One of the many small lakes in the basin below Blanca and Ellingwood.
Steve's parents recruited us for a trip to Blanca, a 14er they had been eyeing in Southern Colorado. Steve and I flew into Albuquerque and spent the night in his parents' home in Santa Fe. The next morning we made the 3 hour drive to the Como Lake 2x2 vehicle trailhead at 8000'. We had lunch as we assembled our gear and started hiking the 4x4 road at noon. We had originally planned to camp above Lake Como, but given my past issues with altitude, I thought it might be prudent to sleep a bit lower. The others were agreeable and around 4:30 PM, we found a decent spot to set up two tents at around 11300'. From our camp, we had a front row view to all manner of traffic along the road. In addition to the usual hikers/climbers, we saw ATVs, motorbikes, and even a space-age looking Jeep with the largest wheels and highest clearance I had ever seen. We then had a nice dinner and all turned in by 8 PM.
We got up at 4:45 AM and were hiking by 5:30 AM. We reached Lake Como near dawn and filled up on water. We continued past the two Blue Lakes and Crater Lake and then started up the talus-filled basin towards the ridge. We followed a climbers' trail that made the going very easy in the lower half of the basin. The trail petered out up higher and we ended up doing quite a bit of talus hopping. We eventually gained the ridge between Blanca and Ellingwood and then traveled along the ridge towards the summit of Blanca. About 50' below the summit we ran into a very short region of exposed class 2. Genie was feeling the altitude and had developed a headache so she and Mick decided this would be their high point. Steve and I scrambled the rest of the way to the summit. We quickly took some photos and signed the summit register. We didn't want Genie and Mick to have to wait long so we headed back down to their spot on the ridge. Mick was starting to get chilled and we could see some clouds threatening to move in so we decided to delay lunch and slowly made our way down the talus. We reached Blue Lake at about 1:30 PM and took a lunch break there. We reached our camp at about 3 PM. Clouds had moved in above Blanca and we didn't want to get caught by rain so after a 5 minute break we packed up and set off down the 4x4 road. The weather held for us and we reached the Jeep at 8 PM to a beautiful sunset. Blanca was a fun scramble (my first 14er) and the trip was a nice way to spend some time with family.
One of the many small lakes in the basin below Blanca and Ellingwood.
Elain climbing the North Ridge of Blanca, near the summit
Elain on the summit
Steve on the summit
Mick, Genie, and Elain resting on the North Ridge of Blanca
Mick and Genie descending the North Ridge of Blanca
Genie and Mick descending into the Crater Lake basin.
Elain on the talus slope above Crater Lake
The sunset, as seen from the Como Lake Road near the trailhead