Download Agreement, Release, and Acknowledgement of Risk:
You (the person requesting this file download) fully understand mountain climbing ("Activity") involves risks and dangers of serious bodily injury, including permanent disability, paralysis, and death ("Risks") and you fully accept and assume all such risks and all responsibility for losses, costs, and damages you incur as a result of your participation in this Activity.
You acknowledge that information in the file you have chosen to download may not be accurate and may contain errors. You agree to assume all risks when using this information and agree to release and discharge 14ers.com, 14ers Inc. and the author(s) of such information (collectively, the "Released Parties").
You hereby discharge the Released Parties from all damages, actions, claims and liabilities of any nature, specifically including, but not limited to, damages, actions, claims and liabilities arising from or related to the negligence of the Released Parties. You further agree to indemnify, hold harmless and defend 14ers.com, 14ers Inc. and each of the other Released Parties from and against any loss, damage, liability and expense, including costs and attorney fees, incurred by 14ers.com, 14ers Inc. or any of the other Released Parties as a result of you using information provided on the 14ers.com or 14ers Inc. websites.
You have read this agreement, fully understand its terms and intend it to be a complete and unconditional release of all liability to the greatest extent allowed by law and agree that if any portion of this agreement is held to be invalid the balance, notwithstanding, shall continue in full force and effect.
By clicking "OK" you agree to these terms. If you DO NOT agree, click "Cancel"...
Who: Scott (scotthsu) and Amy (Nice Axe!)
Summit day itinerary: The Prow 5.8 to Kit Carson Ave; dropped our gear and ran over to Challenger Pt (14081'); climbed 5.6 pitch to Kit Carson Peak (14165'); then to Columbia Pt (13980') & "Kitty Kat Carson" (13980'); finally to "Obstruction Pk" (13799'); returned to high camp via Bear's Playground and upper Spanish Creek basin
Vertical: Spanish Creek TH (8260') to high camp (11800'): 3540'; summit day: ~3600'
Time: TH to high camp (4 hrs); summit day (~10.25 hrs tent-to-tent); high camp to TH (2.75 hrs)
Climbing gear: 60m dry rope, rock shoes, harness & belay device, cams to 2.5", small selection of nuts & tricams, 8 runners, rappel webbing, helmet
This was the top weekend trip on our list this summer and we were happy to get a good weather forecast, so the trip was a go! We drove from Los Alamos, NM to the Spanish Creek TH on Friday morning (8/17), arriving around 12:30pm. According to Roach, this TH is on private property, so we were very careful to be respectful, park well off the road, and to spend as little time milling around as possible. (There is enough parking for 3-4 cars on each side of the road.) We geared up and were on the trail by 12:45pm. The TH has a little sign that says "HUA TEMPLE FOOTPATH."
Spanish Creek Approach 8/17
This is a rugged approach, and it has all the attendant features (~3500' vertical, thorny bushwacking, route finding, stream crossings, and a plethora of downed logs to negotiate). We quickly lost the trail near the first stream crossing and opted to stay on the N side of Spanish Creek. There seemed to be a trail heading up the N side of the canyon, which we followed a bit before realizing that's not what we wanted. We descended back to the creek, crossed it when we were forced to by a rock wall, and bushwhacked through thorny bushes before luckily happening on the trail again at another stream crossing. After this the trail was fairly straightforward except near a S-to-N stream crossing at ~9000' where the tendency is to head right (east) immediately after the crossing, but you need to head north for a short bit (see Roach's topo). Here's a picture of Amy at one of many fun stream crossings:
Roach says the trail climbs through an old burn from 9600' to 10600', but we found that the steady downed logs were concentrated mostly between ~10200' and 10800'. There were lots of cairns marking the way through the downed logs section. Here's a picture of the Prow from the area with many downed logs. Our 5 belayed pitches (alternating red-yellow) not including the Kit Carson summit pitch are shown (approximately) in this picture:
There are a few campsites next to the trail starting around 11500', but we opted to head to a flat open area around 11800' to the south and just to the east of the Prow. The trail disappears here, and we headed right (south) toward the creek and found a decent campsite. Note: it'd be wise to budget a little time to hunt for a campsite because we did not really come across many obvious ones that also had good creek access. Upper Spanish Creek basin is absolutely beautiful and worth the approach. From our "dinner rock," you could see 4000' straight down to the San Luis Valley below and also the upper basin toward Bear's Playground and Crestone Peak:
Summit Day 8/18
The Prow
We were moving by ~6:15am. It was a warm morning, probably in the high 40's or even low 50's. We basically hiked up a talus field to 3rd class slabs that were a pleasure to climb. Here's a picture of Amy on the approach.
