February 09, 2015
~13.7 Miles, ~5,700 Gain
TH: Cross Mountain TH 2WD (~6.5 hours from Denver)

With a fantastic forecast along with minimal avalanche danger, a prime opportunity to try the Wilson-Diente traverse arose. A good poker was dealt; it was time to bet high. I need a good leg stretcher anyhow.

Partners on a Monday can be tricky but I manged to rope in Matt who roped in Jason. Carpooling down the night before, we slept at the trailhead and planned to start hiking at 4:00 AM. The night was short but we managed to start hiking at our target time. The Cross Mountain trail was extremely well packed and we made a quick study of the first 1.7 miles. Thanks to Kevin Baker for e-mailing me their GPX as we were able to locate their trench. Although we still had to trail break beyond the Cross Mountain Trail, their trench made the navigation easier towards Slate Creek. Thanks Kevin!

Unfortunately, equipment difficulties were causing Jason some problems once we got off the Cross Mountain trail. After a quick discussion, Jason decided to hang back, work out his problems and allow Matt and I a chance to do the traverse. What a good sport.

The path towards Slate Creek was a tricky ski. Matt had been debating on bringing skis but went with snowshoes and was happy with his choice. I went with skis but at times, I struggled with steep hills and hidden downed timber. Not the easiest skiing while wearing Mountaineering boots.

As we neared treeline, the snow consolidated immensely. Our path below the southwest face of Cross Mountain would have been a death trap in normal winter conditions as we passed through avalanche prone slopes where trees had been toppled over.

One short steep icy section of snow caused me some trouble with my skis as my skins failed to grip the snow. I booted up the short distance and returned to skinning; Matt laughed at my struggle.

First light in upper Slate Creek Basin.

Gladstone Peak towered over us as the sun rose. Positioning in the upper basin was remarkable. We stashed our skis and snowshoes at ~12,400 and climbed towards Mt. Wilson's northeast couloir, another death trap in normal winter conditions. Well consolidated powder led us upwards. To conserve energy and expedite our ascent, I stuck to rock ribs along the left side of the couloir.

Sunrise on Gladstone.

Sunrise over Cross Mountain.

Mt Wilson and its Northeast couloir.

Gladstone Peak

Upper NE couloir

Since we didn't stay in the couloir proper, we had a steep snow traverse to reach the top of the couloir at the saddle just below Mt. Wilson's south ridge. Once we gained the saddle, it was a short, loose, class 3 scramble to the summit. The ease of technical difficulty surprised us both as we topped out at 9:30 AM. Mt. Wilson's south ridge is substantially easier than the standard route.

Steep traverse to gain the top of couloir.

Topping out of Wilson's NE couloir.

First view of El Diente

El Diente from the summit.

Our cutoff time for not attempting the traverse was 10:00 AM which we luckily made. It had been seven years since I climbed Mt. Wilson, and I remembered the 4th class move on the north ridge being rather spicy. Since we were wearing crampons and had the rope, I decided I wanted a quick belay through that section.

Mt. Wilson summit pano.

Mt. Wilson's north ridge (standard route)

The crux wasn't as difficult as I remembered but was still exposed and tricky. We could have done without the rope but it was good insurance. Now, the traverse had begun. Starting westward, we bypassed some steep snowy sections on the south side of the ridge before gaining the ridge proper.

Steep snow crossing at the start of the traverse.

Matt on an interesting down-climb at the start.

Gaining the exposed ridge (Photo by Matt)

Interesting scrambling with snow led us to the narrow exposed ridge section of the traverse. A slight breeze, uneasy walking with snow and crampons, I have no shame in admitting I crawled some sections of the exposed ridge. At last, we reached the "crux" of the traverse which was the down-climb from the narrow ridge to the Wilson-ED saddle.
Matt traversing.

Zoom of some traversing.

Exposed ridge crest.

Southern exposure was at our advantage as most of the class 4 scrambling to the saddle was dry with only a few icy spots. The normal summer class 3 scramble, further east and lower, was snow covered and wasn't an option. After reaching the saddle, we took a quick break and then enjoyed an easy section of ridge which led us to the next obstacle, the non-organ pipe towers. These towers were bypassed on snowy ledges on the south side of the ridge.

Almost a quarter of the way there.

Class 3 down-climbing to the saddle.

Climbing up the class 4 section (taken on the way back) Photo by Matt.

Climbing to easier section of ridge.

Easier section of ridge.

About ½ way looking at El Diente.

Matt bypassing the first set of towers.

Softening up, the snow drained our energy with deep somewhat slushy steps. The Organ Pipes, the next set of towers again bypassed on the south side, led us to the base of the final scramble up El Diente. A dry couloir led us to the ridge.

Final couloir to El Diente's ridge.

Looking at the summer route on El Diente.

We followed the summer route up El Diente along the north side of the ridge where the snow was fluffy but acceptably consolidated. Exposed ledges with careful stepping guided us to the summit where we arrived at 12:35 PM. We're only halfway there!

Matt traversing the north side of El Diente.

Fantastic views expanded around us and our break was short. The traverse back was uneventful but tiring as the snow had softened up even more, thus consuming more energy. Knowing what to expect, we were able to return across the traverse in just over two hours.

Traversing back below the Organ Pipes.

Looking down the class 4 section near the saddle on the way back.

Instead of climbing back up and over Mt. Wilson we were able to descend a couloir from the base of Mt. Wilson's north ridge which intercepted Wilson's NE couloir. Excellent snow led us back to our ski/snowshoe stash.

Since Matt was on snowshoes, we decided to meet back at the car. For me, the skiing wasn't great but I was able to make decent time back to the car. The climb out of Slate Creek back to the Cross Mountain trail was disheartening. I arrived back at the car at 5:20 PM.

Not all was lost with Jason's equipment slowdowns. Fortunately, he was able to boot/ski our trench and was able to summit Mt. Wilson just a little while after we did. It was almost a perfect day except for being stopped and ticketed by Telluride's finest on our drive home. That's ok, I'll never purchase anything again in Telluride.

Route Topos:
Route up Mt. Wilson.

Approximate traverse line as seen from Mt. Wilson.

Class 4 down-climb to the saddle.

Route to El Diente.

Route up El Diente's north side.

Route around Organ Pipes and up El Diente.

Route Map.