Summer is more or less over in Colorado, with snow starting to accumulate in the high country as winter’s grip slowly tightens. But as per usual the late-summer/fall window made for a nice venue to bag some peaks and ultimately hit my 500th thirteener summit this past Sunday, a nice milestone to reach just ahead of ski season. As I fell behind on keeping up with blog posts throughout the fall I figured I’d summarize things in one go. So without further ado, here are the highlights…
Belleview Mountain (13,233 ft)
August 26th, 2021
First up was a midweek jaunt into the Maroon Creek drainage for some unfinished business on a peak myself and a few others came within a few hundred feet of summiting back in 2014 while backpacking the Four Pass Loop. On that day we turned back due to an incoming storm just short of the summit block, so I always knew I’d be back at some point.
Belleview Mountain is an aptly named peak best done from West Maroon Pass via Crater Lake. With so much travel on trail it was a no-brainer to hit it as a trail run just ahead of the Devil on the Divide, and the day didn’t disappoint.
Belleview Mountain with South Maroon’s SW face dropping down into Fravert Basin below.
The route from the pass is marked sparsely with cairns.
The Bells. Always a treat to get this view in any season.
Chicago Peak (13,385 ft)
“Tomboy Peak” (13,095 ft)
Point 13,510 (13,510 ft)
“T 10” (13,477 ft)
Three Needles (13,481 ft)
Bridal Peak (13,510 ft)
Point 13,159 (13,159 ft)
September 3rd, 2021
Over Labor Day Steve and I kept up tradition by heading down to the Silverton area for a 4-day peakbagging/car camping romp. This just on the heels of Steve finishing up the Top 200 on Pigeon Peak 2 days prior. Congrats again Steve! On day one we decided to head up to Red Mountain Pass and take a chunk out of the 12-peak string paralleling the west side of 550 that can technically be done in a single day, though I’m not sure I’d wish that on my worst enemy.
From the top of the pass I headed for Chicago and Tomboy (which Steve had already done), then ran the ridge south and caught up with Steve as he was heading up “T 10”. Up and over a few more peaks we finished the day off by descending from the last summit down to the Columbine Lakes TH, then headed into Silverton for a hot shower and burgers on the grill.
A gloomy morning on Imogene Pass.
Summit of “Tomboy Peak” with some familiar names in the register.
The area stayed socked in for the entirety of the day, which lent some unique views of different peaks popping out of the clouds before being enveloped again.
On the summit of Bridal Peak looking towards the Sneffels Group. What a day.
Dome Mountain (13,370 ft)
Tower Mountain (13,552 ft)
“East Storm” (13,325 ft)
September 4th, 2021
The next morning we set up another vehicle shuttle and ran the high ridge from Eureka Gulch to Boulder Gulch, nabbing three summits along the way. Tower Mountain is unique in that it towers over the town of Silverton to the northeast in addition to actually having a cell tower on its summit. “East Storm” held some scrambling challenges along the east ridge and cool views of the backside of the Silverton Ski area, which brought back some fond memories.
From “East Storm” we had planned to tack on Storm Peak but decided to blow it off in favor of returning to camp at a reasonable hour. It just doesn’t go well with “East Storm” and could make for a nice ski from Silverton someday instead. Back in Silverton, a few brews and a pasta dinner under the stars rounded out the evening nicely.
On our way up Dome Mountain.
“East Storm” summit looking west towards Storm, which is the big peak above the billboard atop the Silverton Ski area.
The night sky seen from camp.
Houghton Mountain (13,052 ft)
Tuttle Mountain (13,203 ft)
Brown Mountain (13,339 ft)
Hanson Peak (13,454 ft)
Point 13,075 (13,075 ft)
September 5th, 2021
After sleeping in the next morning we spent the majority of the afternoon shuttling around between California and Placer Gulches, tacking on another five peaks with a fairly minimal effort. The crux of the day was getting Steve’s RAV4 back up the steep hill on the north side of California Pass. For more details you’ll have to ask him about it sometime.
After a stop off at the townsite of Animas Forks to soak in some of the rich mining history in the area, we motored on over to Ouray for a soak of a different variety at the Wiesbaden Vapor Caves. Neither of us had actually stayed at the inn before, so we decided to pull the trigger on that and fell asleep watching Tombstone. The Wiesbaden is a cool spot.
California Pass, which nearly killed the Honey Badger. But lucky for us, after all these years it still doesn’t give a shit.
Brown Mountain summit looking down towards Red Mountain Pass.
“Proposal Peak” (13,330 ft)
Bonita Peak (13,286 ft)
September 6th, 2021
On the last day of our Silverton bender we hit Proposal and Bonita, fittingly as they were basically the only pair of peaks in the immediate area we had left to summit. It was a short, sweet day with emphasis being placed on the post-climb BBQ down by the creek behind the Gold King Mine.
Storm Peak and “East Storm” to the south.
Summit of “Proposal Peak”, supposedly named after Gerry Roach’s proposal to Jennifer which took place on this summit.
Time for a cold one. After 17 peaks in 4 days I’d say we earned it.
Point 13,201 (13,201 ft)
Point 13,300 (13,300 ft)
October 2nd, 2021
To kick off the month of October Jax and I headed down to Lake City to check out Uncompahgre and Wetterhorn’s neighbors. These docile thirteeners aren’t anything to write home about in terms of challenge but the views into the Cimarrons and of the higher peaks in the area sure are top-notch.
We pulled into the Matterhorn Creek TH around 2pm for an afternoon jaunt up the pair of peaks to the southwest of Wetterhorn. Over the course of four hours the weather rotated through the entire gamut of conditions from warm and sunny to a full-on blizzard. Again, a super neat area to see especially cloaked in fall colors and with variable weather.
Upper-Wetterhorn Basin with the first peak dead ahead.
Wetterhorn itself stole the show for most of the afternoon.
Looking south towards Sunshine and Dolly Varden.
Time to head into town for dinner.
“Non-Compahgre” (13,158 ft)
“Nellie Point” (13,106 ft)
“Little Nellie Point” (13,091 ft)
October 3rd, 2021
The following morning we made our way up the Nellie Creek Road and hiked the trio of peaks around Uncompahgre. Finding old use trails was key on this outing, which even still ended up being a longer day than I was anticipating. Solid morning weather gave way to a perfect afternoon, and before long I was enjoying an imperial pumpkin back at the car with 499 thirteeners down.
A stock trail I’m not sure too many people know exists climbing out of Nellie Creek.
On the second summit of the day looking back at Uncompahgre.
The road home.
“Pyramid Mountain” (13,054 ft)
October 17th, 2021
And last but not least, this past Saturday Steve, Mitchell, Jax, Anna-Lisa and I headed down to the Sangres and checked off one more summit just west of Venable Peak from the town of Crestone. It was a near-perfect day to be up high, with a mostly dry trail in and out of the North Crestone drainage and a cool peak with a few unexpected challenges thrown in to gain the true summit.
The Aspens in North Crestone Creek look ready for winter.
Going up. That’s Venable Peak in back.
The #500 summit party, which Steve was kind enough to provide beer for.
A parting shot. So long, summer.
And that about wraps up peakbagging season, for me at least. Tough to summarize 24 peaks with 26 pictures but I did my best 🙂
Let it snow…
Great little summary of the highlights. Your shots of the Belleview and the Bells, the Milky Way, Wetterhorn and aspens are sublime. Not as many days out this summer, but still some good times!
Good times indeed my friend!
+1 to what Steve said. Killer shots as always, Benny!
Thanks Zam! Colorado sure makes it easy especially in the fall 🙂