8 Peaks in 6 Days Part 2: Conundrum, Castle, Pyramid, Snowmass

Peaks:

Pyramid Peak - 14,018 feet Castle Peak - 14,265 feet Conundrum Peak - 14,060 feet Snowmass Mountain - 14,092 feet

This report is the second half of the trip that involves the portion of the Elk range 14ers. To read the start of this trip with the San Juan half please click here
This report is the Elks half continuing on the 6 day journey to grab 8 14ers.

Stats

Dates:6/9 to 6/17
8 14ers: Sneffels, El Diente, Mt. Wilson, Wilson Peak, Conundrum, Castle, Pyramid, Snowmass
Total Mileage: 63 Miles
Total Elevation Gain: 46K feet
GreatTraverses: Diente to Wilson 4th of 4.
Partners: 3
# of peaks solo: 1
# of fish caught: 10
# of lake jumps: 1

Part 2: The Elks

Day 4: Conundrum Peak (14,060’) and Castle Peak (14,265’)

Route: Castle Creek Trailhead 4wd to 11,000’ (a ways below the Pearl Pass turnoff) and hike to ascend Conundrum Couloir and traverse across the ridge/saddle to Castle and down the Northwest Ridge route on Castle back to Castle Creek.
Mileage: ~9 Miles
Elevation Gain: ~3,500’
Partners: (url:http://www.14ers.com/phpBB3/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=6103)KansasHiker Note: Any pictures with the date in the bottom right corner are courtesy of KansasHiker.
Start:5 AM Finish 1 PM
If you have read any of my older trip reports, you would know that my vehicle of choice for 14er travel as well as get to work on a daily basis has been my 1970 red VW Bus, Pabst. I recently picked up a Toyota Tacoma with a topper since I have that little one on the way. I still have the bus but it is for sale so I didn’t want to haul it around the state on this trip. Anyhow, my new little toy is what allowed me to shave a few miles throughout the week for accessing places I haven’t been able to before.
I awoke at 3:45 am in the back of the truck to a surprisingly cold night. Usually, I just use a tiny blanket but I found myself shivering most of the night in my 30 deg bag with the blanket over that. I guess I should have used the 0 deg down but didn’t feel like getting out. Maybe tomorrow night if I feel like it I will get it out to use. I started the morning with some hydrogen peroxide on my monstrous blisters and doing my daily prep and dressing before getting dressed and getting my approach shoes on. After making my coffee and loading back up the truck, we were driving up Castle Creek road by 04:30AM in the dark. A few years ago around the same time in June, I found myself hiking from the very bottom here, the first river crossing was so deep, it was impassable to vehicles and the second river crossing before pearl pass, the bridge was completely washed out. Since I already hiked this from the bottom once, and I was only back to get Conundrum since the Avy conditions made me uncomfortable to continue on from Castle that time, I did not feel guilty driving a ways. I wanted to play with my truck anyhow and enjoy the fact that I made a smart decision last time to not take the risk and live to climb another day. That said, I was still determined to not cheat. By 4:55 we found a nice spot at a sharp turn at about 11,050 not too far below the pearl pass turnoff. By 05:00 AM, we were on our way with plans to climb Conundrum Couloir first, ridge run to Castle and take the standard route down Castle.
In what seemed like no time at all, we were approaching 12,800’ where the road traditionally ends and even the elite 4X4 cheaters have to start using their own legs. The red line is our approximate path up and the green is down.

After hitting the snow, I had to do the dreaded deed and switch from my approach shoes to the boots that gave me blisters just a few days ago. Immediately after putting them on and 4 days of the blisters being rubbed the wrong way, I was in pain. After a quick adjustment to my boots, we donned the crampons and began our snow up the snowfield to the right. At first, my plan was to contour the snow to the right by the rock for possible escape but we quickly learned that the snow was almost bombproof so we went straight up. I normally use the toe in kick steps technique but with my heel’s conditions, I was forced to use the duck/French step method to make my way up comfortably. It was good to practice something I don’t usually do. We quickly reached the bottom of Conundrum Couloir and the snow was rock hard. Not quite Ice, but definitely rock hard. I was feeling that it was my 4th day in a row “off the couch” for the trip as we began to make our way up.

KansasHiker snapped a photo of me just before we hit the section that was still in shadow due to the reclusive nature of the couloir.

At around the same time. I managed to get one of him.

And he got one looking back…

I was still resting so got one more of him to stall a bit.

Finally… We made the shady section. There were slight remenants from kicked steps on a softer day and even some ski tracks from the past. This snow still in shadow was even harder as expected.

With great pain in my heels, I continued my way up stalling as much as possible while I sucked wind and thought about how much of a couch potato I have been recently.

Almost out of the snow, we made the ridge under the cornice that was solid enough to provide a nuclear shelter. We took our crampons for the short almost 3rd class finish to a beautiful summit.

