Wetterhorn Peak Trip Report 08/05/2008

Peak(s):	Wetterhorn Peak - 14,021 feet Uncompahgre Peak - 14,318 feet
Date Posted:	08/05/2008
Modified:	08/14/2008
Date Climbed:	08/03/2008
Author:	rlynn

Wetterhorn and Uncompahgre from Matterhorn Creek
Uncompahgre and Wetterhorn Peaks Total Mileage: 20 miles 14er Count: 8 & 9 Day 1 - Backpack to base camp Shawn (buckeye), Kyle (boilermaker), and I started our first day (Friday) with leaving Westminster about 1 pm after a quick bite to eat at Chipotle. At first I didn't know if Chipotle was the best idea before a 3 day backpacking trip, but it proved to not be completely fatal. We took 285 through Fairplay and stopped near BV to fill up. A couple hours later we found ourselves in Lake City. LC is a neat little town and we stopped to grab a little more food before heading up to the Matterhorn Creek TH. We made our way up Engineer Pass (funny, as an engineer myself, I find this somewhat oxymoronic) a little ways before we veered off toward the 4WD road. Shawn's Liberty made it all the way up to the TH with little trouble except for scraping bottom once. Once at the trailhead we geared up as quickly as we could, attempting to avoid the plethora of mosquitoes. Just before departing the TH - 18:37 In about 15 minutes we came to the first clearing where you could see Wetterhorn to the upper left. Soon after this we came upon the junction of trails to either Matterhorn or Wetterhorn. First view of Wetterhorn - 18:52 Roughly 10 minutes after reaching the first clearing, we finally emerged from treeline and saw two other parties that had camp set up on either side of the trail. We proceded another 10 minutes or so to find our own campsite, in order to have less distance the following days. About 2 miles and 1 hour after starting from the TH, we arrived at the junction of the routes to Wetterhorn and Uncompahgre. This is where we decided we wanted to start looking for some camping spots. Kyle checked out the west side of the trail along the route toward Wetterhorn while Shawn investigated the area just above the trail on the east side. Kyle looking for flat areas on the west side of the trail junction, Matterhorn on the right - 19:35 We finally decided that there was just enough flat space on the east side of the trail to camp there. We took some time to rest and drink some water before we started to set up camp. Shawn brought his tent that was just big enough for himself and Kyle while I brought my sister's tent (backstory - I have my sister's tent because she borrowed mine for the weekend before to do Capitol with a few other 14ers members. My tent was in Cheesburglar's pack for this trip and my sister forgot to reacquire it before everyone parted ways, so she gave me her tent as collateral.). I didn't know this at the time, but this tent was new and my sister had yet to use it. No wonder I thought it was so clean . So this is the first time I've ever set up this tent and I had no problem with it. Meanwhile, Shawn and Kyle have spent about 15 minutes searching for the perfect spot. It's taken several tries, but they finally start setting up their tent. I had been relaxing and sipping on our 3-liter bag of wine for about 20 minutes by the time they were settled in. After some deliberation, it was decided that our camp would henceforth be referred to as "BAPA Valley". There were several reasons for this conclusion, one of which included the fact we had a cache of wine; others of which are not suited to be detailed on a family website. Shawn and Kyle still working hard while my tent is set up - 19:54 View to the west of Wetterhorn (left) and Matterhorn (right) - 20:04 At this point we decided it'd be a good idea to find a spot to hang our food. Finding the spot didn't take very long, but actually getting our food bag in that spot took about 20 minutes. We tied a rock to our rope and attempted throwing it between two trees. It took about 10 attempts until we finally had success. After getting camp all set up and taking some time to eat a little food, we enjoyed the views while partaking in some classy libations. We stayed up late enough to look at the stars for a while, which was a great way to start off the trip. Skies were completely clear and we even saw several shooting stars that night. Those were the first shooting stars Shawn had ever seen, so he was pretty pumped about that. We could even see the haze of the Milky Way galaxy. We decided to call it a night about 21:45 and headed to the tents so we could get an early start for Uncompahgre on Saturday. Day 1 mileage: 2 miles Day 2 - Uncompahgre Peak My alarm went off at 05:25 and after a night of not-so-good-sleep, I was feeling a mixture of wanting to stay in bed and excitement for the day ahead. Shawn and I used our stoves to heat up water for some oatmeal while Kyle enjoyed his cold, dry CLIF bars. After getting all the necessary gear packed up and putting our food back in the trees, we departed camp about 06:30. At the Wetterhorn/Uncompahgre trail junction, we took the righthand trail toward Uncompahgre. We had about 15 minutes of pretty tough