Mt of the Holy Cross from French Creek

This was a great way to climb Mt of the Holy Cross if you want solitude. I saw no other climbers all day except at the Holy Cross summit. I found this route while combing through the Roach 13er book as I often do, and it was listed as a classic. It is a bit longer than the standard route for Holy Cross, but picking up 3 bonus 13ers makes it well worth the extra effort. Surprisingly, it was a bit shorter then the Halo Ridge route unless my Garmin watch was off. I think combining it with Halo Ridge and a car shuttle would be the ultimate tour of Holy Cross for a massive collection of peaks.

Day of Climb: Monday, July 13th, 2026

Trailhead: French Creek/Holy Cross City 4x4 Road.

Peaks: Mt of the Holy Cross, Holy Cross Ridge, Unnamed 13,78, Whitney Peak.

Mileage and Elevation Gain: Approximately 14.25 miles with 5,907 feet of gain.

I arrived at the French Creek trailhead around midnight for this climb. It's about 40 minutes travel time on dirt roads after leaving 24 not far from the town of Minturn. Any vehicle can reach this trailhead with ease. The trailhead itself, is large and could probably fit a couple dozen cars or more. There were only 2 other cars on this night though, and I think they were empty and belonged to backpackers. I slept in my truck and was up at 4:30 am to prepare for this trek.

After getting ready, I was hiking up the Holy Cross City 4x4 road by 5:30. This is a very rough road meant for specialized vehicles only, but it was easy to walk and I made good time straight out the gate. Time spent on the 4x4 road was brief though and after about 1.5 miles I turned right and started up the Fall Creek trail just after a large creek crossing. Fortunately, there were no 4x4 vehicles crawling up the road while I was traveling along it. I bet weekends are popular here with the OHV crowd though.

The Fall Creek Trail took me first to Hunky Dory Lake which is beautifully tucked in against some cliffs and would make a great camping spot. Then, I came to the beautiful Seven Sisters Lakes and this is where I left the trail. I headed northwest through a marshy area and then up towards the highest of the Seven Sisters lakes climbing over, around and through some minor cliff bands along the way to reach the lake at 12,800 feet. 13,786 comes into to view here as it rises steeply above the lake.

I circled around the lake and then headed up the South Slope of 13,786. This was a steep scree gully with a few grass ramps. I found talus hopping off to the right easier though and climbed to the east shoulder at 13,500 feet. Some steep, bomber slabs presented themselves here and they made for a fun scramble to the summit of 13,786.

13,786 had beautiful views of the valley I came from and the rest of my route towards Mt of the Holy Cross. My summit stay was short and I started down the rocky North Ridge of 13,786. The beautiful Tuhare Lakes could be seen to the east as I worked my way down the talus along the ridge line to the saddle 400 feet below. There was plenty of exposure to the right, but it was all easy 2+ descending. I found good footing on most of the boulders and talus as I did on most of the route.

I quickly crossed the semi-circle shaped saddle and immediately started up the Southwest Ridge of my next 13er, Holy Cross Ridge. It's summit was about 450 feet up a steep slope. The terrain was more of the same and the talus hopping continued all the way to it's towering summit. The views of Halo Ridge in the distance and surrounding peaks was spectacular despite the haze. I could see The Notch Mountain Shelter and a smoke plume from The Willow fire south of Whitney Peak as well.

Holy Cross Ridge was a quick pitstop, a bump along the way, and I continued my journey towards Mt of the Holy Cross which I had not summitted since 2019 when I took the standard route. I was looking forward to getting back up there. I departed down the talus filled Northwest Ridge of Holy Cross Ridge staying on the ridge crest and dropped about 500 feet to the saddle. I was following the Halo Ridge Trail route now. Navigating was pretty straightforward though and the descent was not unlike the descent off 13,786. Exposure to the right and lots of talus and boulders to work your way through down the ridgeline. Any difficulties could be easily avoided to the left.

A narrow saddle then took me to the Southwest Slope of Mt of the Holy Cross. This talus slope goes pretty gentle to begin and then steepens after a small landing. Off to my left, as I approached the summit, I could see climbers ascending the standard route and after a quick climb through a mix of boulders and talus we all converged at the large summit. The views were still a bit hazing but beautiful nonetheless. I met a nice group who were members of the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra taking a break from concerts in Vail. They had come up the standard. I think a few were planning to descend Halo.

It was such a beautiful morning, I spent a good 30 minutes on the Holy Cross summit before starting my descent. It was about 11:15 now and I headed down. I still had one more summit to get with Whitney Peak waiting for me. First, I needed to make the long haul back to the Seven Sister's basin before climbing Whitney.

I descended Holy Cross quickly and started across the saddle to Holy Cross Ridge which, luckily, I didn't need to summit again. Instead, I did a long sidehill traverse to the saddle with 13,786. This was mostly a straight shot without any gain or loss over primarily large boulders. It wasn't overly difficult, but I definitely needed to stay sharp through the monotony and watch my steps carefully. I then climbed back to the summit of 13,786 before plunging down into the basin below.

I dropped southeast off of 13,786 down the slab section which was a bit more difficult going down. Now, at the shoulder, instead of descending down the gully to the highest Seven Sisters Lake, I moved in a more easterly direction down some rubble filled gullies. This was tedious but took me around the lakes and right to the 12,600 foot saddle with Whitney Peak at the Fall Creek Pass.

I then climbed Whitneys gentle Northwest Slope. Whitney Peak has a large flatish summit and I hit the western summit first. It's not the true summit though and I continued a bit east to a large upright boulder which was the actual summit. It didn't look easy to scale and it supposedly took a 5.3 move to do so. I stood on several rocks that were already stacked against the base, reached up, grabbing the top lip of the boulder with both arms, and simply pulled myself up. I descended off the backside by sliding down a bit facing out and jumping to a flat boulder below. I had worried about the boulder all day, but it was easier than I had imagined.

Happy with my final summit of the day and with dark clouds building, I quickly departed and headed straight down Whitneys South Slope. It started as talus, and after not long transitioned to a mix of grass, scree and occasional talus. It was steep, but got me down quickly. I joined the Holy Cross 4x4 road at about 11000 feet near an avalanche debris field cruised back to my truck.

It had been a fantastic day on an enjoyable route. I think anyone considering the Halo Ridge route might want to consider this route as well. Thanks for reading!