Conundrum is not on the 54 list of 14ers that people use because there isn’t 300’ rise between the saddle from its big sister Castle to the summit or something like that. Anyhow, the climb of Conundrum couloir is a climb worthy of a 14er and demands its own respect. My theory with the whole list thing is that if it is a mountain, you should climb it. That means there are a lot more than 58 but since I did the 4 great traverses, 3 of those wouldn’t have counted the mountain I traversed either 2 or from either. Numbers are numbers but I personally user the 58 list which seems to be rather standard on 14ers.com . That said, Conundrum makes 54 of 58 for my checklist.
Anyhow, this is looking towards pyramid which is tomorrow’s goal. Pyramid is the closest red one on the front right. I will let you make out the Bells, Snowmass, and Capitol.

A look at me with Castle in the background.

Headed back up the ridge to Castle, there is a decent view of the ridge route on the way down. It appears as if there is a deep notch in the ridge that will require you to eventually pass down to the left of the ridge cliffs but when you get there it is rather apparent that going below would be loose and dangerous and that the notch isn’t really that deep and you should maintain the ridge proper coming down except where the trail skirts a few feet below at times.

In little time with KansasHiker kicking my butt, we make Castle and make return to my first Elk mountain ever. I had already done it a few years ago but this makes 6 in 4 days for me still. We met a couple of skiers on top who climbed Castle up the ridge and were hoping Conundrum Couloir would soften up enough for them to ski it. I would love to ski that couloir but the snow seemed very firm for my liking. After our summit break and a shot of whiskey, I sent an ok message to the several folks tracking me on my borrowed SPOT tracker and we were headed down.

At the start down the ridge, you must stay to your right to keep it at class 2+. Once you make the top of Castle Couloir (the obvious gulley), you should just stay on the ridge for most of the way down.

Making our way down, KansasHiker was hoping we would see the skiers descent but it looked like they may wait a while and we didn’t want to provide and eager audience that would cause them to make any decision they wouldn’t have without one. They seemed like smart guys but we all are guilty of pushing things a little harder when people and were walking. Nonetheless, we weren’t interested in a rescue mission that day so we continued on.

Once we got back to the road below 12,800’ we saw them safely descending to the bottom of the snow and we knew they were good. We made quick work of the switchbacks to the car just below pearl pass. Alright, it was just before 1 PM and we already made the truck. With a quick descent back down the 4X4 and through the river, we made it back to where the pavement meets the dirt and KansasHiker got his vehicle. We agreed to meet at Maroon lakes that night and to start the next day at the same time. I drove straight to Maroon lakes, paid my $10 and parked in the overnight lot. I cleared out the back of the truck, licked my wounds and passed out for a few hours in the cool afternoon breeze. Eventually, I awoke, cooked up some dinner and decided I would have 2 hours to go fishing from 5 to 7 PM in Maroon Lake. We had great luck here a few years ago after the Maroon Traverse pulling out several rainbows so I was excited to try again. I iced my feed in the water as I fished and within 30 minutes I had 2 rainbows that were both about 14” a piece. Since I had no ice, I felt like I couldn’t eat more than that and didn’t see any reason to keep fishing. I cleaned the fish in the river by the car because I didn’t want to leave fish parts in this beautiful lake and then headed down to call the wife to check in real quick. After coming back up, I fried up my fish and talked with KansasHiker about Pyramid the following day. We went to bed around 8PM. The signs indicate that you are not supposed to sleep in the overnight lot and the campground host just happens to be parked right there at the front of the lot. We remained quiet about what we did and didn’t advertise “camping” and no one bothered us.

That is until at about 11:30 at night when I hear knocking on the window on my truck. I thought we had been made and they would make us move. Turns out it was KansasHiker. He was saying the porcupine was chewing on something under his vehicle and he was moving to the day lot to finish out the night. I went back to sleep to be awoken less than an hour later by scratching and chewing sounds. I peered under the tailgate with my headlamp in one hand and .357 in the other. That sneak was now under my vehicle. I didn’t want to fire to scare it and cause a racket so I just kept banging my hand on the truck until he went away. An hour later he was back and we played the same thing again. After 3 times of this I threw a rock at him and he took off not to be seen again by me for the night.
 

Day 5: Pyramid Peak (14,018’)

Route: Northeast Ridge (Standard Route).
Mileage: ~9 Miles
Elevation Gain: ~4,500’
Partners: KansasHiker Note: Any pictures with the date in the bottom right corner are courtesy of KansasHiker.
Start:4:30 AM Finish 2:30 PM
By 03:45AM I was up again with a poor night’s sleep doing my blister patching routine again. I was pondering my October Adventure when there was probably more snow than at any given time throughout any part of winter.
We got started just about on time and were off up the trail. Being that I have hiked this a couple of times to crater lake, I put my headlamp on dim and let my partner take the lead. Before long twilight was revealing things around us. It appeared we were facing back down the valley and we were at a small lake I had never seen before. Something didn’t seem right. After a bit of back and forth and the GPS showing we were right near the actual trail, we couldn’t figure out what was wrong. We wasted a good 45 minutes before I said we had 2 options. 1. Turn around and go back to Maroon lake and start over. Or… 2. Bush whack up until we met the trail to pyramid somewhere. I knew we would hit it somewhere in the low 10’s. We opted for the bush whack as I commented that the original hard men did it this way without the trail. Turns out as I was making the comment about the deadly bells sign and making my partner feel uneasy, it caused us to miss the split right behind it at the lake. How dumb we felt. That’s navigation 101 right there. This pic is on the way back

After meeting the trail and regaining our composure, we made hasty work of the steep switchbacks between 10,200 and the next 1000’ or so.

