7/1/06 – Teakettle Mountain – Southeast Ridge

3.0 miles, 3400'


Erin and I decided pretty much last minute when we'd be taking a summer trip to Colorado, and ended up choosing to begin during the Fourth of July weekend. Knowing that most of our climbing friends would already have plans for that weekend, I started emailing to find out who was planning to go where. We learned that Kurt and Dwight were headed to the San Juans to climb peaks in the Ouray/Telluride/Silverton area. Dwight was seeking to wrap up the Highest 100 peaks in Colorado by climbing his remaining three peaks on that list: Teakettle Mountain, Dallas Peak, and Vermilion Peak. With a chance to revisit Ouray for the first time since Erin's and my wedding last year and an opportunity to attempt two of the toughest centennial thirteeners with trusted and good friends, we couldn't say no!

Happily, we found out that week that we'd also be in the company of James Jennings and Bob Dawson, two guys we hadn't climbed with since our backpacking trip to Vestal Creek two years ago. It would be a reunion of sorts, with all members from that 2004 trip represented except for Bob's friend, Marlene. Also, we found out that Sarah Thompson would be coming along. We hadn't yet met Sarah, but it would have been hard not to notice this seemingly fearless up-and-comer on FourteenerWorld racking up thirteeners at a remarkable clip. Unfortunately, a family issue arose for Kurt, and he changed plans to go to South Carolina for the Fourth of July. We were sad to hear the news, but when I spoke with him before the trip, we resolved to climb together the following weekend.

Erin and I arrived in Denver on the Thursday before, and spent the evening with her mom. The next morning, I got the 4Runner tuned up, and then we left for Ouray in the early afternoon. I spoke with James as we left town, thinking he'd have come back down from his climb of the 14er, Handies Peak. He was eating in Silverton, following a successful climb before driving on to Ouray. We told him we'd call once we got close to town.

Once we got south of Montrose, we called and found out that Dwight and Sarah had arrived and that they were having dinner and drinks with James at Buen Tiempo. Erin and I arrived a half-hour later and greedily devoured the best Mexican food we'd had since January. She and I split a relleno plate and a spinach enchilada plate. Mmmm! After that, it was time to drive into Yankee Boy Basin, stopping to park at the lot with the outhouse at approximately 11,400'. We circled up for some conversation and laughs before retiring for the evening.

The next morning, Bob had arrived, and we got our gear together for the climb as the first rays of sunlight fell upon Gilpin Peak and our surroundings. Because we didn't start at the same place that Roach suggests, there was definite confusion about how to begin the route. After some debate, we settled on this one gully that penetrated the cliff band at 11,800'. The mouth of the gully had some third-class, and all of a sudden, I got nervous about this one move. I didn't feel comfortable with the holds, and I just kind of stood there, clinging to the rock for a while as the rest of the group ascended the gully. I finally pulled through the move, but my stalling held up Erin and gave her more time to think about things. When it was her turn, she froze even longer than I did. I appreciate that Dwight always seems to be looking out for my wife when we're on climbs together. He brought out a short rope, and sent it down to Erin for a little extra security, and she climbed up the gully.

Next, we faced the long grass and scree climb up to the base of "Coffeepot," the summit that lies between Teakettle and Potosi Peak. We fought our way up the rubble to the bench below Coffeepot, and from this perch, the views of Teakettle were astonishing. As Roach mentions in his description, The Black Gully, our next challenge along the way to the summit, does indeed look quite intimidating from here! We all donned our helmets and descended the scree for 400', so that we could traverse to the base of the Black Gully.

Once at the base, we could see that the slope, while loose, was much more relaxed than it had appeared a few minutes earlier. We climbed up to the point where the gully splits. I was in the rear, and as I watched the rest of my party struggle with the loose, class-3 fork on the right, I decided to give the class-4 fork on the left a shot. This was definitely the better path. Some nice, solid holds are available in there, and it made for a better descent route, as well. From here, we made the brief traverse to the final ascent gully, which took us to the summit ridge, just a short traverse away from Teakettle's namesake summit block.

I've admired Teakettle from a few summits, and it always draws my eye when I gaze upon the Sneffels Range from the Ridgway area. To finally be standing here was quite a rush. What a beautiful summit! Erin was so happy when she saw the kettle's handle! She had forgotten that it's an easy scramble to get inside it, so she was really excited to climb on in there to strike a pose. While Dwight started to get the ropes ready, the rest of us took our turns in the handle and put on our harnesses. I couldn't help but grin that I was helping Sarah tie into her harness because it wasn't much more than a year ago that I was learning the ropes (sorry, couldn't help it). I suspect that Sarah will be teaching people how to tie a figure-eight in the near future!

