Since the first time I climbed a fourteener that was much more difficult than I had anticipated, (even with all my research) I have made it my mission to fully document my hikes/climbs up every 14er I would climb from then on. This process is to help other people who want to learn as much as they can about the peak they are intending to climb before they climb it. So this is my Wetterhorn Peak experience, I hope it helps.

My friend Mathew and I arrived in Lake City at around 5:30pm on Thursday 8/10 and immediately proceeded to venture towards the trailhead to check out the road and find a camping spot. My little Suzuki Grand Vitara (a 4 door small SUV) had no issue with the North Henson Road (which is where you turn off Henson Creek Road which is the scenic byway road). At the 4wd-high clearance turn off for the Matterhorn Creek TH, I continued on. With good 4wd training (thanks Dad) my little SUV made it all the way up to the TH. There were some sections where the obstacles were really pushing the limit of my little vehicle's clearance, but we did it! Standard SUVs, stock Jeeps and anything with equal or greater clearance should have no issue with this road. There is a wonderful and large campsite directly below the trailhead (but it was taken already), and you can pitch a tent up at the trailhead (there's room), so we went back down about 2 minutes and camped at a beautiful roadside camp spot there.

After setting up camp we came to the realization that in my rush to leave Grand Junction, I completely forgot to rent Mathew a climbing helmet. We were both uncomfortable with the idea of climbing our first class 3 peak without them, so we drove back down into Lake City to see if we could find a place to rent one. We went to one of the Jeep rental places, and one of the employees let us borrow an ATV helmet (better than nothing right?) And we ventured back to camp, had dinner, and went to bed around 9.

We woke up around 4am, ate breakfast and headed up to the trailhead.

We started hiking at 5:10am in the dark. We hiked through the trees at a gentle incline for a little while. The trees cleared for a bit and we continued upward for a bit before we hit another wooded section. We broke through that at about 6am and at this point it was light enough to take off the headlamps. During this first hour a group of 3 young men, and a solo male hiker passed us up and we seemed to be the last ones venturing upwards for a while.

After the bulk of the trees cleared, the basin opened up and we hiked onward up a steady well maintained trail.

The trail continues through the basin, crosses a couple streams and veers left. After the trail straightens out again you begin to encounter the start of the boulder field.

This boulder field is a wonderland paradise for marmots and pikas. I have never seen so many of them all in one place in my life. You continue on upwards through the boulders and the trail turns more into step ups instead of a gradual inline through this part.

You hike through this field of boulders for what seems like a very long time. We stopped for a snack break during this part at 7:00am. Eventually you stop walking across the boulder field and start climbing up through it as it continues up towards the ridgeline.

The trail finally starts to become a trail again as you begin to climb out of the boulder field.

As we climbed up towards the ridgeline the sense of anticipation swelled, because there is nothing like getting to the top of one of those and seeing the vista for the first time, and this view certainly didn't disappoint.

Before the famed "yellow dirt section" you have to climb up this little outcropping. Its a short burst though.

And then you continue onward up the ridgeline on a steep incline with loose-ish dirt up the yellow dirt.

And then... finally you have arrived at the fun part. This is where the story gets interesting.

Throughout the hike up until this point my body felt fine. I don't know if it was the elevation, the energy chews I had just eaten, or the prophylactic tylenol and ibuprofen I just took, but all of a sudden my stomach became VERY nauseous. I couldn't take more than 5 steps without waves of nausea stopping me. This was also coupled with ridiculous lightheadedness. I sat down and put my head between my knees. I tried taking more steps but I just couldn't shake this. I even said "screw it" and was going to force myself onward despite how I was feeling in the hopes that it would just go away. But I was so dizzy and nauseous that it was unsafe to do so. So reluctantly, I told Mathew to head up without me. We were so close to summitting with just the class 3 stuff ahead that I would not take that from him. Fortunately there was a couple that had passed us up at the yellow dirt section not to long ago, so I told him to continue on and hopefully he would bump into them to have someone to climb up the staircase with. I gave him my climbing helmet, and took the fourwheeling helmet from him, and gave him my summit sign and wished him luck.

He continued on, and I sat down. I was just going to wait for him there. I called my parents looking for a pep-talk telling me it was the right decision to stop if I was feeling so unwell considering the class 3, but neither of them answered. At this point, I was really disappointed. I had been looking forward to climbing this peak for a long time, and I got SO CLOSE! I was angry that it was my body limiting me and not my will. So I said I would give it one more try. If it still didn't work, then I can really say I did EVERYTHING I could. So I stood up and started hiking on.

By some miracle the nausea and the dizziness had gone away! I was so excited that I just powered on, not stopping or pausing as I scrambled up the gully for fear that my body would revolt again, but alas, it didn't! I reached a section of the gully that I did not recognize from the route directions, and knew I could not safely get up, so I went another direction, and found the same problem, so I again tried another route and again found no luck. I couldn't believe that after all of that stomach business that I was being deterred by some dang route finding. Fortunately an angel named Travis (the solo male hiker mentioned earlier) found me (way off route I might add) and waited, as I climbed my way to him, and then he stopped to break down the remainder of the route to me and give me some good tips. He also added in a good little pep talk and encouraged me for the remainder of the climb. So THANK YOU Travis!

I followed his directions and climbed on. I scrambled up and over following the cairns and tips, through the first of the notches and finally bumped back into my climbing partner Mathew (who did indeed eventually meet up with that aforementioned couple at the summit) he had already climbed back down the staircase and the cat walk and upper notch, but he agreed to re-summit with me so I wouldn't have to do the staircase alone.

So after the notch, and the cool catwalk, we did the staircase.

This section of the climb (as MANY other climbers have attested) was much easier and less intense than the pictures make it seem. It was so much fun! I liken it alot to the very narrow stairs inside old apartments in Amsterdam. We pushed onward for a very short period of climbing and finally made it to the summit!

I was so elated when I climbed to the top of the stairs onto the summit I actually squealed! And I ran to the rock cairn and did a "Rocky" dance singing the song with it.

I have never been so happy to summit a 14er... maybe on my first one (but then I was more relieved and exhausted than anything).

I was SO proud of myself for this.

It was my first class 3 section, and I was a little leary of this staircase for awhile, but I really wanted to do this peak. I honestly think this will go down as my most memorable and worthwhile summits, because it was the one that almost didn't happen.

I am so thankful that the ill-ness went away, I am thankful that Mathew was willing to summit again, and I was thankful for Travis helping me get through that lower section. We were also really blessed to have clear skies (a bit hazy from the smoke, but cloudless all the same) and there was no wind to make the exposure feel worse than it was.

We were off the summit before 11, and made it back to the TH at 1:20 for a total climb time of 8 hours and 30 minutes. (Probably would have been reduced to about 7 hours without the health saga.

Thanks to everyone for your tips, tricks and encouragement prior to us making this trip! And if you are hesitant to do this peak because of the class 3 stuff... just do it! It was more fun than anything.