Telescope Peak

01/30/2005

Log

07:50am - Departed charcoal kilns parking lot
08:17am - Reached Thorndike campground
11:05am - Reached summit of Roger's Peak
12:13pm - Reached summit of Bennett Peak
02:53pm - Reached summit of Telescope Peak
03:07pm - Left summit
07:40pm - Returned to parking lot

Stats

Time from parking lot to summit of Telescope Peak: 7 hrs 3 mins
Time from summit back to parking lot: 4 hrs 33 mins

Elev Gain

Kilns: 6915
Rogers: 9994
Rogers/Bennett Saddle: 9615
Bennett: 9980
Bennett/Telescope Saddle: 9485
Telescope: 11049

11049-6915 + 9980-9615 + 9980-9485 + 9980-9485 + 9994-9615 + 65 = 5933 total gain

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Posted: Mon Jan 31, 2005 11:20 am    Post subject: Telescope Peak - 1/30/05     

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Knowing that all the snow would make things more challenging this year than in the past, my friend Brian and I headed up Telescope Peak yesterday. We got what we were looking for. Lots of snow and a very strenuous workout. 

Probably not surprising due to the storms, the road through the lower portion of Wildrose Canyon is closed so you must come in through the Emigrant Canyon road. This set us back at least an hour. We were able to get to the parking lot at the kilns with a 4wd Tacoma. There's quite a bit of snow in the parking lot but it hadn't yet turned icy as I'm sure it soon will. As expected, you can't drive further than the parking area. 

On the peak there was quite a bit of fresh powder as well as some icy areas down on the saddles. There is recent evidence of a fairly sizeable avalanche that came down on the North side of Rogers Peak taking out a lot of trees in the process. This caused us to put some thought into our path up Rogers Peak to avoid areas that looked loaded. By the time we reached the summit of Telescope Peak an intense wind had kicked up. On our way down between Telescope and Bennett it was so extreme that we could hardly stay on our feet. It was probably about the most extreme wind I have yet experienced. Major windchill, but at least it was sunny. We left the parking lot at 7:50am and didn't return until 7:40pm.