The "true roped climbing" section begins at a sharp notch below an overhang (top of yellow line). However, there were two class 4/5 pitches which got increasingly more difficult/exposed leading up to that point (yellow line). We free-soloed these, but I suspect many people would want a belay. A fall on these sections would not be good. About halfway up these sections, we changed to rock shoes. Here's a picture of Amy free-soloing:
Scott practicing the opening moves on the 5.8 overhanging start:
We were roped and ready to climb around 8am. With my pack on (heavy with 2.5 liters of water, shoes, and extra layers), I tried the overhang and came back down. I decided to leave the pack behind, and the opening move went smoothly although very committing. I got a small cam in next to a ledge just above the overhang, and Amy tossed my pack up to me. Then she tossed her pack up and I wedged it into the rock there so she could enjoy the opening moves better. The climbing immediately became easier (5.5/5.6 range) although very run-out. For our 5 roped pitches (each close to a full 60m rope length), we put in 2-4 pieces per pitch. Unless you are comfortable climbing 30-50 feet above your last piece on easy 5th class, I would not recommend this route! The climbing is easy but highly exposed (hence the enjoyment!). Here's a picture of me running it out on the 2nd pitch:
With a 60m rope, you could reach comfortable ledges at the end of each pitch. The climbing was on clean solid conglomerate rock with plenty of holds, but, again, protection was scarce. The top of our 2nd pitch was at the top of a large gendarme. From there we downclimbed to the notch and set up a new belay station for our 3rd pitch. Here's a picture looking back at the gendarme:
I led the first 3 pitches, and Amy led the 4th:
I finished off the last roped pitch. From there, the Prow flattened out and we quickly reached its 13980' summit around 11:20am. We could see many parties hiking both ways on Kit Carson Ave. We also saw a lone figure on Columbia Pt earlier. From the Prow summit, it was a quick scamper to Kit Carson Ave at 13940'. We were so focused on the technical climbing that I didn't notice the clouds forming. They were now intermittently covering Challenger Pt.
Challenger Pt & Kit Carson Peak
We quickly downed some food, changed to hiking shoes, and dropped our packs there. Carrying only a camera and summit juice (Cognac), we ran up to Challenger Pt, summitting at 11:45am:
Then we returned to our gear in another 15 minutes. From Kit Carson Ave, we got the bonus of one more roped pitch (~5.6/5.7 rating). The clouds were pretty menacing at this point, but we could still see some blue, so we decided to go for it! This was a very nice pitch with plenty of protection. With a 60m rope, you could reach a point where the ridge flattens out. I slung a rock for an anchor and quickly brought Amy up and had her continue past me on belay to a flat area near the summit. We were on the true summit of Kit Carson Peak around 12:40pm. There was a break in the clouds and we briefly had glorious sunshine! Knowing we had 2 more summits with threatening clouds all around, we quickly took a few pictures, including this one of Kat and "Obstruction Pk" (with Humboldt in the background):
and we pressed on, descending the class 3 gully toward the 13620' saddle between Kit and Kat Carson.
Columbia Pt (Kat Carson) & "Kitty Kat" Carson
From the Kit/Kat saddle, we looked for cairns. Earlier from the Prow climb, I was looking ahead at Kat and thought the ascent from the saddle looked awfully steep. But this part of our day turned into a very nice surprise. The climbing was solid class 3 that reminded me very much of many sections of the Crestone traverse (which we did in June 2006 with a great group of climbers, and when we met Talus Monkey going the other way). Here's a picture of Amy on the enjoyable climb to Kat Carson:
The cairns were fairly easy to spot, and we were on the summit of Kat around 1:45pm. Here's a picture of Amy summitting Kat:
We pushed on to Kitty Kat (the east summit of Kat) and finally took a 15 minute break to down some salami/cheese/baguette that really hit the spot.
"Obstruction Pk" (UN 13799)
From "Kitty Kat," there was a good climber's trail down toward the saddle with "Obstruction Pk." We pushed onward due to really threatening clouds now. Despite this, we saw people on the summits of both Crestones. From the saddle, it was solid talus scrambling with patches of grass all the way to the summit of "Obstruction," which we reached around 2:45pm. There was a summit register with a film canister and a small scrap of paper inside with one legible entry from 2006. We quickly jotted down our names, scrambled east about 100 yards to another point that looked equally high, and then started the rocky descent toward Bear's Playground. We took a fairly direct path down and encountered only mild loose scree in places. It started hailing lightly on us at this point.
The descent from here was mostly on nice grass and rocky slabs, but we encountered a section of bushwhacking lower down around 12100' that heard at least a few curses from me. We finally reached our camp around 4:20pm utterly happy and exhausted.
The Pack Out 8/19
We slept in until 7:30am, had a leisurely morning in camp, and headed down the trail around 9:15am. Near the bottom, we stayed on an obvious trail that ended up on the south side of the creek. The trail joined with a dirt road, which we followed for a short while until it started to head south. At this point, we hiked cross-country until we hit the road just about 200 yards south of our car, which we reached around 12pm.