We finally had our first views of Pyramid. Looking at the snow on the standard ascent to the right and not knowing how solid it was, we decided to brave the talus hop up the left side to our route making a bee line.

The talus hop wasn’t too gruesome up to 12K where you take the nasty scree to 13K. I called this the stairway to heaven… (without stairs of course). Ascending this sucked and all I kept thinking was that what goes up, must come down.

A short ways up, we found ourselves already taking a break while I adjusted my bandages a bit.

Up, up, and away.

Left, Right, Left, Right and almost there. There is light at the end of the tunnel.

Our approximate route is made apparent for the finish minus the route finding across the backside through the narrows to get to the bottom of the infamous green gulley.

As we ascended the Ridge, Capitol and Snowmass kept growing as though they were telling lots of lies to us.

Making one of our only snow crossings of the day, we navigated to the left of the 15’ ice cornice left just above the saddle that blocks passage to the narrows. Going left and below makes you have to traverse back up along and below it until you regain the trail. If you don’t find the trail, you will cross too low because it looks like the way. We were headed that way until I spotted a cairn and we decided to go check it out. Following the trail up and over, you have to go up some and eventually, you will spot the Narrows. The route finding between the saddle and the narrows seemed to be the crux of the day. It is not super important you find the exact route but finding the Narrows is actually a comforting bonus knowing that you have found safe passage across to the Green Gulley. Here is KansasHiker crossing the narrows. There is some exposure below but it is like walking on flat ground and getting to grab super big super solid hand holds.

After crossing the narrows, we finally made it to a good point where you traverse back across one snow gulley and find yourself on the green gulley. At this point, I decided to leave my boots, axe and crampons tied together and weighed down by rocks. There didn’t seem to be a lot of Marmots here and I figured at least if they chew, they won’t send my stuff careening into no man’s land. Looking at the green gulley from here, it doesn’t even look 4 class. It looks like loose nasty 5th class. This was the first time in my 14er career, traverses included that I felt like I may not do a peak due to difficulty. I contemplated the fact that I may go home with a list of 57. I have never quit at anything in my life but that was scary looking. I figured the best thing we could go do is go at least up to it and look. As soon as I was standing there touching the Green rock, I realized it wasn’t so bad. I began to scramble off to the most fun part of the day with KansasHiker right on my heels.

I would make a few moves and stop as he caught up so we weren’t kicking rocks on each other. Eventually he stayed to one side and me to the other so we didn’t harm eachother. This wasn’t so bad. I was feeling more like we would make it now.

Right on queue, we found the exit to the left of the green gulley well before the end as we spotted a cairn to the left.

From there to the summit it was zig and zag. It is somewhat difficult to follow the cairns if that’s what you are into but just look for the path of least resistance and exposure and bob and weave your way up to the summit. Even for the best of route finders (coming from the guys who couldn’t find the trail to crater lake) it was somewhat challenging to find the right way. I made several mental notes on the way through there of what things looked like to remember for the descent.

We made the summit and I tore into my canned Oysters. #55 of 58 for me. My traditional shot of whiskey took the edge off enough for me to take the dive… NOT. I carefully mounted the diving board for my picture and carefully made my way off. Even though hundreds of folks have stood there, it still looks like it might break off at any time. I just had to do it though. Sorry mom!

And what summit photo from Pyramid wouldn’t include this beautiful Massif. Here is where I tell you that while hiking up Pyramid, KansasHiker asked me what I thought was the hardest 14er thus far barring the added winter difficulties of some of my minimal winter experience. I really couldn’t answer because I felt like all 14er routes were fun. After summiting Pyramid, I would disagree with the general consensus of 3rd place to Capitol and then Little Bear as far as difficulty. Pyramid Peak had the hardest moves, the loosest rock, and the most sustained climbing of any standard 14er route. On top of that, the route finding on this peak is more difficult than any other peak I have seen. It is a real mountain and I confidently told my partner that this was it after being there. Roach is right when he says that a fall anywhere in the last 1000’ will most likely be fatal. I just kept thinking all the way up and down that every step must count and that there are no unimportant steps. Ever since stepping on the Green Gulley, I didn’t lose my confidence in my abilities again as we made our way up and down. I felt confident about the rest of the route from there on out but the mountain tested all abilities.

With wonderful weather and the mountain to ourselves, we began to descend.

In no time at all we were back at the gear stash below the green gulley.

A friend stopped by to visit to tell us we were not alone up there.

Just below the cornice, my phone dinged with a message. I had 1 bar of AT&T service right at about 13,200’ there so I called the wife to let her know I was OK and the hard section was over.