hiking, starting out with a steep, rocky trail. The trail flattened out a little and 10 minutes later we arrived at the pass where we got our first view of Uncompahgre. First view of Uncompahgre - 06:54 The next portion of the hike was quite enjoyable with pretty steady elevation and good views. This part had several of what my sister and I call PUDs (pointless up and downs). We lost and gained elevation a few times before actually starting to constantly gain vertical footage on the ridges. The trail was well defined and easy to follow, but no more than a single hiking boot wide in a lot of places. Looking northeast from the trail - 07:37 After another 30 or so minutes we come across a little marmot sanctuary. There was a rock formation that served as a great shelter for these furry little creatures. Just after this formation we started to go up for good. The first portion of the uphill climb was through a ton of soft gravel. It was literally like walking up a sand dune. This is where we gained the first ridge. View from the top of the first ridge - 07:44 After this we gained another 2 or 3 ridges before we could finally see the entire remaining route to the top of Uncompahgre. This is where we stopped to have a few snacks and rest a little while. Group shot, trail follows the left side up to the summit - 08:17 Once you follow the east side of the ridge and gain some elevation through a few switchbacks you finally cross over to the west side of Uncompahgre. Here the route has you do some easy scrambling with a definite route to follow. Shawn and Kyle doing the easy scrambling - 09:24 After the mild scrambling, the rest of the route is easily distinguishable and is fairly easy. The last 100 yards or so is pretty much a walkup. Kyle and Shawn making the final summit push - 09:40 Once on the summit, we made our way over to the vertical dropoff on the north side. The view from here was amazing. This was probably one of the coolest views I've ever seen. Kyle looking down the sheer face - 09:45 View of where Kyle was standing in the previous picture - 10:14 Kyle and Shawn trying to see hikers on top of Wetterhorn - 10:18 Shawn, Kyle, and myself at the summit - 10:22 We spent almost an hour at the summit resting, eating, enjoying the views, and chatting with a few others that were there. We met one group that was summitting their 5th 14er on a 4-day trip. We could tell they were pretty worn out with doing that much, and none of us could blame them. Kudos to them on such an awesome accomplishment. After reapplying some sunscreen and chapstick, we were on our way down at 10:40. About 25 minutes from the summit we stopped quickly at a notch in the ridge for some photos. Looking west from a notch low on the ridge - 11:06 It took us about 40 minutes to get from the summit down to where our trail met up with the trail coming from the Nellie Creek TH. At this point the clouds started to form right on top of us. This is where we decided to start a little competition. The goal of the game was to not be the first one to fall on his a$$. The game was to last as long as it took until someone actually fell. The stakes? The loser had to buy the first round of beers at Coyote Cantina in BV. We figured it probably wouldn't take long for this game to have some winners what with the type of terrain we were descending. In order for it to be a legitimate fall, we must be descending, our a$$ must touch the ground, and scooting down a scramble did not count. If you start to fall and catch yourself before your backside actually touched the ground, that was a save, therefore the game continued. Clouds starting to form over Uncompahgre - 11:19 View after coming down from one of the several ridges - 11:46 Once we got to the part where it was pretty much sand, we were all extra careful not to fall now that there were stakes to it. We all fully expected someone to bite it, but alas, the game did not end at this point. We were making pretty good time the whole way down all the ridges, but then we came to the open area where all the PUDs were. The following picture reminds me of the default Windows desktop background. Yeah, you know the one I'm talking about. Starting to get into the PUDs - 11:55 We had to take a couple breaks here and there because of the pointless up and downs. After 9 miles, one starts to get tired of having to go up again on the way back. Taking a quick break from the PUDs - 12:03 It was at this point that the clouds really started to look threatening. All of them before this point were the super puffy cumulonimbus clouds, but they soon came together and started looking pretty nasty. Wetterhorn and nasty clouds - 12:17 Soon we came to the junction of the Uncompahgre and Matterhorn trails. The whole day all three of us were contemplating whether or not we wanted to attempt Matterhorn too. By the time we got back to the junction, Kyle and I decided we'd rather get back to BAPA Valley to partake in some wine and rest. Shawn decided he wanted to make an attempt at it, so here is where we split. Kyle and I took one radio while Shawn took the other. We