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7/24/12
We woke up at 3:00AM at a camp near the Rock of Ages trailhead to get the 3 combo. We got to the Rock of Ages saddle before sunrise and waited until the sun came out to start climbing Wilson Peak.
A quick scramble from the Rock of Ages saddle got us to the summit. I felt like Wilson Peak was way more loose than either of the bells. (Actually Wilson, Mt. Wilson, and El Diente are all looser than the Bells.)
Wilson Peak's summit had one of the coolest 14er view so far. Lizard head looks intense. Mike on Wilson Peak. Me on Wilson Peak.
It was too dark on the way up to get any good Wilson Peak terrain shots so here are some.
Maybe someday...
We got back down to the Rock of Ages saddle and checked out the traverse.
We walked down the backside of the Rock of Ages Saddle and looked up at El Diente's North Face gully.
A boulder hop got us to the base of this gully.
This gully had more rockfall potential than the Hourglass!
I think this gully was the first route on a 14er that I didn't like.
After the gully we were on El Diente's ridge.
A long ridge got us over to El Dientes summit. Mike on El Diente. Me on El Diente.
We some some clouds on the traverse, but they weren't storm clouds so we decided to still go for it.
We did a traverse around some towers than got onto the ridge.
The clouds cleared for a second and we got our first view of Mt. Wilson.
We did a class 3 scramble to get up to the Narrows section.
The clouds made the narrows so cool, when you would look off the side you couldn't see the ground so it felt like you were staring into the abyss.
We downclimbed the crux and climbed the gully to meet with Mt. Wilson's standard route.
The clouds had the same effect on Mt. Wilson's summit ridge.
We went on the right side of the crux move.
Although clouds make ridges look cool, they don't have the same effect on summits. This was our second summit where these type of clouds gave us a white background. Mike on Mt. Wilson. Me on Mt. Wilson.
The downclimbing after the summit ridge felt kinda like Pyramid's terrain.
We took some gully's down Mt. Wilson then found the trail.
The traverse was still very cloudy.
We had to chill in an old mining home for a bit while some weather passed, then encountered more weather below treeline on the way down; luckily it wasn't as gnarly as what we encountered on Wetterhorn.
This was an amazing trip, I love the San Juans. This trip now brings me up to 50 fourteeners and Mike to 47, so we're getting close!
Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):
You guys have done some awesome climbs lately and put up some great trip reports. Just one question...where's the helmet? I think even Ueli Steck would wear one on these mtns...
Thank you, actually we were wearing helmets, you can see them in all the climbing pictures. I took mine off for summit photos and Mike kept his on, but you can see a helmet in all the climbing shots.
If you had to get these three again, would you use the same route, or try something else? Ascending the El Diente N Face looks pretty sketchy. Nice work, that's a heck of a day.
mountainmicah83: Were you the guy that we shared the El Diente summit with?
djkest: If I did these again I would use the North Buttress of El Diente, it's supposed to have more solid rock. All the other routes on the other peaks were great though!
Me and my buds met you while you guys were coming down Uncompaghre, had a brief conversation about having seen you guys making your way up Wetterhorn the day before and Southern Vittles in Lake City! Great shots, amazing looking trip, makin me feel lazy! Impressive run guys!
I have never hiked in this area before and was just told about it by a friend. If you want to do all three peaks in one days, does it require top rope climbing? Thanks!
Thanks nfire, that was crazy how many times we ran into eachother!
benbrumbaugh: No you might want a rope to rappel the crux on the traverse but it's only class 4 to downclimb.
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