Route Description

From Telluride, drive south on Colorado 145 to Lizard Head Pass. Continue south for 5.1 miles and turn right onto Forest Road (FR) 535. Drive 4.1 miles on the 2WD dirt road to a large meadow and junction. Stay straight on 535 and pass the Kilpacker road intersection at 5 miles. Drive another 2 miles (7 total from CO 145) to reach the Navajo Lake trailhead entrance on the right. Turn right and continue for 0.1 mile into trailhead parking area.

Details:

From the Silver Pick Basin Trailhead:
Follow the Silver Pick Basin Approach to Rock of Ages saddle. On the Rock of Ages saddle, Mt. Wilson and El Diente Peak come into view to the south - Photo #1 and Photo #2. Follow the trail as it descends into Navajo Basin. Descend approximately 800' to reach the center of the basin. Hike west, on the main trail through basin, down to about 12,100’ where you can see the North Slope couloir off to your left (south) - Photo #5.

From the Navajo Basin Trailhead:
Follow the Navajo Basin Approach toward the upper (east) end of Navajo Basin. Near 12,000’, the North Slope route is off to the right - Photo #3 and Photo #4.

Taken near 12,100’ on the Navajo trail, Photo #5 and Photo #6 are direct views of El Diente’s North Slope route. The route up the North Slope uses a long couloir that ends just below the ridge - Photo #7. The upper half of the couloir becomes steeper and may be easiest to climb with good snow. Without snow, rockfall danger is high in the couloir. From the center of the basin, hike south toward the bottom of the couloir and up on to the rock/snow apron at the base. Hike up Difficult Class 2 terrain to reach the open area below the couloir - Photo #8. Above 12,500’, the terrain gets slightly steeper and the couloir above becomes quite obvious - Photo #9. This is a good area to strap on the crampons and take out the axe (both recommended when the couloir has snow).

Continue climbing to over 13,000’, just below the entry of the couloir. The terrain continues to get steeper. Above 13,200’, the couloir finally steepens to a sustained pitch where rock-fall danger is high. With snow, crampons are strongly recommended. Keep climbing (Photo #11, Photo #12 and Photo #13) until you are just a couple of hundred feet below the large rock face (headwall) above the top of the couloir - Photo #14. Just below the headwall at 13,600’, turn right (west) to see a rock/snow ramp that leads to the summit ridge - Photo #15. Hike over to the ramp and scramble to the top (Photo #17) to a point where you can see the summit off to the west - Photo #18. Turn left and rock-hop up to a small saddle on the ridge crest - Photo #19.

From the saddle, the easiest route goes around to the south side of the ridge- not along the ridge crest. Hike and then scramble around the south side of the ridge on lots of stacked, gray rock - Photo #20. There should be a cairn that marks the way around. Soon you can see much of the remaining route along then south side of the ridge - Photo #21. Photo #22 looks back on the initial terrain. After crossing the gray rock, the route is about 100’ below the ridge crest and the “Organ Pipes” (a section of tall, smooth rocks) are up to your right - Photo #23. Scramble across mostly-solid rock as you pass directly under the “Organ Pipes.” If you take the easiest way across, you will likely encounter a set of parallel rocks that almost form a chimney - Photo #24. Climb through this area and continue toward the base of a small gully that leads back up to the ridge - Photo #25. It is important that you don’t downclimb too far – just enough to be at the base of the pipes. Enter the small gully about 100’ below the ridge and turn right to begin your ascent back to the top - Photo #26. The gully has some loose rock and dirt, but it’s not too steep - Photo #27 and Photo #28. Reach the top of the gully at a small notch on the ridge crest. From here, there is a great view back along the ridge - Photo #29.

Turn left (west) to see the next section of the climb, along the north side of the ridge - Photo #30. Immediately climb up onto some rocks and the route across the north side becomes more obvious - Photo #31. The next task is to scramble along the side of the ridge to reach the small notch seen in Photo #31. Drop down a bit and scramble below some rock walls on your left - Photo #32. Some of the rock is loose here and snow can make things a bit tricky. Continue to easier terrain just below the pitch leading up to the notch - Photo #33. Climb up into the notch. Photo #34 looks back on the route and the entire ridge to Mt. Wilson.

From the notch, look south to see the summit above - Photo #35. Drop down from the notch into a dirt gully that leads up toward the left side of the summit (Photo #36), or scramble onto the rocks a bit to the left. Either way, your goal is to gain the summit ridge near the top of what’s seen in Photo #36. After reaching the top (Photo #37), turn right and scramble over the pointed rocks seen in Photo #36 and over to the true summit - Photo #38. From the summit, Photo #39 looks west and Photo #40 looks northeast to Wilson Peak.