made sure they worked by making fun of Shawn and his salmon cups. They worked. Soon Kyle and I made it back to BAPA Valley, shed our boots and socks, and lounged around a little bit with water and wine. View of Wetterhorn after making it back to BAPA Valley - 1:04 Not long after we settled in at camp, it started to sprinkle on us. Shawn showed up about 30 minutes later saying he was too beat and concerned about the clouds to continue up Matterhorn. It continued to sprinkle on us off and on until about 16:00. From about 16:30 to 18:30 it decided it wanted to downpour, so all three of us figured that was a good time to take a nap. We didn't see much lightning, but there was some thunder in the distance and it was pretty windy, though not windy enough to keep me from falling asleep. Just as quickly as the clouds had come, they went. From 18:30 on there was barely a cloud in the sky. At this point we decided to filter some water and cook some dinner. We brought in some spaghetti and pasta sauce for the night and I can without a doubt say this was the best spaghetti I've ever had in my life. Kyle filtering some water for dinner - 18:35 We finished all the spaghetti and put up the food pack just as it was starting to get dark. We cleaned up the pots and hung out for a while sipping some more from the wine. We stayed up late enough to see some stars (and a few more shooting stars), and called it a night about 21:15. Day 2 mileage: 11 miles BAPA Valley to summit: 3 hours, 15 minutes Summit to BAPA Valley: 2 hours, 25 minutes Day 3 - Wetterhorn Peak and backpack out After another night of not-so-good sleep, my alarm went off at 05:25 again. This time though, the feeling of wanting to stay in bed took precedence. This time it was 06:30 by the time we actually got out of our tents and starting moving around. Shawn and I again used our stoves to heat up some water for oatmeal while Kyle again enjoyed his cold, dry CLIF bar. We spent a little time filtering some more water for our ascent to Wetterhorn and then we cleaned up pots and put the food back into the tree. Morning view of Wett/Matt ridge - 07:21 It was 07:30 when we left BAPA Valley toward Wetterhorn. It was much cooler this morning than it was the day before, so we started out with a few more layers. However, once we got into the sun about 10 minutes later, we warmed up extremely quickly and stopped to delayer. Pretty soon we came upon a decently sized boulder field on the east side of Wetterhorn and going through here was fairly slow. It was pretty enjoyable though because the Columbines were abounding everywhere. Morning sun on Columbine - 07:53 Taking a quick break in the boulder field - 07:55 Almost an hour after departing BAPA Valley, we made it past the boulder field and had a short burst of easy hiking before gaining the ridge. After the boulder field just before gaining the ridge - 08:26 After we gained the ridge, we took a quick break to assess the remaining route. From here we still had to cross the yellow rock, which was pretty tough going up. A 45 degree slope with slick dirt doesn't make for easy hiking. The remainder of the route looked fairly daunting - 08:43 Shawn and Kyle attempted to run up the 45 slope in an effort to not lose elevation on every step. I took my time and having trekking poles made it much easier. Breaking after the first heat of sprinting, yellow rock still to go - 08:47 After making it past the yellow rock, this is where the class 3 scrambling starts. The easier route stays on the east side of the face while the more difficult scrambling follows the west face. From here we decided to take the more difficult (and fun) route by going left to the west side. A little ways into the scrambling on the west side - 09:00 The route on the west side wasn't too hard to follow. There were cairns the whole way up, but you had to really pay attention to where they were. Getting from cairn to cairn took some careful routefinding in spots, and loose rock made it somewhat difficult here and there. Pretty soon we made it up to the V-notch. Here we decided to stick to the west side again, allowing for more of the more difficult scrambling. Shawn approaching the area of the V-notch - 09:10 Kyle following me up toward the V-notch - 09:12 After making it up most of the loose rock scrambling, the route from the west side meets the route from the east side in an open area. This is where the really fun climbing starts. Here we had to negotiate a notch in order to get to a smooth, slanted rock just before the final pitch. Open area with notch to the left - 09:31 Shawn waiting on Kyle to negotiate the notch - 09:32 After getting through the notch, the view opened up to the west, and it was nothing short of amazing. This is where we're about to begin what is now my favorite section of climbing that I've done to date. Kyle going down the slanted rock while Shawn starts the final pitch - 09:35 The final pitch was strictly a one-person-at-a-time section with the climber at the top waiting for another climber to come up. Climber at top gives perspective of pitch - 09:35 Kyle's turn