One of many
trip reports under the
SilGro home page for Alan Silverstein and Cathie
Grow.
Email me at
ajs@frii.com.
Last update: March 30, 2024
(Previous trip report: 1986_0715-16_SanLuisPeak.htm)
(A
Fourteener
trip report.)
Wednesday, July 16: After leaving San Luis Peak and passing back through Lake City with stops, I headed west out of town at 1740 toward Wetterhorn Peak on the same road that came down from Engineer Pass. The easternmost three miles or so went through a neat little gorge that ended right at town. The well-marked right fork up North Fork Henson Creek was 9.4 miles and 20 minutes from town. From here it was 1.8 miles to the road/trail up Matterhorn Creek, which was easy to miss ("check your topo map"). There was a good camp area right nearby.
Now Borneman and Lampert's book just didn't mention 4WD roads. They always assumed you had to hike them. Well the road up the creek was tough, but you could gain 0.7 miles and about 600' on it in 4WD. There was a large, flat, open area by the creek where you could camp just below the gate on the road at about 10800'. The gate was a good distance before the Wilderness Area boundary for some reason.
Thursday, July 17: I got in late and up late the next morning. Wondering if/when Dave Landers was going to arrive, and being in no hurry, I didn't start up the trail until 1010. The monsoon season was just getting started; the weather was iffy. A mere two minutes along, I heard a sudden loud crack very nearby, which sent me right back to the Jeep!
After a couple hours goofing off (and recovering), I started up the trail again at 1230, knowing full well I wouldn't make the peak that day. So I took it slow, stopping often to evaluate the weather and take pictures. By 1530 I made my way up to about 12000', high in the Matterhorn Basin, above timberline but down in a gully, when serious rain and lightning started. Rather than cruise down, I spent an hour and a half inside a trash bag waiting to see if it would stop -- and testing out sheltering in one of the bags I carried for this purpose!
I learned that it was a lot better than nothing, but I still got wet from condensation inside the bag. [2024: Now I still carry a bag or two just in case because they're very light, but also a cheap mylar sleeping bag, along with extra warm/dry clothing as usual. And I no longer hike in jeans!]
Finally I started back down in a light drizzle. After a short time it stopped raining completely and, finding myself drier and warmer, looking up at Wetterhorn Peak, I decided, what the heck, to climb some more. So I sidehilled up to about 12500' on the southeast ridge, where at about 1830 (2 hours before dark), I was clearly too far away to make it to the peak -- which then got enshrouded in clouds again... Sigh.
It was an interesting day though, and a valuable lesson. You do get cold sitting around in the rain, plastic or not. But that basin, oh, what a gorgeous place! More like Switzerland than anywhere I'd seen in Colorado. Wetterhorn Peak towered over the basin to the left. At the right end of a long, high ridge was Matterhorn Peak, 13590' I think. There were flowers everywhere, many varieties. The basin was all green tundra and orange and brown rock. There were deep gullies cut into the tundra, colored bright orange. From where I stopped at 12500' I got a good look at Uncompahgre Peak to the east over a 12458' saddle.
Shortly after returning to the Jeep at 1910, Dave Landers showed up in his truck. (And we joined up for the next 10 days!) He confirmed that what I'd heard at 10 in the morning was a sonic boom -- audible all the way over at San Luis Peak... Sigh. If I'd kept going I'd have made the peak that day, though it was not a good one to climb solo.
Friday, July 18: The next morning Dave and I headed up from the same camp at 0640 under heavy clouds and light drizzle. We followed the trail up and to the right to the 12458' saddle. Here we were about a mile east of Wetterhorn Peak.
We never found any clear trail to the peak's southeast ridge, so we hiked cross-country (wet) to the west. Eventually we made the 12900' east basin below the peak at 0900. From there we found different routes onto the southeast ridge -- I liked to go "direct"! -- and joined up at about 13500'. The upper ridge was narrow and steep (fun).
Above this point we climbed on very steep but pretty good rock up the southeast face of Wetterhorn. It was not well marked... I did add some cairns when sure of the route. It took us over the ridge onto the east face, then came back to a large, fairly flat area beneath a sharkstooth at 13850'. The rock was generally good, with lots of scrambling and bouldering.
From the tooth we took an upper rock cut. Suddenly we saw the sheer southwest cliff face of the Horn and a lot of territory to the west. Fortunately the last 150' was not as exposed as "The Book" led us to believe. It was a short climb up small ledges that criss-crossed an indented gully, which paralleled the cliff. The gully continued down below the place we joined it. I measured the slope at 50 degrees with a meter.
We arrived on top at 1025 (3:45 for 3200'). The summit was indeed surprisingly level, about 40' across, with steep or sheer drops on all sides. There were flowers right around the summit, as on many of the San Juan Range 14000' peaks, and there was a small cairn. To the north we got good looks at Coxcomb, Redcliff, et al, and of course the ridge, Matterhorn Peak, and Uncompahgre Peak dominated to the east.
We didn't stay long due to ominous looking clouds plus falling corn snow. We decided to forego the long trek over to Uncompahgre.
The trip back to 13700' was uneventful, being careful. We split up here with Dave going "straight" back. The weather looked a little better, so I took off down the east face, on gravel, scree, and boulders, heading for Matterhorn Peak. I stayed about as high as possible below the ugly ridge, dropping to about 12700' and traversing, then climbing back to perhaps 13000' on the southeast ridge of Matterhorn.
Unfortunately I took long breaks to eat and assess the building thunderheads in the distance. By the time I was half an hour from the summit it was too late to continue. At 1310 I turned downhill through a lovely field of flowers, mainly yellow alpine sunflowers, but mixed with red, purple, white, and blue.
I was back at the Jeep five minutes less than an hour later -- it was a quick easy descent from there. Except for the huge herd of sheep, that was! Apparently some Basque ranchers had run sheep in the Wilderness Areas since before they were sanctioned, so they were "grandfathered" and continued to do it. The sheep didn't seem to do much damage though, and they got out of the way fast as you walked through them...
It was raining again when I got back... Bleah.
We drove out to the "main" road, then 4.1 miles east to the Nellie Creek turnoff. You could (and we did) drive in with 4WD, 4.3 miles to the gate at the Wilderness Area boundary (11400'). The road was bad, with much mud, two deep creek crossings, and many sharp turns. We camped just down from the boundary, and the next day continued over to nearby Uncompahgre Peak.
(Next trip report: 1986_0719_UncompahgrePeak.htm)