From there we found the top of my stairway to heaven to be what KansasHiker called the Highway to Hell. We made our way back down our least favorite part of the day, hopped the talus, switch-backed the slope and were back to Maroon lake, this time on the trail. We passed several tourists as we returned to the car. After relaxing, eating, cooling off in the river, and re-hydrating, we agreed to meet in Marble where the road turns from paved to dirt for day 6 on Snowmass from Lead King basin. Is it pronounced lead like leader or lead like lead pencil? I made my way back through Carbondale where I picked up some Ice for my beers and back to Marble where I found that where the road turns to dirt is beaver lake. I was a bit early so I tossed a line in the water as I cooked myself some dinner. Within 5 minutes I had another 14 incher. I had some fresh fish to accompany my mashed potatoes. By the time I was done eating, I had a second fish. I cleaned it up and put it on ice to take home since I already had my fill. We agreed that KansasHiker would take his vehicle as far as he felt comfortable where we would then car camp for the night before doing 4X4 to the Lead King trailhead. With some daylight remaining, we decided venture on up the 4X4 road in my rig. Not too long after the river crossing, we found a split in the road. Going right looks immediately intense and left looks more mellow. I decided on right which took us through some gnarly stuff that I don’t think any stock vehicle other than maybe a Jeep Rubicon would be happy on. We went all of the way to 10,700’ before finding a snow patch I didn’t feel comfortable crossing. After turning around and finding the other road again, we tried that one. 35 minutes later, we were near the Trailhead looking at the mountain and noticing that there was almost no snow as we suspected. Glad that we didn’t have to find the unexpected split in the morning we made our way down noting that we would be taking the left there in the morning.
(h2)Day 6: Snowmass Mountain (14,092’)(/h2)
Route: West Face/Gulley/Ridge
Mileage: ~9 Miles
Elevation Gain: ~4,500’
Partners: (url:http://www.14ers.com/phpBB3/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=6103)KansasHiker Note: Any pictures with the date in the bottom right corner are courtesy of KansasHiker.
Start:5:30 AM Finish 3:15 PMish
With a good night’s sleep without the porcupines, I was up at the usual 3:45AM readying myself. By 4:25, we were 4X4ing back up the road. 45 mins later, we arrived at the trailhead to find only one other vehicle. By 05:30 AM we were on the trail. My knee was hurting but the waterfall was beautiful.

3 miles later, we made the dark green Geneva lake. We sipped some water and continued on spotting a good route for the planned S. Ridge.

As we continued up to Gem lake, no good way stood out for making the 12,200’ start on the north side of the ridge so we decided to go with the west face/gulley route since there was still a trail there. We followed the trail back to the river crossing and began our 2,500’ boulder crawl on loose talus and boulders. From near gem lake, the remainder of the route is more or less visible although not apparent at the time that it is the route. The red line is our approximate route up and back.

Once you cross the river, you will see a couple of carins on the other side and then it is pretty much a free for all. There is no perfect route back there that we could find. Make your way up the grassy slopes as you point towards the middle of the far left gulley.

As always the red is our approximate line. As soon as my make the gulley, stick left up to the ridge to maintain easier ground.

As you follow on and off the ridge you see what is to your left. I won’t say what I am talking about but if you are interested, you will know what the picture is and no words of description are required.

Maybe this one will make things a little more clear on what I am talking about.

Continuing to follow to the ridge sometimes wandering the face, the ridge becomes more jagged. We stayed left and then soon crossed over to the right just below the top of the ridge. The red is our approximate line. It is tempting to aim for the left hump, which is not the summit. Aim for the saddle between and do a somewhat committing traverse or cut much loser and right until you find a safe ridge that provides safe passage to the summit.

Here is some of the last bit to the summit.

And looking back at North Snowmass alternate summit that we decided not to hit since 6 days hiking was already enough.

If you are going to take a summit photo, you must be on the summit proper… My rules. We took our turns getting our summit proper photos and then relaxing.

One last day of great weather while we enjoyed Snowmass Lake with the other mountains in the background. #56 was under my feet.

Smooth ground was just a 2,500’ talus hop away.

By the end of the hike, the clouds were coming in darker and greyer. This was the first time I had any storm clouds all week and I didn’t like what I was seeing. Getting back down to Geneva lake, it was almost a race from the storm. At this point I decided I had enough hiking and would save Holy Cross for when I didn’t have to do 27 miles and could have a partner. We drove 4X4 back to KansasHiker’s Car and back to the lake by Marble.

I did it. 60+ miles, 6 days and 46+ thousand feet. Truly amazing. Other than having the extra oxygen, I climbed the equivalent of Everest Sea to Summit one and a half times. What a great week. With only 1 fish in the ice chest, I thought it would be lame to bring just that home so I decided to throw another line in the water. Within an hour I had caught a total of 6 more fish. One snapped my line and one I threw back because it was so small. What great luck. As fast as I could get my bait out there, I was snagging them. I have never had this kind of luck.
By 1030PM I was back home in Colorado Springs soaking in my hot tub and telling my wife the stories of the week. Another journey came to an end and provided me with just another level that I was able to push myself too and many more beautiful scenes and good times with old friends and new. I’m sure I will get Holy Cross sometime this summer and plan to save Huron for September when the thunderstorms calm down so we can bring that pony keg up there and have good weather for the finishing celebration. It will celebrate the end of one era and the beginning of a whole new world for me as I have my first child as well as venture out to see what else this beautiful state has to offer. As always. Thanks for reading and joining in on part of the adventure.
Thanks to my partners who were safe and friendly. Good partners make Great adventures and that is exactly what you guys did. Thanks to summitbound who I bailed on for the wilsons because I couldn’t start that early as well. I apologize for abusing your hospitality in letting me join you guys and not showing up.
See you at the top!