with Shawn celebrating at the top - 09:38 That was the steepest section of the climb, and just after it was a short scramble up to the summit. We reached the summit at 09:45, 2 hours and 15 minutes after we departed BAPA Valley. The views from the summit were spectacular, and the weather was still great. Looking east to Matterhorn and Uncompahgre from summit - 09:50 Looking north from summit of Wetterhorn - 09:53 Still clear skies, looking south - 10:00 Group summit shot - 10:13 We didn't spend a whole lot of time on the summit this time because we wanted to avoid the afternoon thunderstorms while packing up camp. We had enough time to take in the views, take a few pictures, eat, and chat for a few minutes with the other groups. We departed the summit about 10:25. Going down the steep pitch wasn't nearly as difficult as we were expecting and we could do most of it facing out from the rock. It didn't take us long to get back to the beginning of the class 3 stuff because we took the easy route on the east side this time. Before we knew it we were back down to the crappy yellow rock. Here we were fully expecting somebody to end the beer game because we knew it was going to be tough to not fall. As hard as it was to descend the slick dirt, nobody ended up taking a fall. There were several saves along they way with a few close calls, but everyone made it down with the winnings still up for grabs. We made it down the ridge and back to the boulder field quite quickly. This is where we came across a marmot barrage. We saw probably 10-15 marmots total, all scurrying around. We sat down for a minute or two and a couple marmots made their way up to Shawn and me. We could tell one of them was pretty domesticated because he got to within two feet of me, checking out my pack for food. It was pretty obvious that he has gotten food from people before. This little guy wasn't scared of me at all - 11:21 The one fearless marmot even tried to sneak up through the cracks in the rocks to get to my pack. Sorry little fella, no food for you - 11:22 I still haven't decided whether I think marmots are cute or ugly. We made our way pretty quickly through the boulder field and we were eager to get back to BAPA Valley to pack up camp and get home. This is when the skies started to get pretty dark again. Skies getting dark over Wetterhorn - 11:42 We made it back to BAPA Valley at 11:55, about an hour and a half after we left the summit. Not bad. We began packing up camp just as it started to rain. Luckily it was just some light sprinkles and it didn't last very long. The worst part about packing up camp was trying to get everything together without getting bugs in the gear. The flies were absolutely horrendous, swarming everything. I haven't cleaned out Steph's tent yet, but I imagine I'll find several presents in there when I do. We got everything packed up pretty quickly and departed BAPA Valley right at 12:30. It still wanted to sprinkle on us while on our way out, but it kept doing it off and on with no sustained rain. By this point all three of us were eagerly awaiting someone to bust it in order to get a free round of beer. We got down to the trailhead at 13:10, and (un?) fortunately, no one claimed the prize of losing our beer game. There were several more close calls along the rocky trail as our footsteps were getting more and more lazy. We packed up as quickly as we could to avoid the mosquitoes and flies, but not before one final group shot. Day 2 mileage: 7 miles BAPA Valley to summit: 2 hours, 15 minutes Summit to BAPA Valley: 1 hour, 30 minutes BAPA Valley to TH: 40 minutes Alive and not bitten to death at TH - 13:16 We made our way down the 4x4 trail quickly and stopped in Lake City again for some fast grub. It started to rain on us again, but this time it was sustained for a decent amount of the ride home. About 10 miles south of Fairplay we came across an accident which slowed us down a little bit, but not much. It didn't look too terrible, so hopefully everyone was ok. We planned on stopping for food at the Dinky Dairy in Fairplay, but they were closed when we got there. So we decided to hit up a gas station for some easy food. About 5 miles north of Fairplay we see another accident on 285. This one looks much worse though and traffic is stopped both ways for a solid hour. The Flight of Life came in and took off about 20 minutes later. We saw no mention of this on any of the news channels, but we were not expecting good news. Hopefully everyone is ok after that one. We made it back to Westminster around 20:30 that evening, and I got home to Boulder at 21:00. It was a long drive home after a couple long days of hiking, but it was completely worth it. It was a great weekend with the guys, and the climbing and views were fabulous. Weather cooperated while we were hiking, and we even saw several shooting stars. All in all it was an amazing weekend, and I think I can safely say that Wetterhorn is my favorite climb to date. Thanks for reading, Ryan Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Wetterhorn and Uncompahgre from Matterhorn Creek

