Broads Fork Twin Peaks, Robinson's Variation - September 29, 2018

scatman

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Back in July, my daughter and I attempted to summit the Broads Fork Twin Peaks via the Robinson's Variation (Bonkers for @Artemus). A route that I had never attempted before. Unfortunately, it was an extremely hot day and my daughter ran out of gas at the top of the Robinson's Couloir and we had to call it a day. Fortunately for me, @regehr wanted to attempt this route also, so we scheduled the 29th of September for an attempt and hopefully a little cooler weather.

The weather yesterday turned out to be fabulous for us, though the wind was blowing fairly hard along the ridge and on the summit. While we summited via the Robinson's Variation, we descended the normal route.

Here are some shots of our hike and hopefully @regehr will add some shots he took along the way to this report.

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Fall colors on the way up Broads Fork

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Broads Fork Valley in the morning light

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Regehr ready for the couloir

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A look up at the ridge we will be scrambling across to the eastern summit of Twin Peaks

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The saddle we will climbing to at the top of the Robinson's Couloir

09.jpgFall colors on our way up the draw

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Beware of the slabs! :)

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Regehr below, Broads Fork Valley and Wildcat Ridge in the distance

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Once at the saddle, Broads Fork Twin Peaks comes into full view

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Regehr, on the scramble across the ridge

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The ridge line of the Robinson's Variation

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A look down Deaf Smith Canyon

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A view back along the ridge we scrambled across

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A view to the east of Sunrise and Dromedary Peaks along the Cottonwood Ridge

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View of the western summit of Twin Peaks

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Looking up at the eastern summit of Twin Peaks. It became really steep from this point to the top

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On the eastern summit

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Starting our descent

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A look down on the knife's edge ridge we will make our way across descending the normal route

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Broads Fork Valley and Wildcat Ridge, looking north

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Aspens showing off on our way down

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A lone aspen with a beautiful yellow hue - not to be confused with Hugh. :)


@regehr - add any commentary or images you would like to this report and thanks for a great hike.

The end.
 

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Wow, impressive! Beautiful shots and it looks like the two of you had an amazing day.
 
Great! I do need to go that way. The colors in Broads look fantastic, and that rock is always beautiful all year long.

Well. Well done.

You should call some of those colors Hugh's Hues...
 
Were most the slabs loose or were they pretty solid in place? Great TR!

The slabs are solid, just steep. Once you have committed to them, you eventually run into a second slab, laying on the first, about belly button high and then a third that is more like a wall. At this point, one realizes that you will have to make your way laterally across the slabs or go back down. These two options are trickier than walking up them due to steepness, small loose rock and dust. My daughter and I made that mistake back in July, so I avoided the slabs this time and just dealt with the steep scree.
 
Great! I do need to go that way. The colors in Broads look fantastic, and that rock is always beautiful all year long.

Well. Well done.

You should call some of those colors Hugh's Hues...


This Hugh's Hues are just pale white I'm afraid.. :)
 
Were most the slabs loose or were they pretty solid in place? Great TR!
The big slabs in upper Bonkers are solid, but very steep, and not as grippy as I'd have liked. I made a mistake venturing into the slab zone instead of staying in the grass and rocks and this not only slowed me down but was also pretty scary in a few places.

(Edit: Whoops I see that I'm just repeating what Scatman said already, I replied without reading!)
 
This was a great hike, thanks @scatman for making it possible!

I had been pretty nervous about the ridge part of this route but the scrambling turned out to be really manageable, there was always a way through that wasn't super difficult or scary.

From afar it looks like there's no hiking route up the base of the summit cone, but there's a nice climbers' path to the right of the cliffs, sort of hidden in the trees.

I'm not in as good shape as I've been other autumns and this route really kicked my butt. 48 hours later I'm mostly back to normal though!
 
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