Displaying items by tag: Grenadier Range

I've had my eye on Mount Sneffels for quite some time. This gem of a mountain located near Ouray, CO, is one of the most splendid-looking mountains in all of Colorado. Sneffels first caught my attention back in February, when I snowshowed on Miller Mesa, to the North of Sneffels.

Mount Sneffels as seen in February, 2010.

Additionally, I was able to get great views of Sneffels and the surrounding rugged peaks back in June from the summit of Handies, and in July from the summits of Arrow and Vestal.

Sneffels and Teakettle as seen from Handies. Sneffels' pinnacles can barely be seen at the base of the Southwest ridge.

The Sneffels group as seen from Vestal.

The surrounding mountains are all very rugged, and access to the peak is accentuated by the well-traveled and world-famous Yankee Boy Basin.

The Sneffels "sub-range" (seen above) is probably the second most rugged group of mountains in all of Colorado, next to the Grenadier-Needle range. Sneffels is generally climbed via Yankee Boy Basin from the upper trailhead at 11,600 ft and up what is known as the Southeast Couloir route; however, for this trip, I'd had my mind set on the Southwest Ridge route of Sneffels, which follows the same basic start path of the standard route, but instead of going up the couloir, you gain the top of "Blue Lakes Pass" and then continue up the ridge to the top. In fact, the first recorded ascent of Sneffels, on September 10, 1874 (almost exactly 136 years before) was made by the Hayden Survey via the Southwest Ridge. The Hayden Survey had to "climb with care" because this route is "quite steep in some places."¹

From Yankee Boy Basin, the Southwest Ridge looks to be unclimbable because of the jagged pinnacles, known as "The Hand." However, these are avoided by going up the back side of the pinnacles and up a series of steep gullies to gain the ridge, and eventually the top of Sneffels.

Here are some meaningful statistics from this adventure:

Peak summited:

Mount Sneffels: 14,150 ft. (ranked 27th in Colorado)

Total elevation gain: 2,550 ft.

Total distance hiked: 3.86 miles

Total time hiking: 5.5 hours

Total photos taken: 330

Total distance driven:  620 miles

14er # 41 for me.

Joining me on this ascent of Sneffels was my wife's best friend's husband - Arron Shaver. Arron is not an experienced mountaineer by any stretch of the imagination; however, he is a very athletic and fit individual with a love for the outdoors. Arron and I made plans earlier in the summer to tackle Sneffels together in September, and when the week we had planned to climb it rolled around, I received a very prompt call from Arron and we finalized our plans. We left Colorado Springs on Friday night and arrived at Yankee Boy Basin at around 10:30 PM. The drive was made more interesting because the power steering of my Jeep had begun to fail on the way over. Fortunately, this did not prove to be a huge problem and we were able to make camp near where the road has a sign that indicates that "short wheel-base 4WD vehicles only past this point." Although my Jeep is very capable, I did not know what to expect up the road, and did not want to test my vehicle in the dark. We set the alarm for 5 AM and crashed very quickly.

When the alarm went off we were both amazed by the huge drop in temperature from the night before. I am guessing that we woke up to 25-30 degree temps in the morning. After a quick breakfast of oatmeal, we were off to the races. We continued up the road another mile to the end of the road and the start of the trailhead. I was not overly impressed with the difficulty of the road and in retrospect, I would have driven much further had I known it was not a very difficult road. Once at the trailhead, Arron and I were greeted there by a few other hikers, about 5 in total. We started up the trail and quickly reached the fork in the trail for the two different routes available from this trailhead: the Southwest Ridge route (Blue Lakes Pass) and the standard Southeast couiloir route (Mt. Sneffels trail). We broke to the left towards Blue Lakes Pass and watched as the rest of the hikers headed up the standard route. From this point until the summit, Arron and I did not see another person the rest of the ascent.

Our route up Mount Sneffels.

Views of the surrounding peaks were outstanding, right from the start. Teakettle Mountain, Gilpin Peak, and Potosi Peak were impressive. Having seen them all at a distance from many vantage points this summer, it was great seeing them up close and personal!

Gilpin Peak in alpenglow.

Gilpin Peak at sunrise.

Sneffels' pinnacles.

Arron Shaver - trusty hiking partner.

Potosi Peak.

Gilpin Peak in the early sun.

Matt Payne nearing the top of Blue Lakes Pass. The ruggedness of the pinnacles can be seen.

The hike up to Blue Lakes Pass was quick and painless, and before we knew it, we were enjoying intense views of Dallas Peak, West Dallas Peak and "T 0" after crossing into the Mount Sneffels Wilderness Area.

Blue Lakes Pass provided awesome views of Dallas Peak.

Matt Payne at the top of Blue Lakes Pass.

From the top of Blue Lakes Pass, the route heads directly behind the pinnacles and up a somewhat steep boulder field.

The backside of the pinnacles of Sneffels.

The trail here was fairly easy to find and the route seemed fairly self-explanatory - up! As the sun continued to rise, we could see the awesome Blue Lakes basin below Dallas Peak.

As we continued to climb up the gullies, Lizard Head finally came into view for the first time. Lizard Head is a tall spire near the Wilson group to the Southwest of Sneffels and is only climbed by experienced rock climbers, as the route up it is 5.8 on the YDS. For a great read on the Lizard Head approach and climb, see Sarah Thompson's site, 13ergirl.com.

Lizard Head is barely seen at far left, with the Wilson group rising above the ridge between Dallas Peak and Gilpin Peak.

Lizard Head - zoomed-in.

As we continued to climb up the first gully on the Southwest ridge, we finally reached the top of the gully and were forced to down-climb to a ledge, which led us to the base of some class 4 sections just before the obviously last ridge section.

The terrain on the Southwest ridge was crumbly and jagged.

Matt Payne starting the Southwest Ridge of Sneffels.