Uncompahgre and Wetterhorn Peaks
Total Mileage: 20 miles
14er Count: 8 & 9

Day 1 - Backpack to base camp

Shawn (buckeye), Kyle (boilermaker), and I started our first day (Friday) with leaving Westminster about 1 pm after a quick bite to eat at Chipotle. At first I didn't know if Chipotle was the best idea before a 3 day backpacking trip, but it proved to not be completely fatal. We took 285 through Fairplay and stopped near BV to fill up. A couple hours later we found ourselves in Lake City. LC is a neat little town and we stopped to grab a little more food before heading up to the Matterhorn Creek TH. We made our way up Engineer Pass (funny, as an engineer myself, I find this somewhat oxymoronic) a little ways before we veered off toward the 4WD road. Shawn's Liberty made it all the way up to the TH with little trouble except for scraping bottom once.

Once at the trailhead we geared up as quickly as we could, attempting to avoid the plethora of mosquitoes.

Just before departing the TH - 18:37

In about 15 minutes we came to the first clearing where you could see Wetterhorn to the upper left. Soon after this we came upon the junction of trails to either Matterhorn or Wetterhorn.

First view of Wetterhorn - 18:52

Roughly 10 minutes after reaching the first clearing, we finally emerged from treeline and saw two other parties that had camp set up on either side of the trail. We proceded another 10 minutes or so to find our own campsite, in order to have less distance the following days. About 2 miles and 1 hour after starting from the TH, we arrived at the junction of the routes to Wetterhorn and Uncompahgre. This is where we decided we wanted to start looking for some camping spots. Kyle checked out the west side of the trail along the route toward Wetterhorn while Shawn investigated the area just above the trail on the east side.

Kyle looking for flat areas on the west side of the trail junction, Matterhorn on the right - 19:35

We finally decided that there was just enough flat space on the east side of the trail to camp there. We took some time to rest and drink some water before we started to set up camp. Shawn brought his tent that was just big enough for himself and Kyle while I brought my sister's tent (backstory - I have my sister's tent because she borrowed mine for the weekend before to do Capitol with a few other 14ers members. My tent was in Cheesburglar's pack for this trip and my sister forgot to reacquire it before everyone parted ways, so she gave me her tent as collateral.). I didn't know this at the time, but this tent was new and my sister had yet to use it. No wonder I thought it was so clean

. So this is the first time I've ever set up this tent and I had no problem with it. Meanwhile, Shawn and Kyle have spent about 15 minutes searching for the perfect spot. It's taken several tries, but they finally start setting up their tent. I had been relaxing and sipping on our 3-liter bag of wine for about 20 minutes by the time they were settled in. After some deliberation, it was decided that our camp would henceforth be referred to as "BAPA Valley". There were several reasons for this conclusion, one of which included the fact we had a cache of wine; others of which are not suited to be detailed on a family website.

Shawn and Kyle still working hard while my tent is set up - 19:54

View to the west of Wetterhorn (left) and Matterhorn (right) - 20:04

At this point we decided it'd be a good idea to find a spot to hang our food. Finding the spot didn't take very long, but actually getting our food bag in that spot took about 20 minutes. We tied a rock to our rope and attempted throwing it between two trees. It took about 10 attempts until we finally had success. After getting camp all set up and taking some time to eat a little food, we enjoyed the views while partaking in some classy libations. We stayed up late enough to look at the stars for a while, which was a great way to start off the trip. Skies were completely clear and we even saw several shooting stars that night. Those were the first shooting stars Shawn had ever seen, so he was pretty pumped about that. We could even see the haze of the Milky Way galaxy. We decided to call it a night about 21:45 and headed to the tents so we could get an early start for Uncompahgre on Saturday.

Day 1 mileage: 2 miles

Day 2 - Uncompahgre Peak

My alarm went off at 05:25 and after a night of not-so-good-sleep, I was feeling a mixture of wanting to stay in bed and excitement for the day ahead. Shawn and I used our stoves to heat up water for some oatmeal while Kyle enjoyed his cold, dry CLIF bars. After getting all the necessary gear packed up and putting our food back in the trees, we departed camp about 06:30. At the Wetterhorn/Uncompahgre trail junction, we took the righthand trail toward Uncompahgre. We had about 15 minutes of pretty tough hiking, starting out with a steep, rocky trail. The trail flattened out a little and 10 minutes later we arrived at the pass where we got our first view of Uncompahgre.

