think I was onto something. The short ridge rose slowly to the top of a highpoint from which the grandeur of the actual East Ridge spread out before me. A smile uncontrollably cracked across my wind-chapped face and I knew I made a good decision for the day. The wind was strong and uncomfortable, but the sun was still shining and I had plenty of time to get up before the ominous clouds overtook the ridge and summit. I traversed carefully to the edge of the open slopes that marked the final rise to the East Ridge proper. Here, there was definitely a danger of avy slide but I avoided the deep spots and kept to the east where there were still plenty of terrain features showing.


As I continued up the difficulties didn’t exceed anything outside of frozen-together class 2 talus. I was beginning to get disappointed as I crested over the true summit of North Star Mountain until I saw the actual fun develop. There is the geographical “true summit” of North Star, and the smaller sub-summits on the east ridgeline. I had to tag them all in traditional mountaineering fashion, so I continued on and made quick, but fun work of the icy class 3 ridge that divided the main summit from the smaller highpoints. The route certainly lived up to it’s hype. I’ll say that the most. Outside of the wind that day and the imminent danger of getting caught in a storm, there’s nothing else about that day that wasn’t perfect.


On my way down I ran into the mysterious creator of the tracks I followed for a short time earlier. A friendly man celebrating his 70th birthday slowly approached me on the edge of the approach slopes. He proudly informed me that he had flown in the day before from Seattle and tried to repeat this peak on just about every trip he’s taken to our area. I bid him farewell and good luck, though the clouds moving quickly over the summit perhaps indicated his decision to continue foolhardy. I can’t say I don’t respect the dedication.



NORTH STAR MOUNTAIN RANKS #15 IN THE “SUMMIT 62” PROJECT.






*ALL WRITING AND PHOTOGRAPHY PROPERTY OF SAWATCH COWPOKE AND TRENT HILLIER UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTICED*

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