8 Peaks in 6 Days Part 1: Sneffels, El Diente, Mt. Wilson, Wilson Peak

Peaks:

Mt. Sneffels - 14,150 feet El Diente Peak - 14,159 feet Mt. Wilson - 14,246 feet Wilson Peak - 14,017 feet

Stats

Dates:6/9 to 6/17
8 14ers: Sneffels, El Diente, Mt. Wilson, Wilson Peak, Conundrum, Castle, Pyramid, Snowmass
Total Mileage: 63 Miles
Total Elevation Gain: 46K feet
GreatTraverses: Diente to Wilson 4th of 4.
Partners: 3
# of peaks solo: 1
# of fish caught: 10
# of lake jumps: 1

Preface

Having only 9 left to finish the 14ers, I had planned to casually finish throughout this summer. My work is ramping up to be busy throughout the summer season and I have started to see my chances of getting much time off are getting slimmer and slimmer. Then… Come to find out, I have my first baby on the way due this fall as well. Knowing that having a baby and play time are somewhat correlated and the possibility for my work to be less flexible for a while, I got somewhat of a fire under my butt to get the remaining peaks done. I came up with a plan. I would take a week off and finish all the peaks left on my list. I began looking at weather, partners, and work and decided that 6/9 to 6/17 will be the best window for opportunity in the near future. I began my planning about a week prior. It was hard to focus at work as I wanted to take my time to prepare. Luckily, I have done enough research in the past to be comfortable with any of the peaks on any of my routes. In my planning, I realized that I have been saving Huron Peak for last because it is fairly short and easy and I would like to take a group of friends and family up with me for my finisher, who have been supporting me throughout my journey. I’m glad I have reserved this easier peak than finishing on something hard with one or no partners. Planning with such short notice, I knew it wasn’t going to be possible to get the group I wanted so I decided to finish all peaks but 1 on this trip. The one week window looked good on the weather forecast through Thursday and I knew there was little margin for error. If I encountered bad weather or adverse conditions on any given day, I would not have time for another shot at that peak. The last piece to the puzzle was giving my wife the peace of mind that I was going to be OK as she usually worries while I am out and don’t always have cell service. I called a friend who owns a SPOT tracker and borrowed that. I kept it on tracking whenever I was on the trail and kept it on tracking so she could see my progress or lack thereof.

Part 1: The San Juans

Day 1: Mt. Sneffels (14,150’)

Route: East Dallas Creek Blue Lakes Trailhead to the Southwest Ridge
Mileage: ~14 Miles
Elevation Gain: ~5000’
Partners: J and G
Start:6 AM Finish 2:30 PM
After getting off work about noon on Friday 6/8 and the roughly 7 hour drive to Telluride, CO, I met up with my friend who we will call “J” here. He recently moved up there a few months ago and we had talked about doing the Diente Wilson traverse for the past couple of years. It was finally coming into fruition as we discussed our plan while I ate a burger and sipped a brew in downtown Telluride. We had both noticed that the forecast for Saturday was supposed to be much windier than Sunday so we decided to go with Sneffels first and then the traverse on Sunday. After my April 2010 attempt through Yankee Boy Basin where we really only got to the summer trailhead before calling it a quits due extreme avy condtions See Report Here, I was thinking great… Saturday will be a quick 7 mile 3000’ round trip warm-up for the traverse tomorrow and a comfortable way to kick off the trip. Coming from Telluride though, The East Dallas Creek approach is about half the drive of continuing down into Ouray and back up into Yankee boy. Not thinking too much of the additional mileage, we decided to give blue lakes a shot. In hindsight, If I had known the snow was going to be so bullet proof, I would have probably taken the more direct route via Blaine basin into snake couloir or the north buttress.
J, his friend “G” and I got started at about 6AM and I quickly realized I had forgotten my second Nalgene. After hearing horror stories of Camelbaks leaking and soaking peoples packs, I always keep mine outside of the pack until the hike starts. After getting out of the car and gearing mine up, I couldn’t get it to stop leaking so I decided to go with 2 Nalgenes. Unfortunately, I left one of two in the car and was doing a 14 mile day with only 32oz of water. It didn’t feel ideal even when I usually need less water than the average alpine hiker. I decided I would be ok since I always carry tablets in my med kit and J had his steri-pen. I actually only ended up drinking less than 48 oz for the day anyhow so it wasn’t so bad. 1.8 miles into the first day with a 3.8MPH moving average speed and all was going great but I was already seeming to develop blisters. I was smart enough to start this long of a trip with moleskin already covering my heels. I couldn’t figure out what was wrong already. I took my boot off to find half dollar bleeding blisters already. What the heck? Then J asked how new my socks were. I immediately knew it was the socks. I had just bought my first new pair of wool socks in about 5 years and hadn’t even washed or worn them yet. The new socks were the culprit causing so much pain. I felt like such a rookie. I threw on a fresh pair of broken in socks and decided to press on. J offered to turn back being that he had already climbed this peak and he wanted me fresh for the Wilson Diente traverse. Turning back sounded great due to the pain that I was in, but I really wanted to stick to the schedule. I said we should keep going and I will say if it gets bad enough that we need to turn around. Immediately the different socks felt much better. After seeing the beautiful lowest Blue lake, we came to the first crossing below it.