First view of Uncompahgre - 06:54

The next portion of the hike was quite enjoyable with pretty steady elevation and good views. This part had several of what my sister and I call PUDs (pointless up and downs). We lost and gained elevation a few times before actually starting to constantly gain vertical footage on the ridges. The trail was well defined and easy to follow, but no more than a single hiking boot wide in a lot of places.

Looking northeast from the trail - 07:37

After another 30 or so minutes we come across a little marmot sanctuary. There was a rock formation that served as a great shelter for these furry little creatures. Just after this formation we started to go up for good. The first portion of the uphill climb was through a ton of soft gravel. It was literally like walking up a sand dune. This is where we gained the first ridge.

View from the top of the first ridge - 07:44

After this we gained another 2 or 3 ridges before we could finally see the entire remaining route to the top of Uncompahgre. This is where we stopped to have a few snacks and rest a little while.

Group shot, trail follows the left side up to the summit - 08:17

Once you follow the east side of the ridge and gain some elevation through a few switchbacks you finally cross over to the west side of Uncompahgre. Here the route has you do some easy scrambling with a definite route to follow.

Shawn and Kyle doing the easy scrambling - 09:24

After the mild scrambling, the rest of the route is easily distinguishable and is fairly easy. The last 100 yards or so is pretty much a walkup.

Kyle and Shawn making the final summit push - 09:40

Once on the summit, we made our way over to the vertical dropoff on the north side. The view from here was amazing. This was probably one of the coolest views I've ever seen.

Kyle looking down the sheer face - 09:45

View of where Kyle was standing in the previous picture - 10:14

Kyle and Shawn trying to see hikers on top of Wetterhorn - 10:18

Shawn, Kyle, and myself at the summit - 10:22

We spent almost an hour at the summit resting, eating, enjoying the views, and chatting with a few others that were there. We met one group that was summitting their 5th 14er on a 4-day trip. We could tell they were pretty worn out with doing that much, and none of us could blame them. Kudos to them on such an awesome accomplishment. After reapplying some sunscreen and chapstick, we were on our way down at 10:40. About 25 minutes from the summit we stopped quickly at a notch in the ridge for some photos.

Looking west from a notch low on the ridge - 11:06

It took us about 40 minutes to get from the summit down to where our trail met up with the trail coming from the Nellie Creek TH. At this point the clouds started to form right on top of us. This is where we decided to start a little competition. The goal of the game was to not be the first one to fall on his a$$. The game was to last as long as it took until someone actually fell. The stakes? The loser had to buy the first round of beers at Coyote Cantina in BV. We figured it probably wouldn't take long for this game to have some winners what with the type of terrain we were descending. In order for it to be a legitimate fall, we must be descending, our a$$ must touch the ground, and scooting down a scramble did not count. If you start to fall and catch yourself before your backside actually touched the ground, that was a save, therefore the game continued.

Clouds starting to form over Uncompahgre - 11:19

View after coming down from one of the several ridges - 11:46

Once we got to the part where it was pretty much sand, we were all extra careful not to fall now that there were stakes to it. We all fully expected someone to bite it, but alas, the game did not end at this point. We were making pretty good time the whole way down all the ridges, but then we came to the open area where all the PUDs were. The following picture reminds me of the default Windows desktop background. Yeah, you know the one I'm talking about.

Starting to get into the PUDs - 11:55

We had to take a couple breaks here and there because of the pointless up and downs. After 9 miles, one starts to get tired of having to go up again on the way back.

Taking a quick break from the PUDs - 12:03

It was at this point that the clouds really started to look threatening. All of them before this point were the super puffy cumulonimbus clouds, but they soon came together and started looking pretty nasty.

Wetterhorn and nasty clouds - 12:17

Soon we came to the junction of the Uncompahgre and Matterhorn trails. The whole day all three of us were contemplating whether or not we wanted to attempt Matterhorn too. By the time we got back to the junction, Kyle and I decided we'd rather get back to BAPA Valley to partake in some wine and rest. Shawn decided he wanted to make an attempt at it, so here is where we split. Kyle and I took one radio while Shawn took the other. We made sure they worked by making fun of Shawn and his salmon cups. They worked. Soon Kyle and I made it back to BAPA Valley, shed our boots and socks, and lounged around a little bit with water and wine.

