Category Archives: Weminuche Wilderness

A Weminuche Dozen, Part II: Grenadier Gluttony

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As related in Part the First, we drove from Denver and hiked into Leviathan basin on day one, losing the way to the lake in the dark, but then managing a textbook traverse to Jagged pass in the predawn hours of day two, leading to the reward of the thrill and majesty of Jagged, subsequently fun slab scrambling on neighboring Leviathan, and concluding with the expansive views afforded from Vallecito. After returning to camp from these three peaks early in the afternoon, we decided to move from the surprisingly flat spot on the hillside to a premier creekside location 150 feet lower and closer to the Peak Nine ridge line. This creek is shown on the topo map and it falls steeply into the northern part of Leviathan basin from the unnamed lake by peak Nine. Keep reading…

A Weminuche Dozen, Part I: Jagged et al

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A couple years back Steve and I hatched a plan for a backpack into the Weminuche with the primary aim being to summit Jagged Mountain. Any idea of taking the train was dashed early on as neither of us really wanted to ride that thing again (it would have been my 5th time) and not long into the conversation we began talking about including other peaks to the northeast of Jagged which the train would have precluded. I had personally never been to Hunchback Pass or the Vallecito Creek drainage for that matter, and so an approach from the north via Beartown was thrown out there as an option and quickly became our primary access plan. Read more…

Losing Track of Time in the San Juans

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Ben and I had been mulling over a return trip to the PNW this spring for some unfinished business on Adams and Hood. Well mother nature and the snow levels in Washington and Oregon put the kaibash on that idea real quick. Plan B were the Tetons, but we couldn’t find enough sane lines to combine for an extended trip – all of them seemed unreasonably dangerous and the snow seemed to just stop falling once the New Year rolled around. After a huge dump in late February down South, we decided to pull the trigger on the San Juans to hopefully replicate the success we experienced in 2013. Rick, fresh off a sweet heli-trip up north in the Canadian Rockies, rounded out the group at 3 and we were off. Keep reading…

Purgatory to Ruby: Pigeon, Turret and the Animas Group

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Nate, Ray, Migz and Dana (who couldn’t make it due to “work”) currently call the east coast their homes. These boys get out quite frequently into the mountains in New England, but the east coast only affords them so much. Once a year they are usually looking to get a little wild and that’s when I’ll get the call. On their inaugural trip to Colorado 2 years ago we trekked through Wild Basin in RMNP en route to Alice and Chiefs Head via Lion Lakes and then followed it up the next day with a sunrise climb of Longs Peak. Each has his own temperaments and talents, but in the end it always seems to work out, even with Ray who has no qualms calling the Pigeon/Turret saddle a success and may still be referred to as “the Gatekeeper” of the Keyhole. Keep reading…