Category Archives: Weminuche Wilderness

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…

Gladstone to Rio Grande Pyramid

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Dillon and I loaded into his Jeep and made our way south after work on Thursday evening, intent on hiking Gladstone Peak on Friday followed by Rio Grande Pyramid on Saturday (both Centennial 13ers). Anyone who knows the San Juans decently well will probably quickly realize that these two peaks aren’t exactly close to each other; not in a straight line but especially not with regard to drive time between trailheads. Continue reading…

Laboring in the Weminuche: Ruby to Chicago 13ers

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After our return from the PNW in June Brian and I began laying down an itinerary for a summer backpacking trip to the Weminuche. We reached out for partners and established a group of ten highly interested, which would ultimately be reduced to a final list of seven. None of us had climbed any of the Ruby Basin 13ers previously with the exception of Brian, who headed in a few years ago and hit Pigeon, Turret, and the Animas Group with some fellow 14ers.com members. Matt, Mark, and Tim have been fast at work on the Centennials so their interests in a Pigeon/Turret/Jupiter combo were very high. Keep reading…