Mount of the Holy Cross is a wildly underestimated fourteener peak amongst the ranks in Colorado. Certainly underestimated in its physical difficulty with its long strenuous approach. But also underestimated in its beauty and what a wonder it is, though remote, and far from the beaten path.
When my father, brother, and I first summited it in 2000 we were on a backpacking trip by the Seven Sisters Lakes Area. We sorta made our own route up to the summit approaching along the ridge from the south. We never had the pleasure of the standard route and Halfmoon Pass approach to Holy Cross. As I've begun to repeat most of the 14ers over the years this was quickly rising to the top of wishes to experience that route.
Along the way I'd also learned of the Halo Ridge route it also quickly peeked my own interests. My brother and I have especially been enjoying trying alternate routes, even some of the more difficult and formidable ones, like the Ellingwood Ridge on La Plata. He and I have discussed numerous times putting Halo Ridge on the to do list someday. Unfortunately my brother and I hadn't yet been able to figure out a year to make it happen but opportunity struck for me to take two of my sons this year. I've been seeking to challenge them in the mountains both in effort and in climbing difficulty and this seemed a good next step up for them and so we sought to make it happen.Trip Info:
North Ridge standard route on the ascent. Halo Ridge including Holy Cross Ridge to Notch Mountain Shelter to Fall Creek Trail on the descent.
Trailhead Elevation: 10,370 ft.
Halfmoon Pass Elevation: 11,650 ft.
East Cross Creek Elevation: 10,702 ft.
Halfmoon Pass Elevation: 11,650 ft.
East Cross Creek Elevation: 10,702 ft.
Summit Elevation: 14,007 ft.
Holy Cross Ridge Elevation: 13,850 ft.
Holy Cross Ridge Elevation: 13,850 ft.
Ridge Low Elevation: 12,873 ft.
Distance: 15.80 mi.
Elevation Gain: 5,717 ft.
Start Time: 7:48am
End Time: 6:46pm
Distance: 15.80 mi.
Elevation Gain: 5,717 ft.
Start Time: 7:48am
End Time: 6:46pm
Trip Report:
Mt. of the Holy Cross sits so far north it hardly feels like it is still part of the Sawatch Range. Its not even included in the great Nolan's 14 line which covers from Shavano and Tabeguache in the south to Massive in the north, but then stops there, skipping Holy Cross. It is a beautiful drive north of Leadville which takes you past Camp Hale. The highway portion of the drive is well worth it. Then you get to drive 12 miles of rough dirt road up the Tigiwon Road to get to the trailhead. A decent road but all of it is just long and takes time to get there.
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| Trailhead signage |
Our team was simple today, myself, my oldest Luke, and my 3rd oldest Seth. We drove my father's jeep up the Tigiwon Road to spare the family minivan. We left our rental house near Trout Creek Pass just after 5am and didn't hit the trailhead til 7:30am. Not a super early start but it was a beautiful weather day for us. The trailhead had clear signage for both the Halfmoon Pass/Holy Cross trail and also the Fall Creek Trail. We headed up the Halfmoon Pass trail which would mean our Halo Ridge route would be done in the counter-clockwise direction today.
I had debated back and forth with myself whether to go clockwise or counter-clockwise having heard people advocate for either way. As it happens the route description on 14ers.com describes the clockwise direction. I don't believe there is one right answer nor do I think there is much difference whichever direction one decides, the pros and cons seem minor.
My main thoughts went like this:
- Going CCW gets the Halfmoon Pass climb out of the way early
- Going CCW allowed us to spend the afternoon enjoying Halo Ridge instead of a slog down the standard route.
- Going CCW allowed us to do mostly downhill on the Halo Ridge (there is nothing technical enough on the ridge to make this a bad idea, as compared to La Plata's Ellingwood Ridge, one which few, if any, would descend)
- Going CCW allowed me to experience ascending the standard route, something I had not done before.
From what we learned a few counterpoints and arguments for clockwise would be:
- Going CW brings you to water at East Cross Creek
- Going CW, gets you to safer terrain in the afternoon if the weather goes bad.
- Going CW lets you do most of the more challenging terrain on fresher morning legs (other than the Halfmoon Pass reascent)
In all, it truly feels like "to each their own" sort of decision.
The trail up to Halfmoon Pass was great trail and your typical ascend through the trees sort of trail. It wasn't overly steep but you did continuously gain to hit the pass. We made the pass in just under an hour. We took a little break at the pass to refuel and drink before the descent.
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| Approaching Halfmoon Pass |
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| First views of Holy Cross, its quite a summit |
The first part of the descent off the pass was like the ascent. Just nice forest trail with a modest grade to it. The lower part of the descent began to switchback and get a bit steeper. We were applauding ourselves in this moment for the decision to not have to reascend this pass and getting it done and over with. There would be moments in the afternoon while on the Halo Ridge and seeing its length and difficulty that we would be reconsidering it all.
