Ad astra per alpine, I believe the saying goes.
Red Peak, Cancer, Capricorn, Gemini Twins, Taurus, Scorpio, Libra, Sagittarius, Aries, Mount Silverthorne, and Zodiac View
Start TH: Buffalo Mtn
End TH: Gore Creek
Stats: 16.5 mi/6K ft/15 hrs/5.6 (YDS)
Gear: Single rack/70 m twin, webbing/quick links. Specifically, C4s 0.2-1 used for both backing up raps and Scorpio. Less weight would have been fantastic.
Rappels: 5-8 to 90 ft.
Partner: Boggyb
There isn't much I can contribute as far as new beta goes, but a route of this quality deserves a little action once in awhile. It is quite possibly one of the top three alpine traverses at the grade in Colorado. Of the other two, one is located in RMNP and the other I'm probably confusing with California or Wyoming.
The Zodiac Traverse includes the nine named towers from Cancer to Aries (let's assume Listsofjohn is wrong on the order). Since a precedent was set, however, we had to start with a peak and end with a peak, thus Red to Silverthorne though it adds significantly more talus hopping and throws a wrench in the day trip logistics. We're okay with that. Since Silverthorne was added, Zodiac View seemed a logical end.
The Zodiac Spires and Zodiac View:
Priority numero uno was hit Red as early as possible and figure out the descent later. This is best done via the Buffalo Mountain trailhead. In retrospect, the easiest descent and shuttle would have been to Willowbrook Road (no overnight parking), skipping out on Zodiac View. But the Gore Creek trail has a couple graves along it and Boggy and I are trying to be festive, given Halloween so near.
"Do not molest the graves"
The moon is near full and I drive up late; dodge a few Bambis and skid on in to the Deluge parking lot. I suspect a Subaru might be occupied, so I park as close as possible and give my doors a few slams to piss him off. It's only proper. I need not have bothered with my neighborly duties as a hefty rain and snow shower rolls through later on. As it tends, morning comes and we shuttle on over the pass and up to Buffalo Mountain Trailhead.
Take the junction to the Gore Range Trail/S Willow Creek, losing a couple hundred feet of hard driven gain along the way. Five or so miles of dark, slightly faint trail seems to take awhile but we pass the time discussing the plight of Fireonthemountain's love life. I'm waiting for the day when he displays a true sign of love - skip an afterwork Flatiron scramble in favor of a candlelit dinner and calf massage. Such a romantic.
Grass and talus from Red Buffalo Pass up the south flank to Red.
The snow makes for some annoying hoppage, but soon enough our objective comes in to view.
Slight problem though: it has been awhile since either of us has done these peaks. We thought the entire ridge was gendarme filled and fun! But here we see half the traverse from this starting position is a talus slog. Such is life. On we go. Cue music.
The ridge goes by and a brief scramble up Cancer for the moment of truth. Is the juice worth the squeeze?
Oh yes. Yes, indeed.
Do you see what I see? (Song added for Fireonthemountain).
Scramble on down the ridge and let the fun begin. Pardon the Cancerous flare.
Weakness on right/W, enjoy the exposure. Class 3 and brief 4. Not a bad wakeup call, given some slick spots.
Eventually, reach a spot where downclimbing seems unlikely. Luckily, The Good Buddy Chalk left us some webbing, only a few years old to boot!
A good 60 ft to the east takes one to a handy ledge. Reversing this part of the ridge looks quite fun.
Back to the ridge and scramble up and over the mini gendarmes. Hit the Capricorn headwall at class 3/4.
It's easy to move fast when you're hoping for a bit of sun
The morning's catching up to us.
And an oompa loompa trying to climb Capricorn. Shorties go around right, average height freaks go proper.
From Capricorn, hike on down at class 2-3 until progress gets scary. Below is a rather large drop broken by an small ledge 30 ft down. Sling a horn to rap the 30 ft or downclimb at highly exposed class 4 to the anchor station. The webbing here was a bit shoddy but not quite ugly so we added another loop and a quicklink. 90 ft off the east side and swing gently as it goes free hanging and deposits you back on the ridge. It ain't often you get a 90 ft free hanging rap in CO alpine.
I wasn't able to adjust focus in this position. My apologies.
The dual summits of Gemini Twin South are up next. Scramble on up both. It's a race and Boggy beat me to it. Luckily, I carry the "disadvantageous height" excuse card at the top of my excuse bag.
