Route Climbed: NW Face from the High Traverse from Ellingwood Date Climbed: August 14, 2005
The fog was so terrible that we couldn't see anything from the summit. I wish we could have stayed higher on the Ellingwood-Blanca Ridge but the fog presented some route-finding problems. Ice was actually starting to form on the rocks as we were going down.
Route Climbed: Little Bear/Blanca Ridge Date Climbed: August 2003
Climbed as traverse-enchainment with Little Bear and Ellingwood Point. This full traverse with descent of Ellingwood's South Ridge was the way to go. Sick exposure and constant 3rd and 4th class all day.
Spectacular mountain but quite frustrating to see the four-wheelers heading into the high-alpine beyond Como Lake road. Traversed to Ellingwood later in the day.
Route Climbed: como lake trailhead Date Climbed: may 1998 july 2004
2004 caught in some bad weather. headed back to camp waited out the storm. busted back up about 4pm at full tilt. summited and ran back to camp before dark. 1998- alot of snow. very tiring because of all
Route Climbed: Como Lake Trail Date Climbed: July 31, 2004
I started in the scrub just above the desert floor at 1:30am hiking by the light of the full moon (very cool). Went up and did Blanca and back in one long day, tired but happy. Hey, it's good to be 50!
Route Climbed: Little Bear to Blanca Ridge Date Climbed: August 21, 2004
Excellent adventure! The ridge is a "Must-Do" classic for anyone who craves exposure.
**Be in good climbing shape, and well prepared for the long ridge. During my traverse (2hrs), one party of two and a roped party of 3 had to exit the ridge under siege of a fierce hail storm. I passed them at the 1/3 point and reached Blanca by the time they were 50%. I reached the lakes before the hail began. Their slow travel and underestimation cost them a dangerous descent. They were fortunate to reach the lakes without injury (or worse).
Route Climbed: Como Lake Trailhead Date Climbed: July 23, 2003
Larry Byrne and I summited at 0907. We backpacked up to above Como Lake and bivied the night before and set out to summit 0500. Fantastic views nice hike/climb.
Route Climbed: Como Lake Date Climbed: June 12, 2004
My 2 sons and I just returned from climbing Blanca. They are only 7 and 10 yrs old so this was a big accomplishment. The weather was great, though a little cold and windy. We did it in two days. We camped the first night between Como and Blue Lake. We made it to the top the next day no problem!
Route Climbed: Traverse from Little Bear Date Climbed: June 5, 2004
The traverse from Little Bear turned out to be one of the best routes I've done to date. Loads of exposure and fun climbing. This was my second time on the summit of Blanca, the first being via the Gash Ridge. We brought gear to camp on the summit. My first time spending the night on top of a 14er and it was an incredible experience.
Route Climbed: Northwest Face / Standard Route Date Climbed: September 21, 2003
I tried this peak in Summer 2002 but only made it to about 13,900'. So I was determined to reach the summit. Made it this time, on a beautiful fall day, after camping above Lake Como. Had some snow to contend with above treeline, and found myself on a somewhat gnarly steep snow section after wrongly choosing to leave the ridge line. Got back to the ridge and stayed there to the summit.
This is a great mountain. The hike back down to the car is very, very long. I started way down at 8,000'.
Route Climbed: Gash Ridge Date Climbed: August 10, 2003
Incredible ridge climb!!!! Gerry Roach rates this climb as a 5.0 - 5.2 climb and I would say that is right on the money. We did the entire ridge without a rope. Gary, Stephanie and Myself. After summiting we though we could grab Ellingwood as well so we started down toward the saddle at which point we looked over our route descriptions again and thought the decent off of Ellingwood back to the Heurfano trail head would be too technical of a descent. So we decided to head down from the saddle which turned out to be extremely technical downclimbing. Thankfully we had a rope and rapelled one section and hand rapelled another section. We were all very relieved to get down this safely. Stephanie has a nasty scar to remind her of this day.
RC Cola - Aug 17, 2005 12:11 am
Route Climbed: NW Face from the High Traverse from Ellingwood Date Climbed: August 14, 2005The fog was so terrible that we couldn't see anything from the summit. I wish we could have stayed higher on the Ellingwood-Blanca Ridge but the fog presented some route-finding problems. Ice was actually starting to form on the rocks as we were going down.
shaungthomas - Jul 31, 2005 9:00 pm
Route Climbed: Como Lake Trailhead Date Climbed: 7/16/05This was the rockiest trail I had ever been on. It was worth the view! Be careful climbing the Skree Field, my partner and I Lost trail several times.
doumall - Jul 13, 2005 2:33 pm
Route Climbed: Northwest Face Date Climbed: July, 11 200431st 14er!
umbra alta - Jun 22, 2005 2:37 pm
Route Climbed: Little Bear/Blanca Ridge Date Climbed: August 2003Climbed as traverse-enchainment with Little Bear and Ellingwood Point. This full traverse with descent of Ellingwood's South Ridge was the way to go. Sick exposure and constant 3rd and 4th class all day.
km_donovan - Jun 6, 2005 7:00 am
Route Climbed: Nortwest Face III Date Climbed: September 1, 2000My climbing partner said “One down 53 to go.” I took him literally and am on my way to completing the 14’ers.
