8/15/05 – Precipice Peak – West Slopes

3.0 miles, 2390'


Precipice Peak was Erin's and my first climb as a married couple. All our guests had left by Sunday afternoon, and we were exhausted, so we slept in on Monday. That morning, we walked up the street to the Ouray County Courthouse where we completed and submitted our marriage license. We realized that we had forgotten to have our preacher sign the document before he left the reception, but fortunately Colorado allows people to marry themselves. Erin and I signed the papers, and the clerk informed us that our official copy would be mailed to us. We continued our lazy day by eating some lunch in town, but when the afternoon remained clear, we started to get restless. Precipice Peak was a peak that had been long on our list. Erin pointed it out from Uncompahgre's summit back in 2002 when she likened its east face to a row of Pepperidge Farm milano cookies. We knew that Precipice Peak is really short round-trip, so we stopped by Mouse's in Ouray to print a copy of Aaron Johnson's route description from SummitPost, got our gear together, and made the quick drive to Owl Creek Pass and down into the West Fork.

The West Fork of the Cimarron flows through one of Colorado's most beautiful mountain valleys, surrounded by unique peaks such as Courthouse Mountain, Turret Ridge, Coxcomb Peak, and Dunsinane Mountain. Though Precipice Peak reserves its most astonishing aspects for visitors of the Middle Fork, it's quite impressive when seen from the West Fork, as well. As we started hiking up a talus field, we were struck by the soft, blue-green rock that we could see in patches on Precipice's slopes and scattered here and there amidst the talus. What strange brew concocted these specimens?

We hiked across this talus field and entered the woods below a minor ridge. We endeavored to stay on this ridge's wooded crest as we bushwhacked toward Precipice. There was some deadfall to contend with, but it was a relatively mild bushwhack. Once we made timberline, we could start to see more of Precipice and the route before us. I hiked way out of the way to get an angle on Courthouse Mountain that I liked before racing to catch back up with Erin. She and I hiked across talus, and upward, passing the "coves" that Aaron mentions in his description before reaching Precipice's distinctive amphitheatre.

The amphitheatre is something of a conundrum for me. It felt larger than life with its fantastical hoodoos, but the grasses and the amphitheatre's embrace made it feel very intimate at the same time. We picked our way up the grassy slope on the south side of the amphitheatre, and atop this slope was the payoff: Precipice's East Face and the precipitous drop-off to the Middle Fork valley. Filling the cliffs between us and the valley floor were a myriad formations of all kinds. Simply breathtaking! I spent way too long taking pictures and creating a panoramic image of Precipice's face, but the afternoon was running short. I caught back up with Erin, and we climbed up to the notch in a colossal wall that affords passage to Precipice's upper heights.

Beyond the notch was some easy scrambling before we regained ridge crest where we found some of the strangest rock I've ever seen. It looks like mounds of shaving cream frozen in time! You have to hike across some of this cream rock before arriving at a large pile of it. I touched it with the tip of my trekking pole, and to my dismay, I realized I notched a small hole into the rock. I feel really badly knowing that I left my mark, however small, on this exquisite feature. This stuff is terribly soft and fragile, so please try not to make my mistake!

Shortly afterward we made the summit: our first married peak! From the top, we had an excellent view of Dunsinane, and we caught a fleeting glimpse of the area's monarch, Uncompahgre Peak. We descended our ascent route back to the car, and drove back to Ouray to get some dinner. We had one last night at the Cartier House, which served as such a nice home base during our 10 days in the San Juans. After a night's repose, we awoke early the next morning to drive toward Silverton to Ice Lakes Basin.