9/19/2024 Route: From Wetterhorn Basin Posted On: 9/20/2024, By: cloudkicker Info: Snuck in an after work ascent of Fortress yesterday. I used JQs TR and GPX and for the most part it got me to the summit and back without troubles. Started a little before 4pm from the upper Wetterhorn Basin TH and ended a little before 8pm. Some loose spots but similar in difficulty overall to Precipice. The scramble moves are slightly more difficult on F than on P. Campsites from the Owl Creek Pass turnoff were roughly 60% full at 330ish but more like 90% at 8ish, on a Thursday night. The Courthouse Mtn TH camping area was a total zoo. Youll have better luck finding a site at or past the creek crossing. Owl Creek Pass aspens were roughly 10-20% turned. Most still fully green. |
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8/9/2023 Route: Wetterhorn basin TH Posted On: 8/10/2023, By: SnowAlien Info: Parked @10.4k, just before the road difficulties and about 1.5 mi below the upper 4WD TH. Several cars and vans parked at the same spot, but of course I saw a Subaru at the upper TH. The route posted by 13er Retriever was on point (just the lower part following the rock glacier wasn't pleasant). The line through the cliffs is fairly obvious, most of the climbing is on steep grass. The route gets a bit loose in the last 600 ft below the summit, but there's a faint trail near the ridge. Great summit views and register is in good shape. On the return, I was in exploratory mood and decided to take a look at Furthermore descent route, hoping that it would be less steep. Route finding was tricky - inviting green grass would terminate in loose gullies. It went, but I would not recommend it. Wildflowers below Redcliff were a consolation prize. |
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9/18/2021 Route: West Ridge from West Fork Cimarron Posted On: 9/27/2021, By: supranihilest Info: From Wetterhorn Basin trailhead go south for approximately a mile to an obvious flood wash (huge stones and gray, chalky rock washed across the valley). Head up the drainage. When it splits take the left split, and scramble up the steep slope above, staying close to the right side of the drainage. Above you will be a short, broken Class 3 section that's maybe 20-30 feet tall. Scramble up this and then hike the remainder to the summit by going straight up. Near the summit there's a very short, exposed catwalk-like section on basically tractionless chalk rock, it's only Class 2 but felt a bit uncomfortable. Return the way you came making absolutely sure to descend the correct drainage. The others all looked nearly vertical and of course horrendously loose. |
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10/10/2020 Route: West Slopes Posted On: 10/10/2020, By: Flyingfish Info: As advertised the Cimmaron's are loose and iffy route finding can become not fun real fast. Tried to ascend one or two gullies too far west and ran into loose class 4+ and backtracked to a nice class 3 gully. The upper section is loose and a lot steeper than it appears but it snow free. |
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9/13/2020 Route: West Ridge Posted On: 9/13/2020, By: supranihilest Info: I didn't summit but the entire route is melted out. Make sure to ascend the correct drainage. It's hard to tell which one is correct from the trail, and I took the one just south of the correct one while coming from Redcliff; a GPX will help determine which is correct. If you get in the wrong one the terrain quickly becomes super loose, huge cliffs, sometimes waterfalls, darn near impossible to cross between them except down in the forest. I got to about 12,200 which is near the elevation of the cliffs you scramble through and couldn't find a safe way to cross to the other drainage (exposed, powdery, crumbly rock between me and it) so make sure you get on the right one! |
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7/4/2020 Route: West Slopes Posted On: 7/4/2020, By: Flyingfish Info: Attempted to find and take Furthermore's bypass to no avail that or I have less tolerance for loose choss. Some snow in the gullies beneath Redcliff and Fortress appears to be essentially dry. No summit though. |