hhsilleck - Jun 2, 2005 2:56 am
Route Climbed: West Face Date Climbed: May 29, 2005Perfect conditions all the way from Crater Lakes up to the ridge - about 1500 feet of uninterrupted easy to moderate snow. Tons of fun.
bechtt - Mar 12, 2005 2:10 pm
Route Climbed: Como Lake Date Climbed: Aug 95Nice hike in -- great boulder climb up
bakcast - Jan 5, 2005 7:39 pm
Route Climbed: Standard Date Climbed: July 2000Spectacular mountain but quite frustrating to see the four-wheelers heading into the high-alpine beyond Como Lake road. Traversed to Ellingwood later in the day.
ripper333 - Oct 24, 2004 3:35 pm
Route Climbed: como lake trailhead Date Climbed: may 1998 july 20042004 caught in some bad weather. headed back to camp waited out the storm. busted back up about 4pm at full tilt. summited and ran back to camp before dark. 1998- alot of snow. very tiring because of all
the postholing.
WildmanDallas - Sep 6, 2004 3:25 am
Route Climbed: Como Lake Trail Date Climbed: July 31, 2004I started in the scrub just above the desert floor at 1:30am hiking by the light of the full moon (very cool). Went up and did Blanca and back in one long day, tired but happy. Hey, it's good to be 50!
jwclimbs - Aug 23, 2004 11:36 am
Route Climbed: Little Bear to Blanca Ridge Date Climbed: August 21, 2004Excellent adventure! The ridge is a "Must-Do" classic for anyone who craves exposure.
**Be in good climbing shape, and well prepared for the long ridge. During my traverse (2hrs), one party of two and a roped party of 3 had to exit the ridge under siege of a fierce hail storm. I passed them at the 1/3 point and reached Blanca by the time they were 50%. I reached the lakes before the hail began. Their slow travel and underestimation cost them a dangerous descent. They were fortunate to reach the lakes without injury (or worse).
Ken Dammen - Aug 22, 2004 1:27 pm
Route Climbed: Como Lake Trailhead Date Climbed: July 23, 2003Larry Byrne and I summited at 0907. We backpacked up to above Como Lake and bivied the night before and set out to summit 0500. Fantastic views nice hike/climb.
cagedalpinist - Aug 18, 2004 1:09 am
Route Climbed: Standard Date Climbed: 12 July 2004Hope to return in Sept. and go for the Little Bear - Blanca ridge! Beautiful weather.
paper bag - Aug 7, 2004 6:12 pm
Date Climbed: N/AI have not yet climbed this mountain
Jim Clarke - Jul 22, 2004 11:14 pm
Route Climbed: Via Little Bear Traverse Date Climbed: 7/15/04Excellent high peak traverse...perhaps as close as we can get to an Alps experience...
Calhoun - Jun 15, 2004 9:12 am
Route Climbed: Como Lake Date Climbed: June 12, 2004My 2 sons and I just returned from climbing Blanca. They are only 7 and 10 yrs old so this was a big accomplishment. The weather was great, though a little cold and windy. We did it in two days. We camped the first night between Como and Blue Lake. We made it to the top the next day no problem!
Michael Calhoun
xskier77 - Jun 7, 2004 3:17 am
Route Climbed: Traverse from Little Bear Date Climbed: June 5, 2004The traverse from Little Bear turned out to be one of the best routes I've done to date. Loads of exposure and fun climbing. This was my second time on the summit of Blanca, the first being via the Gash Ridge. We brought gear to camp on the summit. My first time spending the night on top of a 14er and it was an incredible experience.
mmoerk - May 24, 2004 10:47 am
Route Climbed: Northwest Face / Standard Route Date Climbed: September 21, 2003I tried this peak in Summer 2002 but only made it to about 13,900'. So I was determined to reach the summit. Made it this time, on a beautiful fall day, after camping above Lake Como. Had some snow to contend with above treeline, and found myself on a somewhat gnarly steep snow section after wrongly choosing to leave the ridge line. Got back to the ridge and stayed there to the summit.
This is a great mountain. The hike back down to the car is very, very long. I started way down at 8,000'.
Larry V - Feb 8, 2004 7:29 pm
Route Climbed: northwest face Date Climbed: August 3, 2003Climbed with my 80-year old father, who made it! See trip report. This was my third time to summit Blanca Peak.
xskier77 - Feb 2, 2004 12:35 am
Route Climbed: Gash Ridge Date Climbed: August 10, 2003Incredible ridge climb!!!! Gerry Roach rates this climb as a 5.0 - 5.2 climb and I would say that is right on the money. We did the entire ridge without a rope. Gary, Stephanie and Myself. After summiting we though we could grab Ellingwood as well so we started down toward the saddle at which point we looked over our route descriptions again and thought the decent off of Ellingwood back to the Heurfano trail head would be too technical of a descent. So we decided to head down from the saddle which turned out to be extremely technical downclimbing. Thankfully we had a rope and rapelled one section and hand rapelled another section. We were all very relieved to get down this safely. Stephanie has a nasty scar to remind her of this day.