View of Wetterhorn after making it back to BAPA Valley - 1:04

Not long after we settled in at camp, it started to sprinkle on us. Shawn showed up about 30 minutes later saying he was too beat and concerned about the clouds to continue up Matterhorn. It continued to sprinkle on us off and on until about 16:00. From about 16:30 to 18:30 it decided it wanted to downpour, so all three of us figured that was a good time to take a nap. We didn't see much lightning, but there was some thunder in the distance and it was pretty windy, though not windy enough to keep me from falling asleep.

Just as quickly as the clouds had come, they went. From 18:30 on there was barely a cloud in the sky. At this point we decided to filter some water and cook some dinner. We brought in some spaghetti and pasta sauce for the night and I can without a doubt say this was the best spaghetti I've ever had in my life.

Kyle filtering some water for dinner - 18:35

We finished all the spaghetti and put up the food pack just as it was starting to get dark. We cleaned up the pots and hung out for a while sipping some more from the wine. We stayed up late enough to see some stars (and a few more shooting stars), and called it a night about 21:15.

Day 2 mileage: 11 miles
BAPA Valley to summit: 3 hours, 15 minutes
Summit to BAPA Valley: 2 hours, 25 minutes

Day 3 - Wetterhorn Peak and backpack out

After another night of not-so-good sleep, my alarm went off at 05:25 again. This time though, the feeling of wanting to stay in bed took precedence. This time it was 06:30 by the time we actually got out of our tents and starting moving around. Shawn and I again used our stoves to heat up some water for oatmeal while Kyle again enjoyed his cold, dry CLIF bar. We spent a little time filtering some more water for our ascent to Wetterhorn and then we cleaned up pots and put the food back into the tree.

Morning view of Wett/Matt ridge - 07:21

It was 07:30 when we left BAPA Valley toward Wetterhorn. It was much cooler this morning than it was the day before, so we started out with a few more layers. However, once we got into the sun about 10 minutes later, we warmed up extremely quickly and stopped to delayer. Pretty soon we came upon a decently sized boulder field on the east side of Wetterhorn and going through here was fairly slow. It was pretty enjoyable though because the Columbines were abounding everywhere.

Morning sun on Columbine - 07:53

Taking a quick break in the boulder field - 07:55

Almost an hour after departing BAPA Valley, we made it past the boulder field and had a short burst of easy hiking before gaining the ridge.

After the boulder field just before gaining the ridge - 08:26

After we gained the ridge, we took a quick break to assess the remaining route. From here we still had to cross the yellow rock, which was pretty tough going up. A 45 degree slope with slick dirt doesn't make for easy hiking.

The remainder of the route looked fairly daunting - 08:43

Shawn and Kyle attempted to run up the 45 slope in an effort to not lose elevation on every step. I took my time and having trekking poles made it much easier.

Breaking after the first heat of sprinting, yellow rock still to go - 08:47

After making it past the yellow rock, this is where the class 3 scrambling starts. The easier route stays on the east side of the face while the more difficult scrambling follows the west face. From here we decided to take the more difficult (and fun) route by going left to the west side.

A little ways into the scrambling on the west side - 09:00

The route on the west side wasn't too hard to follow. There were cairns the whole way up, but you had to really pay attention to where they were. Getting from cairn to cairn took some careful routefinding in spots, and loose rock made it somewhat difficult here and there. Pretty soon we made it up to the V-notch. Here we decided to stick to the west side again, allowing for more of the more difficult scrambling.

Shawn approaching the area of the V-notch - 09:10

Kyle following me up toward the V-notch - 09:12

After making it up most of the loose rock scrambling, the route from the west side meets the route from the east side in an open area. This is where the really fun climbing starts. Here we had to negotiate a notch in order to get to a smooth, slanted rock just before the final pitch.

Open area with notch to the left - 09:31

Shawn waiting on Kyle to negotiate the notch - 09:32

After getting through the notch, the view opened up to the west, and it was nothing short of amazing. This is where we're about to begin what is now my favorite section of climbing that I've done to date.

Kyle going down the slanted rock while Shawn starts the final pitch - 09:35

The final pitch was strictly a one-person-at-a-time section with the climber at the top waiting for another climber to come up.

Climber at top gives perspective of pitch - 09:35

Kyle's turn with Shawn celebrating at the top - 09:38

That was the steepest section of the climb, and just after it was a short scramble up to the summit. We reached the summit at 09:45, 2 hours and 15 minutes after we departed BAPA Valley. The views from the summit were spectacular, and the weather was still great.

