Shav and Tab: A Delicious Duo

Peaks: Mount Shavano (14,231') · Tabeguache Peak (14,162')
Route: Standard Combo
Trailhead: Blank Cabin
Class: 2
Date Climbed: 2026-05-24
Partners: Sam, Greg

Stats

Strava activity

The Approach

Road into Blank Cabin Trailhead is in solid shape. A little bumpy, but no washouts, nothing weather has chewed up. Standard passenger vehicles will be fine in dry conditions. Worth noting: there's dispersed camping just past the trailhead if you want to roll in the night before and start fresh in the morning.

The Climb to Shavano

Out of the trailhead at 0713. The early miles through the trees move quickly and you settle into the work without thinking too much about it. The pace breaks once the trail tilts above treeline. The two miles of steep talus into the summit are the price of admission to Shavano: a grind through air that gets thinner the higher you climb.

By the time the talus started in earnest, I'd gotten out ahead of Sam and Greg and pushed on. Solo was totally fine.

Summit at 11:40, about 4h 27m from the trailhead.

The Saddle Trade

From the top of Shavano, the Tabeguache traverse looks worse than it turns out to be. You drop somewhere around 700 feet off Shavano to the saddle, then earn it back on Tab. The terrain is loose rock and the line through the boulders isn't always obvious, but the climb itself is fair.

Tabeguache summit at 12:37. About 56 minutes from Shavano.

Off Course on the Way Back

The hard part of the day wasn't the climb up to Tab. It was getting back.

The standard play coming off Tabeguache is to either re-summit Shavano on the return or skirt the south side of it on a faint use trail. I went for the skirt and lost the line somewhere along the way. The next stretch was boulder fields with snow patches sitting in the gaps between rocks. The kind of terrain where the snow collapses under your weight and you slip down into the cracks between boulders. Loose rock everywhere, regardless of size or how planted a stone looks. A piece that seems set may decide otherwise the moment you lean on it. Cut shins by the time it was over. Snow in boulder fields is not a fun combination.

This is the part of the day that the activity captured as mile seven. 76 minutes of continuous motion through bad ground, no stopping because there was nowhere good to stop. Eventually the use trail picked back up and the rest of the route made sense again.

If you're going to skirt Shavano on the way back, work hard to find the line before committing to it. Once you're off it through that boulder and snow mix, route-finding becomes the whole problem.

The Descent

Five miles of downhill from the high point to the trailhead. Average heart rate dropped into the 115s by mile ten, and pace held sub 30 min/mile most of the way down.

Conditions and Gear

• Weather: Mixed. Some snow and clouds moved through during the day. Nothing dramatic, just normal Sawatch weather doing its thing. Generally favorable.
• Exposure: Significant. You break treeline early and stay exposed for a long time, all the way across to Tabeguache and back. No shelter from sun or wind for hours. Plan around the forecast.
• Surface: Mostly dry on the standard trail, with snow patches lingering near the top of the Tabeguache approach and through the boulder field on the Shavano skirt.
• Traction: Not required. A few unintended slides on firm snow.
• Poles: Carried and used. Helped a lot, both on the snow patches between the peaks and on the long descent.
• Footwear: Altra Experience Wild 2 trail runners.

Reflection

What a way to start the season. Two new summits and a worthy combo. Shavano alone is a fine day. The hour over to Tabeguache makes it a complete one.

If you're sizing up the combo, do it. Just stay on the line when you're skirting Shavano on the way back.