Apostles Traverse

On the west ridge of Ice Mountain with “West Apostle” in back.

After hitting an easy 13er above the ghost town of St. Elmo the day prior, I motored north and met up with Brian, Marc and Jeremy at Winfield where we camped for the night. The next morning we set off up the trail towards Lake Ann with the Apostles Traverse as our objective for the day.

The Three Apostles and the route seen from the north, based off our GPX track. Click to enlarge.

The “Three Apostles” are a trio of peaks in the central-Sawatch Range about 8 miles to the northeast of Taylor Park Reservoir. In terms of ruggedness, steepness, and challenge they stand out from most of the rest of the range’s generally docile summits. The most prominent peak in the trio, Ice Mountain, is one of Colorado’s Centennial 13ers and is perhaps best known for its classic snow/ski route, the Refrigerator Couloir. Ice is flanked on either side by North Apostle, also a Centennial, and “West Apostle” peaks. The three of them together make for a fun scramble traverse that was only first completed in 1954 according to Roof of the Rockies.

Good morning Sawatch Range!

All in all the day is pretty simple from a macro-routefinding perspective. Just hike to Lake Ann and find a weakness in the ridge line to the west of West Apostle. Run it all the way across to North Apostle and then descend through Apostle Basin back to the trail. It’s the micro-routefinding, particularly near Ice Mountain’s summit, that adds some intrigue to the day.

On the ridge just below the summit of “West Apostle” with Ice Mountain and North Apostle behind. Click to enlarge.

After the short ridge run we hit the summit of West Apostle, which was a bit of a milestone for me as it happened to be my final Sawatch Range peak above 13,000 ft. That’s 129 peaks – 15 14ers, a dozen Cents, 22 Bi’s, and 80 others after that. It’s a big range, and looking back on all the different outings over the years it took to finish it is actually pretty staggering to think about.

West Apostle summit looking west towards Taylor Reservoir.

West Apostle to Ice holds the most fun scrambling of the route, and I’d recommend doing the linkup in the west to east direction because then you’re ascending this section. The rock is mostly solid with some routefinding challenges mixed in. The terrain high on the peak is pretty exposed to the south, with good views down into the Refrigerator which will likely still be holding some summer snow.

Onto the fun stuff.

The final leg of the route up Ice.

Taking a break on the summit. The views from up here aren’t too shabby.

With the weather still holding we elected to tack on North Apostle and complete the traverse. The descent off Ice’s east side entails a few more loose, steep sections but then you’ll have mostly smooth sailing to the saddle. From there it’s only about 400 ft to the summit of North.

A lonely cairn with Huron in back.

Summit of North Apostle looking back on Ice Mountain (left) and West Apostle (right). Click to enlarge.

The trail-less descent off North Apostle is the least enjoyable part of this outing. Lots of loose boulders, steep dirt and grass slopes and general bushwhacking to contend with. Skis are a much more pleasant way of descending through here. That said, Apostle Basin is pretty scenic with high, vertical walls on each side, lots of wildflowers and good views opening up to the north.

Eventually we hit the trail and cruised out back to to the TH. From there it was back down to Winfield for a few brews in the afternoon sun as we admired Ervin Peak across the way.

A look back on the way out.

That was a fun day out gents. Gotta appreciate the bluebird, smoke-free days up high when the stars align.

Thanks for reading 🙂