NoCo ASC - Optional Scrambling Trip – Brainard Lake Rec Area - Long Lake TH - Little Pawnee Peak

Fort Collins south-side Target at College Ave & Troutman parkway and carpool to the Brainard Lake trailhead west of Ward, CO. We will send out information on the exact meet-up time in Fort Collins closer to the scramble date.

This is an elective scrambling trip for the NoCo Alpine Scrambling Course. Students must complete three elective scrambling trips in order to graduate and earn the appropriate Badge.

NOTE: Priority is given to CMC ASC students. If you are not a student you will be waitlisted and added to the roster if there is space available prior to the trip.

Note that this trip will be in partnership with a few experienced members with the CMC Denver group and will be an opportunity to share practices and skills! We will need to carpool from Fort Collins to limit the amount of vehicles for parking and permits.

The planned route starts at the Brainard lake trailhead hiking the Pawnee Pass trail eastward to the east side of lake Isabelle. From there, we will head off-trail up and in a northerly direction over class 2 terrain to make the east ridge of Little Pawnee Peak. While the terrain is not steep, there will likely be snowfields along the way - bring crampons and axe. On the ridge traverse, there are small stretches of class 3 and a notch. A fixed line will be place on the sections where participants feel it is needed. We will (optionally) summit Little Pawnee and retrace our route back but continue east as the ridge broadens above Long Lake where we descend back onto the Pawnee Pass trail.