Category Archives: Elk Range

“Siberia Peak”

Ben July 23, 2020 2 Comments

“Siberia Peak” resides about a mile to the northwest of Snowmass Mountain, and has got to be one of the least climbed thirteeners in Colorado. It’s short enough that it doesn’t make any of the popular lists, and it’s tucked away in one of the harder-to-access areas in the Elks (especially now with the upper leg of the Lead King Loop blocked by avy debris). If you do decide to climb Siberia, you’ll very likely have the mountain and the entire upper-drainage around Siberia Lake all to yourself. Read more…

Christmas Eve at the Fritz Benedict Hut

Ben January 3, 2020 2 Comments

For Christmas this year Anna-Lisa and I decided to change things up by heading over to Aspen and skinning into the Benedict Huts on Christmas Eve. Cozied up in a backcountry hut 6 miles from civilization made for a unique and seemingly appropriate way to spend the holiday. Nestled in the hills southeast of Aspen at 11,000 feet, the Fritz and Fabi Benedict Huts are some of the most recently constructed in the 10th Mountain Division Hut system. Built in 1997, they were named in honor of the late Fritz Benedict and his wife Fabi. Read more…

Fall in the Elks: Mt. Raoul Trio

Ben September 27, 2019 4 Comments

On Tuesday I headed over to Aspen intent on finishing off the group of nine 13ers accessible from the Conundrum Creek drainage west of Ashcroft. Last July I hit six of them, running the ridge from Hunter Peak out to Triangle Pass, but left the last three summits including 13,803-foot Mt. Raoul for another day. Down to only two Bicentennial peaks left to finish the Top 200 in the state (Raoul and Organ Mountain in the La Garitas), and armed with a perfect fall weather forecast, it was time to head back up Conundrum and knock off the rest of those peaks. Keep reading…

July Elk Hunting: Clark and Daly

Ben August 6, 2019 2 Comments

To cap off the month of July Steve and I headed over to the Elks and climbed a few peaks up the Capitol Creek drainage – Clark Peak and Mt. Daly. It’d been 9 years since either of us had been in there to climb Capitol Peak, so we were both excited to revisit an old friend as well as make some new ones. Thanks to the day’s near-perfect weather and some opportune glissades we were able to link up both summits in just under 13 hours from the car. Keep reading…