Arron Shaver on the Southwest Ridge of Sneffels.

The climbing up the ridge was quite enjoyable. The rock was quite solid, with ample hand-holds and foot-holds during the class 4 sections. Finally, Teakettle and Potosi came back into view, and they did not disappoint. Teakettle is one of the most appropriatly named mountains in Colorado. Shaped like an actual teakettle, sporting a spout and a handle - Teakettle is both a geologist's and a photographer's dream.

Teakettle Mountain is seen at far left, with it's handle represented as a large hole in the rock. Potosi Peak seen at far right.

I remember being very impressed by Teakettle, even as a child. My dad climbed Teakettle in the 1980's and this photo was taken of him inside the handle of the teakettle:

Teakettle Mountain, zoomed-in.

At this point, our views of Yankee Boy Basin below was quite impressive as well, with the golds, browns, yellows and greens of fall accentuating the pristine basin.

Yankee Boy Basin.

Looking in any direction, we could see some amazing peaks. Teakettle, Potosi, Gilpin, and Dallas made for quite the fall back-drop.

On the way up the ridge, we were able to find the Kissing Camels rock outcropping that is often described on route descriptions for Sneffels. The landmark is almost impossible to miss.

Dallas Peak can be seen through the Kissing Camels rock outcropping. Arron caught me in the act of taking that photo...

Yankee Boy Basin far below.

The climb from the Kissing Camels was very straight-forward - we continued up the steep ridge, appreciating the added difficulty and greater views of the Southwest Ridge route over the standard route.

Teakettle Mountain was difficult to keep from staring at. It truly is one of the more remarkable mountains I've seen. So remarkable, that I had to get a super-zoomed in view of it!

Arron was also excited about the route - being that Sneffels was his first 14er of his life - I think I may have spoiled him with one of the more fun routes of any 14er.

Arron with the ridge behind him. "Cake Batter" spills down the ridge between Dallas and Gilpin. (Zoomed in at right)

I suspect that the "cake batter" looking stuff is probably caused by mud slides during the monsoon seasons that often plague the San Juan Mountains.

We finally reached the summit just as the other group was reaching the top as well. The weather was perfect. No clouds. No wind. Warm. We could not have picked a better day to climb.

As usual, I took several photos from the summit and celebrated with the other climbers.

Arron's summit shot.

Matt and Arron on the summit of Mount Sneffels.

Views of the Grenadier Range (Vestal, Arrow, etc), and the Needle Range (Eolus, Windom, Sunlight, Pigeon, etc) were great as well as views of Uncompahgre and Wetterhorn. What I was most impressed by was the views of the Grand Mesa and the land between Sneffels and the mesa. The town of Ridgway, Ridgway State Park, and Ridgway Reservoir could all be seen easily as well. What was also impressive were the views of the Telluride Ski Area, the Wilson group (Mount Wilson, Wilson Peak, El Diente, and Gladstone Peak), and the La Plata Mountains.

Mount Sneffels East to West Summit Pano.

Gilpin Peak and Telluride Ski Resort. The Grenadier and Needle ranges seen in the far distance to the left.

Teakettle Mountain and Potosi Peak zoomed in.

Teakettle, Potosi, Yankee Boy Basin, Gilpin, and Telluride.

360 Degree Summit Pano from Sneffels.

Sneffels summit pano - north and east

Uncompahgre seen in the distance...

Sneffels Summit - looking south

Dallas Peak, Zoomed-in.

The Grenadier Range - Zoomed-in - including Vestal Peak and Arrow Peak. See that trip report here.

Lizard Head Zoomed-In

And of course, a summit photo is no fun unless I'm posing in a silly way...

Matt Payne taking photos on the summit of Sneffels.

After quite some time on the top, Arron and I decided to descent the same way we ascended. The down-climb was challenging but solid. There were some tricky sections that required some in-facing down-climbing, and a few spots where we needed to wait for each other to ensure neither of us were hurt by rock-fall from above.

Down the Southwest Ridge!

Teakettle Mountain

Teakettle with digital zoom.

We reached the camels again in no time and I took one last shot of the Wilson group.

The trickiest part was when we came across some class 4 rock that we had to negotiate. It was a fun challenge for sure.

The class 4 section provided some entertainment.

We headed back down to the Blue Lakes Pass ridge without any problems.

Blue Lakes Pass. I wonder why it is called Blue Lakes Pass?

The Blue Lakes Pass trail and Mount Sneffels.

We hiked down the Pass back towards Yankee Boy Basin and decided to take a side trail that led us to a small lake at the base of Gilpin Peak.

Gilpin Peak and Mount Sneffels.

As we hiked down, we were blessed with one last great view of Yankee Boy Basin.

Yankee Boy Basin

We reached my Jeep at 12:00 PM and drove out. The road was quite enjoyable in 4WD without power steering...

If you've never been up the road, it is worth it to drive up it. There is a really awesome overhang about halfway up the road that is quite impressive.

 

We drove into Ouray and ate lunch at the Ouray Brewery, which proved to be a great decision because they have a patio on their roof that made for excellent fall weather dining.

I hope you found this trip report useful and / or enjoyable! Thanks for reading!

References:

¹ Rhoda, Franklin, Summits to Reach, An Annotated Edition of Franklin Rhoda's "Report on the Topography of the San Juan Country," edited and with preface by Mike Foster, Boulder, Pruett Publishing (1984).

² Rosebrough, Robert F., The San Juan Mountains: A Climbing and Hiking Guide, Evergreen, Cordillera Press (1986).

Rio Grande Pyramid has long been on my "to-do list" for the Centennials (the highest 100 mountains in Colorado). Isolated by over 10 miles from its neighbors in the San Juan Mountains, Rio Grande Pyramid sticks out like a sore thumb by itself to the east of the Needle and Grenadier subranges. I viewed Rio Grande Pyramid from many angles this year, including a great view from Handies, and another wonderful perspective from Vestal and Arrow Peaks.