Endnotes: This was an amazing trip. The Prow is an absolutely beautiful technical climb, with clean solid rock. Other than the opening 5.8 moves, the climb is in the low 5th to 5.6 range, but extremely run-out in places. The class 3 climb to Kat Carson from the Kit/Kat saddle was highly enjoyable and a very nice addition to our climbing day. Upper Spanish Creek is an idyllic place to spend some time. This is a place of beauty and solitude guarded by a rugged (and sometimes hellish) approach. We are fortunate to have experienced it and returned home safely. Oh, and all those summits were great too!
Climbing endnotes: A 60m rope allows you to reach nice belay ledges. You will not need any pieces larger than about 2.5". When gearing up for this trip, remember protection is sparse anyway, so a lean rack is the way to go. As mentioned above, we placed no more than 4 pieces on any pitch.
Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):
The Prow delivered - it was great Alpine rock! The 3rd class ascent to Kat was an extremely nice surprise and we enjoyed it immensely! Thanks for an amazing trip scotthsu!
I love the topos with the colored lines you drew in. Great shot of the crux moves, too. I was super tired and suffering from some digestive distress when I led that pitch. But it was very interesting. I found the runout to the anchor to be excellent climbing. I have no idea why people go too far right on that. I stayed to the right edge of what amounts to a ramp along the ridge of the Prow.
Sweet trip with marvelous photos and a wonderful narrative. I soloed the snow couloir immediately east of the Prow and spent much of the time ogling the route you climbed -- simply awesome! Tough hike up Spanish Creek. Mighty fine adventure, Scott and Amy. Thanks for sharing it!
Nice trip you two! Nabbing all those summits makes for a great tour and loop.
Taking the packs off for the initial moves on the Prow is a great technique and that was a great idea to put Amy's pack up above the roof so she could make the moves unencumbered too.
I'm curious about your approach to the high camp. It can get pretty confusing down low and the first time I went up that way we did tons of bushwacking early on. Having been up there many times since then and finding a solid route up, I wrote this up a few years ago. Does it sound like what you two found? (If not, I apologize for not getting this description to you ahead of time!)
Spanish Creek Approach beta:
Look for an obvious sign that says ”Hua Temple Footpath” on the north side of the creek. Take that footpath for about a quarter mile as it turns into an old road in short order. The old road tapers into a trail and goes into some bushes as a faint trail and then crosses the creek to the south side. Some minor bushwacking is done while making this crossing. Once on the south side you'll run into another good trail. (Mark this spot for your return as it is easy to keep trucking on that trail on the descent and you end up kind of in private property or something I think.) Continue up this good trail on the south side and you'll soon cross the stream back to the north side. There's about six crossings. Immediately after the sixth crossing back to the north side the more obvious trail keeps going up valley along the stream. The trail looks good but don't get suckered. Take the very faint trail to the left that looks more like a marshy side stream (you'll literally be walking in this marshy stream for a bit) until this marshy side stream turns into an awesome trail that goes up valley on a bench above the creek. That's the crux. After that it's good trail up to all the dead, fallen, burned logs that everyone complains about that really aren't that bad. Cairns on top of the logs mark the way.
for your comments everyone! And thanks to Amy for being a great climbing partner and Jason for some good beta on the Prow. We were definitely inspired to step it up a little by everybody out there reporting on some great summit days!
And Jason, we agree with your approach beta and certainly wished we had it on the way in! Basically, we were not persistent enough in bushwhacking at the first N-to-S stream crossing and thus did not find the trail on the S side of the creek. On the way out, we followed the trail on the S side too far down and ended up going cross-country to get back to the main dirt road. Luckily it all worked out, but there were moments on the way in where the idea of giving up crept into my mind Also, the stream crossing at ~9000' that I mention above in the TR is the same one as the sixth stream crossing that you describe.
You probably climb a lot more than you write TRs, but every climb you share here is on a level most of us hope we can approach. Solid stuff that makes me envious, every time.
Another shout out to New Mexico!
Caution: The information contained in this report may not be accurate and should not be the only resource used in preparation for your climb. Failure to have the necessary experience, physical conditioning, supplies or equipment can result in injury or death. 14ers.com and the author(s) of this report provide no warranties, either express or implied, that the information provided is accurate or reliable. By using the information provided, you agree to indemnify and hold harmless 14ers.com and the report author(s) with respect to any claims and demands against them, including any attorney fees and expenses. Please read the 14ers.com Safety and Disclaimer pages for more information.
Please respect private property: 14ers.com supports the rights of private landowners to determine how and by whom their land will be used. In Colorado, it is your responsibility to determine if land is private and to obtain the appropriate permission before entering the property.