How to get there:
Drive past the small village of Nederland (west of
Boulder) and continue north on Highway 72 for 14 miles
to Ward. From there go left at the Forest Service road sign,
the ranger up the road will collect 5 dollars and the road
is paved all the way to Long Lake Trailhead next to a
large parking lot. Route description:
The hike starts fairly flat between large trees. The trail then
passes Long Lake. The approach continues to Isabelle Lake
which is passed on the right hand side. From here for about another mile
the trail climbs to a small lake without a name at 3481m. The next section
is a small trail that heads (in switch-backs) straight up to the
right, it is quite obvious. At the top of this slope the trail
disappeared, possibly because of the snow that we ran into at this
elevation. It is still quite obvious and fairly easy going to hit the
distinct moraine at the lower end of the Isabelle Glacier (a very
small glacier indeed, but since it has ice and even a small
crevasse I guess the designation is acceptable). Climb near the
left side of this icefield in a gentle arc to the left and the
couloir (very wide at the bottom, becoming more defined, but still
about 30m across higher up) cannot be missed. We had about 15 cm of
new snowpack on the ice, making it quite easy to walk up in good steps.
However, there was hard ice below and I would think crampons would be
of considerable help at other times when? the ice has no snow on top
of it. The couloir ends at about 3940m, from here the east face of the
mountain consists of a boulderfield that is easy to climb. We had
considerable new snow, hiding all the cracks and making everything
a bit slippery. The optimal route should climb at an angle heading quite
a bit to the left of what appears to be the highest point when viewed from
below. We did go directly for the highest point on the horizon. This got
us to the end of a fairly horizontal ridge going north-east from
the summit at 4045m. This ridge provided a fun little scramble
to the Apache summit, no technical difficulties. Comments:
Pål Jørgen 11 and I did this hike
on a Saturday after being informed that his soccer game in
Boulder was cancelled due to bad weather! Well, it was around
0 C and rain was coming down in Boulder. Up at Long Lake
trailhead, the clouds were breaking and significant patches
of blue sky and sunshine made the hike to Isabelle Lake quite
pleasant. On the climb itself we had some dark clouds, some dense fog
and some breaking blue sky. As long as the blue kept coming it seemed
quite safe to complete the ascent. On the return we had mostly light
snowfall, the car was covered. The hike took 4 hours to the
summit and 2:45 on the return, all in all a very good day, also thinking
about the 90 thousand that stayed inside their homes in Boulder
(complaining??) about the miserable, cold weather.
Resources:
Images
Pål Jørgen near Isabelle Lake.
Above his head is Shoshoni Peak (3952m), further back to the left are
Navajo Peak (4087m) with the Navajo Snowfield and Apache Peak (4097m)
next to Shoshoni Peak. (The summit in the middle, slightly right of
the Navajo Snowfield is not a separate peak, but the south ridge of Apache.