Up the steep headwall, we passed through the upper blue lakes as we started to get close to finally being in the sun.

Nearing Blue lakes pass at 12,980, it was apparent that this route was much less traveled than most other 14er routes due to the faint trail.

Eventually we made it to the top of the Blue Lakes Pass at just shy of 13K and had our first views down into Yankee Boy Basin and up the ridge. I never realized how much shorter the pass was on the Yankee boy side was. It was right there practically.

After a short break from the already somewhat intense wind that we knew we were up against, we began our route up the ridge. Picking our way around a couple of small snow fields, we picked our way up. The red line shows roughly our line as I remember it on our way up.

Scrambling onward and upward, I began to notice the looseness of the route. This was always a route that I considered my pup capable of doing after his adventures in the past in Chicago Basin the 5 San Juans in 2 days trip last summer and writing his own TR for Ellingwood Point but I was very glad he was not there after physically being on the route. He is a very capable animal and probably would have been fine, but it was just so loose.

Until this point, the route finding was fairly straight forward. Follow the ridge. We finally came to a point where the route definitely cliffs out to the left and there was snow to the right. We had axes but the right didn’t look like the way either.

When you don’t know for sure you have to start trying things out within the capabilities of your team at which point you will either find an agreeable route or turn back. We decided to go up!

Well… Up was not the right way as it quickly became very loose 5th class that was not safe. A quick downclimb later, we realized that it was right. We had to cross the small snow down into the gulley and traverse over a small rib to the next gulley. With our axes out, we made our 50’ trip up the next gulley with the only other amount of snow for the day (noting that one guy behind us was able to climb around the snow to the left with no axe on questionable terrain). The snow in the gulley was bullet proof and we quickly passed up and continued our way up.

After the gulley the terrain remained at sustained 3rd class to the windy summit. Yay… #50 of 58 for me. As soon as we got there, I made a quick call to the wife. She said she could see the progress all of the way up with the spot inside of my pack and see us sitting on the summit. We didn’t stay long due to the wind and headed back down. In no time at all, we were back at the Blue Lakes saddle and on our way back down at a decent rate.

Coming into the trees, we got an unbelievable view of the Glacier Blue Lower Blue Lake. I couldn’t believe my eyes at how blue this lake looked. It was determined that it was a must that we jumped in. I didn’t get any pics of the lake jump because I got a video but all 3 of us took the plunge and it was as always so so so so refreshing after a long day on the trail.

Continuing down the trail from the lower lake, I got a good shot of the ridge we had done for the day up to Sneffels.

A short time later we were back to the car and with the recommendation from a Montrose local at the Trailhead, we stopped into Colorado Boy Brewery for some pizza and beer before returning to telluride. I would recommend anyone in the area stopping into the joint as I was impressed with both their beer and pie making abilities.

Day 2: El Diente Peak (14,159’) to Mt. Wilson (14,246’) Traverse

Route: Kilpacker Basin Approach to the South slopes route of El Diente, traversing across to Mt. Wilson and down the less traveled South Slopes route back into Kilpacker.
Mileage: ~14 Miles
Elevation Gain: ~5000’
Partners: J and G
Start:6 AM Finish 6 PM
The trip continued on day 2 with J accidently setting his alarm for 4 AM instead of 3 AM. The benefit of living in Telluride is that you don’t have to camp anywhere. If you have a friend in Telluride, you at least have a couch to sleep on and if you are lucky like myself that friend has a comfy couch. J awoke me at 4 AM and said we slept a little long but I was happy to have an extra hour of sleep. The 3 of us left for lizard head pass and on to the Kilpacker TH to step off at 6AM. I would usually be worried about a start this late for a route like this but I knew the forecast was absolutely perfect for the day. We decided to start with me at the front because of my blister problem from the day before. This time, I was just wearing the approach shoes instead of the boots as we figured the south slopes would be completely void of snow with the lack this year. Looking at reports of the same time last year, some folks were turned around at around 13K due to poor snow conditions. With a little wheezing in my lungs and toughing out the heels, we made the El Diente sign to turnoff to Kilpacker basin.

A short time later, we get our views and the obligatory pictures of the famous kilpacker waterfall as the Apenglow was on the summit of our first goal of the day.

Making our way left of the waterfall up the steady incline; we were finally in the sun and taking our first rest. I applied some sunscreen and drank some water since I had 64 oz of water for the day instead of 32.

10 mins later the 3 of us were off leaving our shadows below.

Nearing 12,600’ and remembering Roach’s advice to not be tempted to leave the trail below 12,800’ the route was becoming more apparent and we began to angle at the weakness in the cliff bands.

Beginning to move left after the reddish rib, the route steepened but was surprisingly not as loose as we thought it would be. We made our way towards the organ pipes that we could now see. Note: There are actually 2 sets of organ pipes on the ridge. You are aiming toward the smaller left set that is closer to El Diente.

Arriving at the Organ Pipes in the route description, you can look towards Mt. Wilson and see the larger pipes.

