5/14/05 – UN 13,811 & UN 13,832 – South Ridge, East Ridge

13.8 miles, 5785'


Kurt invited Erin and I to join him and Dwight in the San Juans near Lake City last weekend. The goals for Saturday were UN 13,832 and UN 13,811, two members of the highest 100 peaks in Colorado. It's funny that these were the very peaks Erin and I passed on in favor of Baldy Cinco and company during our last trip to the mountains. Didn't take us long to come back to them! Last year the USGS rejected a proposal to name these peaks after two of Colorado's mountaineering pioneers, Carl Blaurock and Bill Ervin. The reason was that the peaks are located within the BLM's Redcloud Wilderness Study Area, and the USGS has a rule that generally prohibits the naming of peaks within a wilderness area (as if a peak's name has any impact on the wilderness?). Ultimately, a competing Blaurock/Ervin proposal for a pair of peaks in the central Sawatch Range was selected, and 832 and 811 remain nameless. So here comes another clunky trip report, chock full of numbers!

Kurt and Dwight spent Friday night in Lake City, but Erin and I left Denver after work, arriving at the Williams Creek Campground off the Cinnamon Pass Road at about 2:00 a.m. We slept in the back of Erin's 4Runner until our 5 o'clock alarm, and we got ready for the hike. After our 5:30 meet time came and went I started to walk around the campground to find the trailhead. Well, I wasn't finding any trailhead, so I went back to the car and reviewed the map. I discovered that the Williams Creek Campground and the Williams Creek Trailhead are not one and the same. We quickly moved our gear out of the front seats and drove back down the road for a quarter-mile where Kurt and Dwight were waiting for us.

We hit the trail a little after 6:00, hiking west alongside the creek. Unbeknownst to us, the Cinnamon Pass Road had been plowed the week before, so we could have driven to the higher Silver Creek Trailhead, saving a mile and 1000' of elevation gain round-trip. All four of us previously had already been to Silver Creek to climb Redcloud Peak, however, so it was nice to explore a new locale. Plus, this route mostly faces south, definitely a boon in the early season. The Williams Creek route is somewhat circuitous to avoid private property near Castle Lakes. The creek and our trail turned north, passing beneath some interesting red volcanic fins and other formations, before we crossed Williams Creek to follow a tributary creek southwest. This creek holds some abandoned beaver ponds and dams, and must be lovely a little later in the season. In one of these small meadows we got our first view of a mountain. All of us were thinking, "I hope that's not one of our peaks!" but thankfully, since we were pointed southwest, our view was actually all the way across the Lake Fork valley to UN 13,524. After about two miles, our thin trail began to follow an old Jeep road instead, and we followed it as it headed west and entered the largest of the meadows we crossed. This marshy meadow gave us great views of the 14er Sunshine Peak and across the valley to UN 13,674.

Next, the road turned to the north, taking a couple of switchbacks as it ascended through the forest on slopes of UN 13,811's lengthy south ridge. Above 11,000' we started to cross drifts of snow more frequently until we finally needed our snowshoes. Soon, the road was too covered in snow to follow, so we started to ascend to the west. We arrived on the ridge crest at Point 12,195 where we got our first full view of our destination peaks. We descended to the small saddle south of this point and took a break to eat and discuss our options and enjoy the views. We talked about whether we should begin our day with 811 or 832, but we decided on the former. We were all very encouraged by the amount of bare ground exposed on our peaks; this wouldn't be as tough a day as we were expecting! We resumed our ascent, following the ridge crest to about 12,800' where we traversed and then ascended a slope to cut off a small jog the ridge takes to the west. Back on the ridge, we followed it all the way to the summit, which was much thinner than any of us were expecting.

We spent some time with our binoculars scoping out the surroundings. The most striking mountains in view were Vestal and Pigeon Peaks, which from this vantage blend together, almost appearing as one mountain. But upon closer inspection, you can distinguish Pigeon's sheer east face from Vestal and its snow-covered Wham Ridge. Vestal and Pigeon appear on the skyline of this shot of Half Peak. Other notable peaks in our midst were Uncompahgre, Wetterhorn, Precipice, and Red Mountain.

Once everyone was ready we began the 1.4-mile traverse to UN 13,832, and along the way we were treated to the beautiful and surprising cliffs on 811's northwest face. A subpeak of 13,832 intervenes during the traverse, and we opted to climb this 13,632' summit directly, providing a close encounter with a gorgeous cornice and more cliffs, not to mention the sprawling view back to UN 13,811. Kurt and Dwight continued to lead the charge, now pushing up 832's final 370' and topped out ahead of Erin and I on this slightly more accommodating summit. Snow squalls were now partially obscuring some of the surrounding peaks. We were still under good conditions, though, as were Sunshine and Redcloud, which dominated the scene to the west. The length of the traverse between those two peaks is within a tenth of a mile of the traverse we had just completed, but it sure did look long from here! We let Kurt snooze on his bed of snow while the rest of us talked and ate.

Back down 832 we came. When we returned to Point 13,632, we decided to skirt the peak to the south, which had the additional benefit of positioning us for our glissade. The soft afternoon snow wasn't the greatest, but after a couple of slow scoots our third glissade down about two or three hundred feet went very quickly. All told we lost almost 1000' between the glissades, keeping most of the snow slope in this picture of Point 13,632 off our feet. We were now down at around 12,400', and after crossing some snow (we rolled across this patch of snow so we would neither posthole nor have to don our snowshoes), we reached 811's south slopes. We sidehilled east on these wet, sloppy slopes back toward 811's south ridge, reconnecting us with our ascent route. As we approached treeline we finally did have to put on our snowshoes to trudge through the softening snow.

Once we got below the snowline, our hike became a mudder. My boots were already completely soaked and squishy from the snow, and now I had the opportunity to add a little extra weight with a good clod of mud. I don't know if I've ever gotten so dirty on a hike! Our boots are just caked, still sitting outside on our porch waiting for the inevitable beating on the asphalt, and our gaiters need a solo run through the washing machine. Returning to the hike, we split into pairs for the last few miles back to the road with Kurt and Dwight again in the lead. As it turns out we were only a few minutes apart, but we were never within eyesight. Dwight one-upped me at the trailhead... he had a frosty Singletrack Ale straight from the cooler waiting for Erin and me. I had a warmish Coors that had sat in the 4Runner waiting for him. Dwight just knows how to drink in style! In Lake City there was some frustration in finding dinner before we eventually settled on the cash-only, self-service Blue Iguana Mexican restaurant, complete with a large, ass and breast flashing cashier. And I had trouble finishing my meal, wonder why... Erin and I decided to pass on the attempt of Half Peak the next day, but Kurt and Dwight were kind enough to let she and I shower at their motel room before we left town to find a place to retire for the night.