Organ Mountain Trip Report 07/08/2026

Report Type	Full
Peak(s)	Organ Mountain - 13,808 feet
Date Posted	07/08/2026
Date Climbed	07/02/2026
Author	Stiffler_from_Denver

The Gash of Organ
Purpose: Detail the route across the west ridge of Organ Mountain between the 14er San Luis. Ascent Party: Stiffler_from_Denver and Colorado Trail Patrick Itinerary: Day 1-drove from Denver to Eddiesville Trailhead; camped by Stewart Creek. Day 2- cleaned trees off Colorado Trail for 7 miles as part of my adopter obligations for Colorado Trail Foundation, camped 4.3 miles from trailhead. Day 3- climbed the southern slope variation route up Organ Mountain, climbed down West Ridge/Stewart Creek Cutoff Trail, packed out and drove home. Quick Notes about West Ridge between Organ Mountain and San Luis: * The rock looks like really enjoyable Crestone Conglomerate knobby fun climbing, but it is very loose. * We went up the class 2 southern slope variation route and descended across the west ridge which included the "gash." I think it would have been easier to ascend what we descended climbing around the "gash." If I did it over again, I'd ascend via the West Ridge then come down the easier East or South slopes. * We descended to 13,150 feet in elevation around/below the "gash" on the south side * Researching the route, I imagined the "gash" as a notch that you climb through, when in reality you lose a surprising amount of elevation to bypass it. * Despite its name, you don't climb through the "gash" like it's a notch in the ridge. Instead, you descend roughly 350 feet below the ridgeline, contour around the obstacle, and then climb back up. * You should be very comfortable with route finding. Route from Eddiesville TH route from camp I became a Colorado Trail Foundation adopter of this segment in 2023 after I hiked the trail in 2022 and fell in love with thru hiker culture and the CT. I even wrote a book about it called "Trail Headspace; Finding My Best Self on the Colorado Trail." (It's a great read if you'd like to learn what it's like eating Poptarts for a month and hanging out with people with names like Caddyshack, Wangler, and Spoons.) As an adopter, I'm responsible for walking the section twice a year, keeping the down trees clear of the trail and the streams from draining on it. Here is an example of the satisfying work I did on the trail this trip. Before After On summit day, we left camp at 7:10am. We hiked about 2.5 miles from camp on the Colorado Trail sticking close to the Cochetopa River until you get your first view of Organ Mountain on your right. The summit is blocked by a southern flanking ridge until then. The turn off to begin the bushwack through the trees comes right after you pass these steps. Feature in trail before the turn off into the trees. By Colorado 14er standards, this qualified as an easy bushwhack. It was more of a bush stroll. I've stumbled through other terrible bushwacks in the past that required crawling over deadfall, squeezing through willow thickets, and periodically stopping to reconsider every life decision that brought me there. It wasn't long before we had a great view of Organ's south face. stayed left of drainage We gained the ridge after a steep slog at 10am. Patrick looking at final easy slope to summit. We were on the summit at 10:30am. On the summit of Organ. We chose not to ascend the West Ridge because of its reputation. We wanted to get a summit, evaluate the weather, and if possible, go research the West Ridge's "Ghastly Gash" as Gerry Roach calls it. Early in the day with great weather we descended the West Ridge. Here are some shots on the descent from the summit. A bit loose but great character. Down climbing between field goal posts below summit. Down from the summit route is obvious through the field goal posts. Classic photo of Organ. Hiking toward San Luis and the "Gash." Looking down the Gash. After checking out the gash, we retreated a bit easy on long the ridge and dropped elevation at that first tower. East of Gash; Organ is up to the right Taken from the lowest part we descended. Patrick is down climbing on the top right of photo. Gash is the left part of photo. At 13,150 studying route across gash and up crossing gash at 13,150 feet bottom of the gash Patrick crossing the gash crossing the gash looking southeast Route west of the gash. It's much easier than route east of gash. Here is the best beta I can provide of the route south of the Gash. If crossing from San Luis, I'd start angling down south at the boulder on the right. route across West Ridge There is still some fun scrambling across the ridge once you're passed the gash. Stiffler_from_Denver on the west ridge We met up with the standard route up San Luis and began our descent on the Stewart Creek Cut Off Trail. The Gash and West Ridge and the summit of Organ (on right) from Stewart Creek Cutoff Trail After some meandering through some willows, we followed the drainage back to Colorado Trail. Sign along Colorado Trail We were back to camp at 3:30pm. My GPS Tracks on Google Maps (made from a .GPX file upload): View on the Map Download GPX file used in this map Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

The Gash of Organ

Purpose: Detail the route across the west ridge of Organ Mountain between the 14er San Luis.

Ascent Party: Stiffler_from_Denver and Colorado Trail Patrick

Itinerary: Day 1-drove from Denver to Eddiesville Trailhead; camped by Stewart Creek.

