Route Description

From Lake City, turn west onto Second street. Drive 0.1 miles and turn left onto the Henson Creek road. This is the Alpine Loop Scenic Byway. Start measuring mileage from here. At 5 miles, pass the Nellie Creek trailhead sign. At 8.8 miles, there is a junction. Turn right and follow the sign for North Henson Road. This new road is rougher than the Henson Creek road but can still be driven by most good-clearance cars. At 10.8 miles, there is another junction with a sign that indicates the Matterhorn Creek trailhead is ahead. Park here if you don't have a high-clearance 4WD vehicle or turn right and continue on a rough 4WD road to the trailhead and parking area at 11.4 miles.

Details:

From the upper trailhead, follow the trail north up the hill and past a gate. Hike nearly 3/4 of a mile to an open area where the trail turns right and climbs a hillside before continuing north again at 11,300'. You can see the top of Wetterhorn from here. Follow the trail along the hillside and through some remaining forest. Leave the trees at 11,600' and continue north on the solid trail. Stay on the main trail and continue north and then northeast a bit before turning left near 12,000' on the trail to Wetterhorn. Photo #1 and Photo #2 show the area.

Follow the trail northwest toward the center of the basin. Drop down once or twice before heading north up through rocks near 12,600'. Photo #3 is the view from this area. Once you are above the streams (on the left), hike west across the grass and look for the trail that climbs up to the end of Wetterhorn's southeast ridge. It is far left of the yellow-colored saddle immediately left of Wetterhorn. Before reaching the saddle, Photo #4 is a view of Wetterhorn. Follow the trail to the saddle just right (northwest) of Point 13,117'.

Photo #5 looks up at the route along the ridge. Turn right and hike up to some rocks near 13,200'. Climb through the rocks and over to another small saddle near 13,300'. Hike up scree, over the yellow dirt and small rocks, to reach the larger rocks that start the upper ridge - Photo #6. The route now becomes more difficult. Follow a small, broken trail that weaves up through the rocks on the left side of the ridge. You will soon be able to see the next 400' of rocky terrain that leads up to the "Prow" - Photo #7. The Prow is a tower that looks like a large fin - it is just below the summit. Climb up through the rocks and look for cairns plus trail segments. The route gradually climbs towards the Prow by staying below the ridge crest. There are a few spots where your chosen route may lead you between some large rocks - requiring some brief climbing. One area in particular is a rock rib blocking easy passage - Photo #8. Continue to the rib and it's obvious that there's no "easy" way to the other side. To bypass this obstacle, turn right and climb a small gully, along the rib, toward the ridge - Photo #9. At the top of the gully (Photo #10), you have a couple of options:

1) Locate a "V" notch on the left that allows passage through the rib. Drop down the other side of the notch into the top of another small gully (Photo #11) and continue toward the Prow - Photo #12.

  OR

2) Climb up through the rocks show in Photo #9 and Photo #10 to reach the crest of the ridge. Once on the ridge, turn left and continue toward the Prow. Photo #13 looks back down on the route.

Near 13,800', walk past the right side of the Prow (Photo #14) to reach an open area where you can look across the East Face. Beyond the Prow, there are two notches that provide access to the west side - Photo #15. Do not climb through the one next to the Prow - look for the other notch farther to the right (Photo #16). When this photo was taken, there was a cairn in the notch. Climb through the notch and briefly down an angled slab. Immediately turn right to find the route up to the summit. You must climb over 100' of Class 3 rock to reach the summit. The most direct way is to climb the gully that leads straight up to the summit. Another way is to climb this gully for a bit, traverse left, and follow some cairns up through the rocks to reach the northwest end of the summit. Either way, the rock is steep but relatively stable. Photo #17 looks down on the route but shows almost all of the final pitch. Photo #18 was taken near 13,940', and shows the upper half of the pitch. From the top, Photo #19 shows the Prow and Southeast Ridge. Photo #20 looks northeast from the summit.