Needless to say, I have been eyeing Rio Grande Pyramid a lot this year, and I have known since January that I would be climbing it with my dad at the end of August. Since Rio Grande Pyramid is very isolated, it requires a fairly lengthy backpacking excursion and some planning. My dad (Old Climber on this site) has wanted Rio Grande Pyramid for many, many years, so he jumped all over the chance to attempt to tackle this beast.

The plan was to leave from Colorado Springs after work around 5 or 6 PM on Friday, set-up a quick camp near Rio Grande Reservior, back-pack to Weminuche Pass on Saturday, set-up camp there, climb Rio Grande Pyramid on Sunday, and backpack out on Monday. With the weather forecast for the area being up to 70% chance of precipitation for pretty much the whole weekend, Ray and I were prepared for a wet trip, but hopeful that the weather would cooperate for a summit attempt. Just in case, I packed a book, The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien, per the recommendation of my wife.

To start off, here are some meaningful statistics for this adventure:

Peak summited:

Rio Grande Pyramid: 13,821 ft. (ranked 97th in Colorado)

Total elevation gain: 4,674 ft.

Total distance hiked: 19.26 miles

Total time hiking: Approx. 14 hours

Total photos taken: 350

Total distance driven: 540 miles

Trip duration: 3 days

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The drive to Rio Grande Reservior was uneventful, and finding a place to camp was surprisingly easy. We were aiming for the Thirtymile National Forest Campground, but we balked at the $16 fee, so instead we decided to camp 400 yards away, for free, in a large field by the Rio Grande River. This proved to be a great campsite. We woke up around 7:30 AM, packed up, ate breakfast, and drove to the campground, where the parking lot for the Weminuche Trail is at. At about 8:30 AM, Ray and I were packed and ready to hike, and began our 3-day journey into the remote Weminuche Wilderness Area.

A topographical map of our trip, click to enlarge.

The hike in is a relatively easy backpack, with the exception of mile number 2. The first mile is spent traveling along Rio Grande Reservior along a gentle trail, and then the trail picks up elevation quickly in mile 2 as it climbs and rounds the corner to the south west. After the 2nd mile, the rest of the hike in is very mild, with excellent views of the wide-open and very photogenic Weminuche Creek basin.

The Weminuche Creek.

For our campsite, we were aiming for an area near Weminuche Pass. On the way up, both Ray and I were marvelled by the variety of mushroom that were growing along the trail, certainly evidence that this was been a very wet summer. Little did we know, the mushrooms would be one of the highlights of our trip (for those wondering, we did not ingest any of them).

A Fly Agaric mushroom along the trail leading towards Weminuche Pass.

Two Fly Agarics emerge from the hard soil.

A Fly Agaric poking through the dirt.

We finally found Weminuche Pass, which was easy to spot by the two almost useless signs sticking up out of some cairns on each side of the trail. Heed my warning now, the sign on the right is for "Sky Line Trail," which is the route to Rio Grande Pyramid. The sign is poorly marked and at the time pointed in the wrong direction. We've since fixed the sign, so hopefully you'll see it better than we did. We camped directly east (left) of these signs along a small but gorgeous creek that flowed down from the Continental Divide. The area was a very large and impacted campsite, with plenty of great spots for a tent a a nice fire-ring.

The creek near our campsite.

After setting up camp, I decided to go for a walk around the area, and see what kind of mushrooms I could find. Since I know almost nothing about mushroom identification, this was more of an opportunity for me to practice taking macro shots with my camera. I do think that mushrooms make for excellent subjects for photography, and I suspect/hope that some mushroom lovers out there may appreciate this trip report. I've submitted these photos to MushroomExpert.com (which is a very cool site) and hope to find out soon if we can name any of them. If you don't care for photos of mushrooms, you can skip that section by clicking here.

A little brown mushroom (or LBM for short, as Ray would say).

Some funky yellow mushrooms - we saw a lot of these under the pine trees.

Another "LBM."

A nasty looking 'shroom - I think it has seen better days...

Three "LBM's" emerge from the mossy ground floor of the forest.

I wonder... did these mushrooms seal the fate of this poor animal?

A King Bolete mushroom near our campsite. It turns out that these are quite edible.

Another view of the King Bolete.

A ring of mushrooms near our campsite.

More LBM's.

A LBM emerges from the pine needle floor.

Little white mushrooms were everywhere...

The "gills" of this mushroom made for an interesting subject for a macro shot.

Another LBM rises from the grass.

These mushrooms looked like blobs slithering across the forest floor.

Yet another LBM!

These tiny mushrooms were growing in a very obscure location. I don't have a clue how I spotted them. Pure luck. They were about an inch tall.

Another tiny little mushroom.

A perfect Fly Agaris specimin near our campiste. Doesn't it look like something out of Super Mario Brothers?

Mario emerges!

A view of the underside of the Fly Agaric.

This mushroom looks like it maybe got a little too much sun. Sunscreen is important in the mountains.

More crispy 'shrooms.

This little mushroom looks like she put on a little too much lipstick...

A white mushroom.

A small button cap mushroom.

After photographing the mushrooms, I took a nap. Sleeping next to the creek was great, and I recuperated from my exhausting search for the perfect mushroom. Ray and I cooked up some mashed potatoes and gravy with StoveTop dressing and chicken breast (we know how to cook when we backpack), and then after dinner I decided to go on another adventure up the valley to see if I could watch the sunset.

A view of the upper Weminuche Creek basin, just past Weminuche Pass.

To the east (left), I saw a small meadow at the base of the hillside pictured above. In that meadow, I saw a deer grazing, so I decided to see if I could stalk the deer and get a good photo of it. I think the deer was aware of my presense for pretty much my entire walk, which about 400 yards total across the basin. As I got closer to the meadow, I found myself looking down upon an awesome series of pristine beaver ponds.

