Uncompahgre Peak Trip Report 08/05/2014

Report Type	Full
Peak(s)	Uncompahgre Peak - 14,318 feet Wetterhorn Peak - 14,021 feet
Date Posted	08/05/2014
Modified	08/06/2014
Date Climbed	08/02/2014
Author	rohit
Additional Members	michaelgrundy

Long Day at Uncompahgre to Wetterhorn Peak
My buddy Michael Grundy and I were decided to hike the Uncompahgre Peak and Wetterhorn Peak combo from Matterhorn Creek TH which was our longest hike so far. We left Denver 230PM and had our dinner at Gunnison's McDonald. We reached the TH around 730PM where we met Richard A Ernst who was there to hike Wetterhorn Peak. We talked sometime about the peaks and timing, soon we went to bed for early wake up. The plan was to hike Uncompahgre Peak first and come back to hike up Wetterhorn Peak. The alarm rang at 2:30AM, we got up and hit the trail by 3:00AM. The trail finding at night was not bad here, since we knew, we had to take right whenever there was trail junction until you will meet the standard trail to Uncompahgre Peak. The standard trail up Uncompahgre was in great shape. We saw the first light from below the ridge. First Light below the Uncompahgre Ridge We tried to get the sunrise from the summit, but it didn't happen this time either. We saw the sunrise from the ridge and missed it by 15 mins. Dang it, missed it. Sunrise from the ridge After viewing the sunrise, we kept going up and reached the summit around 630AM. The summit was so cold that we need to put glove, hat, and jacket. It was really cold. Summit View The next destination for the day...the Wetterhorn Peak from the summit. The destination for the day - Wetterhorn Park from Summit Let's have the summit shot here: Summit Shot - Picture by Mike We enjoyed the summit for 30 mins and in no time, we're ready to get down. Getting down from the summit - Picture by Mike To get to the base of Uncompahgre or back was quite a trek across wet, muddy terrain, but not hard. The trail was muddy and wet...but avoidable We had a long day ahead and our next destination was visible from every where. We kept looking at it at the background and kept walking. The morning was beautiful, and walking on the morning sun was great. Way to Wetterhorn Peak - Picture by Mike We came to the standard route junction to Wetterhorn Peak at 9:00AM. We refueled ourselves and headed up. We met Richard A Ernst along the way at 9:17AM who just finished the Wetterhorn. We knew that we're tired, but we're determined to finish this peak too. Weather holding good so far. We kept our head down and making our way up. The view was awesome along the way. The destination was coming near as we hike up. The mountain looked gigantic as you move toward it. The summit from the ridge After we done the easy trail hike up, the real class three came on the picture. The route finding was not issue here, and you can find plentiful of cranes on the trail. Mike making his way near to the summit We like to scramble and rock hopping class 3/4 and look for those all the time. The last slab of the trail was very fun scramble. I didn't realize to take picture of it, but got a picture from the friend Richard. It was certainly not exposed, but fun to hike up. For the first time, I was using my GoPro Hero 3+ camera to take some videos along the way up. At the mid section of the slab, Mike took the video of me scrambling up the last section of the slab. The slab below the summit - class 3(Picture by Richard) We summited the Wetterhorn Peak at 10:37AM. It was great feeling that we did two summit around 7 hours of moving time. We enjoyed the surrounding view from the summit. The ridge line toward Matterhorn Peak and Uncompahgre Peak at the background The weather getting bad while developing the cloud around us. We took our lunch, and decided to get down as soon as possible. Weather didn't look great..need to head down We took our summit shot and getting ready to head down. Summit shot at Wetterhorn Peak We left the summit around 11:30AM. We thought we will rain down, but weather kept holding while hike for us and we're being lucky once again. Finally, we reached to our truck around 12:30PM. We made down pretty quick. We left the TH right after we changed our dress and we're in Denver around 5:30PM. All in all, it was great hike, the view was awesome, the hike/walk to the valley was mellow. Our total moving time was 8 hrs 30 mins and we took half hour break on each summit. Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Long Day at Uncompahgre to Wetterhorn Peak

My buddy Michael Grundy and I were decided to hike the Uncompahgre Peak and Wetterhorn Peak combo from Matterhorn Creek TH which was our longest hike so far. We left Denver 230PM and had our dinner at Gunnison's McDonald. We reached the TH around 730PM where we met Richard A Ernst who was there to hike Wetterhorn Peak. We talked sometime about the peaks and timing, soon we went to bed for early wake up. The plan was to hike Uncompahgre Peak first and come back to hike up Wetterhorn Peak.

The alarm rang at 2:30AM, we got up and hit the trail by 3:00AM. The trail finding at night was not bad here, since we knew, we had to take right whenever there was trail junction until you will meet the standard trail to Uncompahgre Peak. The standard trail up Uncompahgre was in great shape. We saw the first light from below the ridge.

We tried to get the sunrise from the summit, but it didn't happen this time either. We saw the sunrise from the ridge and missed it by 15 mins. Dang it, missed it.

After viewing the sunrise, we kept going up and reached the summit around 630AM. The summit was so cold that we need to put glove, hat, and jacket. It was really cold.

The next destination for the day...the Wetterhorn Peak from the summit.

The destination for the day - Wetterhorn Park from Summit

Let's have the summit shot here:

We enjoyed the summit for 30 mins and in no time, we're ready to get down.

Getting down from the summit - Picture by Mike

To get to the base of Uncompahgre or back was quite a trek across wet, muddy terrain, but not hard.

The trail was muddy and wet...but avoidable

We had a long day ahead and our next destination was visible from every where. We kept looking at it at the background and kept walking. The morning was beautiful, and walking on the morning sun was great.

Way to Wetterhorn Peak - Picture by Mike

We came to the standard route junction to Wetterhorn Peak at 9:00AM. We refueled ourselves and headed up. We met Richard A Ernst along the way at 9:17AM who just finished the Wetterhorn. We knew that we're tired, but we're determined to finish this peak too. Weather holding good so far. We kept our head down and making our way up. The view was awesome along the way. The destination was coming near as we hike up. The mountain looked gigantic as you move toward it.

After we done the easy trail hike up, the real class three came on the picture. The route finding was not issue here, and you can find plentiful of cranes on the trail.

We like to scramble and rock hopping class 3/4 and look for those all the time. The last slab of the trail was very fun scramble. I didn't realize to take picture of it, but got a picture from the friend Richard. It was certainly not exposed, but fun to hike up. For the first time, I was using my GoPro Hero 3+ camera to take some videos along the way up. At the mid section of the slab, Mike took the video of me scrambling up the last section of the slab.

The slab below the summit - class 3(Picture by Richard)

We summited the Wetterhorn Peak at 10:37AM. It was great feeling that we did two summit around 7 hours of moving time. We enjoyed the surrounding view from the summit.

The ridge line toward Matterhorn Peak and Uncompahgre Peak at the background

The weather getting bad while developing the cloud around us. We took our lunch, and decided to get down as soon as possible.

Weather didn't look great..need to head down

We took our summit shot and getting ready to head down.

We left the summit around 11:30AM. We thought we will rain down, but weather kept holding while hike for us and we're being lucky once again. Finally, we reached to our truck around 12:30PM. We made down pretty quick. We left the TH right after we changed our dress and we're in Denver around 5:30PM. All in all, it was great hike, the view was awesome, the hike/walk to the valley was mellow. Our total moving time was 8 hrs 30 mins and we took half hour break on each summit.

Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Comments or Questions

Rcizzle

Crushed it!
8/7/2014 3:08am

Hat tip to the pictures, they're pretty solid.

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