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Xavier and my son, Jason joined me for the long drive from Boulder to Lake City on Sunday afternoon. We slept in one of the fine cabins at Elkhorn RV (the owner, Floyd is a fine host). We started down the dirt road to the Matterhorn TH at 7 AM, but a tire sidewall cut from a large sharp rock forced us back to Lake City in search of a replacement. Finally, we made it back to the Matterhorn TH at 11 AM. Having filled our ration of rough road challenges for the day, we parked at the 2WD TH and hiked up the .7 miles to the 4WD TH.
dswink, Xavier and Jason
The weather was beautiful and our spirits lifted as we hiked up the moderate trails.
Easy approach trail
We encountered many bold and curious marmots in the boulder fields.
Bold marmot
Soon we were passing the dramatic Matterhorn Peak.
Matterhorn Peak
And our objective, Wetterhorn Peak came into view at the end of the connecting ridge to Matterhorn.
Wetterhorn Peak
We had a fine view of Uncompahgre to the north from our trail.
Uncompahgre Peak
After crossing a few small snowfields with no postholing, we gained the ridge to Wetterhorn.
On Wetterhorn Peak ridge
Shortly, we started into easy class 3 climbing.
dswink at the beginning of class 3
Although some sections had exposure, the climbing was relatively easy going up giant steps in solid rock.
Jason in exposed section
dswink and Jason nearing the summit
We made the summit at 1:45 PM. Here are the obligatory summit shots with Uncompahgre in the background.
Xavier on the summit of Wetterhorn
when did that kid get so tall?
Great view for summit snacking
We enjoyed fabulous San Juan views while packing in some energy food for the descent. The descent of the class 3 section looked scary at first because of the steep angle and all of the loose pebbles were now visible on the steps, but concentrating on only the three or four feet below me made finding solid foot and handholds easy and soon we were back on the lower ridge. The hike back down to the car went smoothly and at 3:30 PM we were on the road back to Lake City.
Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):
Thanks for the kudo. The conditions are very nice right now. Have fun!
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