7/4/2024 Route: Trinities Traverse Posted On: 7/7/2024, By: Justin9 Info: Approached via Vestal Basin. No snow and all clear on all three of the Trinities. Continued on Kodiak high route over peak 7/8 saddle and Levathian pass to reach camp below Jagged. All basins are clear of snow and passable. |
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7/29/2023 Route: Trinity Traverse Posted On: 7/31/2023, By: VeraUndertow Info: I climbed Vestal and The Kurzhorn first, but looked like you could gain the West Trinity saddle with only a little low angle snow, before you hit the scree slope. The scrambling on all 3 of these peaks was an absolute blast, some of the best I've done in Colorado. No snow to note on route, it took me one hour from Kurzhorn to West Trinity summit, one hour to Trinity summit, 40 minutes to East Trinity summit and 25 minutes to the scree/choss slope to drop back into upper Vestal basin. These peaks seem to be solid scrambling on the west sides and slightly looser and easier climbing on the east sides, definitely recommend going West to East on them. |
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7/4/2023 Route: Traverse West to East Posted On: 7/5/2023, By: jahselassie Info: The slope leading up to West Trinity is holding snow. Once on the ridge its snow free until the couloir between Middle and East Trinity. The descent off of East Trinity is holding snow between E Trinity and Needle Mountain Peak 3. |
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9/12/2022 Route: trinity traverse Posted On: 9/14/2022, By: zootloopz Info: good fun. trinity traverse via the north face route on west trinity. |
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7/3/2022 Route: W -> T -> E Traverse Posted On: 7/8/2022, By: TravelingMatt Info: Dry. Fun. The way is mostly obvious if you have a decent amount of experience in the San Juans, although you have a choice of Class 4 routes up Middle Trinity. I went up two separate sections of what I'd call 4, each about 10-15' high; not sure my choices were the easiest or "standard" route. Didn't find the putative trail that leaves upper Vestal Basin to the Vestal/West Trinity col but I didn't need it -- I ascended on grassy slabs up the west side of the V/WT basin until reaching the scree ocean in the basin itself. Least enjoyable part of the day is the willow-bashing to get back down to upper Vestal Basin. |
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3/19/2022 Route: South couloir via Tenmile Posted On: 3/20/2022, By: blazintoes Info: Mike and I set up camp .5 miles from Elk Park Friday afternoon then I walked 3 more miles to find a good snowbridge just before Garfield Peak to cross the Animas. We launched at 0400 on Saturday and crossed the snowbridge then stomped up Tenmile. At first we were in the creek bed but that was tedious so we veered left. Eventually we found a climbers trail and a marked tree. The going was tough as you don't gain much altitude but fight with deadfall. The snow was stable and the slopes shallow so we didn't need avy gear. We got to a nice snow ramp at 11,000 that aims right toward Balsam Lake. We walked across the frozen lake and studied the next approach while enamored with the beautiful snowy Peak 6 on our right and barren Arrow/Vestal left. We ascended another ramp all the way to the Trinity's south Couloir, which seemed so far away. We switched to crampons and slowly climbed the warming snow. We found one old wet avy but the conditions were good. The south col ascends 1800' and has 2 rock steps. There was some bare rock at 12,200. Finally we got behind a rock buttress at 12,400, turned left and climbed a thin 40 degree slope to the upper difficulties. Mike called it a 7 step phase and we chose to go right after the 40 degree slope to an even steeper face. We both felt it was 50 degrees and the snow was again thin. Neither wanted to descend step 6. We finally summit at 1430 and weren't as excited as we thought we'd be but we celebrate anyhow! The views are pretty amazing up here! We chose to descend directly east off the summit and faced in during the first 100'. Mike found a small chimney and coached me down because it reminded me of our Jagged descent. It's scary. Anyway I nail it and shout, hey that's the way Jagged was supposed to go. Redemption! Yippie! I don't think Mike is scared of anything. The snow on the descent was super awesome and after the best glissade on the planet we were off the mountain in 30 minutes. I love winter climbing. We got back to our snowshoes and the real torture began. It was warm all day and then a nice cloud layer covered the sun which was nice because we didn't fry and die but it trapped in the heat. The snow back down Tenmile was terrible and we postholed the entire way. Also there is more up than down on the deproach. We finally get to the creek and the snow is so soft we both dunked in and got wet feet. By the time we got to our snowbridge, it melted. Mike found a huge log and I swear he's Hercules because he picked it up and tossed it then we rolled it across. He placed it perfectly across the Animas and we got across. I had a dream the night before that I fell in the river and bounced down. Thankfully my dream never came true. By 2100 we were back safe on the tracks and had 3 miles back to camp. I slowed way down and felt immense sleep because I've never had to be vigilant for that long on any winter peak. Mikes headlamp slowly disappears and I decide to nap by some warm trees. I made it back to camp by 2300, do some minor housekeeping and we are asleep by midnight for a 0500 wake up because we have to be back to the cars on Sunday by 0922 when Spring begins. We're back by 0800, say our goodbyes and Sebastian tells me he's going to retire so now I'm going to auction his Fanny pack for $1,000,000 because it's his mountain climbing home so clearly it's worth a lot. |
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8/31/2021 Route: Trinity Traverse from Vestal Basin Posted On: 9/3/2021, By: JasonKline Info: Entire route from Vestal Basin is free of snow and ice. It's starting to get chilly at night. The Colorado Trail is in great shape, but there's decent deadfall from the Colorado Trail to Vestal Basin. |
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8/27/2021 Route: Trinity Traverse Posted On: 8/29/2021, By: desertdog Info: We camped in Vestal basin. It took longer than expected to get to West Trinity. We took the Vestal climbers trail then talus hoped to West Trinity. It may be better to continue on the Vestal Basin trail then bushwhack. The low point seems to be the best way to gain the ridge between West Trinity and Vestal. It was loose. From here it was scrambling to the summit of West Trinity. Plenty of cairns to guide you up Middle Trinity. I was a bit disheartened to see the gully up East Trinity, but it wasn't bad at all. The summit register on West is broken and we couldn't find one on Middle, but didn't look very hard. There is one on East. We did Arrow the next day and then hiked out. |
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10/25/2020 Route: Traverse Posted On: 10/26/2020, By: angry Info: Traverse from West *was* dry. Significant snowfall has changed conditions. |
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6/27/2018 Route: Trinity Traverse Posted On: 6/28/2018, By: illusion7il Info: All clear. Very smokey in the afternoon. |
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5/27/2018 Route: traverse Posted On: 5/28/2018, By: tmud Info: the west gully of East T is completely covered in snow. West and Middle are dry. Had to bail at the Middle/East saddle down a steep snow filled col. Axe and crampons were necessary. Photos below... https://www.flickr.com/photos/92276249@N07/albums/72157697402176335 |