Making our way through the notch and continuing up and left, we made the ridge proper and got our first view of Navajo Basin and tomorrow’s goal, Wilson Peak and the Rock of Ages Saddle. The snow in Navajo was much less than we had imagined it would be. From here we continued up the right/north side of the ridge as described in the route descriptions to meet up with the standard route finish on el diente from the Navajo basin side. This was the loosest, wettest and scariest part of the day as we made our way across and made El Diente. #51 of 58 for me.

We rested and I sent an OK message from the SPOT tracker as we took in the views. Here is a look at sneffels from the day before.

And the ridge we were about to do. I was finally about to start my 4th of the 4 Great 14er Traverses. After being so sketched on the final ascent to El Diente, We decided to take a direct ridge descent back to the traverse. This proved to be well worth it and I wished we came up that way. The ridge was 3rd to low 4th class with more exposure than the other way but was much more solid. My advice is do this ridge for the ascent and descent. If you can’t handle the exposure here, don’t bother with the traverse because it is only a taste of what the traverse has to offer. You will also spare climbers on the northern routes from Navajo from any unnecessary rock fall as even for the most careful of folks it is hard to keep rocks from careening down that north face.

We quickly met back up with the point where we would descend back below the organ pipes and began our descent the way we came up.

After the smaller organ pipes, we began to ascend back just below the ridge line still on the south side and near the larger organ pipes that roach recommends rapping down when traversing the other way or climbing below to the south. We really wanted to maintain the ridge and climb the pipes but we didn’t feel comfortable without seeing the other side. We opted for the safer bet of dropping to the right side. There were some exposed 3rd class moves across the side but not bad. After going around, we picked our way back to the ridge proper to see that we should have just gone up the pipes and stayed the ridge. Oh well… No loss but good to know for the future. I would say if you feel comfortable scrambling up to 5.5 unroped, than you should just stay on the ridge up through the pipes. If you don’t, just drop below. I assume either way would take about the same amount of time. We made it back to the ridge after passing the pipes and felt like we were still making good time.

Making good time on the ridge, we began to close the distance between the 2 teams ahead of us. I was wondering when this was going to feel like a “great traverse.”

Then it came. The fin just right of center we began to ascend the other side coming from Diente. At first you look up and say “No way is this 4th class.” We just contoured a little to the right and the 3rd class route began to pave its way up. Making it back onto the ridge the exposure came. It was the great rush with 1000’ + exposure on each side as we picked our way over where we caught the other groups. After the “Crux” ridge, you descend back to a gulley that you have to make it up to join the standard route from Mt. Wilson at the top for the finish.

This took a while as we waited for the groups ahead of us to ascend the dirty but dry gulley and finally the grand finish. If you have just done the traverse, the finish is about an equal difficulty and exposure. If you didn’t traverse, get ready for the ride because it is the crux of your day.

Only an hour and 45 minutes after leaving Diente, we made the entire traverse. It was a regular party with 7 folks all arriving to the summit within 10 minutes of each other. #52 of 58 for me.

A quick look at the dirty little nasty lizard head 5.8R as a future goal and then we were on our way to find a descent back into Kilpacker.

We ended up returning back to the south west facing gulley where the traverse meets the standard Mt. Wilson route and more or less descending the gulley back to kilpacker. In the center of the photo, you can see one patch of snow behind G that we had to pass. From coming down on our left, we found a safe enough scramble around the snow and then descended over quite possibly the loosest talus in the state. Below this at around 13,500’, we encountered a few snow fields that were kind of a must to cross. It was nice to have an axe but they were still solid enough that we weren’t post holing very much except for one incident where G (this was only his 3rd and 4th peaks of his 14er career) stepped in a bergschrund and the rocks cut his knee fairly badly. We butterfly stitched it up and threw on the ace bandage I have been carrying in my med kit for years and never used. He seemed to be alright so we continued our descent.

At this point I began to feel a shortness of breath that I have never felt in my life. Even though we were descending. I found myself breathing harder than our ascent and was only able to get about half the air I usually get with each breath. We rested for a few minutes and continued on. My situation worsened as we continued to descend. I was ok on just descending but any portion steeper than horizontal on all the little climbs coming out just about literally killed me. I had to take them super slow and had to concentrate on my breathing and force each breath. J offered to carry my pack but I declined and said not til I can’t walk on my own. I have never felt anything like this before. My wheezing from the morning turned into what I guess was asthma. It felt like I was breathing through a straw with a lot of pressure on my chest. It was all just weird because I have never had asthma in my life. I have run marathons, half marathons, climbed several peaks and even survived a tour in the Marines with a near perfect Physical fitness test with a 3 mile run in 18 minutes, 19 dead hang pull-ups, and 100 full sit-ups in less than 2 minutes. It was just a weird anomaly I guess. Perhaps it was a combination of not enough exercise lately since I have been working 60 hour weeks and quitting smoking cigars and pipes a few weeks ago. I literally just made these 3 san Juans in 2 days off the couch as they say.

We made our way below the waterfall and back into the trees and I was still feeling the same.


