Esperanza

Statistics

• Date - 12/31/2012
• Elevation - 10,000'
• Route - Esperanza
• Miles - 1.0
• Elevation Gain - 500'
• ACME Mapper - Link
• CalTopo - Link
• Partners - Brian Kooienga

Description

Brian and I didn't have a lot of time on New Years Eve, so we decided to just climb Esperanza near Silverplume, Colorado.  We didn't think we'd have to invest much time or effort into this particular day which would allow us to get home early.  Neither of us had climbed this particular ice, so it was another first for us too.  We drove past the parking area for The Silverplume until we saw the ice above us.  Unfortunately, this places you on the south side of the creek and Interstate.  We boulder-hopped the creek and played frogger across I-70 before scrambling to the ice.  The approach isn't bad, but there is some bush-whacking to deal with.  Brian commented that once this climb reaches classic status, the approach and route will get cleaned up quite a bit.  Anyway, the climbing didn't look too difficult, so we just free-soloed the route.  We rappelled off the upper pitch, down-climbed about a hundred feet and then rappelled the lower pitch.  We ticked Esperanza off our to do list, but likely won't return as it isn't really that exciting.

Photos

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