Day 2- cleaned trees off Colorado Trail for 7 miles as part of my adopter obligations for Colorado Trail Foundation, camped 4.3 miles from trailhead.

Day 3- climbed the southern slope variation route up Organ Mountain, climbed down West Ridge/Stewart Creek Cutoff Trail, packed out and drove home.

Quick Notes about West Ridge between Organ Mountain and San Luis:

* The rock looks like really enjoyable Crestone Conglomerate knobby fun climbing, but it is very loose.

* We went up the class 2 southern slope variation route and descended across the west ridge which included the "gash." I think it would have been easier to ascend what we descended climbing around the "gash." If I did it over again, I'd ascend via the West Ridge then come down the easier East or South slopes.

* We descended to 13,150 feet in elevation around/below the "gash" on the south side

* Researching the route, I imagined the "gash" as a notch that you climb through, when in reality you lose a surprising amount of elevation to bypass it.

* Despite its name, you don't climb through the "gash" like it's a notch in the ridge. Instead, you descend roughly 350 feet below the ridgeline, contour around the obstacle, and then climb back up.

* You should be very comfortable with route finding.

I became a Colorado Trail Foundation adopter of this segment in 2023 after I hiked the trail in 2022 and fell in love with thru hiker culture and the CT. I even wrote a book about it called "Trail Headspace; Finding My Best Self on the Colorado Trail." (It's a great read if you'd like to learn what it's like eating Poptarts for a month and hanging out with people with names like Caddyshack, Wangler, and Spoons.) As an adopter, I'm responsible for walking the section twice a year, keeping the down trees clear of the trail and the streams from draining on it.

Here is an example of the satisfying work I did on the trail this trip.

On summit day, we left camp at 7:10am. We hiked about 2.5 miles from camp on the Colorado Trail sticking close to the Cochetopa River until you get your first view of Organ Mountain on your right. The summit is blocked by a southern flanking ridge until then. The turn off to begin the bushwack through the trees comes right after you pass these steps.

23547_03 — Feature in trail before the turn off into the trees.

By Colorado 14er standards, this qualified as an easy bushwhack. It was more of a bush stroll. I've stumbled through other terrible bushwacks in the past that required crawling over deadfall, squeezing through willow thickets, and periodically stopping to reconsider every life decision that brought me there. It wasn't long before we had a great view of Organ's south face.

We gained the ridge after a steep slog at 10am.

23547_25 — Patrick looking at final easy slope to summit.

We were on the summit at 10:30am.

We chose not to ascend the West Ridge because of its reputation. We wanted to get a summit, evaluate the weather, and if possible, go research the West Ridge's "Ghastly Gash" as Gerry Roach calls it. Early in the day with great weather we descended the West Ridge.

Here are some shots on the descent from the summit. A bit loose but great character.

23547_21 — Down climbing between field goal posts below summit.

23547_20 — Down from the summit route is obvious through the field goal posts.

23547_28 — Hiking toward San Luis and the "Gash."

After checking out the gash, we retreated a bit easy on long the ridge and dropped elevation at that first tower.

23547_09 — East of Gash; Organ is up to the right

23547_30 — Taken from the lowest part we descended. Patrick is down climbing on the top right of photo. Gash is the left part of photo.

23547_14 — At 13,150 studying route across gash and up

bottom of the gash

23547_18 — crossing the gash looking southeast

23547_05 — Route west of the gash. It's much easier than route east of gash.

Here is the best beta I can provide of the route south of the Gash. If crossing from San Luis, I'd start angling down south at the boulder on the right.

There is still some fun scrambling across the ridge once you're passed the gash.

23547_19 — Stiffler_from_Denver on the west ridge

We met up with the standard route up San Luis and began our descent on the Stewart Creek Cut Off Trail.

23547_13 — The Gash and West Ridge and the summit of Organ (on right) from Stewart Creek Cutoff Trail

After some meandering through some willows, we followed the drainage back to Colorado Trail.

We were back to camp at 3:30pm.

My GPS Tracks on Google Maps (made from a .GPX file upload):

View on the Map

Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Comments or Questions

BCNPatrick	Good Times! 7/8/2026 11:53am Other possible names for the "ghastly gash" ? Vicious V, Terrible tear, Hideous hole, Massive mangling, Savage slit, Rank rupture, Ragged rift, Ferocious fissure
k_fergie	CT Memories 7/8/2026 9:59pm Love it! This brings me back to my CT thru hike (2023) where I did a big day from Van Tassel Gulch to camp under San Luis. We got to camp a little early and I was nervous about weather forecasts for the San Juans since I hadn't gotten any phone service since leaving Salida. I decided to climb Organ via the south slopes after dinner to bag the 13er (of course) and to pick up service to check our final week of weather. I experienced a fabulous sunset on the summit, alone with a herd of big horn sheep, and pulled a weather forecast that showed we had perfect weather for the whole (nearly) San Juan section of the trail. Good mems

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