A hidden beaver pond and meadow. The deer can barely be seen in the upper meadow.

Another beaver pond.

The beaver ponds were full of duck and fish, and it was fun watching the ducks swim around with their little families of chicks.

I even took some video of the ducks. If you listen really closely you can hear coyotes howling in the woods nearby.

In the distance I could make out what I believed to be Pole Creek Mountain in the late sun's light.

Pole Creek Mountain.

After being spooked at the beaver ponds by continuous coyote howling, I decided to return to camp. We crashed fairly early and set our alarm for 5 AM. The alarm went off and it was really cold outside. We got ready quickly and were on the trail by 6 AM. This is where we made our first mistake. Instead of following the "Sky Line Trail," we followed the Weminuche Trail further south until I realized we were doing something wrong. We backtracked to the Sky Line Trail (which does NOT follow where it shows on the USGS topo map, as seen by my TOPO map of our route) and began the steep upclimb along the Continental Divide. This trail is well established and somewhat steep. The weather was very foggy and winter-like for us, but there was no precipitation, so we continued up. The trail splits at one point, trying to avoid some deadfall; however, we found the best thing to do is to stay on the trail and go over the dead trees. This prevents you from losing a lot of elevation. Eventually, the trail brings you around the bend and Rio Grande Pyramid and The Window come into view.

The Window and Rio Grande Pyramid.

The Window is a very impressive geologic formation along the south ridge of Rio Grande Pyramid, and it does not disappoint. It was truly striking.

The Window.

The trail flattens out here in the upper basin and eventually brings you to a junction at the base of Rio Grande Pyramid. We took the junction to the right and climbed up a steep trail to the lower plaform of Rio Grande Pyramid. From here, we chose to follow the platform south and then up the gradual southeast slope.

Nearing the summit of Rio Grande Pyramid.

The view back from where we came near UN 12,808 was pretty awesome, with the greens and yellows of the huge basins showing their true colors.

UN 12,808 towers over the valley below.

The Moon sets over Rio Grande Pyramid.

I was very intrigued by the volcanic nature of the rock on Rio Grande Pyramid. It was very much like lava rock in many regards, and made for quite easy travel compared to the "dinner plates" in the Elk Mountains or the famously loose rock found elsewhere in the San Juan Mountains.

Ray takes shelter in a ring of rocks we found.

From here, it was smooth sailing to the summit. While steep, Rio Grande's final summit block is nothing to be worried about. It is relatively short, and there are even class 3 variations for those seeking out a more challenging ascent. As I crested the summit, I was worried that there would be complete cloud cover in the area and that my view of Vestal Peak and Arrow Peak would be obscured. When I first viewed those two mountains at the top, I was ecstatic. While the weather did indeed obscure much of my view of the Needle Range, the Grenadiers were in plain view.

The Grenadier Range.

Wetterhorn and Uncompahgre to the north.

A 280⁰ pano from the summit of Rio Grande Pyramid.

Ray Payne on the summit of Rio Grande Pyramid Matt Payne on the summit of Rio Grande Pyramid

A view east and south. The clouds loomed over us all day long.

A pano looking east. "Fool's Pyramid" or UN 13,278 left of center.

Since it was really windy and cold on the summit, Ray and I opted to head back down a few yards to eat a snack and refuel for the climb back down and hike back to camp. It began to lightly snow, so we headed on down. The weather began to clear for us on our descent, and better views of Rio Grande Pyramid were had from below.

A super-high resolution pano of Rio Grande Pyramid.

Ray rests on the trail in this wide view pano of Rio Grande Pyramid and the surrounding ridges and valley.

As we hiked down, I was constantly drawn to the deep green and yellow colors of the meadows below.

On the way back down, Ray and I took our time looking for mushroom, and we found plenty to take photos of. The mushrooms were honestly one of the highlights of this trip, because both Ray and I are fascinated by mushrooms.

A trio of Fly Agarics.

A circle of Agarics.

A tiny white mushroom.

An odd cluster of gooey looking mushrooms.

This one looks like a UFO.

This one grew around the grass...

This one had it's own wooden house.

Covered in moss. Or - the Dagobah Mushroom.

This one caught our eye...

Once back at camp, I decided to get a few more shots of our close-by creek. I think these came out quite well!

Ray and I cooked up dinner - a fitting meal of tortellini, salmon, alfredo sauce, and 4 kinds of dried mushrooms. A meal fit for kings.

There really is only one word that can aptly describe the Grenadier Range: incredible. This sub-range of Colorado's San Juan Mountains rests deep within the Weminuche Wilderness Area and sweeps up from the valley below in a gravity-defying statement of beauty, ruggedness and splendor. Sitting approximately 9 miles south-southeast of Silverton, Colorado, and 32 miles northeast of Durango, Colorado, the Grenadier Range cannot be missed. In fact, I would go as far as to say that this group of mountains should be among the places one should see before they die. Made mostly of quartzite, these mountains are the spine of the San Juan Mountains, and arguably, some of Colorado's most difficult to climb. In fact, Arrow Peak was once considered the hardest major mountain in Colorado to climb until a class 3 route was established on its northeast rib¹. Vestal Peak's "Wham Ridge," impressively seen from many vantage points in the San Juan Mountains, is considered by most to be a classic climb in Colorado. Lt. George Marshall of the U.S.G.S. 1876 Wheeler Survey reported on the Grenadier Range:

No where in Colorado can be found such steep slopes, such shapeless crags, such rocky and impassable ravines, such generally detestable characteristics and features as are here seen. The hard metamorphic rocks are shivered along their cleavage planes for hundreds of feet, leaving their odd pinnacles, there the likeness of the shattered outspread wings of some gigantic bird, and again of the grim grinning teeth of death.²

Additionally, from the summit of Mount Sneffels, Rhoda of the U.S.G.S. 1871 Hayden Survey reported:

The group of quartize peaks stood out as boldly as ever about thirty miles to the southeast. In fact, I may state here that we have never yet seen a group from any station (and we have viewed it from all sides) without feeling both deep respect and awe for their terrible ruggedness. The fact already stated, that the storm clouds seem to hover about them before starting on their meandering ways, only served to add to our other feelings of uneasiness.³

Given the incredible fanfare this group of mountains has received over the years by many visitors, I made sure to include it on my summer's climbing itinerary. Scheduling the trip would prove somewhat difficult since I was relying on the 5th class climbing expertise of one of my best friends, Jeremy Park. Jeremy was able to clear his calendar and join me from Seattle, Washington for this amazing backpacking adventure. Jeremy is a highly qualified trad climber who has spent many years climbing difficult routes in the rugged Cascade Mountains of Washington. For more on his adventures, see his profile on CascadeClimbers.com.

To start off, here is a break-down of relevant numbers from the trip:

Peaks summited:

Vestal Peak: 13,864 ft. (ranked 77th in Colorado)

Arrow Peak: 13,803 ft. (ranked 104th in Colorado)

Total elevation gain: 8,782 ft.

Total distance hiked: 25.12 miles

Total time hiking: Approx. 22 hours

Total photos taken: 582

Total wildlife sightings: 2 (marmots, mountain goats)

Total distance driven:  610 miles

Trip duration: 4 days, 16 hours

Day 1:

The rough plan was to leave Colorado Springs on Friday, July 9th, 2010 and return on Wednesday, July 14th, 2010. These plans were altered somewhat; however we did end up leaving at 8 AM from Colorado Springs on Friday and arrived at the Molas Pass trailhead at approximately 3 PM.

The long drive from Colorado Springs to Molas Pass

After arriving at Molas Pass, I became quite excited to see the Grenadiers for the first time. The range lived up to its name, striking both excitement and awe into me immediately.

The Grenadier Range as seen from Molas Lake.

One of the Grenadiers, Mount Garfield, really rises quite steeply from the valley below, and is rated 33rd on my list of "most impressive summits."

Mount Garfield rises high above (right of center)

Jeremy and I loaded our heavy packs (mine was 65 pounds) onto our backs and began hiking. We started down the Colorado Trail, which leads down 1,700 ft over 2.5 miles and several switchbacks (37 to be exact) to the Animas River and to the Durango & Silverton Railroad. Generally, most people take the train to this point to avoid the downclimb (and later upclimb); however, Jeremy and I chose to hike from Molas Pass to save money and to avoid being tied to the train schedule.

The full route map for the trip. Click to see a larger version.

Matt Payne heading down the Colorado Trail.

Before long, the river and railroad tracks became visible. Our route would eventually take us to the bottom, over the river, and up the valley to the left towards the steep looking mountains (the Grenadiers) that are nearly hidden left of center.

Looking down at the Animas River from the Colorado Trail

Once lower into the valley, Mount Garfield became more and more impressive, towering over the river like a midevil castle's guard.

Mount Garfield

Once we crossed the river over a very well-maintained bridge and over the railroad tracks, the trail leading up Elk Creek appeared and started us up into the Elk Park valley. This trail is very well-maintained, and there was even quite a bit of evidence that trail crews had been working on it this summer to fix some washed out sections. The trail is quite steep, but very manageable with a heavy pack. We followed this trail for nearly 2.9 miles until we reached a set of beaver ponds at 10,000 ft., our pre-determined trigger to head up into the Vestal Basin.

 

Vestal Peak towers above the Elk Creek valley and Vestal Basin.

Jeremy looking tired at the beaver ponds with Vestal Basin in the background.

After 3 hours of backpacking, we were determined to make Vestal Basin before nightfall. We headed south up Vestal Basin's trail - an unmaintained, but easy to follow trail which climbs quite steeply up towards Vestal and Arrow Peaks. Did I mention that this trail is steep? The trail gained 600 feet in 3/4 of a mile with large amounts of fallen trees and boulders to navigate around. In several other trip reports I've read, people have mentioned that the trail was difficult to find or follow; however, we did not find this to be the case at all.

After hiking another two hours into the basin for a total of 8.7 miles, our legs finally gave out at 10,620 ft shortly after nightfall. We found a cozy campsite near a small tributary of Vestal Creek and made our first meal of the trip - two packets of Zatarain's ready to serve rice and chicken. This was surprisingly good and filled with sodium (a nice thing to take in after a full day of backpacking). We decided to set the alarm for 4 AM and hit the sack around 11 PM. It was at this point that I realized that my Thermarest pad had somehow sprung a leak from the hike up and that I would be sleeping on hard ground. Yay!

Day 2:

4 AM came and went, and we finally crawled out of the tent around 8 AM. Both us were thankful for the extra rest and tore down camp and hit the trail at about 10 AM, heading for the upper sections of Vestal Basin.

Jeremy hikes up into Vestal Basin along Vestal Creek.

Great views of both Electric Peak and Arrow Peak were had while hiking up into the basin.

Electric Peak

Arrow Peak's steep northeast face, seen from the Vestal Basin trail.

After hiking a little over a mile and gaining 893 ft., we found an ideal campsite at the foot of Vestal and Arrow, at the end of a long clearning and in some trees next to Vestal Creek. Vestal Peak itself could be seen directly from camp, with it's "Wham Ridge" rising above us.

Vestal Peak's Wham Ridge

Since we were planning on climbing Wham Ridge, it was particularly exciting to see it close-up.

Vestal's Wham Ridge zoomed in from our campsite.