After arriving back to the car, I was relieved but I figured my trip was over after this incident and I may be visiting the Telluride Urgent Care facility if my condition didn’t get better. We stopped in for some Dirty Mexican at La Casita in telluride. It is in no way affiliated with the La casita chain but was great genuine Mexican food. My condition didn’t get better. Originally, my plan was to meet Fepic from this site and his partner at 3AM the next day to do Wilson Peak with them before they continued on over to Mt. Wilson. After resting on J’s couch for several hours and recovering, I realized it was already 11PM. I knew Fepic wouldn’t have service for me to tell them I wouldn’t make it for the 3AM start. I couldn’t even get up to take a shower. I was glad that Fepic already had a partner and they weren’t counting on me to make the ascent to not be solo or something. I hate ditching on people after we agree on plans and I try to never do that but this was one of those situations where I wasn’t going to make it and had no way to tell them. I had a rough night’s sleep on the couch as I coughed and wheezed and tossed and turned and figured I was going home the next morning.

Day 3: Wilson Peak (14,017’)

Route: New Silver Pick Trailhead for the Rock Of ages trail up the standard west ridge route.
Mileage: ~9 Miles
Elevation Gain: ~3900’
Partners: Solo
Start:8:45 AM Finish 3:45 PM
After my long night of wheezing and coughing, J awoke me sometime before 5:30 AM and said to come outside. The neighbor’s house was on fire. I jumped off the couch, extended my heels to crack the blisters and ran outside with bleeding heels to see the largest house fire I had ever seen. There were already 2 fire trucks and several firefighters shooting water at the blazing house and it the flames weren’t even being phased. This was almost just right across the street. I started to wonder if I needed to move my vehicle or pack my bags because the fire might spread. There were several neighbors outside watching and it sounded like no one was in the house or harmed by the fire. The firefighters eventually had to focus efforts on the house next door to prevent that one from going down as well.

After seeing that the fire was under control, I decided to take a shower before putting my tail between my legs and returning home several days earlier than planned due to my blisters and now asthmatic condition. I felt much better after my shower and figured I would give Wilson peak a shot. Worst case, I would see how I felt and if it was bad off the start, I could bail and still go home. I drove to the trailhead. It felt weird to start at 8:45 AM on a 14er? Was I stupid? I knew I was going to be solo and slower than normal. I also knew the weather forecast was once again absolutely stellar. I stepped off from the new Rock of Ages Trailhead at around 10,400’ and started my way up through the trees. Surprisingly, I felt great all of the way to past 11,000’. I got my first views of the summit and the saddle and felt like the day was going to go. Another worry about a later start is the danger of softening snow and postholing and wetslab avalanches. I did see Fepic’s vehicle at the Trailhead along with 2 other vehicles so I at least I wouldn’t be alone on the mountain.

One step at a time, I made my way up the old mining roads to the saddle. There was an unavoidable snowfield for about 700 of the last 1000’ up to the saddle between 12 and 13K. Luckily there were already good steps cut as I used my axe and approach shoes knowing the boots would kill the day. I made the saddle quickly and saw the Diente (Right) to Mt. Wilson (Left) traverse from yesterday.

I was now confident I could do this as I looked toward the next notch. It was farther than I thought it would be but it went fast to that next notch.

From the next notch, I was standing on the ridge to Gladstone. With an earlier start, I probably would have gone for Gladstone but I was lucky to even get 1 mountain this day. I could now see much of the remaining route to the summit. The red line was roughly my route. There isn’t a lot of cairns but after dropping off the notch/saddle and trending up the ridge, there was a short 3rd class section across solid rock and the faint trail appeared. My advice is just go across the 3rd class and you will run into the trail as you start to ascend the ridge.

I followed the trail as it stayed just below the ridge proper on the way up.

Finally you come to the false summit where even though I knew it was the false summit, I wasn’t prepared for how much was left to go after this point. I guess unprepared wasn’t the right term. I was happy for the amount of 3rd class scrambling but it was just more than I was hoping to see. When things looked too hard, I would stay left. When the rock got too brittle, I moved back right. The red line was my approximate route to the summit.

On the summit I was greeted by 2 lovely ladies from the telluride area. They were also enjoying the beautiful weather. We talked eachother into taking pictures for one another. I got my nice self-portrait on top of #53 of 58 with my last traverse in the background from the day before.

We all 3 descended the 3rd class portion together before we parted ways. I wanted to move a little faster with plans to drive to the aspen area and climb some Elks for the next few days. I made hasty time on the way down and got one last pic of this old mining structure rubble before returning to the car.

At less than 7 hours after leaving the car, I was done with the third day. I couldn’t believe it. I was pretty tired but felt up for continuing the trip. I started heading to Aspen. I got to drive over McClure Pass CO133 to Carbondale. This was my first time being blessed with driving this beautiful road. At about 9:30PM I finally arrived at the Castle Creek Road start to find my partner for the next few days waiting. After meeting each other, we were quickly asleep in preparation for a 4AM wakeup and a 4:30 start up Castle and Conundrum the following day.
In order to not have several separate Trip reports for this adventure but not a massively long one either that will cause folks to lose interest, I have decided to break this up into 2 parts between the San Juans here and the Elks which is Part 2. Once Part 2 is ready, I will post the link here so you can see how I fared through the second half of my journey through the 14er Massacre.
Part 2 Here - 14ers.com version

Until then, thanks for reading and…

See you at the top!