It took us 50 minutes on the descent from the pass to "bottom out" at the creek crossing. As the trail bottoms out in the East Cross Creek area there was a nice sign directing camping and then it seemed all of the sites had signage leading to them keeping the area well organized. There was one easy creek crossing that we noted. It seems a lot of people like to take Holy Cross over two days and enjoy the beautiful backpacking here at the bottom.
Not long after the creek crossing the ascending begins in earnest. It seems this section is some what steeper than the initial ascent up to Halfmoon Pass. You really get your workout in. The trail was great though and well maintained. Once above treelin the views really become quite lovely.
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| Camping signage |
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| Creek crossing |
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| Above treeline looking at a false summit |
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| Columbines and wildflowers in the alpine |
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| The mountain gets progressively rockier on the ascent. It is not wrong to say the top is a big pile of rocks |
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| Looking across the Bowl of Tears to Notch Mountain, the shelter can be seen |
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| The summit peeking out |
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| The hard work is relentless |
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| Absolutely awesome looking summit |
From around 13200 to 13400 the ascent mellows a bit and you appear to traverse across a narrower section of ridge. There were some small snow patchs off the east side of this. It was a bit of a reprieve for the final climb and also a beautiful area.
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| The slightly easier part of the summit approach |
The final 500 feet to the summit, like many Sawatch 14ers, is a rock scramble. Nothing really above class 2, but it is constant navigating through medium talus. There was mostly a route though it did braid in places with several "dirt trail" options appearing. We didn't feel as though we wasted too much effort on trying to route-find before eventually topping out.
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| Looking up the final push to the summit |
We summited in 4:36. I had loosely made an initial goal of a 4 hour summit and then another 4 hours to do the Halo Ridge and return. This would make for an 8 hour day. This was the estimate I was giving the family back home, plus our 2.5 hr drive to figure out when we might be home. When the ascent took longer it would become the first of many moments today where we would slowly realize just how long this route would take us. Our day would become longer and longer.
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| Summit view to the east looking toward the Tenmile and Mosquito ranges. Quandary Peak is the tallest peak near center. |
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| Summit view to the south with the northern Sawatch including Elbert and Massive. Smoke from the Willow fire near Leadville can be seen. |
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| Luke enjoying the summit |
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| Holy Cross Ridge, a centennial 13er, our next objective |
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| Summit selfie |
We spent just under 20 minutes on Holy Cross's summit. It was spacious enough for all to enjoy. We probably shared it with 2 or 3 other groups. From there we could see the rest of our objective, the Halo Ridge. It was plenty big, but not overly daunting. We began our descen retracing our steps down from the summit. Eventually we started eyeing the saddle to the south for Holy Cross Ridge and began making a beeline in that direction. There was no clear route, but the direction we needed to go was fairly evident.
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| Descending off Holy Cross to its connecting saddle with Holy Cross Ridge |
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| A small snow crossing on the way |
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| Holy Cross Ridge and the saddle |
It was about 600 feet of descending to the low part of the saddle. After all the work we did to gain Holy Cross's summit this was more than we would have liked, but it was part of the deal for the day. I kept convincing my boys after we make the Holy Cross Ridge summit, then we really should be *almost* done with our ascending for the day. The ascent up to HCR was fairly straight forward and went surprisingly quick for us.
We spent just 5 minutes atop HCR taking in some views and another snack. The view to the east along Halo Ridge looks a bit rough at first but as we would see with all the terrain the rest of the way, things always look worse than they really are.
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| Summit of Mt. of the Holy Cross from Holy Cross Ridge summit |
The initial descent from HCR involves navigating around a few humps on the ridge but no real technical difficulty is involved. Then the next half mile was just traversing through talus with a slight descent. The real question in here was whether to stay ridge crest or below it. Ahead we could see the grassy flat we wanted to descend to and so the temptation was to keep getting lower. We would find that's not necessarily needed. Staying near ridge crest or even on the crest appeared to be just fine. You certainly wouldn't want to go too low as that would likely add extra distance.
It was in here, watching my two boys, at work, I was realizing one of the interesting wonders of the day. The challenge and also the blessing of putting them on this route today was it would reveal so much of their strengths and weaknesses. I certainly witnessed it, I hope they did too. Great learning experiences were at hand. My son Seth proved himself strong on the climbs and in the cardio department. He could handle almost any effort and this largely because he has been taking up distance running with me. He ran his first marathon just under a year ago at the Marquette Marathon in Michigan. On the other hand, Luke continued to prove himself with his mountain skills and his handling of the talus and the rock hopping with ease. He has the more experience on this from previous summits with me and handled it well. Seth definitely struggled with the talus as well as some of the "views" ahead of us of cliffs and potential knife edges. It definitely had his attention. But good things come with experience.