It's a bit steep off South, so either rap the 50ish ft or dust off the canyoneering skills by dropping between the dual summits. Back to feet, hand down packs. Not too bad. Probably about the same time to just rap.
Three of nine down, snails are envious. For Gemini North, scramble along and through the gully separating the twin summits. Turn left and up the 5.0 dihedral on the north side. Fear not, dihedrals are easier to downclimb than climb. Or so the theory goes.
Next up is Taurus. The face is intimidating at first but as is usual, it relents upon closer inspection to 4th class. Unfortunately, it looks like a big hunk of pale brown in the pics.
So back to the hero shots. The ridge ain't bad for those.
Looking back towards the Geminis and Capricorn from Taurus
The N side of Taurus might be downclimbable. For the most part. Otherwise, it's a somewhat junky 80 ft rap, so mind the pull. I'm not sure what the existing sling (okay condition) was originally around, but it was just laying on the ground lazily like a deadbeat sling without any bodies to support. We rectified the situation with an artificial chock, allowing us to extend the runner to a clean pull and carefully rappelled.
And with that, unfortunately, the big rappels are over but the technical S>N crux comes next. Scramble on up easy terrain and around the right side of the diminutive Scorpio to access the NNW face.
Boggy's preference is leading scary ice pitches under Peruvian cornices, but somehow, he has yet to lead an alpine rock pitch. Weird. Now sounds like a good time and he doesn't hesitate. A few loose features on the left wall allow him to grab a horn and swing left up the slabbier terrain to Scorpio's summit. I think we tackled the crux differently (center of body a foot left) than J and Chalk and found it a bit easier at 5.5 while they encountered 5.7, though more solid, right. So split the difference and call it 5.6. Maybe 30 ft to an anchor and another 10 ft of easier to the top.
We burn some webbing and leave a chockstone anchor, rapping 30 ft back to our packs.
The 5.6 crux move is in the bottom of the photo. After gaining it, climb the face right of Boggy at Flatiron style 5.0, slightly run out.
Looking back at 6 of 9 towers down. I see progress.
Libra is up next - class 3, I think though I don't remember too much of the up.
But I do remember the down. An angled knife edge provides good fun, though henceforth my idea of a proper knife edge will forever be tainted by Matthes Crest.
Having not really studied the beta, I begin to climb "Libra Prime" at the end of the knife thinking it is a named tower. Boggy knows better, but if one goes up, it just wouldn't be proper for the other to standby, so he comes up too. Oddly enough, the blocks on this optional 4th class side affair are among the sketchiest to scramble up and down all day.
A discrete tower affair over, pay off the media, and back to the main event - class 2 slog up Sagittarius. Looking back:
The west summit of Sagittarius is the higher one and apparently there are a couple pitons below the summit. We never saw them and didn't study well enough to look. However, Chalk's sling was there in a shredded state of repair. Rats. I hate rats. We burn some webbing through a natural chock and rap the 40 ft between the twin summits. A final easy-but-icy down scramble takes us to the Aries saddle.
Looking back, mostly downclimbable except for one bulge.
Milk the class 3 up and over Aries because the scrambling's just about done. Tag the cairn else it doesn't count. Step right on over to Zodiac View to claim your prize. A successful completion of the Zodiac Traverse, tagging the spires en route.
Or slog it out! Yeah! Class 2 up to a class 3 gully bisecting Silverthorne's summit plateau. The route-finding is simple. Or simpleish. Simple enough. Whatever. If you die here, I have no pity and I claim inheritance.
Whhhhyyy
Well, for the same reason we climb every peak, Boggy. To try and take over the world.
I could show you the final grass/talus slog up Silverthorne, but I refuse. Boggy had a better one of Rain anyways (another good meat cleaver traverse).
Class 2 talus down Silverthorne's SW gully and beeline over to Zodiac View. An inconvenient cloud might mess with the evening lighting, but grab a few pictures and appreciate the route all the same.
All worth it in the end.
We drop the thankfully grassy SW-trending small drainage W of Zodiac and intersect the Gore Lake Trail at around 10,800 ft amidst a slight snow flurry. A steep trail down to Gore Creek and then the long and rocky hike out.
Just follow the light.
(boggy)
Boggy's topos:
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