After setting up camp, I repaired my Thermarest using a repair kit that I always carry with my on backpacking trips. For once the extra weight paid off! We set-up camp just in time. Clouds had been forming since we had woken up and as typically happens in the San Juan Mountains, a thunderstorm decided to develop quickly above us around 12 PM. We crawled into our tents and napped through the storm, which subsided around 4 PM. We woke up, ate a few snacks, and finished setting up our campsite. At around 5 PM, after the clouds had completely cleared out, I somewhat jokingly told Jeremy that we should climb Arrow that evening. Jeremy said, "why not," and before we knew it, we were packing our day-packs for an ad hoc summit of one of Colorado's finest summits. We departed camp at 6:15 PM, headlamps and helmets equipped, and headed up a climber's trail right next to our campsite, which went straight up the head-wall of the lower area beneath Vestal and Arrow. This trail was also easy to follow, but ridiculously steep, rising 645 ft. in just .45 miles until it reached a plateau in between Arrow and Vestal. Arrow's classic ramp was easy to spot, and Vestal's Wham Ridge continued to blow my mind.

Arrow Peak

Vestal Peak

Vestal and Arrow Peaks as seen from the top of the headwall above our campsite.

Additionally, the Trinities were quite prominent just to the left of Vestal.The Trinities are the middle three mountains of the Grenadier Range, composed of West Trinity, Middle Trinity, and East Trinity.

The Trinities as seen from the base of Arrow and Vestal Peaks.

Matt Payne posing with Vestal Peak behind.

We headed up to the base of Arrow and began the climb up Arrow's prominent ramp. The ramp itself was nearly free of snow and consisted of easy class 3 climbing.

The base of Arrow Peak and the start of our route.

As we climbed, I could not help but constantly look left at the impressive nature of Vestal's Wham Ridge, which swept up as if it were carved out with a fine instrument.

The impressive profile of Vestal Peak's Wham Ridge.

The higher we were able to climb on Arrow, the more and more impressive Vestal became. I simply could not stop myself from gazing over at its sheer beauty, and eventually, Vestal Lake came into view as well.

A panoramic photo of Vestal's Wham Ridge.

Jeremy and I reached a junction in our route and made a decision to stay left and continue up a class 4 variation of Arrow. This decision was one of our best of the trip, as Arrow's upper ramp provides some of the most fun, yet least exposed, class 4 climbing I've done to date. For those that do not know, exposure is defined as "the condition of being on high vertical rock with full consciousness that nothing exists between you and the distant ground but thin air⁴."

The start of Arrow Peak's class 4 terrain

Following the higher ridge to the left also provided some great views of the Needle Range to the south, and Jagged Mountain, Windom Peak and Sunlight Peak came into view for the first time, Jagged's pinnacles rising up like upside-down stalagtites.

Jagged Mountain (left of center), Windom Peak and Sunlight Peak

Matt Payne with Vestal's insane Wham Ridge behind him.

A high resolution panoramic photo of Vestal's Wham Ridge.

Jeremy Park on Arrow Peak's class 4 ridge, just east of the traditional class 3 route

Jeremy Park navigating the class 4 terrain on Arrow

Jeremy took my camera and was able to take some photos of me negotiating some of the class 4 terrain. The climbing was fun, challenging, and quite rewarding. Exposure was minimal, and various holds were quite ubiquitous.

The sun was setting quickly, which was both exciting and troublesome, as we did not look forward to down-climbing Arrow in the dark, but I was really excited to see the sun set from 13,803 ft.

The sun setting on Vestal Basin.

After an exhilirating climb, Jeremy and I topped out on Arrow's summit at 8:15 PM, and enjoyed the sunset from the top. This was one of the most majestic and spiritually fulfilling moments of my life.

A 360⁰ view from the summit of Arrow Peak, with the sun setting over the San Juan Mountains.

The Needle Mountains across the Tenmile Creek and Noname Creek drainages from us were impressive, each living up to their namesake.

The Needle Mountains - from left to right: Jagged Mountain, Windom Peak, Sunlight Peak, Mount Eolus, Animas Mountain, Turret Peak and Pigeon Peak

Pigeon Peak was quite possibly one of the most impressive mountains I've ever seen, with its east face dropping off like the edge of table.

Pigeon Peak

Jeremy with Jagged Mountain directly behind him to the right

Jeremy with Vestal in Arrow's shadow to the left

A self-timer captures Matt and Jeremy on the summit of Arrow Peak

Rio Grande Pyramid and  The Window were looking pretty awesome in the late evening sun as well. Rio Grande Pyramid has really piqued my interest lately since I am going to climb it in August, 2010 with my dad (update - completed - see the Trip Report). It should be pretty amazing to look back towards Arrow and Vestal.

Rio Grande Pyramid and "Window Peak" as seen from Arrow's summit. The Window is the notch on the ridge just right of Rio Grande Pyramid.

The sun sets behind the San Juan Mountains. Check out that lake below!

Arrow Peak's north face and an airy fin connecting it with the true summit

Vestal Peak's Wham Ridge during sunset.

After spending just 20 minutes on the summit to enjoy the sunset, Jeremy and I departed Arrow's amazing summit via the standard class 3 trail, which was marked by several cairns heading down the steep face of Arrow. Before long, we adorned our headlamps and were in complete darkness, but not before we had successfully navigated below the more treacherous sections. The down-climb in the dark provided quite an interesting challenge. The ramp on Arrow was quite solid and easy to climb down, rarely requiring either of us to sit down on steeper sections. We could see other campers much higher in the basin above our camp with their headlamps on, watching us. I thought the climbing down would be difficult in the dark; however, the route on Arrow is so straightforward that I think it could even be up-climbed in near darkness if one were experienced and comfortable. We reached our campsite at approximately 9:15, just 3 hours after we had set-out to climb Arrow.

We cooked our dinner in the dark again, this time creating an amazing medley of re-hydrated black beans, jalapenos, green chilis, velveeta cheese, and tortillas. We planned to climb Vestal's Wham Ridge the next day, so we set the alarm for 5 AM again, and hit the sack at 12 AM, snoozing the night away.