Looking east to Matterhorn and Uncompahgre from summit - 09:50

Looking north from summit of Wetterhorn - 09:53

Still clear skies, looking south - 10:00

Group summit shot - 10:13

We didn't spend a whole lot of time on the summit this time because we wanted to avoid the afternoon thunderstorms while packing up camp. We had enough time to take in the views, take a few pictures, eat, and chat for a few minutes with the other groups. We departed the summit about 10:25. Going down the steep pitch wasn't nearly as difficult as we were expecting and we could do most of it facing out from the rock. It didn't take us long to get back to the beginning of the class 3 stuff because we took the easy route on the east side this time. Before we knew it we were back down to the crappy yellow rock.

Here we were fully expecting somebody to end the beer game because we knew it was going to be tough to not fall. As hard as it was to descend the slick dirt, nobody ended up taking a fall. There were several saves along they way with a few close calls, but everyone made it down with the winnings still up for grabs. We made it down the ridge and back to the boulder field quite quickly. This is where we came across a marmot barrage. We saw probably 10-15 marmots total, all scurrying around. We sat down for a minute or two and a couple marmots made their way up to Shawn and me. We could tell one of them was pretty domesticated because he got to within two feet of me, checking out my pack for food. It was pretty obvious that he has gotten food from people before.

This little guy wasn't scared of me at all - 11:21

The one fearless marmot even tried to sneak up through the cracks in the rocks to get to my pack.

Sorry little fella, no food for you - 11:22

I still haven't decided whether I think marmots are cute or ugly. We made our way pretty quickly through the boulder field and we were eager to get back to BAPA Valley to pack up camp and get home. This is when the skies started to get pretty dark again.

Skies getting dark over Wetterhorn - 11:42

We made it back to BAPA Valley at 11:55, about an hour and a half after we left the summit. Not bad.

We began packing up camp just as it started to rain. Luckily it was just some light sprinkles and it didn't last very long. The worst part about packing up camp was trying to get everything together without getting bugs in the gear. The flies were absolutely horrendous, swarming everything. I haven't cleaned out Steph's tent yet, but I imagine I'll find several presents in there when I do.

We got everything packed up pretty quickly and departed BAPA Valley right at 12:30. It still wanted to sprinkle on us while on our way out, but it kept doing it off and on with no sustained rain. By this point all three of us were eagerly awaiting someone to bust it in order to get a free round of beer. We got down to the trailhead at 13:10, and (un?) fortunately, no one claimed the prize of losing our beer game. There were several more close calls along the rocky trail as our footsteps were getting more and more lazy. We packed up as quickly as we could to avoid the mosquitoes and flies, but not before one final group shot.

Day 2 mileage: 7 miles
BAPA Valley to summit: 2 hours, 15 minutes
Summit to BAPA Valley: 1 hour, 30 minutes
BAPA Valley to TH: 40 minutes

Alive and not bitten to death at TH - 13:16

We made our way down the 4x4 trail quickly and stopped in Lake City again for some fast grub. It started to rain on us again, but this time it was sustained for a decent amount of the ride home. About 10 miles south of Fairplay we came across an accident which slowed us down a little bit, but not much. It didn't look too terrible, so hopefully everyone was ok. We planned on stopping for food at the Dinky Dairy in Fairplay, but they were closed when we got there. So we decided to hit up a gas station for some easy food. About 5 miles north of Fairplay we see another accident on 285. This one looks much worse though and traffic is stopped both ways for a solid hour. The Flight of Life came in and took off about 20 minutes later. We saw no mention of this on any of the news channels, but we were not expecting good news. Hopefully everyone is ok after that one.

We made it back to Westminster around 20:30 that evening, and I got home to Boulder at 21:00. It was a long drive home after a couple long days of hiking, but it was completely worth it. It was a great weekend with the guys, and the climbing and views were fabulous. Weather cooperated while we were hiking, and we even saw several shooting stars. All in all it was an amazing weekend, and I think I can safely say that Wetterhorn is my favorite climb to date.

Thanks for reading,

Ryan

Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Comments or Questions

Ridge runner

Good thing I wasn‘t there...
2/1/2011 12:24am

... or I would be buying you all the first round of beers. Glad the tent worked out for you. Now give it back! Congrats to all of you, you picked a sweet place to finish up your summer out here. See you in a few.

Engineer Pass... ha!

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