{"id":652,"date":"2018-08-05T21:58:19","date_gmt":"2018-08-05T21:58:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/philturk.net\/?p=652"},"modified":"2025-11-29T00:42:29","modified_gmt":"2025-11-29T00:42:29","slug":"mount-shavano-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/philturk.net\/index.php\/2018\/08\/05\/mount-shavano-2018\/","title":{"rendered":"Mount Shavano, 2018"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul>\n<li>Date: August 5, 2018<\/li>\n<li>Partner: none<\/li>\n<li>Height: 14,229 feet<\/li>\n<li>Range: Sawatch<\/li>\n<li>Route: East Slopes (Class 2)<\/li>\n<li>Overall Distance: 9 miles<\/li>\n<li>Elevation Gain: 4,600 feet (TH to summit)<\/li>\n<li>14ers climbed: 23 separate climbs<\/li>\n<li>14ers remaining: 30<\/li>\n<li>Road Condition to Trailhead: This was an easy drive right to the Shavano\/Tabeguache trailhead. \u00a0A 2WD can make it with some minor bumps the last few miles of the road.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>At this point in the season, we know the drill. \u00a0I like to arrive for the climb the night before and hike in a few miles to get to the base of the mountain. \u00a0This gives me fresh legs, a head start, and less of a climb early the next morning. \u00a0So, I arrived to the trailhead at around 6 PM and headed off down the trail. \u00a0Almost immediately, it began to rain so I paused and donned my rain jacket. \u00a0The first mile of the trail was a gradual ascent over periodic stretches of rocks; no problem. \u00a0Eventually, the trail flattened out a little bit and I came to a creek crossing at ~ 10,800&#8242;. \u00a0There were several tents here with a big fire going so I continued to move up the trail.<\/p>\n<p>Just as the trail hit a talus field and made a sharp turn to the right to begin a major ascent to gain access to a ridge, I bushwhacked into the woods to the left about a 100 yards and found a nice, comfortable flat stretch of ground for my camp. \u00a0While this spot is plainly visible on a good top map, here are the coordinates in case anyone reading this wants to find this on their own: 38.60929 Deg N, -106.21631 Deg E, elevation ~ 11,200&#8242;.<\/p>\n<p>The rain intensified and I quickly got the tent set up and dove under my quilt. \u00a0After listening to a podcast and munching some dinner, I eventually fell asleep to a show of \u00a0thunder and lightning.<\/p>\n<p>When I woke up around 5:30 AM, the inclement weather had temporarily ceased. \u00a0I quickly had a snack, packed up my day gear, and got back on the trail. \u00a0The trail climbed up onto a ridge and then finally broke out of the stunted trees into a vast valley that houses the Angel of Shavano snow field in the winter. \u00a0The target across the valley was obvious; a distinct saddle that sat at ~ 13,300&#8242;.<\/p>\n<p>Now, once I crested the saddle, the final approach to the summit was obvious. \u00a0I saw several climbers ahead of me and something else &#8212; dark clouds beginning to boil up over the horizon over the summit. \u00a0I picked up my pace in order to catch up with the other climbers. \u00a0The final pitch to the summit is the crux of the climb; braided, indistinct trail that goes into a small section of boulders. \u00a0All told, the distance from the saddle to the summit was not far; perhaps not even a mile.<\/p>\n<p>When I was less than 100 yards from the summit, in the thick of the boulders, I was now hiking with two other climbers. \u00a0Another guy up ahead of us yelled out \u00a0&#8220;Lightning!&#8221; \u00a0Instinctively, like a hawk flying over a prairie dog colony, the two other climbers and I dropped down onto our knees. \u00a0Sitting there for a minute, the three of us contemplated whether we should continue. \u00a0The storm that was welling up was almost on top of us and we didn&#8217;t have much time to dally in our decision making. \u00a0I am not proud to say this, but summit fever got the best of me and I pushed hard up to the summit. \u00a0It was just too close to resist its siren calls! \u00a0The wind had picked up, dark storm clouds were all around in the distance in any direction one looked, and a few lighting bolts could be seen zinging out of the clouds. \u00a0I quickly snapped a few pictures in no more than a minute&#8217;s time and then literally started to trot\/run off the summit. \u00a0Pelting hail was now falling, stinging my face under my hood. \u00a0I came across another climber who asked about the weather conditions up top and, after listening to my risk assessment, without much hesitation at all, and apparently being much smarter, he turned around to head back down with me. \u00a0We made it down to the saddle in nothing flat.<\/p>\n<p>The other climber&#8217;s name was Aaron (sp?), a very nice man from Evergreen, CO who was a financial advisor and planner. \u00a0We had a great conversation the whole way back to the trailhead, pausing to pick up my camp along the way. \u00a0This is the great thing about this sport &#8212; you really can meet some nice people when you are out on the trail.<\/p>\n<p>So what are my overall impressions of the Mount Shavano climb? \u00a0I would say the Class 2 designation is appropriate. \u00a0I&#8217;d give this around a 3 on a scale of 14er difficulty. \u00a0In fact, for those that want something a little bit more challenging than some of the &#8220;easier&#8221; Class 1-designated 14ers around Denver, then this might be the ticket. \u00a0The trail is relatively gentle, relatively easy to find, but still a respectable 4,600&#8242; of ascent over 9 miles of length to let you know that you truly accomplished something. \u00a0Also, since this mountain is more off the beaten path, you won&#8217;t find the heavy foot traffic as you do on some of the other 14ers. \u00a0Happy climbing!<\/p>\n<div class=\"photonic-flickr-stream photonic-stream \" id=\"photonic-flickr-stream-1\">\n<div id=\"photonic-slideshow-flickr-1\" class=\"photonic-slideshow splide default title-display-tooltip photonic-slideshow-adapt-height-width\" 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src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/live.staticflickr.com\/1778\/30000838458_38a12f4df8_m.jpg?w=474&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\">\n\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t<li class=\"splide__slide\" tabindex=\"0\">\n\t\t\t<img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/live.staticflickr.com\/1798\/30000835198_fed51677a2_m.jpg?w=474&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\">\n\t\t<\/li>\n\t<\/ul>\n\t<\/div><!-- photonic-slideshow-thumbs -->\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div><!-- .photonic-stream or .photonic-panel -->\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Date: August 5, 2018 Partner: none Height: 14,229 feet Range: Sawatch Route: East Slopes (Class 2) Overall Distance: 9 miles Elevation Gain: 4,600 feet (TH to summit) 14ers climbed: 23 separate climbs 14ers remaining: 30 Road Condition to Trailhead: This was an easy drive right to the Shavano\/Tabeguache trailhead. \u00a0A 2WD can make it with &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/philturk.net\/index.php\/2018\/08\/05\/mount-shavano-2018\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Mount Shavano, 2018<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":658,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[3,26,7],"class_list":["post-652","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-colorado-14er","tag-mount-shavano","tag-philip-turk"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/phk2e1-aw","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/philturk.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/jpg05-copy.jpg?fit=680%2C510&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/philturk.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/652","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/philturk.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/philturk.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/philturk.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/philturk.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=652"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/philturk.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/652\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1414,"href":"https:\/\/philturk.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/652\/revisions\/1414"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/philturk.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/658"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/philturk.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/philturk.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=652"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/philturk.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}