Day 3:

We awoke on day 3 and quickly prepared for what we hoped to be an amazing climb. Having read about Wham Ridge over and over again the past several years, I had mentally hyped up the climb to be an epic adventure. A small group of three climbers headed up the trail shortly before us, which was somewhat concerning to both Jeremy and I as we did not want any rocks to fall down onto us during our ascent. We decided not to deviate from our plans since Jeremy felt confident that if we bumped into the other group we could find a route around them. We left camp and headed up the steep climber's trail again to Vestal's base. I carried the 60 meter rope, a nut key for taking out nuts from the rock, as well as my personal gear, and Jeremy carried the climbing rack (a full compliment of anchors, quickdraws, webbing, camalots, and nuts). The Columbine flowers on the climber's trail were outstanding.

A Columbine flower

We reached the base of Vestal and Arrow again and headed towards the start of Wham Ridge.

Vestal Peak in the morning sunlight

We stopped at the base of Wham Ridge and put on our climbing harnesses and climbing shoes. We decided that we would stash the rest of our gear under a large rock at this point. Jeremy went to take out the climbing gear from his backpack and opened to find... all of his food. Yes, that's right - his food bag and climbing bag are identical and he mistakenly grabbed his food bag instead of his climbing bag when we left camp. So, Jeremy needed to hike back to camp and then back up to the start of Wham Ridge before we could begin climbing. While we were both upset, I assured Jeremy that it would be fine and that I was not mad at him. He left for camp and I headed over to Vestal Lake to take some photographs.This turned out to be a good mishap as I was able to capture some of the most stunning photos of the trip.

Vestal Lake and West Trinity

Vestal Peak reflected in Vestal Lake

There was a small group of 4 men fishing quite successfully at the lake, and I stopped to talk to one of them. He was from Memphis Tennesee and explained that he had climbed Wham Ridge the day before without rope, and that he had only climbed one mountain prior to this. While this seemed rather dangerous to me, it did instill some confidence in my ability to complete the climb. He also said he saw us downclimbing Arrow the night before and that he was praying for us to make it down safely. Not being a religious person, I thanked him for the warm thoughts and headed off to take more photos.

Vestal Peak's Wham Ridge

I headed back to the rendezvous point and waited for Jeremy to return. It was not until 10:30 AM that Jeremy reappeared and reconvened with me. At this point, clouds had already formed and we were questioning if we should continue or not. We decided to keep going and keep an eye on the clouds. With a full compliment of climbing gear, we headed up Wham Ridge in our climbing shoes. I reached the last grassy ramp of Vestal and re-evaluated the weather. Jeremy asked me what I thought and I told him that my gut told me we should bail. We both agreed that heading back would be the best choice - safer to start earlier the next day than to get struck by lightning. I took some parting photos of both Vestal and Arrow and headed back down the steep slopes of Wham Ridge, which proved to be a quite painful experience in climbing shoes.

A view of Vestal from the turn-around point

Arrow Peak with stormy weather forming above

The somewhat loose fitting climbing shoes were quite painful on the downclimb, and caused some very painful blisters to appear on 5 of my 10 toes. This did not bode well for my chances of using climbing shoes on the actual climb. Jeremy and I changed back into our mountaineering boots, and stashed all of our climbing gear at the same large rock at the base of Vestal in a waterproof bag for the next day.

Jeremy stashes our climbing gear under this huge boulder beneath Vestal Peak

We went back down to camp and decided to take a nap. The decision to bail on Vestal proved to be a very good one, as the whole basin was riddled with rain and lightning for three hours. Fortunately, the group ahead of us had safely made it down from Vestal before the storms hit.

We got out up and cooked dinner - this time a carbohydrate-filled meal consisting of re-constituted mashed potatoes, country gravy, Spam, and cheddar cheese. While this sounds horrible - it was amazing! Go Spam! We set our alarms for 3:30 AM and crashed at a much more respectable time of 9 PM.

Day 4:

We woke up and made our way up to the base of Vestal to watch the sunrise from the final grassy ledge before the beginning of the more difficult climbing. Since my feet were completely mangled from the prior day's adventure, I decided to wear my La Sportiva Trango Evo Sport mountaineering boots for the ascent. With heavy socks on, I could barely feel my blisters. Watching the sunrise from the base of Wham Ridge was pretty awesome. The sun lit up the surrounding mountains and made for quite a peaceful start to an incredible climb.

Arrow Peak in alpenglow from the start of Vestal's Wham Ridge.

Vestal's Wham Ridge in alpenglow, with Jeremy resting at the base.

Jeremy watches the sunrise

I even took a short video of the sunrise:

Arrow Peak at sunrise.

A closer view of Wham Ridge - looks like fun!

Jeremy watches the sunrise over Vestal Lake

Jeremy warms up

Matt looking cold

Jeremy poses in front of Wham Ridge

Matt looks ready to begin Wham Ridge

We finally started up Wham Ridge, making our way quickly up the small ledges and cracks. The going was pretty easy and unexposed for awhile, with plenty of great hand and foot holds to be found.

Jeremy heads up the ledges

We continued up into some 4th class sections, with exposure and steepness increasing gradually as we climbed.

Jeremy climbs the lower Class 4 section of Vestal Peak

Before long, Rio Grande Pyramid and the Window appeared, looking really cool in the early light.

Our first view of the day of Rio Grande Pyramid and The Window

Wham Ridge continued to become more and more steep, decreasing my comfort level of being unroped.

Wham Ridge's profile

We reached a great stopping point with plenty of room at our feet for belaying, and prepped the rope and our gear for 5th class climbing. Let the fun begin! While I did the route in my La Sportiva EVO Mountaineering Boots, Jeremy did Wham Ridge in his Evolv Bandits. According to Jeremy, they were quite comfortable shoes and he felt like he probably could have gone without a rope (being that he is very experienced and the shoes made for great traction).

