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Stats: 15.5 miles with 7800' of vert
Ridge walking with very limited class 3
Improvisation is a remarkable thing.
Kiefer, Matt and I met at the Dry Creek Park-n-Ride on Friday after work, threw our junk into Kiefer's poor Jeep and hit the road (jack).
We knew we were in for a haul when we could only make it to 9,200 due to the snow. This turned out to be 1 mile shy of the FR 437 turnoff. In the summer you are able to drive up 437 to 11,500, but who would do that when you could add about 3.5 miles each way and about the same amount of vert??
We departed from our impasse at 11pm with plans to bivy as high as we could get.
At 2:45 am we found ourselves at almost 11,900 with 3.7 miles under our belts. Much thanks to aaronmojica who put in a trench earlier on his failed attempt of Maxwell. Hope you got it man!!
Long story short, we went to sleep under a beautiful, pristine Van Gogh and woke up a few hours later with winds howling and snow blowing like crazy. Our plan was shot. So around 7:30am we headed up Maxwell, still unsure of the plan.
Kiefer wondering what's for breakfast with the Spanish peaks in the distance Shot north towards Culebra. Congrats to the Culebra group who got it this day!
As we sat on the summit of Maxwell, we decided to head north for Cuatro.
Enter spice here: View towards Cuatro Fun little ridge
It was obvious once we got to Cuatro that our day was not done. Winds picked up as we left Cuatro and remained for the rest of the day.
Ridge to "Leaning South Peak", "Leaning North Peak" and Trinchera Peak
Once atop "South Leaning" I knew I had to get Trinchera, but Kiefer and Matt were a little unsure. So I left before them and was happy to see them going for "North Leaning" as I made my way up it.
View of Trinchera from "North Leaning" Crestone/Little Bear group from Trinchera Little Bear group close up West Spanish Peak Sup Fellas View from whence we came Sun waning on Cuatro
Good times and great oldies doing the twist in the Sangres. 8)
Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):
Good job guys. My buddy and I use these SoCo Sangres as our training/conditioning hikes. When we need a ”break” we head up to some 14ers. Our attempt on Maxwell earlier last week made a Sunday summit of Grays/Torreys from I-70 seem like dessert.
A while ago, I had an idea to sneak onto Culebra this way (based on an old report somewhere) but I think I will do Culebra the correct $100 way. Anyways, I was always curious how those mountain you show here look like and they are beautiful, definately worth to go somedays. I love the picture of Spanish Peaks #9.
We actually saw some snowmobliers down in the Trinchera bowl on the Spanish Peaks side (only people we saw all trip). That might be worth investigating going in from that way if you guys want to ski it.
The road to Trinchera gets gated for the winter almost right at Hwy 12. It would be a HAUL just to get to treeline (although with a snowmobile path...)
Strong work there fellas. These are probably very rarely climbed in winter. I have some plans for that area myself, but will wait until the road melts out!
Wish my camera would have actually worked better than it did. I would have had some pics to e-mail you, Abe.
It was awesome how we three turned a depressing situation into a fantastic day. That whole lemons & lemonade thing you know.
It great meeting you, Matt and I see many more trips in the future together.
Like Steve and Aaron said, that range is pretty nice. Great views on little known peaks that see very little in the way of human traffic. Isolation does have its' rewards.
Great day out, fellas!
Whata great trip! Was happy to get out onto some lesser climbed peaks in winter with a great team. What were we really going for? Hmm. The world may never know
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