Eagles Nest to Powell

EN2P

Date: 7/20/2024
Partner: Joel Racicot
Trailhead: Piney Lake
TH to Camp (Piney River Falls) : 3.1m - 650ft - 1hr
Eagles Nest to Powell: 7.5m - 5750ft - 11hrs (chill pace with summit lounging from camp)
GPX

Eagles Nest 14ers.com Page
Powell 14ers.com Page

The hike to camp is mellow and on a gentle trail. Piney River Falls is a great place to camp.

From camp, the trail steeply ascends to a gorgeous meadow at the base of Game Pass and Knee Knocker Pass.
From the meadow climb north to Game Pass and descend on the north side... traversing close to the ridge as to not give up more vertical than necessary. The strategy now is to locate the ascent gully to Eagle's Nest's south ridge. Don't ascend too soon! We ascended a gully a little after the low point in the Eagle's Nest - Mt. Powell Saddle. When you identify the ascent gully the general strategy is to climb left with the path of least resistance unitl gaining the ridge. From there the route to Eagles Nest is straight forward.

If you're not planning to traverse to Powell, you can retrace your steps back to Piney Lake. However if you enjoy class 3/4/Low 5 scrambling, this traverse is one of the Gore Range classics.

There are many ways you can traverse this ridge. We found that sticking to the ridge (for the most part) was the best way to go. Although the exposure is high, the rock is solid. We found ourselves exploring various alternatives along the way. Route finding was one of the things that made this route so fun. This report should give you a general flavor for what to expect. Go in with the expectation that you will be constantly navigating and climbing/down climbing exposed pitches in the class 4 / low 5 range.

Mt. Powell