Jeremy prepares for our 1st pitch of Wham Ridge

Jeremy led the first pitch as I belayed from below, only placing two pieces of gear for protection on the way up - a camalot and a nut. Once Jeremy arrived safely at the next obvious stopping point above at about 55 meters up from me, he created an anchor and signaled me to begin climbing.

The first pitch

I easily ascended the first pitch, removing Jeremy's protection as I climbed. I reached the anchor and Jeremy prepped for the 2nd pitch. Meanwhile, I decided to take a few photos from this vantage, looking down.

Looking down Wham Ridge

Arrow Peak's profile from about 3/4 up on Vestal's Wham Ridge

We cruised up the 2nd pitch in quick order and set-up for one last pitch, which proved to be quite difficult in one section. I found myself at a point where there were no foot-holds and only one hand-hold - a large inset section holding a rusted cam. Having on mountaineering boots and not climbing shoes made the climb much more difficult than it needed to be, but I welcomed the challenge. The move required me to do a one-armed push-up with my right arm in the inset section and to reach up with my left arm to a hand-hold. Once in this position, I pulled myself up and placed my feet where my right hand was previously at. This was probably the crux of the entire route. It felt much harder than 5.4, but I suspect that was because I was wearing boots.

Matt on Wham Ridge

At this point, Jeremy and I both felt comfortable being unroped and headed up the class 4 / low class 5 remainder of the route. There was only one other section that was greatly exposed, which required us to do a really crazy move with about 1,000 ft. of exposure below us. The move was on a completely solid rock, so I felt comfortable enough to make a go at it without rope. This proved to be OK, as the move was totally solid, and fun to say the least.

The last section of Wham Ridge proved to be a very fun class 4 and 5 playground.

We finished up to the top of Vestal, and I celebrated. Since I had been dreaming of doing Wham Ridge for quite some time, this moment was especially exciting for me. I thanked Jeremy for leading the climb and began to go crazy with my camera.

As expected, the views from Vestal were outstanding. The Needle Range and the remainder of the Grenadier Range to the east were quite the sight!

A view of the Needle Range to the south of Vestal Peak.

A zoomed in view of Pigeon Peak

A zoomed in view of Jagged Mountain

A zoomed in view of Windom, Sunlight, and Sunlight Spire

A zoomed in view of Mount Eolus

A zoomed in panoramic of the Needle Range.

 

The La Plata Mountains seen in the distance to the southwest, including Hesperus Mountain

A panoramic photo looking west to north from Vestal Peak.

A fully zoomed in panoramic view looking down and east from Vestal Peak, with Vestal Lake below. Seen at far right are the Trinities, Storm King Peak, Mount Silex, and The Guardian.

Jeremy sits on the summit of Vestal Peak with Pigeon Peak behind him.

Matt and Jeremy are captured in this self-timer from the summit of Vestal Peak.

Matt looking proud on the summit of Vestal Peak.

I think I see my house from up here!

A panoramic photo of the Needle Range

A panoramic photo from Vestal Peak, looking north to south - with Basalm Lake between the Grenadiers and the Needle Mountains.

With more sky this time...

After a great time on the summit, we decided to descent via the "class 3" route of Vestal on the south side of the mountain. I put class 3 in quotations marks because this was the worst, chossiest, nastiest, most unpleasant class 3 climbing I've done in my life. The route was unmarked, with no trail, and no cairns until the bottom. We weaved in and out of gullies, unsuccessfully finding one dead-end after another. Finally, as we were nearing desperation, Jeremy found a narrow but climbable gully leading down to a large cairn below. The climbing on the backside of Vestal reminded me of Crestone Needle, except steeper and looser. Not a good combination! We finally reached the saddle between Arrow Peak and Vestal Peak and descended via the "Dues Collector Couloir." I've often wondered why it was called this, and realized it was because it was loose talus and dirt, not the most enjoyable stuff to climb up or down.

Jeremy in the "Dues Collector Coulior"

We reached the end of the coulior and headed towards the end of the base of the mountains where we would down climb back to our campsite.

A view of Vestal's Wham Ridge on the way down

Vestal Peak and some Columbine flowers

We reached our campsite about six hours after we had begun, still high from the amazing climb. We prepped our dinner - this time a hearty meal consisting of tortellini and pasta sauce with chicken. Yum.

A view of Vestal Peak from Vestal Creek near our campsite. It should be noted that the steep section between us and Vestal (right of center) was the trail up from our campsite.

The flowers were incredible in the afternoon sun, so I took some time to photograph them after dinner.

A purple flower in front of Vestal Peak

Lower Vestal Basin, where we were camped

We hit the sack around 10 PM, and set the alarm for 5 AM, tentatively planning to do the Trinity Traverse the next morning.

Day 5

We awoke around 6 AM, seeing that the clouds had already formed in the basin. We opted to cancel the Trinity Traverse and head back to the car. We packed up and left camp around 11 AM, making our way back down the steep trail and to the beaver ponds. The view from the beaver pond was incredible as ever.

Vestal Peak and Arrow Peak are reflected in a beaver pond

We cruised back down the Colorado Trail, meeting up with the train around 2:30 PM.

The Durango & Silverton Narrowgauge Railroad

We reluctantly trudged back up the 1,700 feet to our car in a matter of 2 hours and drove into Silverton, where we dined on Elk Burgers and French fries.  The drive home was uneventul yet completely satisfying.

Vestal marked the 60th mountain of the highest 100 in Colorado for me. 40 to go!

References:

1. The San Juan Mountains - A Climbing and Hiking Guide. Robert F. Rosebrough

2. Wheeler, Annual Report of the Chief Engineers for 1876, Appendix JJ, p. 101

3. Rhoda, Summits to Reach, p. 75

4. http://climb.mountainzone.com/glossary_a_l.html