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| Initial descending from Holy Cross Ridge on the Halo Ridge |
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| Looking back on the initial descent from Holy Cross Ridge |
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| So much rock to descend on this ridge |
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| The "grassy flat" |
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| From near the "grassy catwalk" looking back at Holy Cross Ridge [L] and Mt of the Holy Cross [R] |
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| Heading up to the unnamed, unranked 13er point, terrain looks worse than it is |
The crux of the Halo Ridge route in the counter-clockwise direction comes with the ascent up and over the unnamed, unranked 13er point. It certainly looks nasty in several parts. It even had my attention as I was double-checking the 14ers.com route description while we were on the grassy flat, making sure I hadn't missed anything. Making sure there was indeed a route up and over it. The main question was, would there be an easier descent down the backside, the east side, when we got there. The answer was yes.
To gain the unnamed 13er point there is a narrow grassy catwalk, noted in many route descriptions, to cross which seemed to be about 5 feet wide with light exposure off the sides, but nothing of great note. After that was more rocky talus ascent up to the 13er point. Off the north side it was quite sheer and an abrupt cliff. It took us about an hour to get from the Holy Cross Ridge summit to the summit of the unnamed 13er point.
As we moved off the east side we could begin to see how the descent would go. We could see to the northeast where the low saddle resided but you couldn't cut to it too quickly or you would cliff out. This involved continuing east off the summit for a fair bit before making that turn to the north. This was some of the steepest rock we had hit all day and this made it the crux. It never quite reached class 3 but it certainly took time and effort to safely navigate.
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| Descent of the 13er point, perhaps the crux of the route |
The low saddle bottomed out just under 12900. Beyond it most of the remaining terrain was fairly easy though almost never a straight up walk on grass. The ridge remained rocky as we began to ascend again. There were a few small gendarmes to navigate and for the most part we went up and over them. They were made of large boulders that we could find passage between. In these areas we did encounter the infamous rock spiders of the Halo Ridge. We found plenty of them but they were rarely in the way. And for a person like myself who trends ot the higher end of being arachnophobic, they still didn't really pose an issue.
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| The ridge heading to UN13,253 |
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| Another look back at the gnarly, yet not so bad unnamed 13er point. |
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| Mt. of the Holy Cross and the Bowl of Tears |
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| More of the ridge to UN 13,253 |
As we continued to make progress to the final ranked 13er summit we were really being beaten by the relentless amount of rock we had to continue to move over on this ridge. Other than the grassy flat and then the final quarter mile to the Shelter, the rest of the ridge is all rock. It took us 1:12 to get from the unnamed 13er point to UN13,253. Nothing was fast today.
We had another problem brewing for us. We were running out of water. This was my mistake not enforcing us all carrying more and not accounting for the length of time the ridge would take. From the moment you leave East Cross Creek on the ascent of Holy Cross until you are well descended below the Notch Mountain Shelter there is no water to be found other than snow drifts. We began to ration some of what we had left hoping to filter somewhere below on the descent. We were also making contact with the family back home letting them know we were going long today and we would be quite late for supper.
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| A look back at a lot of Halo Ridge with Holy Cross Ridge summit right of center |
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| Just a little more ridge to go to the Notch Mountain Shelter |
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| Notch Mountain Shelter, quite an impressive build |
We made the Notch Mountain Shelter 25 minutes after leaving UN13,253. When we made the Shelter we used this as one more opportunity for a little break and a reset. We ate some good calories and drank near to the end of our water. I was hoping from here, with roughly 5 miles to go, we could get out in 2 hours and that was our time estimate. Thankfully, the weather was still great and we weren't pushing for dark just yet, though we did have our headlamps.
The trail descending from the Shelter was fantastic. Big, wide switchbacks at a nearly perfect descending grade that was easy on the legs. We made quick work of this beautiful upper section and as we neared treeline we were preparing to drink the last of our water. Thankfully, it wasn't long after that moment that we finally ran upon a creek and were able to stop and filter a nice amount of water to replenish and give us a bit for the last mile and a half out.
The hike out on the Fall Creek Trail brought about a slight sense of deja vu. I wondered if this was the same trail we had hiked years back during one of our backtracking trips in the Holy Cross Wilderness. (When I was home later I would confirm it was).
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| Beautiful alpine hiking down from the shelter |
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| Notch Mountain Shelter Trail junction with the Fall Creek Trail |
For my boys and I it was another big day in the mountains. My boys graciously put up with these long difficult efforts with no complaint. It was a beautiful day for us even if it ran a bit long and certainly an accomplishment to look back upon with joy and fondness.
Track:
I have a track and waypoints from the activity all contained in the embedded Google Map. Check it out and use at your own risk.
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