Mt. Yale - Avalanche TH to North Cottonwood Creek TH

Great training in the Sawatch today; traversed Mt. Yale from South to North up via the east ridge from Avalanche Trailhead and back down the avalanche gully

on the north side to the base of Mt. Columbia and down to the N. Cottonwood Creek Trailhead. It was about 10.5 miles and just over 5,000’ elevation gain. Have to say that getting over Mt. Yale is much tenderer than dealing with Princeton; i.e. not as many tippy-top blocks and hideously loose, steep scree slopes. An interesting find today was locating the 1956 crash site of a C-47 in the avalanche gully.

Lisa picked me up at N. Cottonwood Creek and we finished the day with a trip to Cottonwood Hot Springs!