Dwight led the climb with style, and I guess Bob followed quickly because I didn't even notice he was climbing until he was already on top! James and Sarah followed, and then it was my turn. The climbing felt good, though for me I thought there was an awkward move or two, one that involved hugging the rock face. Once on top, Dwight gave me a short line to tie into, and then Erin took her turn. The summit was roomy enough for all of us, and we soaked in the surrounding views of Gilpin and Dallas. Oddly, Mount Sneffels isn't at its most becoming when viewed from Teakettle. We didn't linger too long on the summit as a full group, however, because the weather didn't look like it would last too much longer. Because of the way we arranged ourselves on the summit, it was easiest to simply reverse the order we had ascended for the downclimb. We decided not to bother with a rappel because it was such a short pitch. Dwight simply fed us rope as we all took our turns downclimbing, and this worked well. Dwight was the last to descend, taking care since he was climbing unprotected.

James, Erin, and I were very tired by now and anxious to get back to the basin, abandoning any and all pretense of climbing the gorgeous Potosi Peak. I knew I didn't have another 1200' in me, and I still wanted to save my legs for the next two days. We decided to descend Roach's variation, which avoids climbing the 400' to Coffeepot. This is a perfectly suitable descent route, in my opinion, but I agree with Roach's assessment that it would make for a miserable ascent. Bob, who after his late arrival only got a couple hours of sleep, decided to come with us, but true to form, Dwight and Sarah started reclimbing the gully toward Coffeepot. As we dropped down, the first thunder of the morning crashed and rolled loudly. We were still within shouting distance of Dwight and Sarah when we heard a second thunderclap, and they called to us to let us know they had changed their minds on Potosi and would be descending once they got to Coffeepot.

We remaining four descended the loose talus and scree past some hauntingly beautiful cliffs and down to a grassy ridge. Then we started making a descending traverse, cutting across a few gullies, toward Dwight and Sarah, who overcame their 400' detour and had gotten quite a ways ahead of us. We met up with them at the top of the same 11,800' cliff band that had given Erin and me trouble that morning. This time, however, we were at a decidedly nastier spot, and once I got a closer look and saw Sarah struggling down it, I thought even worse of it. I talked it over with Erin, and we determined to find another way to get by the cliff band. Looking to our right, we could see a grassy ridge that appeared to bypass the cliff band, and we started reclimbing to get toward it. James decided to join us, since he too wasn't loving the look of the terrain that Sarah, Bob, and Dwight were toiling with. We reclimbed over 100', and this part really kicked my butt. I guess my body had switched to descent mode because I've never worked so hard for a lousy hundred feet. Finally, we reached a gaping chasm that completely barred our path to the grassy ridge. Looking above us revealed that we'd need to reclimb an additional 200' to get above and around this obstacle. So should we suck it up and climb around, or descend back to Dwight and the rest to see what we really think of that nasty downclimb.

While we were agonizing over the decision, I noticed that we could see down to the vehicles quite clearly. Just a few hundred vertical feet, but so far away. Then I saw someone with orange walking up to the cars. "Is that Dwight?" I ask, thinking I recognize his jacket. If they already made it down to the cars, I thought, then that must have been an easier downclimb than it looked! Regrettably, that was someone else at the cars, because once we made the retreat back to the nasty cliff band, we saw our friends immediately below us. They had barely progressed, only just now exiting the downclimb! They saw us, and we heard a chorus of "No!" and "It sucked!" and "The most dangerous thing we did today!" Even when we told them that we'd have to reclimb 300' to avoid it, they held firm. This route was a lot worse than we could tell from up here!

James, Erin, and I turned back to climb a demoralizing 300', and all the while, the thunder rumbled frequently. When we got up and around the chasm, we realized that if only we had looked around more closely before darting off to meet up with Dwight and Sarah an hour ago, we might have seen this fine route. The grassy ridge descended all the way to the trees without interruption. From there, we had a steep bushwhack back to the vehicles. I had to use a few bush belays because of the wet ground, but this route down was easier than Dwight, Sarah, and Bob's route by several orders of magnitude. Soggy but safe, we got back to our friends and some Negra Modelo's from Dwight's cooler.

We drove out of the basin and back to town where we ate at Buen Tiempo once again. Erin and I were feeling a lot more hesitant about Dallas. Could we really handle a hike that's three times longer with 1000' more elevation gain and tougher, more exposed climbing? Whether we could or not, she and I knew we needed a better night's sleep than we got in Yankee Boy, and that we wouldn't be car-camping with the rest of the group in Telluride. We arranged to meet up with the group at 3:30, and told them that if we weren't there by 3:45 to leave without us. She and I got a cheap room at the Antler's Motel in Ouray, and we were asleep by six in the evening, with a 1:00 a.m. alarm set. We woke with the alarm, but phrases from Roach's route description like "loose scree over hardpan" were still repeating in my head while I worried about snow conditions. Would Erin's and my lack of crampons be a problem? Erin and I made the call, and we decided not to attempt Dallas. We switched to our backup plan, Cirque Mountain, reset the alarm, and went back to sleep.

continue to Cirque Mountain