Report Type | Full |
Peak(s) |
Mt. Wilson - 14,256 feet El Diente Peak - 14,175 feet |
Date Posted | 08/16/2016 |
Date Climbed | 08/11/2016 |
Author | mountainute |
Mt Wilson SW Face (2015 Route) and El Diente S Slope from Kilpacker |
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Hi all, first, thanks to Bill Middlebrook and Hipilgrim for finding the alternative variation to the Mt Wilson SW Slopes route and posting it. This TR assumes that the reader is familiar with the route descriptions by Hipilgrim and BillMiddlebrook (14ers online guide book here). In 2015, a new variation to the Mt Wilson SW slope was found, which differs from the route description in Gerry Roaches guidebook in the upper 500 feet of Wilson's rock face. The new variant avaoids a lose gully near the top and also a supposedly hard move on the ridge {? i.e. hearsay info}. There is also a discussion thread on the forum in the Mt W SW Slopes route. Others have posted lots of good pics. We climbed Mt Wilson up this new route 8/11 and ElD 8/12, both from a camp about 3 mi into Kilpacker (Dolores River Valley); camped to gain a couple hours on the weather on summit day ( the weather was very iffy early last week). Camp locations as described on 14ers.com approximately. In good weather, routes each go in a day from TH, as many others have posted. Here are my thoughts to add to this: 1a) The Mt Wilson route is surprisingly good. On the scree slope, i'm with Gerry Roach "the waterfall ... is an enchanting place. The enchantment soon withers, as you engage the wretched scree..." (even with the trail). Staying on the permanent (!) snowfields makes this route much better/faster/ more enjoyable (than seeing people without spikes scramble up the boulder fields and scree fields or slip-slide around on the snow). For people with little snow and ice hiking experience, crampons and an ice ax may be even safer than microspikes, as the season progresses and the snow surfaces harden. We used microspikes and ski poles (only). 1b) The top of Mt Wilson is the section where the Cl-3 scrambeling is found. This only has an elevation gain of 500 feet. The route is easily found and the logical line; note there are many good photographs in Bill's route description. However this is the most logical line in this part of the Wilson S Face. The cross-over is key. The route is surprisingly solid (disclaimer: for the San Juans and for the impression one gets looking on the route from afar.) The Class-3 scrambeling is mostly on the top part; i.m.h.o. this is the most fun part of the entire climb. Not much exposure and quite solid. We were able to move faster on this section than on the trail. Another disclaimer: I am an alpine rock and ice climber and hate slogathons in scree as much as the next guy. 2) El Diente S Face (aka S slopes). The main point I want to make is that - regardless of how the exposure rating is defined on this website - the exposure on ElD is much harder than on the Mt Wilson SW route (but both rated 3 out of 6). Route finding does require taking a good look, pretty much anywhere above about 13200. The top part of the route (above the 2nd gully) is longer than the route description may suggest. The exposure increases and with wet mud among loose rock above several 1000 ft of dropoff (location: above http://14ers.com/route.php?route=eldi4&peak=Mt.+Wilson%2C+Wilson+Peak%2C+and+El+Diente+Peak (photo 17 in Bill's route description) to the summit), this is not a place for error. It rained *a lot* the previous night and the days before. I always carry a rope and a small amount of gear and used it on the top sections where needed (mostly running belays for speed). For comparison, the rope stayed in the pack on Wilson as the fall danger is much less (in my view). We kept the rope handy and quickly belayed down the (lower) grey gully. We had no difficulties finding the route, however, I suggest changing the exposure rating a bit. - Hiked in the evening before (8/10) and out in the evening after climbing ElD (8/12), after a break at camp. - Mountaineering partner: my daughter Good times and thanks again for everyone's input. I'll try and turn this into a short TR so people can find it. mountainute |
Comments or Questions |
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