Summer Peakbagging Kickoff

Ski season ended on a high note as we kept up tradition with our 9th annual Torreys season finale party at the end of May. Then with a pair of races slated for August and September (that may actually happen, like for real) it was time to start ramping up the running miles as trails dried out throughout the valley. Aside from all of that though, summer peakbagging days are always calling my name this time of year and I’ve managed to get out for several fun outings up high over the past few weeks. Here are the highlights in that department thus far…

Chipeta Mountain (13,472 ft)
June 20th

First up was a road trip down to the Lake City area, but I decided to break up the drive a little bit and head over Marshall Pass en route to Gunnison. From the top of the pass, Chipeta Mountain made for a perfect trail run with Jax. Nice summit views, a cruiser trail and I was back on the road in no time.

Mt. Ouray’s neighbor, Chipeta Mountain, seen from the unranked 12er to the south.

Summit lounging with nice views of Ouray across the way.

Blackwall Mountain (13,073 ft)
Wildhorse Peak (13,266 ft)
Cow Benchmark (13,111 ft)
Point 13,132 (13,132 ft)
Darley Mountain (13,260 ft)
Engineer Mountain A (13,218 ft)
June 21st

Later that evening I met up with Kyle and Steve in Lake City, spent some time catching up with them and then we set off for Engineer Pass early the next morning. We had six peaks in our sights which combine pretty well together apart from one outlier, Cow Benchmark, which is what makes this linkup a long day.

Sunrise from Engineer Pass on the first day of summer.

Blackwall Mountain from the south. Lots of high, rolling tundra in this area makes travel between peaks easy and efficient.

Summit of Wildhorse Peak looking south towards Wood, Siegal and Animas Mountains.

Then we made the long jaunt out to Cow Benchmark, which has a very cool summit with views straight down into the town of Ouray a vertical mile below.

Into the grind portion of the day at this point, heading up Pt. 13,132 with Darley Mountain in back.

Views back north from the summit of the last peak of the day, Engineer Mountain, which is just a short skip and hop from the pass.

Time for a beer.

“The Bald Spot” (12,161 ft)
June 27th

Next came another trip to the summit of my backyard 12er, Pt. 12,161 aka “The Bald Spot”. This peak is sort of special to me in that I can climb it from my house, so I’ve made a point to do so every summer we’ve lived in Eagle-Vail so far. Beyond that it makes for a great training run with multiple descent options down either Grouse Creek or Beaver Creek depending on how long of a day you prefer.

Bald Spot summit for a 3rd summer in a row.

On this day I decided to loop it down to Turquoise Lake and run out Beaver Creek to the village where Anna-Lisa picked me up. It was a fun route and came in at 21 miles and 5,500 ft.

Point 13,003 (13,003 ft)
Point 12,801 (12,801 ft)
Point 13,026 (13,026 ft)
Point 13,202 (13,202 ft)
Point 13,300 (13,300 ft)
Point 13,001 (13,001 ft)
July 1st

On the first day of July my company mandated all employees take the day off, so I seized the perfect weather forecast that day and motored on down to the Hunter-Fryingpan for some unfinished business. A couple summers back Steve and I set off to attempt a big loop of several 13ers north of Independence Pass. We ended up having to bail on the day after two peaks, and ever since the rest of the peaks had been on the short list. Well the second time was the charm and I managed to bag five 13ers and a 12er in a fairly cool linkup.

Looking south from the first summit of the day towards the next peak on the agenda.

A nice day in the Hunter-Fryingpan Wilderness (aka “Where the Peaks Have No Names”).

Summit of Pt. 13,300 with Deer Mountain in back.

Looking back on Pt. 13,300 which was definitely the most interesting peak of the day from a routefinding perspective and with a little scrambling thrown into the mix.

The last summit of the day, Pt. 13,001, which happens to be the shortest of Colorado’s 584 13ers. That’s Blue Peak and the Geisslers in back.

Getting back to the car provided to be difficult. For anyone who even cares the South Fork Pass Trail is more or less ruined and will stay that way unless some major work is done on it by the Forest Service.

The end of a tough 20-mile, 6,600 ft day.

Mt. Harvard (14,420 ft)
Point 13,374 (13,374 ft)
July 3rd

Last but not least, over the 4th Anna-Lisa and I motored down to Buena Vista for a little camping and hiking with Mickey and some friends from Denver. Anna-Lisa, Mickey, Jax and I wound up hiking Mt. Harvard and I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to run out and tag Harvard’s neighbor to the northeast, Pt. 13,374. Thankfully the weather held and we had a fun couple days down there.

Nearing the summit of Harvard on a fine day to be up high.

Our summit mugs.

The extra credit, Pt. 13,374 summit looking back towards Harvard.

Cool summit register going back 15 years.

Good times back at camp.

And with that a few of us are on to the Sheep Mountain 50k in a few weeks here. Should feel good to finally be racing again assuming it happens. Fingers crossed…