A group of us will be staying at Purgatory resort in August. I was thinking of either doing Wetterhorn or Uncompaghre, but curious if anyone has done the drive from Silverton over engineer pass to either trailhead. Is this feasible to do in the dark or is that crazy?
Experience level is driving up yankee boy basin and driving to Cinnamon pass, both during the day. I’ll have my bronco with me and feel it’s capable, just wondering if the risk is worth it, or if we should just do Sneffels again and park at the outhouse.
Other option would be to get a little bit later start and hope for good weather.
Thanks for any advice, experience, or information you can provide!
Purgatory to Unc or Wetterhorn
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Re: Purgatory to Unc or Wetterhorn
As long as it's a real Bronco and not a Bronco Sport you should be fine. Its a little more difficult than Cinnamon pass but not bad as far as 4x4 roads go. The Mineral Creek cutoff to Ouray is much more difficult. If you get on Engineer Pass from Silverton its not bad at all. Just be warned it takes a while. It will probably be a 3-4 hour drive from Purgatory. It's not some quick shortcut over the mountains because of how slow you are going. You'll probably be averaging 3-5 mph for a lot of the pass unless its a Bronco Raptor and you send it Baja style
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Re: Purgatory to Unc or Wetterhorn
Engineer Pass in the dark driving a Bronco is not crazy. Will be slow, but not dangerous or especially difficult.
How about taking Wetterhorn from the north via owl Creek pass? This is one of my favorite hikes.
More info here:
https://www.14ers.com/php14ers/triprepo ... m=tripmine
How about taking Wetterhorn from the north via owl Creek pass? This is one of my favorite hikes.
More info here:
https://www.14ers.com/php14ers/triprepo ... m=tripmine
Shorter of Breath and One Day Closer . . .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZXKgl8turY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiQJGgZ ... rt_radio=1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZXKgl8turY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiQJGgZ ... rt_radio=1
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Re: Purgatory to Unc or Wetterhorn
Thanks for the replies. It’s a real Bronco (Badlands) on 35s. If it isn’t much different than Cinnamon, then I think it would be fine.
The other trailhead looks very interesting, but this isn’t the trip for that. We will be coming from sea level as well with a couple of days fishing, etc around Purgatory to acclimate. A 14mile round trip would crush them, even though we are in good shape.
The other trailhead looks very interesting, but this isn’t the trip for that. We will be coming from sea level as well with a couple of days fishing, etc around Purgatory to acclimate. A 14mile round trip would crush them, even though we are in good shape.
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Re: Purgatory to Unc or Wetterhorn
I respect the opinion of the other people that replied, but personally I would not drive over Engineer pass in the dark under any circumstances. Seeing the road (and edges of the road) in the dark with your headlights bouncing all over will not be easy. I think it is one of the more technical and potentially dangerous 4WD passes in the state. I'll leave it with you to do the research of how long you think it will take to get over the pass in the dark, but I believe you are looking at several hours. Definitely over 2 hours and very likely over 3 hours. If I were you'd I'd simply drive from Purgatory to Lake City on the paved roads. That will be a 3.5 hour drive (or so) but might actually be faster than serious 4WD Engineer pass in the dark. I'd leave the evening before your climb and drive to Lake City. Stay in a hotel there, or drive the short distance to the camp sites that are just west of Lake City on Country Road 20 at the Nellie Creek turn off. They are nice and you'll get a better night of sleep. you can easily access the trailhead for either Uncom. or Wetterhorn from there and you'll be less likely to drive over a cliff. I've done both peaks - both are great, but Wetterhorn is really fun if you want a little bit of class 3 scrambling. Drive over Engineer pass on the way home...when it is light.